Eurovision 2025: welcome home

Published by Mason Oldridge, 19 May 2025

CONTAINS SPOILERS!

We return to where it all began as we head to Basel in Switzerland, the host and winning country of the first ever Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956, following their win last year.

The 69th edition was presented by Hazel Brugger, Sandra Struder and Michelle Hunziker. There was only a 6,000 strong audience in the St. Jakobshalle arena despite its 12,000 capacity, yet held a 36,000 person viewing party in the neighbouring St. Jakob-Park stadium, which featured in the broadcast and was a nice touch. This year saw only national flags allowed in the arena, after pride flags and pro-Palestine flags were visible last year, and it was refreshing to see nationalities represented as intended, rather than used as a vehicle for performers to promote their ideology. The grand final opened with reigning champion Nemo performing last year’s winning song The Code, followed by the flag parade of all 26 finalists.

Despite Sweden being the hot favourite by bookmakers, the winner was Austria, represented by JJ with his song Wasted Love, an operatic pop anthem with a techno ending. This marked the second consecutive win of an operatic pop song by a queer artist, something noted by our UK commentator Graham Norton as he claimed it may not win due to its similarities to last year’s winning entry. The performance was emotionally vulnerable, featured impressive vocals and innovative nautical staging depicting JJ aboard a sailboat, with camera techniques emulating a tempest storm on the water. Primarily slow throughout, the electronic outbreak is a welcomed change in pace at the latter end and elevates the atmosphere surrounding the song. Wasted Love sounds like a Eurovision winner and was definitely one of the strongest entries on the night. It placed fourth in the televote.

Once again, the competition was tarred with controversy surrounding Israel’s inclusion, sparking calls for exclusion and protests. Despite this, October 7 survivor Yuval Raphael took to the stage to perform New Day Will Rise. Sitting in mere 15th after the jury votes, it astonishingly won the televote to send them rocketing to the top of the table. It then came down to the wire, with only Austria’s public vote to be announced, and finished in second place overall. The EBU were likely left breathing a huge sigh of relief as Israel narrowly missed out on success, which would have no doubt posed a logical nightmare for producers, on top of an almighty backlash and locational limbo, and may leave them reconsidering Israel’s place in future… or at very least implementing plans for a hypothetical win.

The UK was represented by country pop trio Remember Monday with their harmonising single What The Hell Just Happened? Jury votes started to trickle in for the United Kingdom, even receiving 12 points from the Italian jury, before being hit with the dreaded 0 points from the public, plummeting us down to a 19th place finish. This was an unjust position for the girls after they gave such an impressive performance in comparison to some of our past entrants.  

Novelty acts were successful this year. Frontrunners Sweden were represented by KAJ, who performed their catchy sauna-based tune Bara bada bastu, making use of props, while Estonian musician Tommy Cash performed his electro-swing coffee-themed hit Espresso Macchiato, complete with an amusing dance that leaves you questioning how his legs move that way. They finished fourth and third, respectively. Unfortunately, Australia’s first comedic offering with Milkshake Man failed to qualify for the final.

There was the usual array of genres across the running order too. There were a handful of ballads from the likes of France and Switzerland, while there were dance pop offerings from Denmark and Malta, the latter of which failed to live up to its hype. Germany and San Marino brought EDM club bangers to the final, whereas Lithuania provided a rare rock option, as did Italy but more in the glam rock style with Lucio Corsi performing in face paint reminiscent of David Bowie. Furthermore, Ireland saw singer Emmy perform 90s-inspired Aqua-esque Eurodance track Laika Party, a tribute to the space dog providing a happier alternative ending to the heartbreaking true story, although ultimately failed to qualify for the final.

Finland’s Käärijä and Croatia’s Baby Lasagna, runners-up and televote winners from the 2023 and 2024 editions respectively, performed as an interval act, enacting a battle-style mashup of their Eurovision songs before evolving into their new collaborative track #Eurodab. Hailing as fan favourites, they brought the fun and energy to the stage that everyone wants to see, before Nemo returned to perform new single Unexplainable.

Unfortunately, entries this year felt rather poor in comparison to those of the past two editions, with many fitting the Eurovision mould yet not many standing out as powerful or memorable. Nevertheless, we can always enjoy our annual trip around Europe and we were sure given an exciting results sequence!

The contest is expected to return to Austria in 2026, where we will see who is the next artist to rise like a phoenix.