United by Music

With only a fortnight to go until the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, the songs are becoming more and more familiar by the day. I've reviewed most of this year's entries already (find those here ), and now I am continuing the journey with Australia, Belgium, Finland, Norway and Ukraine. Belgium: Essyla – “Dancing on the Ice” Belgium’s unique system for selecting its Eurovision entries means that this year, Flemish broadcaster RTBF is in charge, having last been at the helm in 2024. Whilst its Walloon counterpart VRT tends to organise a national final, RTBF generally selects its entries internally, and this year is no different, with The Voice Belgique finalist Essyla going forward to represent the country with her song “Dancing on the Ice”. It’s a polished but rather generic slice of contemporary electro-pop. It has clear artistic intent and competent production, but raises concerns in me surrounding memorability and competitive impact. In its studio form, “Dancing on the Ic...

Another week, another batch of Eurovision 2026 song reviews! You can find the previous instalments in this series  here . I really must get on with it if I want to finish discussing this year's entries before the shows themselves, so without any further ado, let's have a look at Czechia, Denmark, Georgia, Serbia and Switzerland. Serbia: Lavina – “Kraj mene” Last year, Serbia earned its worst-ever result at the Eurovision Song Contest. Despite being one of my favourites in the 2025 line-up, Princ failed to qualify for the final with “Mila”, finishing fourteenth out of sixteen in the semi-final. Hoping to do a bit better in Vienna will be Lavina, who are representing Serbia this year with “Kraj mene”. It’s certainly one of the more unconventional entries in this year’s competition, blending progressive metal with a melodramatic emotional core. The song feels ambitious, but I think it’s the sort of package that could be received very differently in different contexts. The studio v...

This time next month, we'll have a new Eurovision champion! As always, that seems ridiculous to say but Eurovision 2026 in Vienna really is approaching far too quickly. Before then, however, I need to finish my reviews of this year's line-up. If you haven't read the previous instalments in this series, you can catch up  here . Now, let's look at the entries from Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Montenegro. Cyprus: Antigoni – “Jalla” This year’s Cypriot Eurovision entry, “Jalla” by Antigoni is doubling down on cultural identity whilst maintaining the country’s recent preference for glossy, exportable pop. The result is a package that is energetic but uneven, and somehow feels neither formulaic nor properly authentic. Antigoni is a curious but not illogical choice to represent Cyprus at Eurovision. A London-born artist with Cypriot roots and prior mainstream exposure through the British version of Love Island , she represents the increasingly common ‘diaspora pop st...

It's time for me to scrutinise some more of this year's Eurovision line-up. I've really been enjoying writing my reviews this year, so I hope you enjoy reading them. Please do share any thoughts with me either in the comments or over on Bluesky; I'd love to hear what you have to say! This time, I'm talking about Armenia, France, Greece, Poland and Portugal. Greece: Akylas – “Ferto” “Ferto” by Akylas is one of those Eurovision entries that arrives with a wave of online enthusiasm and immediately splits opinion. On paper, it has many of the ingredients of a contemporary Eurovision success: a hyper-stylised production, meme-ready hooks and a performance style clearly calibrated for variety. But despite its undeniable energy, I think this song also serves to illustrate the limits of its formula. The studio version of “Ferto” is slick to a fault. Musically, it sits somewhere between dance-pop, Eurodance and pop-rap, blending Mediterranean textures with a relentless, ...