United by Music

Before you read this post about Eurovision 2026, I encourage you to have a look at my statement  on this year’s contest. The Eurovision 2026 season is well underway, with national finals beginning all over Europe and plans taking shape in Vienna for the contest’s seventieth anniversary. As I write, the first semi-final of this year’s contest is exactly 100 days away, so it seems only fitting to take a look back at everything that’s happened up to this point. First of all, Eurovision has a new look! Last August, the EBU unveiled a brand new logo for the contest. This new visual identity will be adapted each year to reflect different host countries, and replaces the previous generic logo which had been in use since 2015. Fans of the ‘Eurovision heart’ will be pleased to see that fixture retaining its place in the centre of the logo, and for this year only, the heart is being featured in the contest’s artwork to mark the seventieth anniversary. The new logo uses the custom font ...

Somehow 2025 is almost at an end. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s absolutely flown by, and it feels like such a lot has happened. As we close this chapter, I wanted to take a look back at the year in Eurovision and give recognition to some of its stars. To do so, I have created my ‘Eurovision Awards’, which I will be using to reflect on what the contest has offered us over this past year. The categories, nominees and winners have all been determined by a panel of one, so there may be a little bit of personal bias present, but I have never claimed to be objective! I would like to clarify that these awards are not in any way related to the official ‘Eurovision Awards’ organised by the EBU’s social media channels. I haven’t seen much about them this year but know that they have taken place in previous years so wish to re-affirm that I alone have chosen these categories and their respective winners.   Song of the Year To be awarded to the best competing entry in this...

Those of you who follow me on Bluesky may have seen that over the course of December, I've been sharing some of my favourite Eurovision songs in the style of a traditional Advent Calendar: one song each day to take you on a trip down memory lane and bring a bit of Eurovision into the off-season (though we don't seem to be having much of an off-season this year). Here, I'll be compiling all 24 of my chosen songs. If you've been following along on Bluesky, you'll have seen it all before and I won't be adding anything else - this is solely intended to record my thoughts and choices for the sake of posterity. You can find my Bluesky account [] if you're interested in future lists and countdowns like this. Day 1:  Norway 2019: KEiiNO - “Spirit in the Sky” My favourite song from the Tel Aviv contest and one that I believe has stood the test of time. An absolute banger fully deserving of its televote victory. Day 2:  Luxembourg 1973: Anne-Marie David - “Tu te recon...

I have followed the Junior Eurovision Song Contest intermittently since 2018. Back then, I had only just become a die-hard Eurovision fan, and was a similar age to many of the competing artists. Over the years, I’ve had varying levels of engagement with the contest, from actively following the build-up in 2019 to taking no notice at all in 2024. The participation of the UK in Junior Eurovision piqued my interest in 2022, and I paid the competition a bit more attention during our short-lived return – even watching the contest live in 2023 whilst revising for an exam the next morning! This year, I decided to approach the contest blind. The general chaos of life meant that I hadn’t had much time to listen to all of the competing entries beforehand, and I also thought it would be a new and interesting experience to share only my first impressions. I watched the show live on YouTube, accompanied by my younger sister, who is much more musically gifted than I am – and certainly doesn’t sh...