Eurovision 2025 Preview

The grand final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest is less than one month away, and soon we will know who will succeed Nemo and become this year's champion. It has been another turbulent Eurovision season, with too much national selection drama to cover in full detail and a list of withdrawals and disqualifications longer than my arm. Unfortunately one of this list is Moldova, who made the decision to withdraw from the contest in January "following a detailed analysis of the current situation, as well as the economic, administrative, and artistic challenges". The Moldovan broadcaster cited decreased public interest in Eurovision and the overall quality of the "plays and artistic performances" in the national selection as reasons for their withdrawal. Whilst Moldova's presence will certainly be missed in Eurovision this year, they have indicated that they may be returning at some point soon so hopefully this isn't 'goodbye', just 'see you later'.

However, as Moldova leave the contest, we are welcoming back Montenegro who are participating for the first time since 2022. Having initially withdrawn in 2023 due to financial difficulties and sitting out once again last year, their return has been confirmed with 2022 representative Vladana Vučinić serving as head of delegation and also organising the national selection (the execution of which was so bad that she subsequently resigned from her role as creative director at the Montenegrin broadcaster - but that's an issue for another day). At a time when we are losing so many Eastern European countries - Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia and the aforementioned Moldova - it is nice to see Montenegro coming back, and I do hope that this is not a one-off and that we see them again next year even if things don't go their way in May.

As well as our new permanent slogan "United by Music" (which may or may not have given this blog its title), Eurovision 2025 has been given the concept and theme of "Welcome Home", as we are of course returning to Switzerland, birthplace of Eurovision, following Nemo's historic victory in Malmö last year. The host city chosen by the EBU and Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR is Basel, situated on the River Rhine in north-west Switzerland, and 12,400 fans will be watching the contest live at the St. Jakobshalle, which was primarily designed as a sports hall, but has hosted all manner of events, including a visit from the Dalai Lama in 2015. 

The semi-finals on Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th May will be hosted by Hazel Brugger, a Swiss-American comedian and presenter, and Sandra Studer, whom Eurovision fans will most likely remember as Sandra Simó, as she represented Switzerland at Eurovision in 1991, finishing fifth. Joining them for the final on Saturday 17th May will be model and presenter Michelle Hunziker. The nearby St. Jakob-Park stadium will also host a live screening of the final, fronted by Mélanie Freymond and Sven Epiney, and featuring performances from past Eurovision contestants Kate Ryan, Anna Rossinelli, Luca Hänni and Baby Lasagna. The stadium will also be included in the live broadcast as Mélanie and Sven have been confirmed to be the spokespeople of the Swiss national jury in the final.

Michelle Hunziker, Sandra Studer and Hazel Brugger: the hosts of Eurovision 2025.

This year's Eurovision also sees a new innovation in the form of contest mascot Lumo, ostensibly a gender-neutral anthropomorphic heart that "embodies the unstoppable power of music". Our host broadcaster SRG SSR has also confirmed some of the other performances we will see at Eurovision this year as interval acts: the first semi-final will feature Paola, Peter Reber (of Peter, Sue and Marc fame), Luca Hänni and Gjon's Tears in a celebration of Switzerland in Eurovision, entitled "Where It All Began". The second semi-final will celebrate Eurovision fans, whilst the Grand Final has been given the suitably vague description of "Let's Celebrate a New Winner", with the whole world joining in the celebrations.

With the Montenegrin return and Moldovan withdrawal, we once again have 37 songs this year - equalling 2023 and 2024 but still the lowest number in recent history. Of course one of those is Luxembourg, who are participating again after coming back in 2024 for the first time in over thirty years; and the Netherlands must be commended for coming back this year - it would have been entirely understandable if they had chosen to give it a miss following the disqualification saga last year, but I am glad they are here, and coming for the win! Much of the discussion among fans this year has once again been around the participation of Israel and (to a lesser extent) Azerbaijan. Whilst I will be covering these countries and songs on the blog (as well as Georgia, whose entry this year has also been controversial), I do respect the decision of those who have chosen not to, and acknowledge that this will be a topic that the EBU must address sooner or later, to avoid bringing the contest into a state of disrepute that was only very narrowly avoided last year.

In my opinion, this year will not be remembered for the quality of the songs. I was of the opinion that, disregarding everything that went on around them, last year's playlist was the best we've had in several years, and I do think it would have been hard to top that - but I wonder if the events of last year have damaged broadcasters' trust in the contest (or more pertinently, in the EBU) and discouraged artists from participating. We also had an unusually high number of national selections this year, with 27 of the 37 entries being selected at least in part through a televised process (for comparison, this number was 23 in 2024 and 25 in 2023). One brilliant fact about this year's Eurovision is that we have the most language diversity in recent history, with 25 of the 37 songs being performed in their country's native language, and another two featuring a language other than English. This is a far cry from some of the contests of the mid-2010s, such as 2015, when 33 of the 40 competing songs were performed entirely in English.

Having said that it isn't a vintage year, I do think we have several great contenders for the win this year in a very open field, and more than enough to make up a fairly solid top ten. My main issues with Eurovision in the last few years continue to stem from pre-recorded backing vocals, and (more recently) televote-only semi-finals. Both of these have had a subtle, but noticeable effect on how broadcasters select their Eurovision entries, with several choosing something loud and bombastic in order to qualify for the final, whilst relying on pre-recorded backing vocals to prop up a weak lead singer. This year we have reached a point where, in my opinion, the quality of the contest has taken a perceptible dip in comparison to the years preceding these rule changes, and I have been glad to read recently of various heads of delegation and members of the reference group bringing these points to the EBU's desk - hopefully we will see the changes reversed in the near future.

Lumo, the mascot of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.

Of course, I will go more in-depth into my own opinions of the songs, and predictions for how things will play out in Basel, in future posts here, but hopefully that has been a good overview of where we are at so far. I am very much looking forward to continuing to share my thoughts and perspectives on everything Eurovision 2025 over the coming weeks, and from what we know so far, it looks like we are in for three great shows in May!