Eurovision 2025 Reviews: Part 3
It's time for another round of Eurovision 2025 reviews! The countdown to the live shows is still ticking away and the playlist is getting more familiar with every listen. Let's dive straight in and discuss the entries from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Israel and Italy.
Israel: Yuval Raphael - "New Day Will Rise"
I must say that as a song, I do quite enjoy this. I am a sucker for (almost) anything sentimental at Eurovision and I think this falls firmly in this category, pulling it off quite well in the process. Yuval performs it very well, with excellent vocals and a polish that I don't think we're seeing all that much of this year. The presence of strings and the rasp in Yuval's voice as we progress through the song both serve to give the package a bit of edge that it possibly otherwise lacks, and arguably heightens the emotion being conveyed, telling the audience her story by bringing them on her multilingual musical journey. However, I'm unsure if the connection will be strong enough to convince someone listening to this for the first time. I do have to acknowledge that, despite the way in which I have interpreted this song, others see it as a ballad that is dated and emotionally unconvincing - and I do see where they are coming from. "New Day Will Rise" never quite gets to the point - it's not quite as literal as other 'peace songs' such as "What If" or "A Million Voices", both from Russia in the 2010s, and at no point does it explicitly say what it's trying to tell you. This is potentially a clever move from the songwriters here, leaving it open to interpretation in a way that allows those more inclined to support Israel to lean in to the emotion of the song, whilst not being shocking enough to put off those who may hold more neutral views. This delegation know that there's a sizeable part of the audience that won't vote for Israel no matter what they send, and this year's entry is a clear attempt to appeal to those who don't fall in to that category. It will find its audience at Eurovision - and I do think Israel are on course for another good result - but the motivation behind this song is somewhat murky.
My Score: 8
Italy: Lucio Corsi - "Volevo essere un duro"
The fan reaction to this is very reminiscent to me of when Italy sent Marco Mengoni in 2023 with "Due vite"; quite a muted reaction to a song that I very much enjoyed and felt would succeed in Eurovision - and then it finished fourth in Liverpool. I do think this is going to follow a similar path. "Volevo essere un duro" is sweet and sentimental, with a very strong message behind it. It has a melody that is calm and quiet but stays on the right side of dull; it moves forward without ever losing the feeling of serenity and control, and fits together musically - I do think this is one of the best compositions we have this year. Lyrically, the song is also hugely meaningful. Lucio is singing about everything he has wanted to be, things other people have perceived him to be lacking, but having come to the conclusion that the only thing he can be is himself. He sings about having tried the 'tough guy' model of masculinity, but eventually accepting himself as a man that will never fit the 'macho' stereotype foisted upon him. This message of love and self-acceptance will be appreciated almost universally, if it comes across during the live performance. The music video rather conveniently includes English subtitles to give the viewer more of an impression of the song's meaning, and I wonder if this is something we could see replicated in Basel - at least in a partial sense, like we saw with Konstrakta, or even Italy themselves in 2018. However, if Italy aren't careful, I wonder if the message might be lost on the casual audience. Lucio Corsi, as we have discussed, rejects traditional forms of masculinity in the song, and this extends to his presentation. His style leans heavily on 70s androgyny, and without the knowledge of Lucio as an artist, again I fear that this might not do him any favours with the voting public. We've actually heard very little about this entry since it was selected; Lucio hasn't been at any pre-parties and I don't believe we've seen any other live performances of this song, but I do still think this could end up being a surprise package.
My Score: 7.5
Denmark: Sissal - "Hallucination"
Denmark is struggling in Eurovision at the moment. The country hasn't qualified for the final since 2019 (and even that one only just got over the line) and their national selection is regularly criticised for its perceived lack of quality. Unfortunately, this year was no different, with the line-up of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix coming under fire from portions of the fan community. It was odds-on favourite Sissal who eventually won out with her song "Hallucination". Now we've discussed the context of Denmark's poor run of form, and the poor national selection, I want to discard all of that and focus on Sissal alone. People won't be casting their votes based on which countries have the best qualification records, and Sissal has said on multiple occasions that the Eurovision staging is going to be completely different from what we have already seen, so I'm going to give the package the benefit of the doubt for now. However, that doesn't change the fact that for me, this song sounds very dated. If you had told me that this was an entry in Eurovision 2013, competing against Cascada's "Glorious", I would have believed you because nothing about this song feels like it belongs in 2025. Sissal is one of eight people credited with writing this song, a team that includes Linnea Deb, who has written several previous Eurovision entries, including Måns Zelmerlöw's "Heroes", and more national final entries than I've had school dinners. I say this because I think it shows. "Hallucination" feels painfully generic, another page out of the same book with nothing that particularly sets it apart from anything else in the same genre.
That's not to say that I don't enjoy this song. Sissal has cited several influences for her Europop style, and this is clear to see in this package. Whilst it may be generic, "Hallucination" is a competent song and one could argue that the reason this formula is repeated over and over again is because it works. The hook is catchy, and the song has the potential to become a lot more memorable with a stronger visual presentation. The DMGP performance felt half-hearted, and Sissal seemed to get lost on the big stage, leading to a package that wasn't ready for Eurovision. As I say, this hopefully won't be a huge issue when we get to Basel as we know that they are changing the staging. Sissal's vocals, however, have been fairly solid every time we've seen her perform live. I think she occasionally lacks a bit of finesse, particularly during the verses, which are possibly slightly too fast-paced - I don't think a couple of backing singers would go amiss here. However, if everything else is done well on stage, this is the sort of the song where vocals slightly weaker than hoped for won't be the end of the world - and I really must say that I think I've been quite picky with one of the year's stronger singers. The strength of this package will lie in its ability to come across as a package that is coherent and memorable. What I mean by that is that I personally don't think this song by itself is particularly strong, however I really do think this could be elevated by what goes on around it. Sissal performs it with gusto, but my fear for Denmark this year is that it might be forgotten about - the sort of song that comes eleventh with every country's televote and finishes a lot lower than expected - Croatia 2021, if you will. I really do hope that this is the year for Denmark to finally get it together.
My Score: 6
Belgium: Red Sebastian - "Strobe Lights"
Belgium is a unique country in Eurovision. It is divided into two main linguistic regions: that is French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders. These regions have separate broadcasters, however, only one entry is allowed per country in Eurovision - so they take it in turns to select the Belgian entry. Both broadcasters have had their hits and misses over the years, but this year it's the turn of the Flemish broadcaster VRT, who organised the national selection Eurosong (not to be confused with the Irish Eurosong), which produced Red Sebastian and "Strobe Lights". For the reasons outlined above, I consider this song to be the successor to Gustaph in terms of Eurovision, and am going to try to limit my analysis to previous Flemish entries. "Strobe Lights" is an upbeat dance number with a combination of a heavy beat and flashy lights that all feels like quite a lot. That is to say, I think this song is very ambitious. It's proven to be challenging vocally for Red Sebastian, who has struggled on a couple of occasions to find the higher end of the song's range. Dance is also a genre that does sometimes struggle at Eurovision as it seems to be quite difficult to stage, and I think that the production leans slightly too much on the synth elements, meaning that the vocal arrangement feels more sparse than it should. My other issue with this is that it doesn't feel current - it's another song that could have been at Eurovision ten or fifteen years ago with very few eyelids batted.
This is, however, the sort of 'cool' song that does do well at Eurovision when we get them every few years. I think this will do better with the juries than the televote - in a similar way to Gustaph himself - as the juries do tend to appreciate this kind of sound. Whilst Red Sebastian isn't a perfect vocalist, the high notes in this do sound impressive when coupled with the subsequent drop, and this is something that should also work in its favour. Having said that, I still don't personally connect with this song. This is entirely my personal preference, but I find Red Sebastian's image to be quite a lot to take in through the screen, and not necessarily matching the feel of the song. This song is crafted well, and if the vocal track was taken out, I think this would stand alone as a solid rave tune, but I struggle to find any meaning in it. It's all quite vague, and I don't know what Red Sebastian is singing about other than the titular lights. There's lots of things going on, but for me it doesn't all come together and it lacks the emotional centre that I look for in a song. I do understand that some people will appreciate this for different reasons, and I think this is the sort of song (again, similarly to Gustaph) where the nostalgia factor will come in to play quite a bit for casual viewers - but for everyone else, what will they take from this? How will they remember it when everything has been performed at the end of the night? I'm really not sure, and I think this is another song possibly in danger of being forgotten as a relatively inoffensive song that won't be anyone's least favourite, but equally probably won't be many people's first preference.
My Score: 5
Estonia: Tommy Cash - "Espresso Macchiato"
Tommy Cash, according to his Wikipedia entry, is an Estonian rapper, singer, dancer and visual artist, known for sexually explicit lyrical themes and provocative music videos. In reality, this means he is a media prankster (or as I like to call it, professional troll) who grabs attention for himself by manufacturing 'controversial' situations and making eye-catching appearances at public events. This came to a bit of a head recently as he collaborated with 2024 Dutch artist Joost Klein on "United by Music", a song which has prompted much debate between fans, mainly due to the inclusion of the line "f*ck the EBU", which many see as Tommy treating the concept of Eurovision with blatant contempt. He comes in to Eurovision third in a line of similar artists, following Joost and Finland's Käärijä, and Tommy Cash has claimed that his participation is to avenge perceived miscarriages of justice - presumably referring to Käärijä's failure to take the title from Loreen and Joost's disqualification. A lot of people in the Eurovision fan community, including myself, are tired of this kind of music in this space. Käärijä did it well, but to me neither of his successors come close to replicating what he created, and at this point I think it only serves to cheapen the contest, and the image it has had to work so hard to create. Tommy's attitude has also annoyed quite a few fans, who see him as being arrogant, and a bit 'too cool for school'.
Throughout the Estonian national selection, Eesti Laul, Tommy appeared thoroughly unbothered by the whole thing, and couldn't even bring himself to crack a smile when it was announced that he had won the televote by a landslide. He has also released the song with the subtitle 'Eurovision 2025 Winner', which is also on the sticky note he wears in the music video. It feels like his sole reason for coming to Eurovision is to make fun of it by putting out a song as some sort of ironic statement. Actually, I think it's quite telling that I've got this far in without even mentioning the song. To me, "Espresso Macchiato" has very little musical merit. Admittedly, it is quite clever lyrically (lazy Italian stereotypes aside), but I don't care for Tommy's vocals, the stage shows we have seen so far have been incredibly low effort, and I really can't see any underlying message for this song beyond its status as a novelty entry - and not a particularly good one at that. Unfortunately, we are living in the era of televote-only semi-finals, an innovation I have previously shared my disdain for, particularly when it means that songs like this are almost guaranteed to qualify with flying colours. I can only hope that the juries give it the result it deserves when it makes it to the final.
My Score: 3
Well I am now almost halfway through this trip around the continent (detour via Australia already completed) and I think we're beginning to see how my personal taste might differ from that of the odds, or indeed of the fan community as a whole. Of course there is a lot more to come and I look forward to sharing that soon.
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