United by Music

Fifteen countries competed in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, yet only ten could qualify for the final. In the end, the difference between tenth and eleventh place was just two points, so clearly every vote mattered for those countries on the borderline. With that being the case, it seems only fair to delve a bit deeper into the results of this semi-final and take a look at some of the stories and underlying trends that got lost in Eurovision week itself. As with all Eurovision semi-finals since 2023, the results were determined solely by televoting in each participating country, as well as a set of pre-determined automatic qualifiers (in this semi-final, these were Italy, Spain and Switzerland) and an aggregated ‘Rest of the World’ vote. The only exception to the televoting rule is San Marino, which is unable to organise its own televote as it shares Italy’s telephone network, so a jury vote was used instead. Now that disclaimer is out of the way, let’s hav...

It’s been a while since the Grand Final of Eurovision 2025, and I think it’s about time for me to have a little look back and reflect on everything that unfolded in Basel. Now I’ve had a bit of time to process it all, I have some thoughts to share on this year’s contest. In this post, I’ll be discussing the shows themselves, everything that went well and what I think could change for next year, and of course the all-important results. I won’t drag it out too much though, as I’m going to save my detailed results analysis for another series of articles that I’m hoping to publish over the summer. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Switzerland for putting on three excellent shows in another tricky year. I don’t think the hosting will be remembered as one for the ages, like Stockholm 2016 or Liverpool 2023, but it was very well-executed and definitely felt warmer than the decidedly clinical shows we had from Malmö last year. Sandra and Hazel were excellent hosts, and bounced off each o...