Introduction
It looks like we are less than a month (actually less than 20 days) away from Eurovision 2025 (Semi-final 1, 13 May; Semi-final 2, 15 May; and Final, 17 May).
Like always, at the beginning of the season, I was planning to take a bit of a deep dive into the participating countries’ national selections. But, I kind of lost interest (and had other things to do) about a month into the new season. I gotta give it the folks that can constant generate ESC contend during the national selection season. Well, I will give myself some credit because I reviewed three to four countries national selections (Poland 🇵🇱, Spain 🇪🇸, and Armenia 🇦🇲). In my half-assed defense, I do have drafts of reviews for four national selections. To be perfectly honest, the songs from this season aren’t quite doing it for me, but I’ll say many are growing on me. I guess there have been way too many other things going on that made me lose focus on Eurovision 2025. This is interesting because I was planning to use Eurovision 2025 as a distraction.
For this entry, I’ll highlight my rankings and my comparisons to Eurovision 2025 to Eurovision 2024 and 2021…the latter being my gold standard Eurovision so far.
KOS TOP 10 Rankings:
Greece 🇬🇷: Klavdia – “Asteromata” or Αστερομάτα (Starry-eyed) if you wanna be fancy.
It’s something about the “simplicity”, strong but light vocals with a Laika-esque backing beat that keeps me wanting to hit the repeat button.
Sweden 🇸🇪: KAJ – “Bara bada bastu” (Just sauna)
At first, I thought this song was quite corny, but lord Jesus this song is a true bop. I think part of the reason why I have grown to like this song was hearing it a few times while running a half marathon. While this is not a super strong song vocally, it is very energetic and will defiantly get you moving.
Spain 🇪🇸: Melody – “Esa diva” (That diva)
At first, I did not really care for this song, but I think Melody’s personality really made me like the song. Also, I watched some of her old performances from Tu Cara Me Suena (Your Face Sounds Familiar), which is a TV show were singers perform songs from and dress like other artists. I’ll say that Melody is something of a vocal chameleon because she managed to sound like Katy Perry, Cher, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce. OMG her performance of Thalía’s Arrasando is AMAZING. Why? The original song is very fast, and Melody managed to do the song while moving and dancing. I do not think the orginial singer, Thalía, ever sang this song live or without a LOT of prerecorded vocals.
Luxembourg 🇱🇺: Laura Thorn – “La poupée monte le son” (The doll turns up the sound)
Ok, I have to admit that I only began to like this song because the hubby played it almost everyday. While the song sounds a bit like a nursery rhyme to me, which I think is the point, it actually has a pretty strong message about women empowerment.
Netherlands 🇳🇱: Claude – “C’est La Vie” (That’s life)
I don’t but this song has a vibe. Also, I absolutely love the tone of Claude’s voice. I just wish the song had a vocal climax moment. Maybe the Netherlands is saving this for the actual contest.
Poland 🇵🇱: Justyna Steczkowska – “Gaja”
LOL. This song has it all – sustained notes, chaos, random dancing, and a weird violin break.
The UK 🇬🇧: Remember Monday – “What The Hell Just Happened?
The UK is going country for Eurovision, and I think it might work. Hopefully, I’m not jinxing the UK because they tend struggle in this contest (most of times, unwarranted IMO). Ok, so it’s more like Taylor Swift pop country, but that’s still in the genre. The three ladies from Remember Monday look like fun, and their group harmonies are the best that I’ve heard in recent years of the contest. From what I’ve been hearing, the group has been very well-received by audiences from this year’s string of Eurovision pre-parties. Hopefully, the local fans (those who only follow the contest during Eurovision week) will not write off the UK just because it’s the UK.
Albania 🇦🇱: Shkodra Elektronike – “Zjerm” (Fire)
Can’t explain why I like it, but it’s just a vibe that makes me feel good. Also, it seems this song has been a huge crowd favorite since it was released early this year. While I like the song, I think a lot of praise for this song has been slightly overhyped.
Belgium 🇧🇪: Red Sebastian – “Strobe Lights”
Red Sebastian’s vocals are out of this world amazing. I just hope he (I think it might be they) can deliver these tough vocals in the actual contest.
San Marino 🇸🇲: Gabry Ponte – “Tutta l’Italia” (All of Italy)
Not much to say about this one expect it’s a very energetic song. I wonder how the national juries will receive this song because it seems as if Gabry Ponte is the DJ who does not really provide much vocals. Then again, I guess this should not be a big issue because the juries are supposed to judge the performance.
The Rest – 11th to 25th positions:
Pretty much all of the songs from my 11th to 25th place, can be interchanged. Overall, I don’t think these songs are bad, but I could take them or leave them. While I will not actively skip them when they come on my Eurovision 2025 playlist, I’m not hitting repeat to hear the songs again. Actually, I will take that back a little bit for Malta 🇲🇹, Israel 🇮🇱, Armenia 🇦🇲, Czechia 🇨🇿, and maaaybe Ukraine 🇺🇦 .
The Rest – 26th to 37th positions
Eh, with the group, I’m perfectly fine with never hearing most of these songs again. But hey, the staging and performances during Eurovision week might change my mind for some of these countries.
Eurovision 2025 vs 2024
As always, I like to compare the current year’s batch of songs to the previous year’s.
Looking at my tier, it’s quite clear that I preferred the songs from 2024 over this year’s songs.
Eurovision 2025 vs 2021
In a similar manner, I’ve compared the songs from Eurovision 2025 to those from Eurovision 2021 (my gold standard so far for Eurovision contests).
It’s quite clear (and quite expected) that Eurovision 2021 blew Eurovision 2025 away for me. Of the 34 participating countries in 2025 and 2021, my breakdown was as follows:
I prefer 20.6% of the songs from 2025 (I’m surprised it’s that “high”).
I thought 23.5% of the songs from 2025 and 2021 had the same “power” on me.
I preferred 55.9% of the songs from 2021 over the ones from 2025.
Playlist
Spotify Playlist of the current ESC songs (in random order):
