What is the Eurovision Song Contest?
Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to all active members of the European Broadcasting Union, which oversees the competition.
Each country is permitted to submit one three-minute song to the contest – a song which is selected by a variety of means, usually a winner-takes-all competition such as Sweden’s renowned Melodifestivalen – which their selected entrant performs in one of two semi-finals in the hopes of making it to the glittering grand final.
Only six countries have direct entry into the grand final
- The Big Five who fund most of the contest – UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain
- The host country (which is the winner of the previous year’s contest); this year that country is Switzerland.
The winner is chosen by a 50/50 mix of viewer votes (you cannot vote for your own country) and a jury of music industry professionals in each country, a method which was chosen to counter the alleged skewing of votes based on political and/or cultural lines when voting was purely the preserve of viewers at home. (This mix applies only to the grand final; voting in the semi finals is purely by popular vote with no jury involvement.)
Past winners include, of course, ABBA in 1974 with “Waterloo” and Celine Dion who won for Switzerland in 1988 with “Ne partez pas sans moi”.Above all though, the Eurovision Song Contest is bright, over the top and deliciously camp, a celebration of music, inclusiveness and togetherness that draws annual viewing figures in the hundreds of millions.
This year’s event
The grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, continuing the theme of “United by Music”, will take place in St. Jakobshalle, Basel, on Saturday 17 May with semi-finals on Tuesday 13 and Thursday 15 May. The 69th Eurovision Song Contest grand final will be hosted by Hazel Brugger, Michelle Hunziker and Sandra Studer while Brugger and Studer will host the semi-finals. Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR will host the event, together with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), will organise the Contest thanks to Nemo’s historic win in Malmö in 2024.
THE ARTIST
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(courtesy Eurovision.tv (c) Lucas Coelho)
THE SONG
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SAN MARINO: “Tutta L’Italia” by Gabry Ponte
THE ARTIST
OOOO
(courtesy Eurovision.tv (c) Pier Costantini)
THE SONG
OOOO
SLOVENIA: “How Much Time Do We Have Left” by Klemen
THE ARTIST
OOOO
(courtesy Eurovision.tv (c) Tomo Brejc / Universal Music Slovenia)
THE SONG
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SWEDEN: “Bara Bada Bastu” by KAJ
THE ARTIST
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(courtesy Eurovision.tv (c) Erik Åhman
THE SONG
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UKRAINE: “Bird of Pray” by Ziferblat
THE ARTIST
OOOO
(courtesy Eurovision.tv (c) Anya Wayne)
THE SONG
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SEMI-FINAL 1 TOP TEN
All of these reviews, bring us to the end of semi-final 1, beg the question – which ten acts do this humble reviewer think will make it through to the grand final and possible Eurovision glory?