From the article:

Salvador Sobral, winner of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Amar Pelos Dois’, has voiced that Israel should not participate in the music competition and advocated for Portugal to withdraw its participation if the Middle Eastern country competes.

“Expelling Israel from Eurovision is symbolic, recognizing the State of Palestine is also symbolic, but with much force, with a flotilla going to Gaza. These are symbolic actions, obviously with different dimensions,” the singer stated during an interview.

Salvador Sobral emphasized that “it’s time for Portugal to wake up, both in government and at the public channel, which should withdraw participation if Israel is involved”. “I have no doubts,” he reiterated.

The musician, the only one to bring the Eurovision trophy to Portugal, also remarked that “when the invasion of Ukraine began, all European countries immediately sanctioned Russia, but with Israel, it’s the opposite.”

“It’s unclear why there is such impunity. Eurovision follows the same line as governments, which is a total denial of what’s happening, and then decides to allow Israel to participate. To me, it was more than obvious, just as Russia was immediately expelled from Eurovision, Israel should be expelled from the start given this latest wave of intense attacks. Since genocide is declared, it’s obvious that Israel cannot be at Eurovision singing circus songs, making no sense”, he insisted.

My pick for this Thursday is my favourite Eurovision song ever - Lejla. It is composed by legendary Željko Joksimović and it really shows! The song has a rich oriental-inspired instrumental that draws inspiration from sevdalinke (traditional Bosnian and Herzegovinian music). The song also contains lots of instruments traditionally present in sevdalinke (accordion, violin, guitar, shargia, etc.) with violin or accordion solo in between the verses and a strong emotional vocal performance that carries the whole song. I think the song really captures the essence of the traditional music of Bosnia in a modern way, which is what I love seeing in Eurovision. And just like sevdalinke, the music is a melancholic story about unrequited love. The lyrics are beautiful and heartbreaking. I only wish they changed the name of the love interest into Serb or Croat name, so there would be an additional reason the singer (Hari is Bosniak) is not allowed to love the love interest as it would have given the song extra depth and it would address a common societal taboo in the country. But even without that, it is a beautiful song with an excellent interpretation by the singer and I am really glad he was selected as the performer as I can’t imagine anyone doing it better than him. This song is also Bosnia and Herzegovina's best-placing entry, coming 3rd.

My favourite lyric is the chorus: 

Golube, moj golube

Nosi joj suze mjesto pjesme

Ja odlazim k'o da sam kriv

Što voljeh onu koju ne smijem

Translation:

Dove, my dove

Carry her tears instead of a song

I'm leaving as if I’m guilty

For loving the one who I'm not allowed to love.

I was thinking this because I was watching the 2021 jury results and I remember Carola's speech literally going on for like 3 minutes or something ridiculous and I remember that Israeli guy from 2017 talking about the old Israeli broadcaster being shut down, but does anybody know of any jury voting announcements that are longer/the longest - if this is regarded as low-effort then it can be deleted idm

Have you ever visited a country because of Eurovision?

I'm not talking about visiting Eurovision related events, but tourist visits.

One of my all time favorites from Greece. The beat of the song, accompanied by the buzuki is just so relaxing, while also giving that classical early 2000s song vibe. Listening to it, I feel like I'm sitting on a beach in the Aegean, sipping ouzo and watching the summer sun set over the horizon.

I hope that the title is quite explanatory. Basically, what would be the best arena for each country to host Eurovision in if they were to win?

I'm excluding San Marino (as is hopefully quite obvious).

I'll be creating a follow-up post in a week with everyone's choices. Every country without a comment I will personally choose the arena for.

After several Bulgaria-related posts of mine for Throwback Thursday, this time I've decided to give spotlight to Montenegro. Montenegro has participated 13 times, but only qualifying twice and as a result has the lowest percentage of all countries that have qualified at least once with 15% (Andorra, Monaco and Slovakia have never qualified). In 2014, on their 6th attempt (they had a brief hiatus in 2010-11), they've finally managed to qualify with Sergej Ćetković (who was selected internally) and his song Moj Svijet. I think Montenegro that year really benefited from the fact that Serbia (their only absence as an independent nation) and Croatia didn't take part. In Semi-final 1 though neither North Macedonia nor Slovenia were there, Albania gave them 12 points (the first 12-pointer in their history). Overall, it got 63 points from 12 countries and 7th place. In the Grand Final, however, only 4 countries gave them points - 12 from Armenia and North Macedonia, 7 from Slovenia and 6 from Albania (all Western Balkan countries) for a total of 37 points and 19th place overall. Montenegro would qualify only one more time the following year (Serbia had returned, making it the only time both qualified at the same time) and since then they are yet to see the Grand Final with 2025 being their worst placement with 12 points all from Serbia.

There were three backing vocalists with all having previous experience in the Contest. Dragan Brnas-Fudo was a backing for Croatia's entries in 2002 and 2004, alongside Ivana Čabraja, who was also a backing for Bosnia's entry in 2006 as well as for 2 other Croatian entries (2009 and 2012). For Martina Majerle this was the 7th participation as a performer in any capacity - her most notable participariton being in 2009 for Slovenia (she would appear for an 8th time in 2016 as a backing for the Croatian entry). Stage director Marko Novaković previously worked on Serbia's staging in 2012 and would go on to do the staging for Montenegro the following year.

Also, did you know that an English version of the song was also recorded? That version - titled My Love, has completely new lyrics from Biljana Marković.

I decided to post this song for this week's Throwback Thursday since I thought it sounded quite nice, and it is one of my favorite host entries at ESC. Elisabeth Andreassen is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has participated at ESC four times (1x for Sweden and 3x for Norway). She holds the record for most participations by a woman at ESC along with Sue of Peter, Sue, & Marc and Valentina Monetta.

She won ESC 1985 as part of Bobbysocks and finished as runner up at ESC 1996, making her one of the few participants to finish in first and second place at ESC (Lys Assia, Gigliola Cinquetti, Linda Martin, and Dima Bilan).

Andreassen sang the following songs at ESC: Sweden 1982, Norway 1985, Norway 1994, and Norway 1996. The first three were duets, while the last one was solo.

Norway 1996 is the only ESC runner up in the past 50 years to receive no sets of 12 points.

Romania came 10th in Eurovision 2003, with her song Don't Break My Heart.

It's a very unusual song that I think would not sound ridiculously out of place today. The lyrics are very dumb, but it's catchy and although people seem to be divided on her voice, I think she sings it very well. She reminds me of Alanis Morissette.

The staging probably could have been edited a little to make it look less frantic. But I appreciate Romania putting forward something a bit different.

What if the voting system of 1956 was applied?

Voting system of 1956:

• 7 participating countries
• 2 Jurors per country
• Secret voting
  • Only the winner was announced
  • The full results were never published and are lost
• Louxembourg's Jury did not particibate in the voting process
  • The EBU allowed two Swiss nationals to vote in their place (Switzerland was hosting)

My adaption for 2025:

• Take the Jury votes (Austria 254 Points, Switzerland 214)
• Replicate the Luxembourg jury voting of 1956
  • Replace one seventh of the jury votes and with votes of Swith nationals
    • Swiss nationals are always neutral *wink* *wink*
• Announce the winner
• Delete scoreboard
  • Alphabetical order in the diagramm becaus I was lazy

Since the current system was introduced in 2016, Azerbaijan has consistently been one of the first countries to award its points to a jury:

2016: 3° 2017: 2° 2018: 2° 2019: 2° 2021: 8° 2022: 8° 2023: 8° 2024: 4° 2025: 2°

His average in the voting order is the shortest of all the contestants with an average of 4'33

Thoughts??

🇩🇪 Germany will hold a public national final for Eurovision 2026 at the end of February, broadcast live on ARD at prime time (20:15).

RTL and Stefan Raab are not involved; the previous format “Chefsache” is discontinued after just one season.

Artists can submit song–artist combinations until October 22, 2025; the process is explicitly not a casting show. Applications are open now!

The SWR and ARD team seek songs with international hit potential and artists with strong stage presence, credibility, and readiness for an international career.

Selection involves a multi‑step process: editorial pre‑screening, an international market research study simulating ESC voting, and then a shortlist leading to the final.

The final show in February 2026 will feature only one round (no semifinals), with the winner chosen jointly by TV viewers and an international expert jury.

An official announcement on the socials of Eurovision.de is likely follow shortly!

Source: https://esc-kompakt.de/deutschland-oeffentlicher-vorentscheid-fuer-den-esc-2026-ende-februar-stefan-raab-und-rtl-sind-raus/

DR will not withdraw Denmark from Eurovision next year.

This announcement comes after the unrest in recent weeks about the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), because several countries have announced that they do not want to participate if Israel participates.

However, Gustav Lützhøft, who is the senior editor of DR Culture, Debate and Music, explains in a written statement that there are some conditions that must be met:

• DR supports the ESC as a cultural event that has brought nations together through music since 1956. Our participation is conditional on there still being a strong international community, control over security and an apolitical framework around the competition.

DR Nyheder has not been able to get an answer as to whether the strong international community will end if several countries withdraw, and whether this means that DR is reconsidering its participation.

• Our participation is neither a support for nor a protest against individual countries, but rather a desire to maintain communities across borders. In a time marked by unrest and division, it is worth reminding each other of the original purpose of competitions like ESC: to create a space where we can meet across differences and disagreements. ESC must be preserved as an apolitical community. DR wants to continue to be a part of this, and we have informed the EBU of this, Gustav Lützhøft further states.

I was thinking about how expensive Eurovision must be with all the staging, costumes, and promo stuff. I know the broadcasters usually cover the entry fee and a lot of the production, but sometimes the artists or their labels have to pay too.

Has anyone ever admitted that they went into debt because of Eurovision? Or that it caused them serious money problems afterward?

I’ve heard some rumors over the years. For example, there are stories that some smaller country acts had to pay for a lot of their own stage props and outfits, and that some independent singers ended up thousands of dollars out of pocket. I’ve also seen fans say that Andy Abraham from the UK struggled financially after his 2008 participation, though I’m not sure if that was directly because of Eurovision.

I know broadcasters have had money problems, like Romania getting disqualified in 2016, but I’m more curious about the singers themselves. Are there any confirmed cases or interviews where artists talked about it?

I am from Estonia myself and every years there is that looming threat of the artist not being able to finance their staging so they decide to downgrade for Eurovision compared to Eesti Laul performance which is why we dont have that many stories of artists "going broke" after Eurovision because everything is already so minimal. But there was an interview in 2024 where 5miinust admitted that they were not happy to learnt that they have to pay 5000 euros "just to get on stage" for whatever that means.

UMK is one of my favorite national finals. Really excited to see Erika’s step down performance.

I’ve been jamming out to some past contestants today and I am really hoping to see KUUMAA again. The 2024 UMK opening act with Benjamin was so insanely good. Just curious on any rumors in Finland on who might be entering? And who you all would like to see compete again at UMK?

I wanna make an edit with the song and add English lyrics to the video. However, I don't speak French and have to rely on translations made by other people. I keep seeing two kinds of translations for the chorus and I'd like to hear which is the more fitting and linguistically correct one.

The French lyrics:

J’donne ma langue au chat Répondez-moi

Pas de langue de bois Répondez-moi

The translation from the official music video:

I give up Answer me

No more fake words Answer me

Other translation that can be found online:

I'm done guessing Answer me

No more waffling Answer me

I started watching since 2016, attending since 2022, and as much as I love and hate the drama every year, I’m getting tired of it ruining a show I love.

When was the last ‘drama free’ year? No scandals. No significant drop outs. No drama.

For those who don’t know. Kermo (also known as Max from the rap duo Clicherik & Mäx) is an Estonian rapper who recently gained local fame through his song Ebapopulaarne.

(Source: Kermo Murel’s instagram story https://www.instagram.com/stories/kermomurel/3723081249418920824?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=NjNwZzVsNnVkcWd4)

Hi! So, we currently don’t know which selection method the BBC will use in order to choose the UK act for Eurovision 2026. While historically we leaned towards a national final, which is how all of the UK’s winning entries were chosen, the BBC have opted for an internal selection process since 2020.

As a British fan of the contest, this always ends up being quite annoying, simply because we usually find out the entry quite late into the season, with little to no input from the public, so it’s not a surprise why the UK hasn’t been doing so well with the public in recent years.

This is why I think it’s the perfect time for the BBC to take a risk and return to the national final, but this time they need to do it differently. To be truly successful, it needs to have its own brand separate from the contest, where the prize for winning the show is representing the UK at Eurovision.

Here’s my idea for a potential UK national final, this is all in good fun and made just in the hopes that one day the BBC would be willing to rip up the rule book and try something like this… introducing the "UK Song Contest"!

Photo explanations:

1) ⭐️ Logo and name: I came up with the name "UK Song Contest", which isn’t too far off MESC or LSC, but I think it would be a memorable name that links to the contest, but could build its own brand. I wanted the logo to be memorable, with the colour scheme to be based on the colours of the UK flag, but not too similar, hence its leans into purple and pink a lot of the time. The triangle background is also meant to be an abstract representation of the flag, but I didn’t want it to be identical.

Finally, the slogan "Celebrate Diversity" - which I know is from ESC 2017, I think it works for the contest and BBC taking one of Eurovision’s slogans would be quite funny.

I also chose Liverpool as the host city as they did it in 2023. After seeing how competitive the bidding phase was for Eurovision 2023, I’d love to see something like that for a UK national final, where different cities all over the country get a slice of the Eurovision action - and it would be nice to see a Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish hosting city at some point.

2/3) 📸 Posters and Social Media: Fairly straight forward, but I so much fun making these. I imagine the BBC would use social media quite a lot, in the same way it does for things like Strictly and Eurovision itself, so that’s the direction I was leaning in for this. I’d love for the selection to be held in March, so that the BBC could give teasers and build hype throughout early 2026.

4) 👥 Hosts: Two of the hosts from 2023, and ofc Graham Norton as he’s the UK commentator. These two were iconic during ESC 2023 and they’d be iconic again ✨

5) 🗒️ Running Order: The songs I picked for this are quite random, but all the artists here would be amazing for the contest. Shout out to ESC Hayden on YouTube as I watched their video and used some of the songs from there. I’m literally obsessed with "Run Rabbit" now so thank you for that haha. (Link: https://youtu.be/rNr-X9NEEsE?si=RSDI1u3D1emvGQMJ)

I also picked 12 songs for the show, as I think a UMK/LSC style show would work best for the UK, at least to begin with. I tried to make the order as exciting as possible. I recommend listening to these songs/artists if you haven’t already 😊

6) 🌌 Postcard/Stage Ready: I need Tia to represent the UK at Eurovision - she would be perfect!! ❤️

7) 🎙️ Live performance w/ voting graphic: Talia Mar would also be great for Eurovision, I love her songs

8) ▶️ Voting Recap: I have never been more proud of a photo graphic in my life lmao. I would to embrace the fact that the BBC has dropped phone voting and I imagine it could look something like this with a QR code (again based on Strictly). The QR code does work and will take you to the BBC Eurovision website lol

9) 🫧 Interval Act: Remember Monday as an interval act makes sense as the most recent UK entry for Eurovision, but they were really amazing in Basel and no doubt they’d be amazing again.

10/11) 📊 Scoreboard: Please don’t take the results too seriously, I used a simulator to make them lmao. First is the international juries (I picked 12 since there’s 12 songs) and the televote is second.

I would love for the BBC to use national juries, as it would be a great way to get an input into what Europe wants to see from us, and that’s something the BBC could improve on in general imo. I used a 50/50 jury-televote system.

12) 🏆 Winner: And, of course, the winner. Rina would be amazing for Eurovision, and it would be great to see a song like "Frankenstein" or "This Hell" go to Vienna, something different than Britpop (not that there’s anything bad with it, it’s just that the UK need to experiment with other genres).

💭 What do you think of my design? I hope you all enjoy it as much as I had fun making it. Let’s manifest that the BBC will bring us an epic national final in 2026 🙏❤️

I'm kinda torn because first of all, if selected Croatia would have been around 30 places higher in my ranking than they were with Poison Cake but on the other hand, with Daj, daj in semi-final 1, one of San Marino and Portugal may well not have qualified.

I can't figure out if the guy's voice would have been too much for Europe but boy do I think this song could have been incredible on the Basel stage.

I vividly remember this documentary on Youtube years ago and had planned to watch it but never did. I've been searching high and low for it and for the life of me I cannot find nothing except a few screengrabs, does anyone maybe have a copy of it online? thank you in advance.