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It's the 69th running of the Eurovision Song Contest and a few countries have entered into the spirit of things... Malta are "serving Kant" (until the censors got to them and now they're just "serving"), Australia's "Milkshake Man" is about drinking his special milk, and Finland (who I've backed to win at 28-1) have got "Ich Komme", which needs no translation.

Remarkably, 24 songs are either wholly or partially not in English this year, including six wholly or partially in French (France, Switzerland, Luxembourg unsurprisingly, but also Australia, Israel, and The Netherlands).

The UK is, much like last year, hard to predict. I don't especially like it but it reminds me of the Dutch entry from 2017 (jury: 135; televote: 15) and I honestly suspect that will happen again. The juries have very little to vote for this year so it's not entirely impossible we could even win the jury vote but get zero from the public again.

The standard isn't great this year. This year's contest, if you believe the bookies, is a one-horse race for Sweden, and whilst I really like Bara Bada Bastu, it'd break quite a few unwritten rules if it were to win it (wrong language, key change...).

Tonight's first semi final is one of the easiest to predict in history: Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, San Marino, Albania, The Netherlands, Cyprus will qualify. Hard to see what else could make it.

As ever I have ranked all the songs in reverse order: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ_h0md7t9U

Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, San Marino, Albania, The Netherlands, Cyprus will qualify. Hard to see what else could make it.

Well I got 8 right. HOW did Portugal get in!? And I'm also amazed Iceland made it.

I got eight too. I had Belgium and Cyprus in, and Portugal and Iceland out.

My predictions tonight - much harder to predict: Australia, Latvia, Armenia, Austria, Lithuania, Malta, Denmark, Luxembourg, Israel, Finland. Greece could easily make it but it's hard to see what misses out.

Edit: 9/10 for my predictions. Greece for Australia the only one I missed.

So there's still only ever been one winning song named after a Tube station....

RJSRdg wrote: ↑18 May 2025, 08:22 So there's still only ever been one winning song named after a Tube station....

I suppose "Wasted Love" could apply to all FNCs that don't get completed...

RJSRdg wrote: ↑18 May 2025, 08:22 So there's still only ever been one winning song named after a Tube station....

Time to get Duffy to re-work “Warwick Avenue” for our 2026 entry then…

RobbieM wrote: ↑18 May 2025, 22:34

RJSRdg wrote: ↑18 May 2025, 08:22 So there's still only ever been one winning song named after a Tube station....

Time to get Duffy to re-work “Warwick Avenue” for our 2026 entry then…

A pointless task, as no song that is released before the 1st of September is eligible for the following year's contest. That's why Montenegro had to change their song for this year.

tubeguru wrote: ↑19 May 2025, 11:09 A pointless task, as no song that is released before the 1st of September is eligible for the following year's contest. That's why Montenegro had to change their song for this year.

Ah well. Our only hope is for me to finish writing my latest musical epic, entitled "Fairlop"...