Estonia ESTONIA 2025 - Tommy Cash - Espresso macchiato

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[BorisBubbles]

This would be a banger if the performance was any good. The breath control isn't there and they had literally NO idea how to stage this. MEH

I don't know about that, it looked pretty intentional to me.

The meme dances, the oversized tie and suit, the security guards, the human centipede choreos. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be bad on purpose, as a mockery of the contest.

What irks me though as a viewer, is the entitlement that comes with his fake persona. You don't produce something that is so deliberately low-budget, blasé and trash, and then behave like you're awesome, the winner of eurovision and deserve applause.

Like even Joost, whom I DESPISE, at least behaved like a cheery idiot, conform with what his song was. "Europapa" at least endeavoured to make people happy. The vibe is get from Tommy otoh is "haha i'm awesome and vaguely racist now clap" and that may work on children and adults with the emotional intelligence of a toddler (Käärijä :-/ ), I find the attitude behind it off-putting and vile. It's making a mockery not just of the contest (which is fine in itself if you're funny) but also of everyone who puts their heart and soul into the contest.

Has Eurovision not suffered enough?

 

[Lietuvis]

I caught myself humming this song today while going to the kitchen for a coffee. It's quite catchy. But yes, it's less of an innocent fun entry like Joost, and more of a fuck you like Sylvia Knight. I still kind of like it though. But I liked Sylvia Knight too, so...

 

[I bims]

I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be bad on purpose, as a mockery of the contest.

While I agree for the most part, I disagree with this conclusion.
Tommy is a buddy of Joost and Käärjä, both love Eurovision, especially Joost did. They took the contest very seriously but they didn't take THEMSELVES seriously. And they managed to toe that fine line to have an unserious entry that didn't come across as a mockery of the contest itself, because their entries had high production value and the delivery was good.

And I think Tommy wants to be like them but simply failed to achieve that, cause the production value (and performance talent) isn't there. And his attempt to mimic Joost/Käärijä/BabyLasagna by not taking himself so serious backfired and makes it all look like a mockery, cause it is all so uninspired.

 

[Fluke]

Totally on board with this, for now. But it really does need some improvement.

Musically, sort of okay for how deliberately weird it is. Even if it's deliberately repetitive, the chorus could be arranged a little better. And most of all, i don't like the guttural voice that he uses, obviously mocking singers who try to sound almost like they're crying, but the way he does it is just ugly and gets annoying quickly. He should use a more "normal" voice, at least after the intro. Also, the way the verses jump back into the chorus sound too sudden and amateurish, even for a joke entry.

Besides the staging, which he's already said he's going to rework completely, i think he needs to decide more clearly what kind of character he's playing. Is it a parody of a "serious" singer or just an all around goofy character? The NF performance worked with the Estonians because they know him from before and have heard about his intents with the song etc. but in the ESC most viewers will only know you for these three minutes.

Either way, i can see a lot of potential for staging this differently and really hope for something new and awesome in the ESC performance. Maybe he could start it crawling out of a giant paper cup filled with beans, or involve a giant paper cup in some other way.... good luck either way!

 

[Lietuvis]

Maybe he could start it crawling out of a giant paper cup filled with beans

That's Grammy Awards material right there

 

[Ted Talks]

While I agree for the most part, I disagree with this conclusion.
Tommy is a buddy of Joost and Käärjä, both love Eurovision, especially Joost did. They took the contest very seriously but they didn't take THEMSELVES seriously. And they managed to toe that fine line to have an unserious entry that didn't come across as a mockery of the contest itself, because their entries had high production value and the delivery was good.

And I think Tommy wants to be like them but simply failed to achieve that, cause the production value (and performance talent) isn't there. And his attempt to mimic Joost/Käärijä/BabyLasagna by not taking himself so serious backfired and makes it all look like a mockery, cause it is all so uninspired.

Funny how we all interpret things differently. Europapa was a cynical mockery of the contest to me - and one of the most blatant mockeries of it there’s been in recent years.

No redeeming features about the song or Joost whatsoever to me.

I’ll give you Kaarija and Baby Lasagne who I felt were close to mockery (from a place of genuine love) but didn’t overstep the mark. Joost overstepped the mark by a long way to me - and the less said about him as a person to me, the better.

I don’t know enough about Tommy at this point, but I feel like I can lump him in the same category as Joost from those 3 interminable minutes alone.

 

[BorisBubbles]

While I agree for the most part, I disagree with this conclusion.
Tommy is a buddy of Joost and Käärjä, both love Eurovision, especially Joost did. They took the contest very seriously but they didn't take THEMSELVES seriously. And they managed to toe that fine line to have an unserious entry that didn't come across as a mockery of the contest itself, because their entries had high production value and the delivery was good.

And I think Tommy wants to be like them but simply failed to achieve that, cause the production value (and performance talent) isn't there. And his attempt to mimic Joost/Käärijä/BabyLasagna by not taking himself so serious backfired and makes it all look like a mockery, cause it is all so uninspired.

Hmm. I think I only agree partially with you on that.

What irritates me the most is the persona. Käärijä really did not have a persona, the Käärijä that we see on and off the podium is merely an extention of his personality. It felt authentic. Käärijä's spiritual successors, Baby Lasanga and Erika Vikman also feel like -you know- themselves: social outcasts that magnify the part of their personality that they've been receiving the most flak for in their life (social anxiety and sexual rambunctuousness respectively) as a means of self-empowerment.

This is also why I don't like Joost so much. His persona is largely artificial, and so in a sense is Tommy's. They're both extremely cynical GenZ'er whose art betrays their very bleak, fatalistic outlook on life.

Tomas might be a fan of the contest, but he's indeed in a bro-clique with Joost and Käärijä it would make sense that he would want to give the contest a middle finger on purpose with a low-budget joke act. I'm all for it, if it's done well. The EBU definitely deserves to be mocked and ridiculed, and the best way to do that is by making a mockery on the stage itself.

My vote is a prerogative that I choose to extend to you if you deliver something for me to vote for, not something you're entitled to just because you tell me you owe my vote?

He needs to go back to the drawing board and really go overboard with mocking the EBU. What he currently is bringing is something that gives the contest a bad reputation with casuals, and that's the second last thing we need right now (the last thing being the inevitable Israel victory that we're cruising towards.)

 

[I bims]

What irritates me the most is the persona. Käärijä really did not have a persona, the Käärijä that we see on and off the podium is merely an extention of his personality. It felt authentic. Käärijä's spiritual successors, Baby Lasanga and Erika Vikman also feel like -you know- themselves: social outcasts that magnify the part of their personality that they've been receiving the most flak for in their life (social anxiety and sexual rambunctuousness respectively) as a means of self-empowerment.

This is also why I don't like Joost so much. His persona is largely artificial, and so in a sense is Tommy's. They're both extremely cynical GenZ'er whose art betrays their very bleak, fatalistic outlook on life.

I definitely agree that his persona is a big reason his attempt doesn't work as well as the others did. Especially since there's no good concept behind the persona. The premise of mocking Italians is also already a hard sell lmao but the most innovative idea about this entry. But the rest... He thinks that being serious while doing meme dances and singing a goofy song would make it funny but it's just lazy and uninspired. It's such an obvious go-to.

"Man is in a suit and looking serious BUT he's dancing funny"

Funny how we all interpret things differently. Europapa was a cynical mockery of the contest to me - and one of the most blatant mockeries of it there’s been in recent years.

I have a different opinion on Joost since he dedicated his song to his dead parents who watched the show with him and he had a tribute to them. That did add a lot of authenticity and made it clear he cared about the contest. Also his song was literally celebrating the idea of the EU and being open minded, it wasn't just some party song. Watching interviews with him also made it clear that he was taking this seriously. Example.

 

[BorisBubbles]

Funny how we all interpret things differently. Europapa was a cynical mockery of the contest to me - and one of the most blatant mockeries of it there’s been in recent years.

I'd argue that it didn't go far enough with the mockery. I had expectations for Joost, and he simply didn't meet them.

I’ll give you Kaarija and Baby Lasagne who I felt were close to mockery (from a place of genuine love) but didn’t overstep the mark.

I wouldn't even call them mockeries. They were fun entries that didn't take themselves seriously and were carried by their larger-than-life personalities. They're on the same level as a Chanel or a Nemo or a Barbara Pravi for me - they *are* the song, or rather the song is an extention of them, which happens to be quite goofy, actually.

I definitely agree that his persona is a big reason his attempt doesn't work as well as the others did. Especially since there's no good concept behind the persona. The premise of mocking Italians is also already a hard sell lmao but the most innovative idea about this entry. But the rest... He thinks that being serious while doing meme dances and singing a goofy song would make it funny but it's just lazy and uninspired. It's such an obvious go-to.

"Man is in a suit and looking serious BUT he's dancing funny"

Yeah, exactly! It's so lowest base, it is boring, and that was the main reason why I've always disliked Espresso Macchiato prior to Saturday night. Seeing it live however with that awful, unlikeable persona he puts on as he performs it is what really drops it into the basement of garbage joke acts, alongside LT United and Jendrik Sigwart. You simply don't want a person -or a character like that- to be successful. At least not over an act that you respect more (which is all of the others for me).

I have a different opinion on Joost since he dedicated his song to his dead parents who watched the show with him and he had a tribute to them. That did add a lot of authenticity and made it clear he cared about the contest. Also his song was literally celebrating the idea of the EU and being open minded, it wasn't just some party song.

The dedication at the end of "Europapa" is precisely why I turned on it, actually. I was on the fence about "Europapa" (trending towards dislike but with an open mind that it could deliver) for most of the season, but as soon as I saw that tribute -and the way it was staged, performed and added to the recap- I instantly bailed.

Dedicating a song to your deceased parents is okay in itself, but he really turned into a Cry-On-Cue moment and... well... it's basically the same deal as Tommy's "Vote For Me I Am Awesome" attitude. It's emotional manipulation to make me feel bad enough so I would want to clear my conscience and vote for him. At least, that's how such behaviour came across to me, which is something I see as a major behavioral red flag.

Marita Satti's dad died three weeks before Eurovision, Nutsa's brother also passed away a week before the preparties began. Where is their moment to talk about grief and loss? Why would Joost's parents matter more to me -a viewer who doesn't know him personally- than the deceased relatives of other contestants, to which those performances were undoubtably also decidated? Why does he think himself so important? It just doesn't fit.

For reference, Klemen's song, which might as well be called "MY WIFE HAD CANCER" for how unsubtle it is, at least has a bridge where he declares his love for her. You really get the sense there that is the love for his wife is the priority here, and not what other people may think about the bad times he went through.

Even if the rest of the "Europapa" performance was bad (which it was), I probably would not have disliked it as much if Joost and his team hadn't forced that little bit of emotional extortion after almost three minutes of happy-go-lucky europe mockery. It's too much of a whiplash to be believable.


as an aside I quite like the discussion we're getting out of this. Intelligent discussions on a Eurovision message board. In a Tommy Cash thread no less? GROUNDBREAKING?!

 

[b4ld3r]

Not sure about the Joost or Käärijä comparisons in terms of the song, I think a better one would be Little Big with Uno, which if I remember correctly people also thought was underwhelming and pretty basic compared to their back-catalog initially. Of course that doesn't help us much lol

 

[jatojo]

What to do with a song that's in my top 5 so far in terms of studio versions of NF songs - but is a pain to listen to in its live edition?

Perhaps you just take an average from those two. Yes, that's what I will do for now. So it'll be a 5.

 

[I bims]

Yeah, exactly! It's so lowest base, it is boring, and that was the main reason why I've always disliked Espresso Macchiato prior to Saturday night. Seeing it live however with that awful, unlikeable persona he puts on as he performs it is what really drops it into the basement of garbage joke acts, alongside LT United and Jendrik Sigwart. You simply don't want a person -or a character like that- to be successful. At least not over an act that you respect more (which is all of the others for me).

There was a promo picture floating around of him looking like a gay 70s porn star in a glittery suit and I thought he would serve this kind of energy with the song. It would be the right kind of camp for Eurovision, so I had hopes there would be more coming.
And then we got "Goofy man in a suit doing meme dances". The comparison to Jendrik is painfully accurate.

Even if the rest of the "Europapa" performance was bad (which it was), I probably would not have disliked it as much if Joost and his team hadn't forced that little bit of emotional extortion after almost three minutes of happy-go-lucky europe mockery. It's too much of a whiplash to be believable.

Definitely agree that the tribute was very clumsy and I wasn't a fan of it, but it showed he and his team had a decent understanding of Eurovision and strategy, which still indicates that his Eurovision endeavour was not a mockery of the contest and he did take it serious.

I was always a bit torn on it. I can understand why he wanted to add it, cause that's just his backstory and the reason he loved and joined the contest. Don't think he felt more important than others by focusing on it, but to show his genuine interest in the contest and its message. Which is needed when you join with a party song like his. Someone singing a ballad or well choreographed pop track doesn't have to prove that they take the plattform seriously. Joost probably felt like he had to and I don't think that it was even a wrong conclusion. But the wrong solution.

Knowing how often they have to rehearse that moment and how often he has to stand there putting on his "sad voice" it just does not work for me anymore. It was too much of a crutch to uplift the rest of the whole thing. But I'm an obssessed Eurovision gay who knows more about the contest and the production than the average viewer who only watches the one final performance. For those it might feel more genuine. And definitely leaves a different impression than Espresso Macchiato, which is giving "mockery" from front to back in its current state. Let's hope he doesn't use a crutch like Joost.

He needs to drop the flop persona and meme dances, be a sexy italian porn star with a dark but glittery staging or something. Make it look expensive, have a good choreo. And work on your damn vocals. Make it look like you care, so it doesn't come across half-assed and entitled

as an aside I quite like the discussion we're getting out of this. Intelligent discussions on a Eurovision message board. In a Tommy Cash thread no less? GROUNDBREAKING?!

Not sure about the Joost or Käärijä comparisons in terms of the song, I think a better one would be Little Big with Uno, which if I remember correctly people also thought was underwhelming and pretty basic compared to their back-catalog initially. Of course that doesn't help us much lol

Based on the general style Little Big is definitely the better comparison, I agree... but they also are very good live performers. Their "Russia Decides" performance (which is the closest we will get of a Eurovision performance) was very well done, polished and showed care for the craft, despite being a meme song. So it didn't come across as a mockery of the whole contest as well.

 

[aef]

I don’t get what’s funny about this. Käärijä and Baby Lasagna played in another league, they had fun yet catchy and elaborate songs. And their stagings weren’t one big silly joke.

Espresso macchiato is definitely more like Windows95Man/No rules. But definitely worse than that. Not funny at all, just silly and very bad…

Well this will have its fans but I’m for sure not one of them. points

 

[AliceEsc]

I don't know how to rate this and where to put it in my ranking.
It has a very catchy little tune, his delivery on the verses is good. The chorus on the other hand.. I wish he would go all in and sound completely off-key, or mask it with a load of pre-recorded backing vocals, as he is allowed to do.

Now, will I vote for it? No, probably not, but I will enjoy it. Btw, does anyone know why his live performance isn't anywhere to be found?

 

[Paco Roca]

If I were the president of Nescafé, I would hire him for an advertisement.

 

[Sammy]

For me it's a song that is funny when you hear it for the first time, but it quickly fades afterwards. The same with the staging. First time - it's entertaining but I suppose that after a second or third time it gets boring.

 

[Yoozek]

If I were the president of Nescafé, I would hire him for an advertisement.

Oh, they started making actual coffee?

 

[lasse braun]

i have given a fine .
momently i think,that we get a big battle at basel between finland and estonia for that pop trash crown - big parts of the bubble will cheering finland and the "outa space" will cheering estonia much more - estonia has the smarter product in this battle and will get maybe some help from PH.
jurys?
in recent years,the juries have become unreadable.

 

[Mainshow]

Day 3 after his victory and the video is still hidden/deleted on Eurovision.tv's official account.
(Armwniais also missing but they haven't uploaded it in the first place).

 

[AlekS]

^ Not hiding it cuz it's so bad

Eesti Laul YT channel is gone

ERR re-uploaded all (except the winner) Eesti Laul videos to their channel.