Live EUROVISION 2025 - REHEARSALS AND FINAL DISCUSSION THREAD

[Sean]

Please post all discussion, content and reaction relating to the rehearsals in Basel in this thread!

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Semi-Final 1 discussion begins on page 38 of this thread.
Semi-Final 2 discussion begins on page 96 of this thread.
Final discussion begins on page 157 of this thread.

 

[seriouslyscratchy1]

Something feels off with the winning moments in Junior Eurovision 2024 and Adult Eurovision 2025 - I don't like the celebratory gold colour palette - it feels too "The Oscars" feel

 

[Myrel]

Back for another PED coping session. This year I purposefully kept myself out of the Eurovision bubble and therefore out of any hype/hate trains, meaning I didn't listen to any of the songs until they were first performed in the semi finals, didn't watch any YT reviews, unfollowed any accounts that cover Eurovision and so managed to avoid any talk of favourites and mentions of odds. It was hard, but worth it to go into the contest with a clear and mostly objective mind and having no clue who should or shouldn't win.

After both semi finals these were the countries I expected to do well and did:

- One of my favourites. Jury vote let them down a bit. Deserved more, but still a good result.
- Faultless performance. Simplicity and class. Love that it got a top 6.
- It's Italy, they can do no wrong. Another good song, beautifully performed. Another top 5 well earned.
- Strong entry with amazing vocals. Predicted a top 3 for them and they actually won. Very deserved.


Countries I thought would do better:

- A good advertisement for the absolute need for a jury vote, because the public can't be trusted. Enchanting performance ruined by the televote.


The "I don't get it" section. Songs I thought would/should do a lot worse than they did:

& - It's just my personal bias against joke entries. Just not for me. Like I said, I don't get it and probably never will.


Dishonourable mentions:

- No explanation needed. I liked the song, but what the actual fuck? There's just no way it should be a contender for victory. I don't know what can realistically be done, but this needs to stop.


My personal top 10 was:

- It's stuck on a loop in my brain. Send help. I get why they might be disappointed, but it's still an improvement. Plus Tynna is already winning in life with that face. No one should be THAT pretty






- This was never gonna do well in Eurovision, but I love it. Glad it qualified.

- I thought it was pretty interesting and catchy. Terrible staging and outfit though.
- Yeah, I'd give that a point or two. Also wish they'd fuck off already.

 

[Gitte]

I personally love austria's entry, happy it won, and I do in fact play it at random, all that has been said. But it saved us from an explosion and point is we need to talk about the potential explosion.

I also loved Nemo's interval act. I didn't like the outfit (could've gone with a more flattering cut/color) and the wig, but loved the song and the sentiment.

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

Jury (supposedly) exists to judge the entries professionally and prevent block voting etc. things happening. They are not doing that.

either needs to be banned or be treated same as others. This can't go on.

Nope. What can't go on is admitting a televote result is fair when some vote 20 times and some 100. That can't go on.

Now tell me: apart maybe Estonia which country does not deserve their jury points, by the way? Switzerland? Don't even make me laugh.

 

[GermanBango]

Maybe going back to the old voting system could be a solution. Idk.

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

What a pathetic discussion over last pages. Not a single word about the winner which is obviously a weak song, just hate about Israel and Ukraine.

I'l say it then... Wasted Love is one of the weakest, coldest entries ever IMO. Worse than Nemo last year. The best thing I can say about is that JJ seems a nice chap, and that it saved us from an Israel win.

 

[Chrisiam]

Am I going crazy, or are almost all the nations that underperformed with the tele-vote all the nations with songs that were more "Audience pleasers"? And by "Audience pleasers" I mean songs that had sing-along choruses or had those elements to the song that people clap along or "la-la-la" along to?

I know that acts like the UK or San Marino wouldn't exactly have been leaping up the scoreboard had the audiences not been muted, but rewatching a few clips over the past hour it really underlines just how empty so much of it feels. And I can't help but feel that muting the audiences killed the vibe on songs that really were about vibes moreso than singing or lyrics. It it feels like it almost makes some people think "Well if the crowd in the stadium doesn't care for Malta why should I?".

 

[Gitte]

Maybe going back to the old voting system could be a solution. Idk.

the blended votes, you mean?

I have wondered about it too. Of course the split results did get released afterwards and did cause meltdowns such as sweden & italy 2015, but that meltdown seems like nothing compared to the last few years and the disrepancies are less obvious at first sight.

 

[GermanBango]

the blended votes, you mean?

I have wondered about it too. Of course the split results did get released afterwards and did cause meltdowns such as sweden & italy 2015, but that meltdown seems like nothing compared to the last few years and the disrepancies are less obvious at first sight.

Yup exactly that + it would be harder that way to spin a high televoting score into support for war crimes.

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

Now that I think about it, what about 2013 score system with positional average to determine points? It worked extremely well in 2013 if you ask me, but it was never taken in consideration since...

 

[GermanBango]

Someone needs to calculate the 2025 results with the old system. Austria would have probably still won, Estonia second, Italy third?

Edit: I will try to do it. Give me 40 minutes or so haha.

 

[Shadowfuxcs]

I have woken up with a sense of pride that the professional juries & music experts ranked in the top 10! We’ll ignore the televote as that was pretty messed up on the whole…. Something needs to change there. Mess

IMO the UK got what it deserved from the public and they're lucky that the juries have a bias for generic pop sung in English. Ranking UK and Malta over Albania in the jury vote as a huge injustice.

 

[EscGeek]

Now that I think about it, what about 2013 score system with positional average to determine points? It worked extremely well in 2013 if you ask me, but it was never taken in consideration since...

If it worked so well they would release the full results.

 

[Etanna]

I actually liked this year's voting sequence more than 2023 where it was clear that the juries had decided the winner like 5 mins in...

Btw I think that we have an overlooked Eurovision powerhouse - Estonia. It has been consistently sending amazing entries (whether you personally like them or not aside, they have been original and successful). Getting an Estonian win would be an absolute dream! And their NF always looks great, so we'd be in for an amazing hosting

I mean the discrepancies are also intentional? There would be zero point in having juries if they had the exact same results as the televote.

And yes, of course the current composition of juries is ridiculous. My personal highlight is that our 2nd placer in our NF, Lyza, is in our jury. You heard it right, Lyza, the girl they made a huuuuge show of in this year's NF, that it was her first performance on a stage, and that it is her first song LMAO. That's our "music professional".

On the other hand, when juries are acclaimed professionals we, fans, complain that they are out of touch with modern music and that they should be replaced with young hip people... I feel like it's a good thing that there is a variety of people with different music backgrounds and interests...

let me clarify on weapons; the country launching/ whose soldiers are using them. And yes, even tho I love ukraine in eurovision pre-2022 and I also loved last year, the voting is a bit weird there as well and it would include them.

I also have azerbaijan in mind, but am not knowledgeable enough about the kinda swept under the rug and not at all talked about azerbaijan - armenia conflict to know whether they should both be included in the byebye. Afaik Azerbaijan is more so the aggressor, but it's not like they are getting freebie televotes anyway.

I tried to word it vaguely on purpose, because it is complicated, but I think it is clear that israel's votes are off and it is influenced by the political situation. Maybe #3 and #2 can solve it in part.

Maybe also a limit on televotes. No 20 votes/person, maybe 5 or max 5 for one country, and ID rather than creditcard/phonecard based. People can have multiple creditcards or simcards and send like 100 points to one country that way, which has been proven some israel supporters did, but multiple id's is harder.

This is just impossible to define since we are all involved in multiple conflicts atm and there are other imminent wars that could break out. Our soldiers, finances and weapons are in the battlefield, our leaders are actively participating in all sorts of meetings regarding the conflict(s), many pro-Palestine and pro-Ukraine fans are vocal about their opinions... And I don't want us to pretend that we are neutral or something, that's just ridiculous in this situation.

Limit on televotes sounds interesting although I'm afraid it's easy to go around that by buying more sim cards :/ Maybe the EBU could pay for some sort of survey which could at least determine how many of the votes are caused by diaspora, by authentic political opinions, by music taste and by improper political campaign?

They teased us with an appearance the whole time and then didn't even bother to play her tape in the final, so most people never saw anything of her lmao

I don't think the hosts did, they were quite clear about her non-appearance in semi 1. Some fans or delegations were clearly making up stories *again*

If Russia fucks off, like I hope, that will also mean we can declare 2026 winner without even starting the contest. Another thing preventing Israel from winning, and I feel extremely sorry saying this, are Ukraine pity votes from Ukrainian refugees spread all around Europe. So I hope Ukraine can find its peace, but in the same time I feel that will be the nail in the coffin for an Israeli win in the contest.

If Russia fucks off Ukraine, it will take the EBU just about three seconds before they allow them in Eurovision again (along with Belarus) and we'll be dealing with an even bigger propaganda machine than Israel has going for them. They were already doing that before 2022 (remember the many years where a dated unoriginal song was a sure top 3 placer just because they were from Russia?) and now they would go at it even harder.

But fifth in the televoting in the final is... excepecially with this song. Give this to the Uk and they come last with nul points again, just saying.

Don't compare the X factor rejects the UK has been giving us the past few years with an authentic (albeit not necessarily widely popular) entry from Ukraine!

If I were a host nation, I would go for a ballad. With the participation in the Grand Final guaranteed, I would look to the juries and expect loads of votes. All ballads did well in the final yesterday. In fact this was a massive ballad year. And the ballads were indeed good, but I still find the juries too one-sided here. Or to put it another way, given than the juries are so one-sided, I think their influence should be reduced.

Very good point! This is a clear advantage for the Big 5+Host who don't have to go through 2 different stages unlike other participants who have to appeal to very different audiences in the 2 shows

 

[Grinch]

Nope. What can't go on is admitting a televote result is fair when some vote 20 times and some 100. That can't go on.

Now tell me: apart maybe Estonia which country does not deserve their jury points, by the way? Switzerland? Don't even make me laugh.

Didn't say it was fair. public votes were not natural, so many countries gave 12 which needs to be looked into. But jury votes also need to be looked into. They have been trying to to keep very low for the last 2 years, so it wouldn't win. This is riddicilous! They can't go on keeping in the game but ruining its chance by rigging the jury. That's what I'm saying.

Either ban them or let them compete with equal conditions.

Nothing against , I knew it would be or at the end days ago. I like it. Don't come at me.

 

[seriouslyscratchy1]

JJ is the lowest scoring winner since 2015

 

[Alsou4ever]

Someone needs to calculate the 2025 results with the old system. Austria would have probably still won, Estonia second, Italy third?

Edit: I will try to do it. Give me 40 minutes or so haha.

*waiting for @GermanBango results*

 

[jatojo]

IMO the UK got what it deserved from the public and they're lucky that the juries have a bias for generic pop sung in English. Ranking UK and Malta over Albania in the jury vote as a huge injustice.

I completely disagree that the UK song was "generic pop" unless your definition of generic is different than mine. It was a very daring composition for a pop song. A generic pop song, on the other hand, means that the song follows a template with verse, bridge and chorus and with very common chord combinations. An example of this is the Dutch song.

As to the voting for Albania, I agree 100 percent. The juries should have rewarded that entry more.

 

[Etanna]

JJ is the lowest scoring winner since 2015

I feel like you cannot make simple comparisons like this, the context is simply too different Austria did very well in both sets of votes without any boosts or advantages. It looks like a completely deserved, solid win to me.

 

[mauve]

I completely disagree that the UK song was "generic pop" unless your definition of generic is different than mine. It was a very daring composition for a pop song. A generic pop song, on the other hand, means that the song follows a template with verse, bridge and chorus and with very common chord combinations. An example of this is the Dutch song.

As to the voting for Albania, I agree 100 percent. The juries should have rewarded that entry more.

Also think that the song itself wasn't generic at all, it partly reminded me of the female version of Queen. But I don't like what UK made of the staging tbh. It was too girly for my taste.