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.

 

[Kev4000]

We had this situation in 2024. We have this now on 2025. We will also have this in 2026.

 

[EscGeek]

Once during jury voting, Hazel pulled a face like she is going to pee herself or at least give birth. I think they were hearing the audience very well.

That's how her face always looks like.. she even made some jokes about her resting bitch face

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

We had this situation in 2024. We have this now on 2025. We will also have this in 2026.

I miss 2021...

 

[GermanBango]

A lot for their entry this year, it was a mess. Over huge favourites like Albania, Sweden and Estonia? People didn't genuienly like it more than either of these three, I don't buy it.

Ayooo you are talking to someone who had Ukraine as their #1.

 

[aef]

The quality already took a nose-dive since only jury darlings win. This will have put off even more artists.

Can we just stop this jury vs televote discussion for once. And calling everything rigged/ fishy (not you but others…)

2016: compromise winner
2017: combined winner
2018: televoting winner
2019: compromise winner
2021: televoting winner
2022: televoting winner
2023: jury winner
2024: jury winner
2025: jury winner

So the jury doesn’t always decide the winner!

And as much as I would’ve loved winning in 2019, in 2023 or in 2024, I respect the overall result. The system is what it is, and still every year people are debating over it and hating on it.

In fact juries saved us from this year.

And even without I would’ve really disliked an win.

You just need to convince both sides in a way that’s enough for the overall win. That’s it.

 

[Verjamem]

That's how her face always looks like.. she even made some jokes about her resting bitch face

Well, we had more opportunities to follow their faces than actual scoreboard

 

[GermanBango]

I miss 2021...

At this point I miss 2020

 

[Decayingbooks]

Once during jury voting, Hazel pulled a face like she is going to pee herself or at least give birth. I think they were hearing the audience very well.

I felt a similar vibe when they where in the last stretch of the televote, not sure it was because of the audience or because who was winning of the time, but something was off.

 

[I bims]

Can we just stop this jury vs televote discussion for once. And calling everything rigged/ fishy (not you but others…)

2016: compromise winner
2017: combined winner
2018: televoting winner
2019: compromise winner
2021: televoting winner
2022: televoting winner
2023: jury winner
2024: jury winner
2025: jury winner

So the jury doesn’t always decide the winner!

And as much as I would’ve loved winning in 2019, in 2023 or in 2024, I respect the overall result. The system is what it is, and still every year people are debating over it and hating on it.

In fact juries saved us from this year.

And even without I would’ve really disliked an win.

You just need to convince both sides in a way that’s enough for the overall win. That’s it.

I said since the jury darlings win the quality took a nose dive and that would be post 2022 cause 2021 and 2022 were very good years in terms of songs. Never said this has been going on for long but the winners the last couple of years were really too controversial too many years in a row and it hurt the contest.

2023 turned into a two-horse race, 2024 was getting rough, 2025 was dogshit.

 

[JonasS]

Completely unrelated to anything here - But the onscreen design was not great for the televote reveal. Impossible for even slightly color vision deficient people to tell apart which country had already got their votes and which didn't.

 

[GermanBango]

I mean, the reaction videos online and the roar in the audience after Austria won pretty much says it all. But yea, we are just a "loud minority". *cough*

 

[Alsou4ever]

We had this situation in 2024. We have this now on 2025. We will also have this in 2026.

It is a matter of time that Israel sends a good song -geopolitical context aside- and wins. I think this will happen in less than 5 years. And 90% of countries will participate anyway. It's so lame

On the other hand, could you please provide some background about the Polish woman? I guess she must be extremely famous in eastern Europe but I don't get the hype

And when the ad of Morocan oil appeared, there were some words in Hebrew in the corner. Anyone knows what that means?

 

[GermanBango]

It is a matter of time that Israel sends a good song -geopolitical context aside- and wins. I think this will happen in less than 5 years. And 90% of countries will participate anyway. It's so lame

On the other hand, could you please provide some background about the Polish woman? I guess she must be extremely famous in eastern Europe but I don't get the hype

Only if the EBU gets rid of juries. Which they might actually do if Israel asks for it.

 

[I bims]

I mean, the reaction videos online and the roar in the audience after Austria won pretty much says it all. But yea, we are just a "loud minority". *cough*

A loud minority leading in all political opinion polls even within Israel lmao But no no Israel and its government is at peak popularity, totally lmao

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

I said since the jury darlings win the quality took a nose dive and that would be post 2022 cause 2021 and 2022 were very good years in terms of songs. Never said this has been going on for long but the winners the last couple of years were really too controversial too many years in a row and it hurt the contest.

2023 turned into a two-horse race, 2024 was getting rough, 2025 was dogshit.

This. What do we save from this year? The 2025 contest was abysmal from a musical standpoint. I will listen just to a few songs post Eurovision: for sure Albania, Latvia and Switzerland. Germany, yeah, liked it. Sweden some times, because I still think it's fine. Maybe Denmark, maybe Finland and Italy because Lucio is Lucio. Full stop, I think. I mean: Austria's song is good too, as I said a deserved winner, but it's not something I will listen to regularly. The rest is totally forgettable. This was the worst contest songwise since 2017, imo. And indeed one of the worst ones of the century.

 

[GermanBango]

A loud minority leading in all political opinion polls even within Israel lmao But no no Israel and its government is at peak popularity, totally lmao

In fact they are so sure of themselves and the power of their song that they have to fund multi-million dollar add campaigns.

 

[Dark]

My 2 cents:


First of all, congrats to Austria! It wasn't my favorite, and it's probably one of the worst winners for me, but I get why it won (vocally very good and the staging was original and creative), so I won't complain about it.

My takes:

• Estonia has NO RIGHT to be that high with the juries. That man cannot hit a note! Very disappointed.
• Albania has NO RIGHT to be that low with the juries. It was disgusting and appalling to see.
• I'm SHOCKED Switzerland received 0 points from the public. For me, it was the best performance of the night. Shame on you, public!
• Luxembourg deserved to be higher. Lovely song and a very good performance. Unfortunately, the running order buried it.
• Latvia was awesome and should have been top 5.

Now....

I lowkey wished that Israel would have won the contest. The EBU is playing stupid games and should get stupid prizes. Eurovision is getting worse every year, and if the EBU doesn't seriously reconsider some changes and make tough decisions, the contest may well end.

This is not a case of if Israel is going to win or not, it's a case of when. And it will probably happen in the next few years.

 

[b4ld3r]

I think it's pretty safe to declare the brief post-pandemic golden era (with Måneskin, Rosa-Linn, Duncan, Daði etc all going viral) as over. The reputation of the contest is in the toilet due to both Israel and unfortunately also to some degree Ukraine.

People complaining about the quality of the songs were clearly correct, otherwise the votes wouldn't have been so split. The quality will continue to trend downwards as long as circumstances are like this.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the UK had to import Scandi songwriters the year after Olly Alexander had such a bad experience, or that Olly (the Italian one lol) turned down ESC after his friend Angelina Mango witnessed the shithshow in Malmö. Gimmick artists are more willing to take part despite controversy, so I think that's the real reason as to why we had so many novelty songs.

 

[Decayingbooks]

I said since the jury darlings win the quality took a nose dive and that would be post 2022 cause 2021 and 2022 were very good years in terms of songs. Never said this has been going on for long but the winners the last couple of years were really too controversial too many years in a row and it hurt the contest.

2023 turned into a two-horse race, 2024 was getting rough, 2025 was dogshit.

I think removing the judges from the semifinals is the reason why the quality has dropped so much. For most countries qualifying to the final is already a victory, you can't blame them to go for the most in your face and loud songs to captivate the televote.

 

[Verjamem]

The reputation of the contest is in the toilet due to both Israel and unfortunately also to some degree Ukraine.

This