20 March 2025

The national final season for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest was a fairly uneventful one, with no major injustices and very few surprises. The most notable event was in Sweden’s Melodifestivalen, where 2015 winner and subsequent Eurovision winner Måns Zelmerlöw, narrowly lost to Kaj.

Elsewhere, the main note of interest was that of several public vote winners losing overall, including in Serbia where the public’s favourite scored zero from the jury.

Sweden – Melodifestivalen 2025

While a hot favourite to win Melfest, in all fairness, Revolution was a drab, formulaic song from Måns Zelmerlöw, and it seemed enough people got sick of this derivative stuff from Sweden each year. In contrast, Kaj, a group from the Swedish speaking part of Finland and singing about saunas, proved far more interesting.

Personally, if there was legitimate injustice this year, it was Love It by Victoria Silvstedt. She finished last of six in the fifth and final heat, and while I initially accepted that as fair for someone in Melfest mostly for a personal achievement and performing a fairly lightweight song, over the weeks I’ve become quite addicted to it. It’s classic old school Melfest!

If I had to send something else to Eurovision for Sweden other than Kaj, it would easily be the delightful Klara Hammarström with On And On And On.

Serbia – Pesma za Evroviziju ’25

The odd scenario of a song getting no points from the jury and full marks from the public. Bojana and David with Sesto Culo only finished fourth overall. The winning song, a ballad from Princ called Mila, were the public’s third favourite. These cases with the jury voting so low are often seen as sabotage. While Mila is a decent entry, the jury were definitely unfair towards Sesto Culo.

Croatia – Dora 2025

A similar situation occurred in Croatia when Ogenj, performing Daj Daj, were the public’s favourite yet were ranked only fifth by the jury. The jury’s favourite and overall winner, Poison Cake by Marko Bosnjak, were the public’s fourth favourite. Still, most people, even in Croatia, seemed happy with Poison Cake winning.

Latvia – Supernova 2025

A super close race at Supernova with three songs finishing on 18 points and the fourth placed song on 17 points. A tie is broken by the public vote, which saw Tautumeitas with Bur Man Laimi beat Emilija (Heartbeat) and Citi Zeni (Ramtai). The public’s overall favourite was Ligo by The Ludvig and, let’s just say, the jury did Latvia a favour to see that entry finish fourth overall. Of the three that finished so close to Tautumeitas, my favourite was Heartbeat from Emilija.

Finland – Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2025

UMK always bring a great national final these days, and while there’s no denying that Erika Vikman was an impressive winner with Ich Komme, my favourite this year was Aina by Viivi. Stunning song, voice and vocals!

Estonia – Eesti Laul 2025

In an unusual situation, nothing to report from Estonia’s Eesti Laul! Tommy Cash was a worthy winner and there wasn’t much exciting behind him.

Norway – Melodi Grand Prix 2025

Last and not least, we have Melodi Grand Prix, where Nataleen, performing The Game, was by far my favourite. She finished second overall ahead of the lame Kyle Alessandro performing Lighter. I find nothing compelling in that song and his performance at all. As for Nataleen, she was a vocal powerhouse, and if her song sounds a little familiar, it features a couple of the songwriters that wrote Queen Of Kings for Alessandra, who won MGP in 2023 and finished fifth at Eurovision.

Also of note in this year’s MGP were the appearances of Bobbysocks (3rd with Joyful) and Wig Wam (4th with Human Fire). Bobbysocks won Eurovision in 1985 with La Det Swinge while Wig Wam finished 9th in 2005 with In My Dreams. (Note: No official video for Bobbysocks is available to show.)

My Top 5 National Final Injustices of 2025

1 Norway – Nataleen – The Game
2 Sweden – Victoria Silvstedt – Love It
3 Finland – Viivi – Aina
4 Latvia – Emilija – Heartbeat
5 Serbia – Bojana and David – Sesto Culo

Sweden: Kaj steam to victory at Melodifestivalen 2025 with Bara bada bastu

Finland: Erika Vikman wins UMK 2025 in throbbing style with Ich Komme

Estonia: Tommy Cash wins Eesti Laul 2025 with Espresso Macchiato