Sweden tipped to beat Ireland's record and everything else you need to know about Eurovision

The Journal

10-05-2025

FOR THE SECOND year running, the buildup to the Eurovision Song Contest has been overshadowed – in Irish coverage at least – by the calls for a debate around Israel's inclusion in the competition.
In a change of policy, RTÉ this week
added its voice to those of a number of national broadcasters calling for a 'discussion' on the issue
. Broadcasters in Iceland, Slovenia and Spain have also raised concerns around Israel's participation this year.
Contest organisers the EBU have defended Israel's right to participate, saying the emphasis of the competition is to be 'positive and inclusive'.
You'll find links to our latest coverage of the debate
here
.
The rest of this article focuses solely on what's happening on stage at the contest.
****
Where's the Eurovision taking place?
The Swiss city of Basel, on the banks of the Rhine. Switzerland won the right to host last year thanks to
Nemo's gravity-defying performance of The Code in Malmö last May.
When does it start?
The semi-finals take place on Tuesday and Thursday night, with Ireland competing in the Thursday show. The final is next Saturday.
The 37 acts have been in Basel for over a week, where rehearsals have been taking place at the St Jakobshalle arena.
The official opening of the contest happens tomorrow night, with the performers taking a trip across the city to the opening ceremony aboard vintage trams.
Ireland's EMMY performs at a rehearsal in Basel on Thursday.
Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU / EBU
Who's representing Ireland?
Norwegian singer EMMY will be flying the flag this year with Laika Party.
The song – a dance-infused anthem about a Soviet space dog who became the first living creature to orbit the Earth – was co-written by Larissa Tormey, a Russian-Irish singer-songwriter who's been based in Westmeath since the early 2000s.
The Scandinavian won the right to represent Ireland after seeing off competition from five other Eurosong finalists on a Late Late special back in February.
You may recall that Samantha Mumba, who just lost out,
wasn't best pleased with the views expressed by the show's panel, in the wake of her performance
.
The Late Late Show
/ YouTube
What are our chances?
Ireland have been hovering between tenth and eleventh place in the odds for the Thursday semi-final in recent weeks, leaving us in a battle with a handful of other smaller nations like Luxembourg and Denmark for one of those prized slots in the final.
The top ten acts from the sixteen competing in Thursday night's semi will go through to compete on Saturday. Ten acts will also go through from Tuesday night's show. The qualifiers are selected in a process entirely based on viewer votes.
EMMY's current odds are by no means locked in, however. Last year, Bambie Thug's odds shortened considerably after footage of their rehearsal emerged in the days before the Tuesday semi-final.
The Macroom singer became the first Irish act to qualify from the weeknight heats since 2018 last year, going on to secure sixth place in the final – the best Irish placing since 2000.
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At this stage, it's probably fair to predict that EMMY won't quite hit those heights if she does make it through. At the moment the focus is on qualifying and making sure Ireland have some skin in the game come the weekend.
Eurovision Song Contest
/ YouTube
Who's favourite to win?
Ireland isn't the only country to have a non-resident performer fronting their entry. Finnish comedy-musical act KAJ are hotly tipped to bring the contest back to Sweden with Bara Bada Bastu – an infectious, upbeat celebration of all things sauna.
The troupe beat off competition from previous Eurovision winner Måns Zelmerlöw to win Sweden's final, and the song has already topped the charts in both Sweden and Finland.
Victory for the Swedes would move them ahead of Ireland as sole record-holders for most contest wins. Currently the two nations are tied at seven each,
after Loreen last sealed the top spot for Sweden in Liverpool just two years ago.
The bookies currently have Austria's JJ as second favourite
with his pop-opera ballad Wasted Love
, with
France
and the
Netherlands
following.
Sweden have held the favourites tag for months at this stage, but at the same time this year's competition is considered to be one of the more open contests in recent years after the likes of Ukraine and Sweden were considered nailed on for wins in 2022 and 2023.
There are a number of tracks straddling the fence between 'novelty' and 'fun' this year with varying degrees of success – meaning they could well split the votes and leave a route open for a song with a more traditional Eurovision sound (for instance, Louane's French ballad Maman) to sneak through.
Eurovision Song Contest
/ YouTube
Any other acts to look out for?
Keep an eye out for two single entendre-heavy performances from opposite sides of the planet –
Australia's Go-Jo with Milkshake Man
and
Finland's Erika Vikman with Iche Komme
.
Tommy Cash was accused of offending Italians with
his novelty song Espresso Macchiato
after the track was picked earlier this year as Estonia's entry.
Elsewhere, Malta's Miriana Conte was accused – by some broadcasters at least – of risking offending just about everyone else
with her entry Serving Kant
. The song is now simply called 'Serving', reportedly at the request of the BBC. (Kant is Maltese for 'singing' so you can see what they were up to).
This year's entries from
Ukraine
and
Albania
are well worth a listen and both tipped to do well.
Eurovision Song Contest
/ YouTube
Remind me how the voting works?
In the semi-finals, as previously mentioned, it's public voting only. In the Grand Final, the voting's split between public votes and national juries. If you want a full rundown of how it all works,
here's a link to the official Eurovision version.
Anything different about the shows this year?
Until last year, performers from the so-called Big Five countries and the host nation only had a clip from their rehearsals played out during the semi-final broadcasts and didn't perform live until Saturday night.
The format was tweaked last year meaning we saw full live performances from France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the UK and 2024 host nation Sweden during the semi-finals, and producers are sticking with that approach this time around.
France, Germany and the UK all perform during Ireland's semi-final on Thursday. You won't be able to vote for them, however, and they'll still get a free pass into Saturday's contest.
Acts from the Big Five are always guaranteed a spot in the Saturday show as each of the five countries bring a massive TV audience and make proportionally larger contributions to the running of the show compared to smaller nations. The host nation – Switzerland this year – automatically goes through as part of the prize for winning the previous year's contest.
Do the acts play live?
The rules state
that the singer (or singers) must perform live and there's no auto-tuning allowed.
No other instruments can be plugged in and a maximum of six people are allowed on stage.
The rules also state – just in case the thought had occurred to anyone – that 'no contestant may compete for more than one country' in any given year.
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