Sweden, Ukraine and the Netherlands qualify for Eurovision final
Sweden, Ukraine and the Netherlands have qualified for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Dutch act Claude Kiambe, 21, went through with his track C'est La Vie, a blend of English and French that promotes a message of dealing with life as it is, as did current favourites KAJ with the Swedish song Bara Bada Bastu, about Nordic sauna culture.
Advertisement
The first semi-final of the 2025 contest, taking place in Basel, Switzerland where the competition began in Lugano in 1956, also saw Estonia's Tommy Cash with the silly Espresso Macchiato, which referenced typical Italian phrases, as well as Poland's Justyna Steczkowska with her dramatic Gaja, progress.
Claude from the Netherlands performing the song C'est La Vie at the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 (Martin Meissner/ap)
Icelandic electronic musician brothers Matthias Davio Matthiasson and Halfdan Helgi Matthiasson, known as Vaeb, qualified with Roa as well as San Marino's Gabry Ponte with the catchy Tutta L'Italia and Albania's Shkodra Elektronike with folksy Zjerm.
Portugal's Napa with the dancey Deslocado and Norway's Kyle Alessandro with the fiery Lighter were also revealed as going on to the next stage, before Ukraine's wait was finally over as they found out their group Ziferblat had made it with the song Bird Of Pray.
Cyprus' Theo Evan with Shh and Slovenia's Klemen with How Much Time Do We Have Left were among those who did not progress.
Advertisement
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Eurovision Song Contest (@eurovision)
On Tuesday, musicians including Swiss entrant Zoe Me with Voyage, Italy with glam rocker Lucio Corsi's Volevo Essere Un Duro (I Wanted To Be A Tough Guy) and Spain with Melody Gutierrez's Esa Diva (That Diva) performed before competing on Saturday during the final.
Before the qualifying acts were announced, co-hosts Hazel Brugger and Sandra Studer sang a song about what has been made in Switzerland such as the Theory of Relativity, folk hero William Tell and Eurovision.
Studer said that this is the 'most sustainable Eurovision ever', with around 80% of the outfits recycled.
While votes were being counted, Canadian singer and former Swiss winner Celine Dion delivered a pre-recorded video saying Switzerland has 'always held a special place in my heart' as she spoke in French and English.
Advertisement
Vaeb from Iceland perform the song Roa during the first semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland (Martin Meissner/AP)
She also said she would want 'nothing more but to be with you' in Basel as discussions continue with the organisers for her to make a stage comeback on Saturday during the final amid her health issues.
Switzerland had not triumphed until Nemo with The Code at Malmo 2024 after Dion won in Dublin 1988 with Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi, which was performed this evening in St Jakobshalle arena by previous Eurovision stars including Silvester Belt and Iolanda.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
15 hours ago
- The Sun
Top European theme park that mums say is better than Disneyland shows off new Wes Anderson-style hotel
A TOP European theme park is welcoming a new premium hotel that looks like it's out of Wes Anderson's world. Dutch theme park Efteling will be opening a new hotel this summer called the Efteling Grand Hotel. 6 6 6 The theme park is already well known for its fairytale theme, with one TikToker - The Travel Mum - dubbing it "better and cheaper than Disneyland". The new addition to the attraction will be the first hotel located within the theme park itself and will open on August 1. The hotel will be themed around a traditional grand dame hotel with stories woven into the design throughout, appearing like a Wes Anderson story. There will be digital check-in, valet parking and luggage handling, upon arrival. A bellhop and Efteling's two princesses will guests in the lobby, where the air will also be infused with the hotel's signature fragrance. The hotel will be spread across seven floors offering 140 rooms and suites, with a total of 644 beds. The biggest room will be able to host six people. The hotel rooms will also overlook the park with different views of the Aquanura water show the House of the Dive Senses entrance, the Fairytale Forest or the Pardoes Promenade Lane. All of the rooms include breakfast at Brasserie 7 and half an hour of early access to the park before it opens to the public. Other features of the rooms include each one having an Efteling Grand Hotel fairytale book. Inside Universal Epic Universe with incredible thrill rides and amazing food The lower ground floor of the hotel will have a swimming pool - availabel only to hotel guests - with spa facilities including a steam room, sauna and massage room. There will also be a multifunctional serenity room where guests can unwind, pray or meditate. The hotel will have two restaurants with Brasserie 7 located on the ground floor and Restaurant-Bar Mystique on the first floor. While Brasserie 7 will serve up a range of classic dishes - which include seven 'magical' ingredients such as princess tears and snow from Mother Holle - Restaurant-Bar Mystique will offer a more premium dining experience. 6 6 Each table will be decorated with edible decorations and the restaurant will be open to the public, as well as park and hotel guests. Café Biscuit will also be a part of the hotel, where baristas will serve coffee and the signature Grand Hotel biscuit. Plans have also been revealed for incredible new 240-room hotel with huge swimming lake, golf and spa near to iconic racetrack. Plus, a huge new Premier Inn will open near major airport and will be the largest of its kind in the north of UK. 6
The Independent
15 hours ago
- The Independent
Nina Stemme says farewell to Isolde after 126 performances
Nina Stemme tilted back her head after the final notes of her 126th and last Isolde performance, and her eyes filled with tears. She was hugged by tenor Stuart Skelton and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill as the audience in Marian Anderson Hall stood and applauded Sunday evening. A few days earlier, Stemme thought back to April 2000, when Glyndebourne Festival general director Nicholas Snowman and opera director Nikolaus Lehnhoff walked into her dressing room in Antwerp, Belgium, asking her to sing in the English company's first-ever performance of Wagner 's "Tristan und Isolde." 'I really did think they were joking,' she recalled. 'My colleague, Christopher Ventris, said, 'No. No. They're not joking. You have to be careful.'" Stemme went home to Sweden, considered the offer with vocal coach Richard Trimborn and made her Isolde debut on May 19, 2003, at the Glyndebourne Festival with Robert Gambill as Tristan and Jiří Bělohlávek conducting. She chose to sing her final two Isoldes 22 years later with the Philadelphia Orchestra and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who conducted the opera for the first time on June 1 and coaxed a luminous rendition from a premier orchestra at its peak. 'I'm 62 now. I gave it to my 60s to sing these big roles and now I've dropped Elektra and Brünnhilde, and Isolde is the last daughter on stage that I'm singing," Stemme said. "I decided this years ago. This is how it works and every year that I was able to sing Isolde feels like a bonus and a privilege.' Connection to Birgit Nilsson Stemme was friends with Birgit Nilsson, one of the greatest Isoldes and Brünnhildes, who died in 2005 at age 87. 'I was on the verge to go down to her in south Sweden to study Isolde but of course me as a young singer with little kids at home, I never felt ready," Stemme said. 'At that time when we got to know each other, I was singing mostly a lyric repertoire.' Skelton sang with Stemme in Wagner's 'Der Fliegende Holländer' at the Vienna State Opera in 2004 and his Tristan was paired with Stemme's Isolde in New York, Munich and Naples, Italy. 'It's as radiant now as it was when I first heard her sing it in Glyndebourne way back in the day,' he said. 'No one knew really who Nina Stemme was to a certain extent. Certainly I don't think anyone was ready for what she brought to Isolde even then.' A conductor learning from the singer Nézet-Séguin first worked with Stemme in a performance of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007, didn't collaborate again until performances of Strauss' 'Die Frau ohne Schatten' at the Met last fall. 'The breadth of her experience with the role is just guiding all of us, me, but also the orchestra, who is playing it for the first time in understanding the flow of the piece, understanding their shades and the colors, and that is invaluable," Nézet-Séguin said of Stemme's Isolde. "It was wonderful for me to benefit from it." Singers were on a platform above and behind the orchestra, with LED lights below setting a mood: red in the first act, dark blue in the second and light blue in the third. Stemme wore a dark gown in the first and third acts and a shimmering silver dress in the second, while Skelton, baritone Brian Mulligan (Kurwenal), bass Tareq Nazmi (King Marke) and tenor Freddie Ballentine (Melot) were largely in black, and Cargill (Brangäne) in a lighter-colored costume. Showing sets and complicated directions weren't necessary, she conveyed Isolde's emptions with her eyes, smiles and nods. During the great second-act love duet, Stemme and Skelton clinked water canisters. 'Twenty-two years ago I could act the young princess that was in love or hated her love for Tristan,' she said. 'I have other colors to my voice now and I'm older so of course this interpretation will change. I feel more at home in the middle range and with age, of course, the top notes are not as gleaming as they used to be, but I can make up for that in other ways hopefully — on a good day.' Stemme's future schedule includes less-taxing roles, such as Klytämnestra in Strauss' 'Elektra' and Waltraute in Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung.' She leaves behind an outstanding recording of her Isolde, made from November 2004 through January 2005 at London's Abbey Road Studios with tenor Plácido Domingo and conductor Antonio Pappano. Lise Davidsen makes her Isolde debut next year Anticipation is building for the next great Isolde. Lise Davidsen is scheduled to make her role debut on Jan. 12 at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and then open a new production at New York's Metropolitan Opera on March 9 with Nézet-Séguin. 'She said how happy she is to in a way symbolically pass this role, pass it on to her, in a way through me,' Nézet-Séguin said of Stemme. 'That is almost like a torch that has been carried.' After all those Isoldes, Stemme feels more a Puccini heroine than a Wagnerian star. 'At heart," she said, "I'm still Madama Butterfly or Mimì.'
Daily Mail
18 hours ago
- Daily Mail
90s pop group reunite 25 YEARS after hit song and people can't believe how young they look
An iconic 90s pop group recently wowed fans with their age-defying appearance when they performed in London for the first time over 20 years. A*teens, which initially began as an ABBA tribute band, gave a hit performance at the popular Mighty Hoopla festival in Brockwell Park. Dhani Lennevald, 40, Marie Serneholt, Amit Paul, and Sara Lumholdt, all 41, were originally known as ABBA-teens and brought a nostalgic vibe to the festival, dressing in brightly coloured 90s-inspired outfits. Fans commented on TikTok: 'How are they still all in such good shape?!'; 'Wait how are they all still so hot?'; 'This made me feel so old but they [are] all still gorgeous.' The Swedish group first formed in 1998 and reached a global audience when they appeared on Britney Spears 's Oops! … I Did It Again tour in 2000. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. However, they split in 2004 before reuniting earlier this year at the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen 2024. They are said to be in talks with record labels about recording new music and went down a storm in London as they performed their upbeat dance song. A*teens are credited with reviving the music of ABBA in the 90s, having covered classics like Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen. The band are also known for their original songs, Upside Down (2000) and Floorfiller (2002). The band had four albums in total - The ABBA Generation (1999), Teen Spirit (2001), Pop 'til You Drop (2002), and New Arrival (2003). The group were not the only 90s band at the May 31 to June 1 Festival, popular with LGBTQ+ people, and Eurodance group Vegaboys also performed. A*teens previously reflected on their success back in 2021, describing themselves as kids 'who loved dancing'. Their fame at the time was so great that Britney herself described herself as a fan, prompting the invite on her 2000 tour. Dhani told Vice in 2021: "We were just kids who loved singing and dancing. "We would sometimes stop and just be like, "I can't believe that this is happening for us." 'It was such a beautiful and proud moment of my life.' A*teen's initial split was a slow one too and despite breaking up in 2004, it wasn't until 2006 that they officially announced they were no longer together.
