The Best of the Eurovision 2025 Nearly-Rans
The Eurovision songs for 2025 have now been confirmed, and we now know what we'll be hearing in Basel this May. But who missed out? Who won't be making the cut? And who might be sat at home feeling robbed of their chance to shine in Switzerland?
On this special episode, Steven is joined by AJ Clay, Adrian Bradley and Kat Stevens to discuss the best of the rest from this year's national finals.
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Transcript
In today's episode, we're greasing the wheels on the road to Basel.
Speaker A: aw their performance slot for: Speaker A:And I'm joined by some friends of the pod to chat about the best songs you won't be hearing at this year's Eurovision.
Speaker A:I'm Stephen Perkins and this is Douce Poire.
Speaker B:Hello, land and we are ready for your vote.
Speaker A: our favourite songs from the: Speaker A:But first, let's take a quick look at the latest headlines.
Speaker A:With all of this year's songs selected and some of them currently undergoing revamps ahead of the contest, every nation is now pondering how best to stage their entry for maximum impact at Eurovision.
Speaker A:And it seems that Austria might have something very special up their sleeves.
Speaker A:In an interview with the Eurotrip podcast, singer jj, who will be representing Austria this year with Wasted Love, set off his staging plans.
Speaker A:I'm a bit nervous because it's going.
Speaker B:To be something that hasn't really been.
Speaker A:Done before, camera wise.
Speaker A:I'm really looking forward to it and.
Speaker B:Hoping it will go through because if.
Speaker A:It does, it will be so cool.
Speaker A:Meanwhile, if the lack of a strictly It Takes two style companion show for.
Speaker B:Eurovision is a constant disappointment in your.
Speaker A:Life, consider spending the next few months in Greece.
Speaker A:Greek broadcaster ERT has announced a new show, Eurovision Weekly, which will air from Saturday 29th March at 3pm local time, hosted by Kelly Vernacki and featuring news, interviews and discussions in the run up to this year's contest.
Speaker A:The opening episode is set to feature an interview with Luxembourg's Laura Thorne and the music videos from Australia, Austria, Cyprus and Estonia.
Speaker A:Finally, the draw for Switzerland's performance slot in this year's Grand Final has now taken place.
Speaker A:While most countries in the contest take part in a draw to determine whether they will perform in the first or.
Speaker B:Second half of any given show, with.
Speaker A:The producers then free to arrange the running order within those parameters as they see fit, it is traditional for the host nation, who of course qualify for the Grand Final automatically, to be assigned their performance position in a completely random draw.
Speaker A: that co host Ukraine drew in: Speaker A:Now, not every song that gets entered into a contest to represent a nation at Eurovision is solid gold, as anyone who has ever put themselves through one of San Marino's national finals will tell you many of them are, in fact, downright awful.
Speaker A:But every year there are a handful of caulkers that, for one reason or another, don't manage to triumph at their respective national finals, but are still worthy of being blasted loudly on Repeat nonetheless.
Speaker A: And: Speaker A:So this epis is a celebration of all of this year's most valiant failures.
Speaker A:And I didn't just want this to be my personal favourite, so I invited some previous guests back onto the podcast.
Speaker B:To talk about some of theirs too.
Speaker B:Joining me for today's very special episode, we have Adrian Bradley.
Speaker C:Hello.
Speaker B:We have Cat Stevens.
Speaker D:Hi there.
Speaker B:And we have AJ Clay.
Speaker E:Hello.
Speaker B:Thank you all so much for joining me on this episode.
Speaker B:We are going to chat about the songs that we loved in the various national finals that, for whatever reason, didn't quite make it all the way to the end.
Speaker B:This is basically, I'm not gonna lie, this is basically an excuse for me to talk about the first one on this list, which I love so much.
Speaker B:That's the whole reason you're all here and I'm very, very sorry.
Speaker B:So we are going to start with Christie Spiteri and Heaven Sent for Malta.
Speaker B:This one is an absolute bop.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:But I'm going to preface it by saying that had Malta chosen it, they probably would have been in trouble because they would not have got anything near the amount of mileage that they've got out of Mariana Conti and Cunt Serving and all of the controversy that's been generated by that.
Speaker B:Also, now that we've kind of seen the full lineup, I do think this being in the same semi final as Austria would have been a problem for it because they're both doing Popra and Austria probably doing it slightly better.
Speaker B:But I will just say I've had this song on repeat so many times since the Maltese National Final.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:My absolute favourite thing about it is when it gets into the final chorus and for some reason the tempo just picks up by like 30% for no reason whatsoever.
Speaker B:Like, they suddenly thought they weren't going to hit the three minute time limit, even though they finish at like 2:45.
Speaker B:Just completely unnecessary, but brilliant.
Speaker B:Anyone else got any thoughts about Christie's Batari?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Malta was one of the earlier national finals that I watched through and I did think watching it, had the juries not decided, no, they were absolutely going for serving.
Speaker C:I thought this might have been one that would have troubled the juries and then added A bit of surprise, perhaps, to the outcome in the end.
Speaker C:That didn't really happen, but I think it was very good.
Speaker C:It would have.
Speaker C:It would have been a very different experience with Malta.
Speaker C:We would have had this time, you know, Malta have got attention this time.
Speaker C:What that attention will turn to, I don't know.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:I mean, I think now that we've seen the video for Malta, I think we can't say.
Speaker B:They definitely.
Speaker A:They've got a plan this year, haven't they?
Speaker B:They are going all out.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:I like this song.
Speaker D:I like Christie's song.
Speaker D:I think her operatic vocals were really great and really sort of different.
Speaker D:Something quite unusual compared to some of the more dramatic opera things.
Speaker D:It was nice.
Speaker D:Worked nicely with the synthy background.
Speaker D:I think when she sort of dropped into the pop vocal, it wasn't quite as strong, but that's, you know, that's a very minor quibble, I think.
Speaker D:Also, I really love the staging with a kind of Doctor who, Weeping Angels thing behind her.
Speaker B:Yeah, very cool.
Speaker B:I think there was.
Speaker B:There was.
Speaker B:Obviously, I think she wanted to keep as still as possible so she could hit the notes.
Speaker B:And I think, like, on stage at Eurovision, they could have maybe done a bit more around her, had they sent that song.
Speaker B:But I think the beginning, the kind of.
Speaker B:The slightly sort of puppety, jittery movements about literature I really, really liked.
Speaker E:So, yeah, yeah, I absolutely adored it.
Speaker E:I.
Speaker E:I thought it was.
Speaker E:The staging was excellent.
Speaker E:The.
Speaker E:The operatic.
Speaker E:Like Cat said, the operatic vocals were fantastic and I was genuinely gutted when it lost out.
Speaker E:I mean, I will not lie, like, I'm very much on the Christie Stan train and not really on the Mariana train, but it stays on my repeat as well on my Spotify, so.
Speaker B:Well, great to start with a song that we're all agreed on.
Speaker B:Hopefully that will continue over the course of the.
Speaker B:The conversation.
Speaker B:We're going to move on now to Stereo terror and party till the end of the world.
Speaker B:That's Estonia and this one was nominated by Kat.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:This one again, has been stuck in my head for the last month or so.
Speaker D:It's so stupid.
Speaker D:I love it.
Speaker D:It's like Andrew W.K.
Speaker D:is finally Eurovision.
Speaker D:It's really sort of snappy rock that I don't think we've really had much apart from.
Speaker D:Well, probably since.
Speaker D:Lordy.
Speaker D:We've had plenty of rock at Eurovision, but it's been a bit more praggy or glam, like with monoskin and.
Speaker D:But they're like, what?
Speaker D:Just.
Speaker D:It's just getting right to the meat and potatoes.
Speaker D:Of snappy chorus key change, stupid visuals.
Speaker D:I really loved it.
Speaker D:It would have had absolutely no chance.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I do.
Speaker B:I'm sad that we haven't got much of this kind of energy anywhere in the Cont this year, because it's a lot of fun.
Speaker B:I love the.
Speaker B:The pyrotechnics and all the masks and the outright silliness of it, but I do agree it probably wouldn't have gone very far.
Speaker E:I.
Speaker E:I just think that the best thing about it was Disco Pinhead.
Speaker E:That's the only way I can describe it, but when Disco Pinhead turned up, when they formed it live, I was like, this is.
Speaker E:I don't know what this is, but I'm into it.
Speaker E:That was.
Speaker E:That's my opinion.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Unless anyone has anything else to add, I feel like Disco Pinhead is the excellent place to end with that one.
Speaker B:So this is falling apart already.
Speaker B:Brilliant.
Speaker B:We're going to move on now to Mayra Omar, Hush Hush.
Speaker B:For this was in Melody Festival in for Sweden and this one was dominated by aj.
Speaker E:Yeah, I mean, just to preface with.
Speaker E:I do really enjoy Kai and I'm really glad that they won, but I am a sucker for a kind of generic summary bop.
Speaker E:And this was kind of the sort of ethno banger that my heart secretly yearned for.
Speaker E:I think.
Speaker E:I really love the staging, the beautiful Bollywood kind of costumes.
Speaker E:And I believe it was Dari.
Speaker E:It's like a.
Speaker E:It's like a dialect of Persian that's spoken in Afghanistan.
Speaker E:That's the first time that's been used in a Eurovision song.
Speaker E:So I'm always a sucker for new language has entered the chat.
Speaker E:It was just very like uncomplicated banger, catchy chorus.
Speaker E:Everyone was doing the TikTok dance.
Speaker E:It was all very like social media friendly, so that's why I liked it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think this was.
Speaker B:This was a lot of fun, actually.
Speaker B:This was very kind of sirtab vibes.
Speaker B:And we used to kind of send at least sort of two songs like this to every Eurovision and we don't have as many of them anymore.
Speaker B:So it's nice to see this kind of song being represented a lot.
Speaker B:And I feel maybe this is kind of.
Speaker B:I was watching, I thought this is maybe her at like 80% of her power and maybe she'll come back, do Melfest again in a couple of years and absolutely knock it out the park.
Speaker C:It's also done very well in Sweden.
Speaker C:Like this was one of the songs that.
Speaker C:In the charts there after.
Speaker C:After Malfest, after its Release was getting a bit of momentum.
Speaker C:It was obviously a little bit behind all the attention that was going on to Kai and Mons.
Speaker C:But that maybe bodes well either for another chance at Eurovision at some point for this kind of music or for even this act, but also for Maera herself as well, because they could get a career out of that.
Speaker C:So that probably will have been their aim out of Malfeas this year, especially seeing the competition.
Speaker C:So that's good for them.
Speaker D:Yeah, I like this too.
Speaker D:I really love the staging.
Speaker D:Especially that really cool effect with kind of the mirrored table surface with the reflections going on.
Speaker D:I thought it was really cool.
Speaker D:Really slinky.
Speaker D:Weirdly reminded me of, like Alexandra Burke somehow in a complimentary way.
Speaker D:Yeah, really kind of nailed the performance really strong there.
Speaker B:When you said you really liked the effects of the staging, I thought maybe you meant the bit where the camera person fell over, but yeah, that's going.
Speaker D:To go on the highlight, isn't it?
Speaker B:Also, just while we're talking about Sweden, I do think what's really fun is that we all basically had carte blanche nominate any song that was in the national final and didn't, and none of us nominated Monselmla.
Speaker C:Like, I was also just.
Speaker C:I was also just thinking that because I was looking at the list and thinking, ah.
Speaker C:I'm like, you know what, I wouldn't have been mad if it had won, but it's not going to be one that I would go out of my way to go and listen to now.
Speaker C:So that's why it's not on my list.
Speaker E:I think it's just very meh.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's mevolution.
Speaker B:Sorry, I've done that gag before, I do apologize.
Speaker B:But yeah, I just.
Speaker B:I mean, considering that that's the song that was touted as winning the whole thing, like all of a couple of weeks ago, and then suddenly we're sat here talking about the all around.
Speaker B:It's not even on the list.
Speaker B:Amuses me a lot.
Speaker B:So, yes, let's move on.
Speaker B:Next to we're going to Ireland.
Speaker B:This one's one of mine.
Speaker B:Bobby Arlo and Power Play.
Speaker B:I'm going to preface this, like I will do with a couple of my picks by saying that the live performance wasn't great, but I really enjoyed the studio version of it.
Speaker B:And so I'm basing my opinion slightly more on that.
Speaker B:This one.
Speaker B:There's real kind of powerful 90s energy about it.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It feels.
Speaker B:And again, I mean this in a very complimentary way, like kind of late 90s Kylie Minogue B side.
Speaker B:And Kylie was doing some great B sides in the late 90s.
Speaker B:So that's not a criticism for me at all.
Speaker B:And I do kind of think that, you know, you hear this in the club, it would go off and that you could pop, you know, much in the same way that there was a massive kind of upgrade from the Late Late show to Eurovision for Bambi last year.
Speaker B:I think you could have done so much with this, you know, bit more time to hone the vocals, bit more time tone the performance and it could have done really, really well.
Speaker B:But I did think, you know, possibly on the night it was a little bit shaky.
Speaker D:I agree about the nightclub vibes.
Speaker D:I could totally see this going off in the goth club in Nottingham at half past eleven.
Speaker D:Everyone's got the snake bite on the go.
Speaker D:45 year old goths in new rocks are doing the geometrical dance.
Speaker D:I'm there, I'm just, yeah, transported.
Speaker E:I really liked the kind of industrial banger vibes that it had going on.
Speaker E:I've seen a lot of this, like music's been kind of creeping into the.
Speaker E:The computer games I've been playing weirdly and it's very.
Speaker E:That kind of like gothy and I really liked that.
Speaker E:It kind of just made me go, yeah, I do want to go to a goth club and kick off.
Speaker E:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Excellent.
Speaker B:Then let's move on.
Speaker B:Next one is coming from Adrian and this is a Norwegian entry, Sondre and Vagabond.
Speaker C:Yeah, I really enjoyed the Norway, the Norway final actually.
Speaker C:And there are a number of good songs and I think it was probably clear that Lightning was their favorite to win.
Speaker C:But this really impressed me.
Speaker C:This kind of stood out as a sort of song that I would hear on the radio right now.
Speaker C:It would be something I would love Norway to send to Eurovision.
Speaker C:I thought Sandro sang it brilliantly.
Speaker C:It was.
Speaker C:Had a good hook to it.
Speaker C:I just really enjoyed it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I really liked it as well.
Speaker B:And I think I've got to be careful about how I phrase this.
Speaker B:I think it wasn't very Eurovision, but again, I mean that in kind of a good way.
Speaker B:I don't know how well it would have done at the contest, but as a song in its own right, I think it absolutely holds up.
Speaker B:I think it's got so much in its.
Speaker B:In its corner, so much that's great about it.
Speaker B:And like you said, his performance was excellent.
Speaker B:So I would have been really intrigued if they had picked this just to see how it would have done because I was sort of thinking I don't necessarily know who's voting for this, but it is a really good song.
Speaker C:Yeah, completely, completely agree.
Speaker C:And again, if we go back and look at how, how Germany did last year, there is an audience at Eurovision for that kind of, well, well sung, slightly more kind of, kind of ballady, but not ballady.
Speaker C:I don't really know how to describe it, but that sort of slightly alternative approach to music, there's an audience for it and people do vote for it.
Speaker C:So maybe we will start to see that soon.
Speaker B:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:I think there's, you know, we're already seeing, I think this year some unusual choices being made at national finals and I'm all for that.
Speaker B:I'm all for kind of, you know, the disruptors at Eurovision.
Speaker B:I think that's.
Speaker B:There's a lot, a lot of potential there.
Speaker B:Let's move on to one that I'm going to apologize in advance for my pronunciation of the axe name Svada and Nixos Lusterka from Poland.
Speaker B:And this one's one of the cats.
Speaker D:Yeah, we're back in the goth club again.
Speaker D:But I'm really here for it and it is going more into the industrial techno vibes a little bit.
Speaker D:I mean, it fits really nicely in my running playlist right between Marie Davidson and Charlotte de Witt, like sort of the big European no nonsense techno women.
Speaker D:And this like brilliant haunted, dark, warpy chanting.
Speaker D:I would definitely pay a tenner on the door to see this at the Cavendish Arms on a Tuesday night.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I just really love it.
Speaker D:It's one of my favorites from the entire contest this year.
Speaker E:I absolutely love when.
Speaker E:Sorry.
Speaker E:I absolutely love when a country takes risks and that's what that feels like.
Speaker E:It's so, like unusual.
Speaker E:I just love an unusual entry that stands out.
Speaker E:And Lesterka is definitely that.
Speaker B:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:And when I was watching it, I was just thinking, God, this goes so hard so quickly.
Speaker B:But it's also got this really lovely, kind of slightly haunting quality about.
Speaker B:Has these little moments of gentleness, which I find melodically really exciting.
Speaker B:And I think had it gone to you, if it had gone through, I think the juries would have actually responded really well to this one.
Speaker D:Yeah, I think the live vocals might have been a bit shaky.
Speaker D:I really love the recorded version, but I.
Speaker D:I think maybe they would have needed to up the ante on the staging a little bit.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, it was very low key staging but I kind of liked that for it.
Speaker B:I think sometimes less is more and I think that was definitely true of this one.
Speaker B:So you didn't want to kind of throw too much at it because the song's already doing enough.
Speaker B:I think we're moving on again.
Speaker B:Lithuania this time.
Speaker B:Black Biceps Vise Manreich, aj.
Speaker B:This was one of yours?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:Again, sucker for a dance party and also a sucker for brass, which, I mean, obviously James Newman maybe the only one.
Speaker E:We've not always been great at the party brass thing, but this was just such a party vibe.
Speaker E:It had that kind of ska vibe slightly to it.
Speaker E:It had a really sort of anthemic chorus.
Speaker E:It was just some lads having a great time on stage and it was kind of here for their party.
Speaker E:Would have just gone off in the Euro club.
Speaker E:That's my opinion.
Speaker B:I will say I'd slightly forgotten which one this one was when you nominated it.
Speaker B:So I went back to look it up and I was like, this is.
Speaker A:Not what I expect a group called.
Speaker B:Black Biceps to sound like.
Speaker E:No, that's the thing.
Speaker E:The name.
Speaker E:When I saw the name in the lineup, I was thinking, oh, okay.
Speaker E:But then when I heard the song, I was like, yeah, okay.
Speaker E:Actually, this is working.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, it was really fun from moment one.
Speaker B:Just the trumpets and the jazzy vibe and the.
Speaker B:I wasn't quite sure what was going on stage a lot at the time, but I was here for it.
Speaker B:I was really here for it, which.
Speaker E:Is the hallmark of a good Eurovision entry.
Speaker E:What's going on on stage?
Speaker E:We don't know.
Speaker C:It's also the lovely thing about Euro Club is that we will get an opportunity to enjoy many of these national final also runs because you know that the DJs will be out there kind of gleaning all of these songs and getting them all together and the amount of them that have this incredible life after Eurovision, despite never fully on the Eurovision stage, is just brilliant.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:I mean, this one just feels like it's a gift to a Euro club dj, doesn't it?
Speaker D:Yeah, you can't go wrong with a good knees up, can you?
Speaker B:Absolutely right.
Speaker B:I think we're back to me now, which is exciting.
Speaker B:We're back to Finland Nia river with Nightmares, this one.
Speaker B:I'm kind of hoping you guys can help me out a little bit on here because this one really, really reminds me of something and I can't quite put my finger on it.
Speaker B:It feels a bit like it's kind of the.
Speaker B:The sequel to Monsters by Sara Alto.
Speaker B:That's kind of the vibe I'm getting, but I don't know if I'm missing another song that it sounds another one here.
Speaker B:Where the live performance at UMK was a bit shaky and to be fair, it's quite a hard song to sing.
Speaker B:But I've listened to it on Spotify a lot and the studio version absolutely slaps.
Speaker B:And again, this one feels like it's another real indication of someone here who's kind of in the early stages of having a go at representing their country at Eurovision and give them a couple of years and they could come back with something absolutely incredible.
Speaker B:So I'm kind of prefacing all with that, but.
Speaker B:But it's a song I really enjoy on its own terms as a solid dance bop, if slightly derivative.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I think I also got a little bit of a Monsters vibe from it as well.
Speaker C:We're talking more about Finland later and I think it was a nicely strong final, so I think we know Finland are desperate to win it and it does feel like it's a matter of when, not if.
Speaker C:It's coming soon.
Speaker C:They're really working very hard on it.
Speaker C:Just a little thing on their show.
Speaker C:Having the English language commentator straight from the beginning as well, that was a.
Speaker C:Is it Wiley?
Speaker B:Sorry, yes, Wiley.
Speaker C:Yeah, having the English language commentator.
Speaker C:That was a Wiley staff member.
Speaker C:That kind of works on it, really added.
Speaker C:Made it so much more accessible internationally.
Speaker C:It was one of my favorite national finals to enjoy as well, so that really helped.
Speaker C:And, yeah, there was so much strong in it, but I'll probably save more on Finland until we get a bit later on.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah, No, I liked it.
Speaker E:It felt like every dance banger from the 90s, like, it did remind me of something, but I don't know what.
Speaker E:But every dance banger, that's it.
Speaker B:Maybe it was just a little bit of everything.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:I was getting Cascada vibes.
Speaker B:Oh, yes.
Speaker D:A little bit of Tiesto, maybe.
Speaker E:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:But it feels like there's been quite a bit of trancy direction going on this year.
Speaker D:I'm here for that.
Speaker D:That's absolutely here for that.
Speaker D:And I really loved her outfit as well.
Speaker D:Like General Zod from Superman, Forbidden Zone in With all the Spikes, My Memory palace or whatever it is in Superman, I can't remember.
Speaker D:But the evil version of that.
Speaker D:Yeah, really great.
Speaker B:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:Like I said, I think there's a lot of.
Speaker B:A lot of potential with Nia there for future engines.
Speaker B:And like Aid said, I mean, there's.
Speaker B:Finland's overall consistency was so strong.
Speaker B:There's so much good stuff in there.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, I really think they are.
Speaker B:They really.
Speaker B:They're hungry for another win.
Speaker B:Which is absolutely great.
Speaker B:Let's move across now to Ukraine.
Speaker A:Finka and Kultura.
Speaker B:That one was from Kat.
Speaker D:Yeah, this is another one that was a little shaky live, but I've just been playing it over and over and over again on.
Speaker D:On Spotify.
Speaker D:I just really love her vocal.
Speaker D:It's kind of a sort of a bit rap, a bit singing, but it's.
Speaker D:It's still popping.
Speaker D:It just.
Speaker D:You kind of.
Speaker D:Even though I don't speak any Ukrainian, but I'm really sort of.
Speaker D:Of hear the fierceness with which she's trying to defend our culture.
Speaker D:That's, you know, basically the song is about, you know, you're not going to take our culture away from us.
Speaker D:And I thought the.
Speaker D:The staging was like, real sort of.
Speaker D:Yeah, fierce party, but also very sort of determined and strong.
Speaker D:And I just thought, oh, got me all sort of like.
Speaker D:What's the word?
Speaker D:Not inspired.
Speaker D:No, that's terrible.
Speaker D:Anyway, let's move on.
Speaker B:I was just thinking, actually, this is a great example, I think, how you can go to Eurovision and be political, but without being really on the nose political about it.
Speaker B:And that's what I really liked about this one, the performance.
Speaker B:Oh, sorry.
Speaker C:No, sorry, I was interrupting.
Speaker C:But Ukraine have often been very good at this and very good at.
Speaker C:There are ways of subtly making a point that perhaps a few other countries could learn a lesson from when it comes to songs and song lyrics and.
Speaker B:Song titles mentioning absolutely no names.
Speaker C:In the same way that comparing Malta and Finland's entry, you can do innuendo in a way that is still going to get you played on the radio.
Speaker C:Like, there's nothing subtle about Ichikoma, but it doesn't go all in for a shock on one word, and therefore it's completely, completely doable.
Speaker C:So, you know, there are lessons to learn in all sorts of things.
Speaker C:When it comes to your lyrics.
Speaker E:I do enjoy Ukraine's subtlety on this kind of thing.
Speaker E:But it was such a nice track as well, because you had.
Speaker E:With the staging, there was a traditional clothes, there was a traditional folk stage, but then kind of mixing it with some rap and it just worked really well, like on its, you know, its own terms, like, yeah, our culture, it's pretty cool and it can just work like that.
Speaker D:And they're all going around on a lazy Susan at one point.
Speaker D:Classic.
Speaker D:Absolutely classic.
Speaker E:Classic Eurovision staging.
Speaker C:I love a revolve more.
Speaker C:We need more revolves.
Speaker C:We get very many revolves in Eurovision.
Speaker C:We need more.
Speaker B:And, yeah, it was just so colorful to watch, which I.
Speaker B:Which I loved.
Speaker B:I think you Know, it was such a simple idea, but it just worked so, so well.
Speaker B:And yeah, this one, this one's.
Speaker B:And we are now going across to AJ for a Greek entry, Evangelia and Vale.
Speaker E:Yeah, I really enjoyed that.
Speaker E:We had a Greek national finally again this year and there was quite a lot of good entries, I felt.
Speaker E:And I think, if memory serves, this was a runner up.
Speaker E:And the first thing you were talking about or this song reminds me of someone else.
Speaker E:This gave me Dua Lipa almost immediately.
Speaker E:Just.
Speaker E:It was very slick, it was very.
Speaker E:Just the kind of style that it was in, but it had that kind of chanty, anthemic chorus that you kind of got to have with a Eurovision song.
Speaker E:And I've been listening to this a fair amount, especially as the sun has been coming out.
Speaker E:It feels like a nice kind of sunny vibe song.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think this one was.
Speaker B:Was one where again, it just absolutely hits the ground running, doesn't it?
Speaker B:It just starts and there's no messing about with this one.
Speaker B:A really, really, like, impactful performance.
Speaker B:I thought she had such incredible stage presence and like, not too.
Speaker B:To draw too many constant parallels to other kind of Eurosian performers from the same countries.
Speaker B:But I was watching going, oh, this is very kind of Marina Sati, just kind of owning it from the word go and a call and response part to it, which I always enjoy, and one where it was delivered with enough confidence that you genuinely believe the audience would have picked that up and run with it in Basel had it got through.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, this one I really enjoyed.
Speaker B:Just really kind of very well structured pop song, really well performed, just really.
Speaker B:I couldn't find fault with it at all.
Speaker D:Yeah, I like it better than what Greece have actually sent.
Speaker E:I don't mind what they've sent, but I think that we could have done with a bop.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, yeah, I should preface with saying that we're not here to say that these songs are the ones that should have won their national finals.
Speaker B:These are just ones that we're saying that have amazing qualities and it's a shame that they couldn't have won this time.
Speaker B:But, yeah, I do kind of agree.
Speaker B:I do think maybe this one would have been the better option.
Speaker B:And that's not that I dislike what they've sent, but I do think there's that risk of getting a little bit buried in.
Speaker B:This one would have stood out a lot more.
Speaker B:I think now that we've seen the.
Speaker B:We've seen the full field pretty much.
Speaker B:Oh, and we're back to me, how exciting.
Speaker B:This one, we're back, as teased earlier, we're back in Finland with Goldilocks and Maid of.
Speaker B:And what I wanted to say about this one is that I've had.
Speaker B:I spent a lot of time just playing my, like, songs on Spotify, and I don't always remember what made me add a song to Spotify and.
Speaker B:And the amount of times this has come on.
Speaker B:And I've assumed that I added this because I heard it on, like, some trendy TV show or like on 6 Music or something and was like, oh, that's really cool.
Speaker B:I'm gonna add that.
Speaker B:And then I go, oh, no, this was umk.
Speaker B:This was.
Speaker B:This was like.
Speaker B:This was almost like Eurovision.
Speaker B:And, like, because it's just such an incredibly good song on its own merits, that's just lyrically really fun, really, really catchy.
Speaker B:And again, it's got that kind of slightly kind of Dua Lipa vibe to it.
Speaker B:And I just think, you know, had it not been for this being Erica Vickman's year, this would have absolutely walked it, basically.
Speaker C:I completely agree.
Speaker C:You beat me to nominating this one as well, Steve, because I was here for nominating.
Speaker C:Also.
Speaker C:This was another one where the staging was very impressive.
Speaker C:It looked Eurovision ready as well, as obviously did Erica Veekman.
Speaker C:But it was also really interesting because this had the complication of her not being very well, so she couldn't sing.
Speaker C:So I believe it was her.
Speaker C:She was miming two previous vocals as opposed to it showing a previous performance, which is a very odd way of doing it.
Speaker C:So she was.
Speaker C:She was performing live, but miming the rehearsal performance, but it didn't.
Speaker C:It worked as a TV program, but, yeah, it was.
Speaker C:In another year, this could have won.
Speaker C:And I think I'd be interested to see how well it.
Speaker C:Well it could do.
Speaker C:It was really.
Speaker C:It was imaginative.
Speaker C:The rings were great, the dancing was great.
Speaker C:It had something and I really liked it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think sometimes it's just a question of really unfortunate timing, isn't it?
Speaker B:Like, this would have been such a front runner in almost any other year and you just had the misfortune to pick this year to enter it, basically.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:I love the staging.
Speaker D:It kind of distracted me a little bit from the song, but that.
Speaker D:That's no, you know, no diss to the song, but the flexibility of those dancers on the hamster wheel.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker D:Someone's been doing their yoga with Adrienne.
Speaker E:I love that they've got the hamster wheel.
Speaker E:They listen to Peace, peace, love, love.
Speaker E:So, you know.
Speaker E:But I loved it.
Speaker B:We need.
Speaker C:We need more hamster wheels, more anything revolving.
Speaker C:I'm here for it.
Speaker E:More revolving staging.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:No, I loved it too.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:You say it had the dua lipa vibe.
Speaker E:It had a weekend.
Speaker E:Like the weekend vibe as well.
Speaker E:That kind of electronic thing.
Speaker E:Yeah, loved it.
Speaker B:We're going to move on now to another one.
Speaker B:I'm really sorry.
Speaker B:I should have slightly researched better how to pronounce some of these names, but I'm going to do my best here.
Speaker B:Leon Cheka with Drobe from Lithuania.
Speaker B:And this one was one of Cats.
Speaker D:This is utterly baffling, isn't it?
Speaker B:What if you've almost read my notes out there?
Speaker D:Absolutely.
Speaker D:Like the folk harmony intro, experimental electro, clash, dubstep breaks.
Speaker D:Completely serious business.
Speaker D:They are there because, you know, it feels like someone's put a gun to their head.
Speaker D:I say you must come out here and sing as if your life depends on it.
Speaker D:And like the vocals, absolutely incredible.
Speaker D:But everything else is a complete hot mess.
Speaker D:I'm.
Speaker D:I'm obsessed with this.
Speaker D:Obsessed.
Speaker D:The casualty makeup as well.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I just.
Speaker D:I can't stop watching it.
Speaker E:It felt to me like a really interesting fringe show.
Speaker E:I.
Speaker E:I review fringe shows and I would have definitely given it.
Speaker E:I would have said, you know, that's the most fascinating thing.
Speaker E:I don't know what I've just seen, but I feel I have to say something about it.
Speaker E:Like, it's like you say, the sort of stitches sort of makeup.
Speaker E:The queer opera vibe.
Speaker E:What was it?
Speaker E:I don't know.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was sat there thinking, if I heard this audio only, would I feel the same way about it.
Speaker B:But so much of this was the absolutely bonkers, brilliant staging through it, which I did not understand at all, but I was thoroughly enjoying.
Speaker B:I was just sitting back, letting it wash over me and just having a great time and just shrugging in adoring bemusement, I think, is the way I can describe it.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker B:Oh, God.
Speaker A:Well, we're already at our last song off the list.
Speaker B:We've actually got through these very quickly.
Speaker B:I'm impressed with how concise we punish to be.
Speaker B:We are over to AJ for the last one.
Speaker B:This is Slovenia and I'm going to sound like I'm just making a series of hoots and clicks here, but this is Kiki with Oo Oo.
Speaker B:Let's have a Kiki.
Speaker E:Let's have a Kiki.
Speaker E:Again, I'm here for the kind of.
Speaker E:What on earth just happened?
Speaker E:It's very much like Lithuania one.
Speaker E:We're just talking about because you know, someone comes on dressed as kind of got Pierrot kind of thing going on or clown.
Speaker E:It's all very quirky, it's theatrical.
Speaker E:There's a bit of folk dancing happens at one point and then.
Speaker E:Which seems to be this year's theme tempo change.
Speaker E:Let's just have a dance breakdown at the end.
Speaker E:Let's all run round in circles and then stop again.
Speaker E:And it was just the sort of.
Speaker E:Oh, it's.
Speaker E:It's sort of weird constructor vibes.
Speaker E:But I kind of like it better.
Speaker E:Controversial but I.
Speaker E:Yeah, it was just so strange and cool.
Speaker E:I'm not a huge fan of what one, so I feel like this would have just been a more fun thing to send.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker D:I agree, totally.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:When it started off and she was like there like in the sort of a doll face, like get up.
Speaker D:I was just brought to mind Katie Wasall and X Factor sitting down on the floor.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:But then it suddenly like switched up into this like boshed up Verdes Requiem vocal.
Speaker D:Really, really strong ending.
Speaker D:I just.
Speaker D:I think maybe it just took a bit too long to get going, you know, with.
Speaker D:With that.
Speaker D:If it had been that strong at the start, I think it would have like smashed it.
Speaker D:But.
Speaker D:But yeah, really enjoyable.
Speaker B:I love that there was a slight sort of like fake out ending a little bit.
Speaker B:You think it's finished but there's like a couple more seconds of it to go and go.
Speaker B:Is the song still going?
Speaker B:Is this her thanking the crowd?
Speaker B:I don't really know what's going on, but this is.
Speaker E:Is.
Speaker B:This is great.
Speaker B:And yeah, I agree that like I feel they're on absolute hiding to nothing with.
Speaker B:With the song that they did pick.
Speaker B:And this would at least have been, you know, a kind of a shoot for the moon.
Speaker B:And even if you miss you've made an attempt kind of thing.
Speaker B:And what.
Speaker B:Given what was already there, I think there was a lot of opportunity to build on this staging to, you know, refine it and enhance it a little.
Speaker A:Bit and it could.
Speaker B:It could have been a real moment.
Speaker B:So I'm genuinely quite gutted they didn't pick this one.
Speaker C:If I had one more to have nominated for the also run.
Speaker C:I think Petra Mirdif interval act for the Melfest final would have to go in there.
Speaker C:It was.
Speaker C:We must.
Speaker C:We must protect the gays.
Speaker C:I think it translated as I do need to sit down and watch.
Speaker C:So I've seen her introduction with subtitles.
Speaker C:I now need to sit down and get kind of the English lyrics of a whole song.
Speaker C:Because I picked up bits of it.
Speaker C:But I think she had a lot of fun with that one.
Speaker B:I feel like the really fun part of this stage of Eurovision is when you've got a song in your head in another language and you're walking around singing it, absolutely no idea what you're singing.
Speaker B:Like.
Speaker C:That is me with Barabaraba Barabadabastu aberration.
Speaker C:All the time stuck in my head.
Speaker E:The problem is I have a Norwegian pt and so she'll understand quite a lot of things that I'm singing.
Speaker E:So if I'm doing, like, any kind.
Speaker B:She'S like, okay, yeah.
Speaker B:I quickly put the chorus of Bala Bartu through Google Translate just to make sure I wasn't saying anything bizarre or offensive.
Speaker B:And I'd like to say it's just.
Speaker C:Like a sauna, isn't it?
Speaker B:It's very weird.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:Let's all have a sauna.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think my favorite bit is it bastublurda ayubissen gleda, which is like something like sauna brothers, we glow together.
Speaker B:Which I just think is such a good line.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker E:Sauna brothers, we're all bastubruda.
Speaker B:So it's a really fun word to say bastubrer.
Speaker B:Thank you for Duolingo for helping me to actually say that live in the first place.
Speaker E:Duolingo is the win.
Speaker B:Brilliant.
Speaker B:Well, thank you all very much for joining us on this extra special episode.
Speaker B:It's been wonderful to have you all here and hopefully we will all catch up again soon.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker E:Thank you.
Speaker D:Thanks.
Speaker B:Oh, that was so great.
Speaker A:A huge thank you to Adrian, AJ and to Kat for taking time out.
Speaker B:Of their busy schedules to join us.
Speaker A:On this pod and pay tribute to some absolute bangers.
Speaker A:That is all for this week.
Speaker A:I will be back next Monday with another news update, so please do hit subscribe on your podcast platform to make sure you don't miss any of our upcoming episodes.
Speaker A:And if you feel like leaving us a nice review to help us work our way up the charts, we will love you forever.
Speaker A:Until next time, good night, Europe, and good morning, Australia.
