Eurovision 2025: Five songs selected in national finals on Friday, Saturday

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Sunday, February 9, 2025

Over the last two days, five national Eurovision selection shows, “national finals”, were held across Europe. Ireland held its show on Friday, followed by Ukraine, Finland, Latvia, and Malta on Saturday, in what Eurovision fans dub a “super Saturday”.

All four entries on Saturday came second in their respective jury vote, and first in the public televote.

Ireland was the first country to select a song this week, with seven entries competing on the Late Late Show, hosted by Patrick Kielty, in its annual “Eurosong Special” on Friday. The contest was won by Emmy Kristiansen, professionally known as EMMY, a Norwegian singer who previously competed in the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix in 2021.

EMMY scored the maximum amount of twelve points from the Irish jury as well as the public with her song Laika Party, as well as ten points from the international jury, finishing eight points ahead of second-place contestant Samantha Mumba.

Eurovision fan and statistics site Eurovisionworld collected over 10,000 votes before the start of the show on which song their users preferred to win, and Bobby Arlo’s Powerplay came out on top, with 50% of user votes. EMMY came second in this poll, receiving 22% of the vote.

Ukraine selected its song on Saturday evening with its Vidbir contest, with ten entries competing over four and a half hours in the capital city of Kyiv. Interval acts included Jamala, Artem Kotenko, and Ruslana.

Band Ziferblat won with their entry Bird of Pray, scoring nineteen out of the maximum available twenty points; they scored nine points from the jury and ten from the public. Molodi and Eurovisionworld poll leader Masha Kondratenko finished joint second with sixteen points.

The show included three dedicated segments asking the viewers to donate to a campaign raising funds to demine Ukraine. A QR code to the fundraiser was visible in the top-right corner of the livestream throughout the show.

Finland’s national final, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, was also hosted on Saturday, as six hopeful participants gathered in Tampere‘s Nokia Arena. English commentary was provided by national broadcaster Yle, with Jaakko Oleander-Turja speaking throughout the contest to provide context to international viewers. Commentary was also provided in Finnish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Russian, Northern Sámi, Inari Sámi, Finnish Sign Language, Swedish Sign Language, and what Oleander-Turja dubbed “special song sign language”.

The night was won out by Erika Vikman, with her song Ich komme. Second-place finisher Goldielocks was unable to sing live on the advice of her doctor, so she performed her choreography with the audio taken from a previous rehearsal.

In Ta’ Qali, sixteen entries, narrowed down from twenty-four with two semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday, competed over four hours in Malta Eurovision Song Contest, accompanied by interval acts from Alexander Rybak and Sarah Bonnici.

Finishing in first place was Miriana Conte, with her song Kant (Maltese for “singing”). The hook, “do re mi fa se-se-serving kant”, is a reference, described as “provocative wordplay” by MaltaToday, to a phrase originally from drag slang that later entered broader usage online. “Serving cunt” refers to acting boldly and extravagantly without shame, typically in a feminine manner.

Conte received a total of 182 points, eight more than second-place and jury winner Kristy Spiteri. After Conte’s win, the backstage team started the winner’s performance without her, and the stage and backing music followed the presets of her performance for almost a minute before being stopped. Conte then stepped out and performed her winner’s performance as the other contestants took to the stage.