“Cause now you’re in my head, my heart, my body parts.”
Sure, these lyrics from Sweden’s Felicia in My System – an absolute banger of an electro-pop song – may not remind anybody of Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen. But in the Eurovision Song Contest, only two things matter: what will (supposedly) objective juries of musical professionals think of Felicia’s song, and how many of the 163 million passionate worldwide fans watching the contest will give their televotes to her.
As is the custom, this year’s Eurovision is being hosted by last year’s winner, Austria, in the beautiful city of Vienna. And Sweden and Felicia’s My System is a strong entry among many strong entries this year.
The overwhelming betting favorite for months has been Finland, whose song and performance are spectacular. I can’t wait to see it on the big stage. But coming into the Contest as the favorite is far from an assurance of inevitability. Sweden finished fourth as the favorite last year, which updates my research to 10 wins over the last 18 years for the betting favorite. That said, winners rarely come from outside of the top three in betting odds. For this year, that means keeping an eye on Finland, Greece, and Denmark.
But while I can never deny my obsession with data and analysis, I come to Eurovision first and foremost as a fan of music and a fanatic about this glorious contest. So here are my ten favorites, and by “favorites,” I mean the songs and performances that move me the most. Your and the bettors’ mileage may vary. As an international celebration of music viewed by 160 million people, the fact that people feel passionately different about what kind of music moves them is what makes Eurovision so enchanting.
And, yes! Ten favorites are a lot. That’s why I’m so excited about this year. I can’t recall feeling this strongly about so many songs.
My Top Three
If I were giving Olympic medals, it would be Gold for Finland, Silver for Croatia, and Bronze for Australia. But if any of these three wins, I’d be happy. As of this writing, Australia is fifth in the betting odds, and Croatia is effectively tied with nine other countries for 12th.
Finland – Liekinheitin (Flamethrower) is utterly brilliant. It’s a three-minute mini-play of a man desperate to stay in a relationship that the woman no longer wants. He is a great singer.1 She is an acclaimed classical and pop crossover violinist. The song has been described as a “cinematic pop behemoth” and is an alchemical masterpiece of pop, rock, classical, and dance music. Have I mentioned that it is utterly brilliant?
Croatia – Andromeda. OMG, this song is beautiful beyond words. This is a song of resistance, dignity, and empowerment rooted in Croatian and Bosnian history. During the Ottoman Empire, Catholic women tattooed crosses on their skin to appear “marked” or “unclean” to Ottoman soldiers, deterring rape or abduction into harems or slavery. Andromeda is the Greek myth of a princess chained to a rock for decisions she didn’t make. The song is dark, haunting, the harmonies are to die for, and OMG OMG OMG the build to the climax at the end!
Australia – Eclipse. In any other year, this massive pop song by Australian legend Delta Goodrem would be my easy favorite. An ode to her husband, it’s an orchestral power pop song with shifting movements, tempo changes, and classical elements. Add to that a lot of power from Delta’s powerhouse vocals. It’s thrilling to listen to.
The Rest of the Best
Here are the rest of my faves with grades, scored on a 1-5 scale, and my in-the-moment reaction notes from their Eurovision Official Music Videos or National Contest performances, if available. Videos for all 35 entries are available here.
| Albania | 5 | Majestic |
| Belgium | 5 | Oh yes. Giving good Gaga vibes. |
| France | 5 | OMG OMG OMG France is Francing in the best most possible way. |
| Czechia | 4.5 | Darkly emotive. Chilling. Beautiful. |
| Montenegro | 4.5 | Goth meets techno, and I am so here for it. Interesting video. |
| Denmark | 4.5 | Every time I hear this, I like it more. |
| Sweden | 4 | Banger. Will be a crowd pleaser. My Daughter Cassandra says the sound is “very German,” and I agree (despite being Sweden’s entry). |
The Rest of the Rest
| San Marino | 4 | This is hot! LOL Boy George guest appearance! Dancers are great. |
| Georgia | 3.5 | A little better than meh. Junior Eurovision winner in 2008. |
| Italy | 3.5 | The disco-iness of the song came out a lot more in the music video than in Italy’s National Final performance. |
| Lithuania | 3.5 | Has its moments, but not often enough or big enough. |
| Poland | 3.5 | This could grow on me. Amazing voice. Great attitude. Too much is going on in the song. Some weak sections. She was Poland’s entry for 2020, which was cancelled due to COVID. |
| Ukraine | 3 | Gorgeous voice, but the song does little for me. And I’m still bitter that Ukraine didn’t vote to send Jerry Heil back to Eurovision this year (3rd place 2024). |
| Austria | 3 | My initial reaction was quite negative, but now I’m lukewarm towards it. |
| Bulgaria | 3 | A crowd-pleaser that will probably do OK, but it is not for me. |
| Cyprus | 3 | Love her voice. Don’t like the accordion-sounding thing. |
| Germany | 3 | Basic dance-pop. It’s no Baller (Germany’s entry last year by Abor & Tynna). |
| Luxembourg | 3 | The definition of mid. |
| Romania | 3 | So this is what Bad Born This Way era Lady Gaga looks and sounds like. Don’t know what to do with this. I love the song, but her Romanian National Final performance vocals weren’t very good. Same with the pre-contest shows. But she won Romania’s The Voice in 2023? Most confusing entry. |
| Israel | 3 | It’s . . . fine. |
| Armenia | 2.5 | Too repetitive. |
| Azerbaijan | 2.5 | Beautiful at times and boring at times. |
| Norway | 2.5 | 1970s rock is back. |
| Estonia | 2 | Should be a 1, but I’m upgrading for the sincerity of committing to the bit that “old” girls can still rock. They can, of course, but this doesn’t. |
| Moldova | 2 | It’s not awful (so not a 1), it’s just not me. The video is basically commercials for Moldova. |
| Portugal | 2 | Soft. Sweet. Dull. |
| Serbia | 2 | Very dark. Very theatrical. The screamo thing in the last minute lost me. |
| Greece (2nd place in betting odds) | 1 | Giving Rim Tim Tagi Dim (2nd place Croatia 2024) and Cha Cha Cha (2nd place Finland 2023) vibes. I hate those vibes. I know people will like this vibe. I’m not one of those people. |
| Latvia | 1 | Bless her heart, but this tested the “I can listen to anything for three minutes” theory. |
| Malta | 1 | Dull sleepy. |
| Switzerland | 1 | I like that she’s a rocker chick, but that’s all. |
| United Kingdom | 1 | Thomas Dolby vibes. I didn’t like Thomas Dolby. |
- I’ve been told that he is hot, too. ↩︎
Ray's Musings 
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