Photo Credit: YLE, TeleRadio Moldova, TVM, SVT
It’s been another eventful National Final season where many countries have decided who they want to see represent them at Eurovision in Switzerland! In this article we look back at the most memorable moments from the season, so let’s dive in!
Montesong
The first country to decide their song was the returnee Montenegro who used Montesong to determine their Eurovision song! Montesong was a polished production and the organisers were determined to show off Montenegrin music and talent to the national, and eventually the international, stage. However while it was only November, the National Final season drama had already began. The eventual winners of the festival NeoNoen were found to have broken a rule as they had performed their song ‘Clickbait’ prior to September 2024. After their withdrawal, and a nervous wait, Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG announced that runner-up Nina Žižić would represent the nation in Eurovision. Will she bring Montenegro back to the final?
FIK
Festivali i Këngës (FiK) is one of Albania’s longest running music shows and is always a National Final fan favourite to watch amongst Eurovision fans over the festive season. This year, Eurovision 2015 contestant Elhaida Dani was appointed the artistic director of the show.
As soon as the line-up was announced, fans were delighted to hear about the return of Elvana Gjata who is undoubtedly one of Albania’s biggest pop stars and took part in FiK a few years ago, finishing in 2nd place with ‘Me Tana’. Another huge fan favourite was Shkodra Elektronike with their song ‘Zjerm’ which combined traditional ethnic Albanian music with an electronic sound, but they were still a relatively small act compared to Elvana so surely this was hers to lose right? As it turns out the international audience preferred Elvana Gjata with her anthem ‘Karnaval‘ but it was the juries and Albanian public especially who overwhelmingly preferred Shkodra Elektronike pulling off a shock victory and delighting Eurovision fans.
Since their victory, the duo have defied expectation and climbed up the odds steadily over the course of the season and at the time of writing are 9th place in the odds to win Eurovision. Albania in their history have never had a song place that high in the odds before, so this is already historic. Can Albania go all the way and win Eurovision for the first time?
The Season of Withdrawals
Over the course of the season, one thing that was apparent was the sheer amount of withdrawals and disqualifications we had this year. Countries like Serbia, Malta, Montenegro and Lithuania to name a few had to have reserve entries brought in because of this. These withdrawals could be because of illness, the song being released or performed before September 1st, or in Lithuania’s case, it turned out that one of the songs was the exact same song as one that was entered in Croatia’s competiton Dora!
The withdrawals were so bad that even a whole country withdrew, but more on that later.
Etapa Națională Auditions
One of the Eurovision Sphere’s highlights of the season is the Etapa Națională auditions in Moldova. They are famed for the chaos, thanks to the broadcaster letting anyone compete and sometimes the songs themselves haven’t been revealed before the auditions so you never know what to expect, from the wild to the wonderful!
Tudor Bumbac’s Return
Speaking of wonderful, no Moldova segment is complete without mentioning the king of Moldova, or at the very least, the people’s princess. I can only be talking about the amazing and sensational Tudor Bumbac. He may be 83-years-old, but he’s determined to represent his country at Eurovision. This year he was singing ‘Pace Noi Vrem‘ (We Want Peace) hoping he would make it to the final on his 7th attempt. However, once again the juries failed to understand his song from an academic perspective and he was not one of the 12 finalists to advance. I just feel bad for the people who do not possess the musical expertise needed to understand this song.
But he won something more important than any trophy: the Eurovision fans’ hearts.
As it turned out, no one advanced to the final. Just days after the audition process Moldova decided to cancel their selection and withdraw from Eurovision 2025 citing “economic, administrative and artistic challenges” and “a decrease in public interest and the overall quality of the songs and artistic performances”. We hope to see Moldova return in 2026!
If you’d like to read more about what happened in Moldova and what they can do next year, I wrote an article about it right here:
Laika Party in Ireland
Ireland once again used Eurosong on The Late Late Show as their Eurovision selection process featuring some famous and familiar faces. Early 2000s pop icon Samantha Mumba surprised many by appearing as one of the 6 artists on the line-up. Other favourites included Bobbi Arlo with her modern hyperpop anthem ‘Powerplay’ but one name that surprised even more people was EMMY. EMMY is most notable for taking part in MGP 2021 with ‘Witch Woods’ where she made the final. The Norwegian artist admitted she’d never set foot in Ireland prior to the competition, but she delighted the Irish public with her performance and she won comfortably overall with her song ‘Laika Party’, an ode to the Russian dog who went to space in the 1950s.
The show was another success with Ireland once again giving us a variety of styles and a good range of songs to choose from. Of course, we did see a return of the famous and beloved Late Late Show Hamper which this time was beauty hamper full of tanning products much to the huge cheers of the live audience.
UMK
In recent years, UMK has become one of the most exciting and popular National Finals of the Eurovision season. It’s famed for it’s high production, quality of songs, and how some of Finland’s most famous stars take part. This year was no exception! The line-up featured massive pop star Nelli Matula who had been on fan’s Eurovision wish lists (including mine) for years with her song ‘Hitaamin Hautaan’, a song about not rushing and enjoying life before it’s all over.
There was also a beautiful ballad called ‘Aina’ by VIIVI guaranteed to be played at weddings all across Finland. One of the songs that caught fans by surprise was the earworm ‘Made Of’ by up and coming artist Goldielocks. The staging for her and all of the other UMK stagings was by Sergio Jaen, and he’s most known for being the stage director of Bambie Thug’s ‘Doomsday Blue‘ with one of the most creative stagings we’ve seen in years. Sergio worked his magic once again, where we saw Goldielocks joined by two body doubles and there were 3 golden rings located in different parts of the stage where Goldielocks and her doubles were stood inside which resulted in some mesmerising visual effects.
But there was one name that was on everyone’s lips…
Erika is coming for Eurovision!
This lady needs no introduction. Ever since captivating Eurovision fans after finishing in 2nd place in UMK 2020 with her song ‘Cicciolina’, Erika Vikman has become one of the most successful and most talked about singers in Finland. Her unique style has pushed boundaries in Finland and as soon as it was announced she was coming back to UMK, fans erupted. Her song was revealed to be called ‘ICH KOMME’ (I’m Coming) which is essentially about experiencing pleasure and being in a state of trance. The unique structure and build of the song received rave reviews from Eurofans and her song broke the record for the most streams for a Finnish song on their daily Spotify Chart!
Erika is always known for her provcative and memorable performances and her UMK stage performance was definitely memorable! She commanded the stage on her own as she belted her song but during the climax of the song, a giant microphone emerged on stage which she stood on with the addition of pyrotechnics making it look like she was on a rocket-like structure. It was dazzling and one of the key images of the season. Sure enough Erika Vikman won over the Finnish public winning the contest comfortably. She has become one of the bookies’ favourites over the course of the season. Could she bring Finland a second victory at Eurovision?
Vidbir
It’s difficult to comprehend just how extremely tough life has been for Ukrainians the past few years during Russia’s invasion, and every year Ukraine goes above and beyond to produce a high quality music show to unite the nation and give Ukrainians some escapism every year. Their tenacity and bravery is second to none.
This year their Eurovision selection process Vidbir was another success and the 10 acts competing in the grand final really showed off the diversity of Ukraine’s music industry from folk, pop, and post-punk to name a few. Some returnees in the lineup included 2020 finalist KHAYAT and 2024 runner-up Ziferblat.
However, this year one of the fan favourites didn’t even make it to the final. How it worked was Vidbir had 20 songs in the longlist and 9 of those songs were chosen by the producers as finalists, the last place was decided by the public as a wildcard. Many fans instantly gravitated to the catchy pop song of ‘Kohoney‘ by GRISANA but ultimately, Ukraine ranked her 7th and FIINKA was chosen instead.
The final was won by Ziferblat with their song ‘Bird Of Pray‘ was the overall winner, finishing 2nd with the juries and comfortably winning the televote! Ukraine have never failed to qualify for a Eurovision final, will Ziferblat continue that streak?
Miriana serves Kant!
One of the most talked about songs of the whole season is ‘Kant’ (Singing) by Maltese singer Miriana Conte.
As soon as Maltese broadcaster TVM revealed 10 second snippets of all of their competing entries, there was one that instantly stood out. While the snippet of Miriana Conte’s ‘Kant’ was a catchy pop song, the lyrics were what raised eyebrows, as she said “serving Kant” which sounds phonetically very similar to “serving c**t” an expression commonly used in the LGBT+ community to suggest that someone is confident.
The live performance was also memorable as it paid homage to The Sound of Music from the dancers’ costumes and the “do re mi” lyric being a nod to the song from the film. The final chorus featured Miriana and her dancers bouncing on exercise balls. Despite tough competition, Miriana Conte won the hearts of the Maltese public and she won MESC.
What happened next, no one saw coming. Miriana was tragically involved in a traffic accident the morning after her MESC victory. She thankfully didn’t have any injuries but she was hospitalised for shock, but she has since made a full recovery and ready to focus on her Eurovision performance. While all this was happening, the song instantly went viral on TikTok and to date the song has nearly had 4 million streams on Spotify which is huge for an artist from Malta.
It was then announced that the word ‘Kant’ was prohibited by the EBU and the song would have to be altered. The song would now be called ‘Serving’ and the word ‘Kant’ was replaced by an ‘aaah’ sound but fans going to Basel have already been seen to sing the word in the gap of the song. The music video was released just weeks after to critical acclaim from Eurofans! Will Miriana give Malta a result to be proud of?
Emmelie de Forest’s European Tour
Danish entrant Emmelie de Forest is obviously no stranger to Eurovision as she won the contest back in 2013 with ‘Only Teardrops’. However, fans probably weren’t expecting her to show up at numerous national finals as a performer or even a juror! She had appeared in Montesong, Belgian Eurosong, LSC, and MESC surprising everyone. It’s nice to see Eurovision winners continue to be so passionate about the contest.
Espresso Macchiatto Per Favore
When it was revealed that Tommy Cash was taking part in Estonia’s national selection Eesti Laul, then fans were instantly intrigued and excited to what he was going to bring to the table. The outlandish star is one of Estonia’s biggest stars thanks to his unique persona and wacky music videos. He has even worked with pop stars Charli XCX, Kim Petras and Eurovision 2023 runner-up Käärijä.
‘Espresso Macchiato‘ was the unusual, quirky and Italian inspired song he would enter Eesti Laul with. The song divided opinions in the Eurovision sphere, but nevertheless it shot to the top of Estonia’s Spotify chart and began to go viral on TikTok around the world, even sneaking into the Italian charts.
During Eesti Laul, he was joined by Käärijä in the greenroom encouraging the Estonian audience to vote for his friend. Indeed, Tommy Cash had won the Estonian superfinal racking up an astonishing 83% of the televote, making this one of the biggest landslides in recent Eurovision National Final history.
Justyna Makes History
In 1995, Justyna Steczkowska became only the 2nd artist to represent Poland at Eurovision with her song ‘Sama‘ which was an unusual ballad with traditional instruments creating a distinctive sound and showed off her impressive vocal range and is a personal favourite of mine to this day! She ultimately finished in 18th place out of 23.
Over the years, Justyna has become a massive star in Poland and has had a very established career. In 2024 she was hoping to make her comeback to Eurovision with her dramatic song ‘The Witcher‘ which was a huge fan favourite but ultimately she lost out to LUNA. This year she was back with ‘GAJA‘, another dramatic pop song with impressive choreography and once again showcasing her powerful vocals. This time the song was enough to win the hearts of the Polish people, and at the age of 52, Justyna breaks the record for the longest gap between successive Eurovision participations!
Good Væbs Only
Next, we look at Iceland who brought back Söngvakeppnin and hoping to represent their country were brothers Matthías and Hálfdán otherwise known as VÆB (pronounced Vibe). They had tried to go to Eurovision last year finishing in 4th place, but were back with the catchy song ‘RÓA‘. The song, and their energy had a lasting effect on the Icelandic public and juries and they rowed to victory! Living legend and Icelandic Eurovision 2010 and 2024 contestant Hera Björk awarded the pair the trophy to which they bowed down at the sight of her.
The brothers have been delighting and entertaining fans with their social media pages such as covering ‘JaJa Ding Dong‘ from the Eurovision movie, reacting to their fellow contestants’ songs and their dreams of reaching the Top 34 in the Eurovision odds and reaching 100,000 on their YouTube channel!
The Reveal Of ‘Wasted Love’
One of the most exciting parts about the National Final Season isn’t just about NFs but also when a country reveals it’s song internally. Austria was one of those countries to have an internal selection and they chose opera singer JJ to represent them with the song ‘Wasted Love’. Before the song was even revealed, the bookmakers were optimistic and was already in the Top 5 of the odds. When the song was released, fans were amazed at just how talented JJ is and how he can hit those incredibly high notes. Many are predicting very good things for this opera number which ends with a techno crescendo, and currently sits as the 2nd favourite to win Eurovision 2025.
From Sanremo to San Marino
Sanremo has always been a staple of many Eurovision fans and remains one of Italy’s longest running and most popular shows! But one of the most talked about songs wasn’t actually a competing entry but was ‘Tutta L’Italia‘ by renowned DJ Gabry Ponte. This song was briefly played before and after the ad breaks of Sanremo but many fans loved it and wished it was an entry! As a result the song has become a success in Italy and at the time of writing has over 10 million streams on Spotify.
San Marino, the same nation that managed to get Flo Rida featured on one of their Eurovision entries had another trick up their sleeve. It was announced that the broadcaster had invited Gabry Ponte to compete in the San Marino Song Contest, and to the delight and surprise of many Eurofans, he won! Will he bring the micronation back to the final?
Bara Bada Bastu
Next, we have one of the biggest underdog stories of the year! KAJ, a band singing the earworm ‘Bara Bada Bastu‘ were ranked at the bottom of the Melodifestivalen odds when the entries were announced. The song is about saunas which is a huge part of Scandinavian culture and sung fully in Swedish. At the time, many didn’t think this would do that great, because one, Sweden very rarely choose songs sung in their national language, and two, they were up against 2015 Eurovision winner Måns Zelmerlöw who was hoping to make a comeback with ‘Revolution‘. It truly was Måns’ to lose.
As the days and weeks went on, the song began to gain a lot of attention across Sweden and the wider continent. After qualifying directly for the final, they already proved the bookmakers wrong. The song even reached Number 1 in Sweden! On the night of the final, they had become one of the favourites to win and fans were overjoyed to find out the international juries really liked the song and it won the televote in a landslide, achieving the most ever votes in a Melodifestivalen final which was enough to win overall.
The song has already reached Number 1 in Finland and charted in Norway, Iceland and Estonia. They currently sit as the favourite to win Eurovision 2025, could they go all the way and give Sweden an record-breaking eighth Eurovision victory?
FdC
Lastly, we’re talking about another popular National Final and that’s Festival da Canção in Portugal. The Portuguese broadcaster have always chosen a wide range of songs and styles of music and really showcase the diversity of the Portuguese music industry. They have also never been afraid to steer clear of choosing a typical Eurovision song, instead staying true to themselves which is why the National Final gets a lot of love from fans.
There were lots of songs which people liked but there were two in particular which fans really gravitated towards, one was the ballad ‘Tristeza‘ by JOSH a former The Voice of Portugal contestant and the other was ironically JOSH’s mentor Fernando Daniel with the song ‘Medo‘ with both being possible favourites to take the title, but Portugal loved ‘Deslocado‘ by the band NAPA, which had gained a lot of attention on TikTok prior to the final. The gentle song tells the story of someone who leaves their home to seek better opportunities, but is missing their home and family, a feeling which many people resonate with. The lyrics really resonated with the Portuguese public and they have won the ticket to Eurovision! In a year where there are a lot of loud and energetic songs, it’s refreshing to hear a song in the lineup.
In a season which has been as memorable as this one, there are so many moments to choose from for this list, so I’m sorry if your favourite moment hasn’t been mentioned. Whether you’re watching Eurovision this year or choosing not to, here at Phoenix, we’ll be updating you with all the latest Eurovision news! Thank you, for reading! Here’s to another memorable NF season in 2026!
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