EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThe Eurovision Song Contest is back – this time in Basel, Switzerland.
The UK’s entry this year is Remember Monday – a country-pop trio who will perform their song What The Hell Just Happened.
What is the Eurovision Song Contest?
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual televised competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
The theme for the 2025 edition is “Welcome Home”, as the first contest was held in Switzerland in 1956.
Songs must be original and no more than three minutes long. They cannot have been released or publicly performed before 1 September 2024.
Lead vocals must be live, with no lip-syncing or auto-tuning allowed and a maximum of six singers and dancers.
How to watch the Eurovision final
EPA-EFE/ShutterstockWhich countries take part in Eurovision?
EPA-EFE/ShutterstockA total of 37 countries are taking part in Eurovision 2025 – all but one took part in last year’s contest in Malmö, Sweden.
Montenegro returns to the competition this year for the first time since 2022, replacing Moldova – which withdrew because of financial and logistical challenges.
Most Eurovision countries are European, but Australia takes part every year, after being invited to join Eurovision’s 60th anniversary celebrations in 2015. Australia, however, cannot host if it ever wins.
Other non-European countries including Israel participate because they are members of the EBU.
Russia has been banned since 2022, following its invasion of Ukraine.
Why is the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland?
Switzerland is playing host to Eurovision 2025 after contestant Nemo won the 2024 contest with the song The Code.
Nemo is due to appear as a guest performer this year too, despite accusing the contest of not supporting artists enough in 2024.
This is the third time that Switzerland has hosted Eurovision. Its contestant this year is Zoë Më, with the song Voyage.
PA MediaWho is in the Eurovision final?
The “big five” nations who provide extra financial support to Eurovision get an automatic qualification for the final. These are the UK, Italy, Spain, France and Germany.
Switzerland also gets a golden ticket to honour last year’s victory.
In the first semi-final on 13 May, Céline Dion, who won the contest for Switzerland in 1988, delivered a pre-recorded message celebrating the “beautiful” return of the contest to Basel.
These countries qualified from the first semi-final:
- Albania: Shkodra Elektronike – Zjerm
- Estonia: Tommy Cash – Espresso Macchiato
- Iceland: VÆB – RÓA
- Netherlands: Claude – C’est La Vie
- Norway: Kyle Alessandro – Lighter
- Poland: Justyna Steczkowska – GAJA
- Portugal: NAPA – Deslocado
- San Marino: Gabry Ponte – Tutta L’Italia
- Sweden: KAJ – Bara Bada Bastu
- Ukraine: Ziferblat – Bird of Pray
The following countries qualified from the second semi-final:
- Armenia: PARG – SURVIVOR
- Austria: JJ – Wasted Love
- Denmark: Sissal – Hallucination
- Finland: Erika Vikman – ICH KOMME
- Greece: Klavdia – Asteromáta
- Israel: Yuval Raphael – New Day Will Rise
- Latvia: Tautumeitas – Bur Man Laimi
- Lithuania: Katarsis – Tavo Akys
- Luxembourg: Laura Thorn – La Poupée Monte Le Son (pictured above)
- Malta: Miriana Conte – SERVING
Who is the UK entry Remember Monday?
ReutersGirl band Remember Monday are made up of Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull and Charlotte Steele.
They will be performing a song titled What The Hell Just Happened, full of harmonies and pop melodies.
The band formed at school in Farnborough, Hampshire, and appeared on TV talent show The Voice, in 2019. Lauren and Holly-Anne have also appeared in West End shows like Phantom of the Opera and Six: The Musical.
They’ll be hoping to turn around the UK’s fortunes, after the last two contestants Olly Alexander and Mae Muller both finished at the bottom end of the table in 2024 and 2023 respectively.
Why is Israel’s Eurovision entry controversial?
More than 70 former Eurovision contestants, including Britain’s Mae Muller, have signed an open letter demanding that Israel’s public broadcaster KAN be banned from the contest, alleging that it was “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza”.
Eurovision, which has always billed itself as non-political, has resisted calls for Israel to be excluded.
Yuval Raphael, Israel’s contestant this year, told BBC News she was “expecting” to be booed during her performance.
The inclusion of Israel sparked controversy last year, when its contestant Eden Golan also faced boos during a rehearsal and thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the venue.
Golan was also forced to change the lyrics of her entry, titled Hurricane, to remove references to the deadly attacks by Hamas on Israel, on 7 October 2023.
EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThe last major music event Raphael attended was the Nova festival, in Israel, when it came under attack by Hamas gunmen during the 7 October attacks and more than 360 people were killed.
Around 1,200 people were killed in Israel by gunmen led by Hamas that day, and 251 were taken hostage. During Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza more than 53,000 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
How does Eurovision voting work?
In the final, every participating country is awarded two sets of scores – one from a jury of music experts and one from fans around Europe.
Fans get a maximum of 20 votes, cast via phone call, SMS or via the official Eurovision app. They can vote for as many different acts as they like, but votes for your home country are banned.
Once the lines close, each country will have chosen a “Top 10” of their favourite songs. The most popular song gets 12 points, the second choice gets 10, and the rest are scored from eight to one.
Viewers from countries that don’t participate in Eurovision also get a say. Their choices are bundled into a single bloc known as the “rest of the world vote”.
