‘United by Music’ or Divided in Song?: Eurovision 2025 – the (still) contested contest

An Estonian ode to coffee, a Maltese superstar serving kant on giant yoga balls, and a Finn belting out ‘Ich Komme’ on a flying microphone (every inch of innuendo intended). It could only be the Eurovision Song Contest. Dubbed ‘the world’s largest music show’, with a global viewership of 166 million, Eurovision returned for the 69th time this year with the Swiss city of Basel playing host, following Nemo’s win in 2024 with their genre-bending entry, ‘The Code’.

37 countries battled it out for the illustrious crystal microphone in what was seen as one of the most wide-open, tightly fought contests in years. Perennial Eurovision favourites Sweden led in the betting odds heading into the contest week, represented by Finnish comedy trio KAJ and their sauna-inspired ‘Bara bada bastu’ – the first Swedish entry sent in their native language since 1998.

France was also among the countries eyeing up a victory – desperate for their first in 48 years – with Louane’s heartfelt ballad ‘Maman’, an ode to her own mother who died of cancer in 2014. Hosts Switzerland were also among those tipped to do well on the Saturday night, as were the already-mentioned fan favourites Finland, Estonia, and Malta. Even Albania – a country with only two top tens under their belt – had struck a chord with fans, thanks to their traditional-meets-modern ‘Zjerm’, performed by duo Shkodra Elektronike (one of which could easily have been mistaken for Albania’s answer to Gru).

Austria picked up the trophy for the third time in the contest’s history

As the votes flooded in, though – and the UK picked up a third ‘nul points’ from the public vote in five years (despite placing in the top 10 with the juries, and receiving their first 12 points since Sam Ryder from an Italian mouse) – it was Austria who won out overall with 436 points.

Combining haunting black and white visuals and the operatic notes of former Voice UK contestant Johannes Pietsch, known as JJ, Austria picked up the trophy for the third time in the contest’s history, setting Vienna – or perhaps, Innsbruck – up to host Eurovision’s 70th anniversary next year.

However, as the clock approached midnight, it looked like the result was going to be a completely different one. One that could have – and most likely would have – shook, and destroyed, the contest at least in the coming years, if not forever.

Questions have been mounting in recent years over Eurovision’s ‘non-political’ nature

For decades, Eurovision has widely been dubbed as an ‘apolitical’ celebration of music – the coming together of countries from across Europe (and beyond) to showcase the best the continent has to offer in a week of song, performance, and culture. A Boar article, written a month after the 2023 contest in Liverpool, declared the Eurovision stage as a place where “difference is celebrated, love is shared, and politics is forgotten”. Even the contest rules explicitly state that Eurovision “is a non-political event”. All broadcasters must “make sure that the ESC shall in no case be politicized and/or instrumentalized and/or otherwise brought into disrepute in any way”. Or at least that’s what the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – the contest organisers – claim, anyway.

Questions have been mounting in recent years over Eurovision’s ‘non-political’ nature. Following their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia’s participation in the contest was thrown into the spotlight, with numerous countries calling on their expulsion and threatening to withdraw if they were to compete.

While Russia was ultimately removed from the contest, it finally raised eyebrows across the continent over Eurovision’s ‘politicisation’, despite its very own rules. However, a contest which saw Azerbaijanis reportedly questioned by police over voting for Armenia in 2009, was allegedly rigged by Spanish dictator General Franco in 1968 (a contest which Spain won) to help ‘put a shine’ on his regime, and saw Iceland’s act fined €5,000 for waving a Palestinian flag during the voting when the contest was held in Tel Aviv has not somehow erroneously been ‘politicised’. It has always been ‘political’.

Israel’s participation again drew controversy from some fans, amid their ongoing war in Gaza

If last year’s contest was not evidence enough of this, then this year’s contest certainly was. Israel’s participation again drew controversy from some fans, amid their ongoing war in Gaza. At least 54,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s attacks since October 2023 – 140 of those in the 24 hours leading up the Eurovision final alone.

Yuval Raphael was selected to represent Israel at this year’s contest, with the song ‘New Day Will Rise’ which, according to the songwriter Keren Peles, is intended to represent a “new sunrise” for Israelis following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel that sparked the country’s escalation of violence on Gaza. Raphael herself was a survivor of these attacks at the Nova music festival, and she told the BBC before the contest that representing her country was like a “personal win”, especially “doing it with such pride”.

Israel could have ended up winning this year’s contest, giving them the right to host next year’s anniversary edition

Going into the announcement of the public vote in the final, Israel were sitting in the bottom half of the leaderboard with just 60 points from the juries – a win seemed far out of the equation. However, as the hosts announced the public votes, Israel rose up the leaderboard, their 297 public points catapulting them into first place, where they stayed right until the end of the voting. It was only Austria’s eventual 178 televote points that stood between Israel and the win.

With a stronger jury vote or more public support from just a handful of countries then, Israel could have ended up winning this year’s contest, giving them the right to host next year’s anniversary edition. Graham Norton, in his closing commentary remarks, said that the results will let the EBU “breathe a sigh of relief”. Indeed, the contest being held in a country which has, in the past, been accused of ‘pinkwashing’ the contest at a time when their war is causing the death of thousands of Palestinian civilians would have been near-impossible, and certainly not a good look for a contest which allegedly prides itself on inclusion, diversity, and universality.

It begs the question though as to why Israel were allowed to participate in the contest at all when Russia was disqualified in 2022 for their war on Ukraine. Georgia was even forced to withdraw in 2009 for simply sending a tongue-in-cheek anti-Putin song, and this exclusion came despite Russia waging a war against Georgia only the year prior.

One potential reason which could answer this question though is the unconditional support given to Israel by so many governments – particularly those in Western Europe. Despite an open letter being signed by over 70 former Eurovision contestants calling on Israel’s exclusion, only three competing broadcasters called their participation into question before the contest. Of these, only one – Slovenia’s RTVSLO – went as far as to call for Israel’s disqualification. With the EBU not faced with the risk of losing participating countries – and thus, money – the organisers seemingly decided there was no reason to expel Israel, despite the country’s escalated warfare in Gaza. In fact, there was almost a financial incentive for the organisers to allow Israel to compete. According to reports, Germany – one of Israel’s strongest allies in Europe – had threatened to withdraw if Israel were disqualified.

Israel’s adverts did not break any rules, but the seeming lack of public support for Israel’s entry compared to its number of top marks has certainly raised eyebrows

It has only been in the weeks after Eurovision that at least some countries have changed their tone towards Israel’s participation, with much of this resulting from questions over the legitimacy of the voting in this year’s contest. Reports following the final found that an Israeli government agency had been paying for adverts, directly targeted at Eurovision voters, encouraging them to vote for Israel’s entry. These adverts were even played to viewers during the official YouTube livestream of the final.

Perhaps then, Israel’s 13 ‘douze points’ were not gained fairly but, instead, because of mass pro-Israel voting campaigns – made possible by the current system which allows voters to vote up to 20 times per payment method. Eurovision’s Director, Martin Green, has stressed that Israel’s adverts did not break any rules, but the seeming lack of public support for Israel’s entry compared to its number of top marks has certainly raised eyebrows. An on-screen graphic during the Australian broadcast seemed to show only 23% of viewers ‘liked’ the song. Israel nevertheless gained 12 points from Australia. ‘New Day Will Rise’ also failed to chart in the UK (who also gave Israel 12 points) – Germany’s ‘Baller’, on the other hand, which finished outside the top 10 in the UK televote, broke into the UK Top 40 singles chart last week.

The EBU literally needs to face the music, and take on board the concerns of fans

It is perhaps unsurprising that several countries, including Spain, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands, have voiced their concerns around the voting. The EBU has acknowledged these complaints, and have said they will look into potential solutions for next year’s contest, including new voting caps. However, regardless of the outcome of this review, it is clear that the contest needs restructuring.

As the contest trundles into its ‘platinum jubilee’ year, it seems reprehensible that Israel – not only for its similarities to Russia, who were excluded from the contest, but also for their manipulation of the vote, whether it broke rules or not – should be allowed to compete in the contest, a contest which has been a safe haven for so many over the years. The EBU literally needs to face the music, and take on board the concerns of fans. Otherwise, the contest risks becoming even more disunited by music, its slogan going even further down the drain, as it continues to lose disillusioned fans and perhaps even competing countries.