I’m a Eurovision superfan – here’s how to sound like a pro at your watch party

It’s time to hang out your finest flag bunting, dust off your scorecards and get the snacks in for one of the biggest TV nights of the year.

Yes, Eurovision is upon us once again, and whether you’re a superfan or whether it’s your idea of televisual hell, there’s no escaping the international Song Contest at this time of the year.

The 2025 event is taking place in Basel, Switzerland, with the Grand Final on Saturday, May 17 — but there’s a lot to get through before then. We’re one semi-final down, but there’s still one to go to decide the countries appearing alongside the pre-qualified ‘Big Five’: France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the UK and hosts Switzerland.

And if you’re heading to a Eurovision watch party and want to seem like something of an expert (despite ignoring the contest for the other 364 days of the year), you might be wondering where to start.

Well, here’s as good a place as any. I’ve watched every minute of every contest since 1980, I’ve been to the whole shebang four times and even reported on it from Vienna and Lisbon. Yep, I’m that person who stays home on Saturday nights in February to watch national finals and tentatively browses Airbnbs in potential host cities before the date has even been set.

So, if you’re hoping to come across as a top-notch Eurovision expert to rival Graham Norton and Rylan come Saturday night, then fear not — I’m here to help.

The favourite song is all about saunas

As predictable as this might sound — because they’ve won the thing seven times already — Sweden are on course to score yet another victory in Basel. Only it’s not with the song everybody expected.

Former Eurovision winner Mans Zelmerlow had been widely predicted to fly the flag for the Swedes with his song Revolution, until his thunder was well and truly stolen by the trio Kaj, who snatched a sensational victory with their song Bara Bada Bastu, a cheery tribute to the joys of taking a sauna.

Kaj’s chances of winning the contest are said to be hotter than their beloved sauna, with bookmakers giving them a 42% chance of victory. If they do take top honours, it’ll make Sweden the country with the most wins in Eurovision history — overtaking Ireland, who have also won seven times.

Oh, and by the way, the band themselves are actually from Finland, specifically Ostrobothnia, a Finnish region where Swedish is more widely spoken.

And speaking of Finland…

There’s smut. And lots of it

Just when you’d got over the sight of a bunch of half-naked dancers writhing around onstage with Olly Alexander in the 2024 contest, this year’s event ups the smut level by several thousand percent.

Let’s start with Finland’s Erika Vikman, who’s tried before to represent the Nordic nation and has finally succeeded with her growling electropop anthem Ich Komme (yes, you did read that correctly).

Australia, meanwhile, is fielding musician Marty Zambotto, aka Go-Jo, whose catchy song Milkshake Man is more than a little suggestive — we’re not convinced the lyrics about ‘having a taste’ of his milkshake are referring to a refreshing drink.

However, top honours go to Malta’s Miriana Conte, whose pop banger Kant (a harmless Maltese word which means ‘singing’) fell foul of the censors for its title’s similarity to a certain swear word you definitely don’t want younger viewers to hear. In the words of the UK’s Remember Monday, ‘Clutch my pearls!’

Fortunately, Miriana saved Ofcom the mother of all headaches by changing the song title to Serving, and leaving out the offending term — although we can’t guarantee the crowd won’t fill in the blanks on her behalf, come the big night.

Everybody’s representing everywhere

So we’ve established that Kaj are actually from Finland in spite of representing Sweden, but that’s not the only bit of swapsies going on this year.

Ireland are pinning their hopes on Emmy, a Norwegian singer who has taken part in her home country’s national final before. Her song Laika Party (inspired by the Soviet dog sent to space in 1957, who she hopes is still alive and partying in orbit) does feature Irish songwriters, however.

Meanwhile, Germany are hoping for success with dance anthem Baller, performed by sibling duo Abor and Tynna, who are actually from over the border in Austria.

Danish representative Sissal is actually from the Faroe Islands, and the microstate San Marino has once again turned to Italy for its act, in the shape of DJ Gabry Ponte.

Returnees and famous faces

The path to Eurovision is often filled with folk heading back for another try, and this year is no exception.

Poland are represented by Justyna Steczowska, who was the country’s second-ever Eurovision participant in 1995, finishing 18th with the song Sama. Can she go higher this time?

Meanwhile, Montenegro’s singer Nina Zizic previously appeared in 2013 alongside the duo Who See.

As for the better-known participants, the aforementioned Gabry Ponte is better known as one half of Eiffel 95, who topped the charts in 1999 with that best-selling earworm Blue (Ba Da Bee).

Tommy Cash, who is representing Estonia with the controversial Espresso Macchiato, has performed across Europe, the US and China, as well as played at Glastonbury.

Outfits will be front and centre

It’s Eurovision, so obviously you can expect some pretty fantastic costumes on the night with sparkly, glittery and shiny outfits galore, a few smart suits and a spot of black PVC (hello Finland).

However, you can also expect a lot of red this year. Step forward Albania’s Shkodra Electronica.

The latter’s song Zjerm (Fire), is a moody blend of ethnic pop and electronic beats, which speaks of hope, resilience, and a plea for peace and purity in a war-torn world.

With a song called Fire it seems only appropriate that singer Beatrice Gjerji will take to the stage in a vivid, fiery red dress. Her costume has been designed by her mother, stylist Irina Dema, who also made the striking frock Beatrice wore at the turquoise carpet opening ceremony.

Native languages are back

Since the free language rule came in in 1999, meaning countries can decide what language they want their contestant to sing, songs in English have dominated the contest.

This year, however, things are different, with only 19 of the 37 songs fully or partly in English. Sweden and Germany are both singing in their native languages for the first time since 1998, and you can also expect to hear everything from Icelandic and Albanian to Serbian, Latvian and Georgian on the Eurovision stage.

This year’s contest also includes no less than six songs fully or partly in French (France, Luxembourg, Australia, Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland), three in Italian (Italy, San Marino, Estonia), and two featuring German (Germany, Finland).

Here’s where you’ve seen the UK act before

Of course, it would be remiss of us not to mention the act hoping to bring glory to the UK this year.

Remember Monday first came to prominence when they appeared on the 2019 series of The Voice UK, during which they were mentored by Jennifer Hudson and made it as far as the knockout rounds.

They’re also the first girl band to represent the UK since Precious in 1999 and the first non-solo act since Joe and Jake in 2016.

If they do win, it’ll be the sixth victory for the UK, who last took the trophy with Katrina and The Waves in 1997. However, the country’s fortunes haven’t been so great of late.

Though Liverpool had the honour of hosting the 2023 show on behalf of Ukraine, after Sam Ryder came second in 2022, we’ve also finished last five times since 2000: in 2003, 2008, 2010, 2019 and 2021. And on two of those occasions — 2003 and 2021 — we didn’t score any points at all.

Fingers crossed we don’t all wake up on Sunday morning thinking ‘What The Hell Just Happened…’

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.