Eurovision Song Contest | How open are you, ESC?

On Saturday evening, the young Austrian countertenor JJ won the 69th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Basel with his song "Wasted Love" – with a great deal of pathos, an incredible vocal performance, and a spectacular performance. This wasn't surprising, as his song had long been a favorite among ESC fans.

The German entry "Baller" by Abor & Tynna, on the other hand, reached a stable 15th place. This was somewhat unexpected, as the song hadn't played a role in the betting odds until the very end. For the Austrian siblings living in Berlin, this is a respectable achievement. However, Stefan Raab, who hosted the German preliminary round with great fanfare, may have further derailed his career. Whether Raab, whose show "Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million" (You Don't Win a Million Here) was recently canceled, will continue to be involved with the Eurovision Song Contest remains to be seen. He took a rather broad approach, declaring the preliminary round he presented to be a "top priority for Eurovision 2025." He announced the whole thing with strong words: "If we only come second, you're welcome to punish me afterward."

The road to that goal is still too long, however. However, it can certainly be seen as a success that "Baller" received twelve jury points from Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Israel and Serbia each awarded the song 10 points. This hadn't been achieved for a German entry in years. With 77 jury points and 74 audience points, the song achieved more points overall than last year's German entry, "Isaak," but placed slightly lower.

Although the German team had brilliant ideas for the stage design and performance, Abor & Tynna seemed simply wooden compared to acts like Erika Vikman from Finland with her orgasmic thunder ballad "Ich komme." Bad luck also played a role. Due to laryngitis, the two had to miss the Eurovision Song Contest pre-parties, an important opportunity to present themselves to the Eurovision Song Contest bubble. The Eurovision Song Contest is a self-contained cosmos with its own cycles, its own stars, and its own rituals, into which the participating artists are welcomed. Jamie-Lee Kriewitz, the German Eurovision Song Contest participant in 2016, summed it up perfectly at the time: "The fans love the Eurovision Song Contest – not the stars." Contact with the outside world occurs once a year at the finale.

The compositions were generally weaker this time than in previous years, but many acts made up for this with spectacular choreography and costumes. The glam rock ballad "Volevo essere un duro" by Lucio Corsi and the British band Remember Monday's rendition of the Beatles-Queen-Elton John mix "What the Hell Just Happened?" stood out positively. One of the most unforgettable performances was delivered by Estonian singer Tommy Cash, whose legs were apparently made of highly elastic rubber. He enchanted the audience with his witty coffee homage "Espresso macchiato," reaching third place.

The spectacular and surprisingly entertaining final show at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel was hosted by Michelle Hunziker, Sandra Studer, and especially Hazel Brugger. The trio guided the audience through the long evening with witty humor. According to the ESC organizer, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the trio was meant to symbolize the Swiss values ​​of openness, diversity, multilingualism, and togetherness. However, as in the previous year, the openness of some ESC fans and participants reached its limits. The greatest test for the ESC doctrine of "United By Music" was once again Israel's participation.

Although the audience vote surprisingly catapulted Israeli singer Yuval Raphael to second place with her power ballad "New Day Will Rise," the whistling and booing were clearly audible whenever the singer appeared during rehearsals, the semifinals, or the show. Several hundred people demonstrated on the evening of the event. Previously, last year's Eurovision winner, Nemo, and 70 former contestants had already called for Israel's exclusion because of the war in Gaza. Some EBU members and EU parliamentarians also voiced criticism. Posters bearing the slogan "ESCalate for Palestine" appeared in Basel. Yuval Raphael narrowly survived the Hamas terrorist massacre of October 7, 2023, by hiding among the corpses in a shelter.

Israel's partner in the EBU and host of the Israeli preliminary round is the public broadcaster Kan 11, which is under intense pressure from the right-wing authoritarian Netanyahu government. Government officials have stated that there is no place for public broadcasting in the Israeli media landscape. The goal is the complete privatization of the broadcasters. The EBU supports Kan 11 and its independence.

In an interview with a Swiss daily newspaper, German cultural journalist Jens Balzer criticized the attitude of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators: "The brave Yuval Raphael is performing in front of a truly hateful crowd that is making throat-cutting gestures toward her." This demonstrates a blatant lack of humanity. One can only pay this woman the utmost respect. "Instead, she is identified with the current Israeli government."

But that wasn't the only political issue surrounding the ESC. Last year, the Christian-conservative splinter party EDU attempted to stop the ESC in Switzerland with an initiative – citing "propaganda for homosexuals and non-binary people," "occult messages," and "religious denigration." The initiative was rejected by the people of Basel in a referendum.

In Italy, too, the right-wing authoritarian Meloni government tampered with the freedom of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Meloni government replaced the pre-selection moderator, who was considered too left-wing, with a more politically compliant emcee, making the event much more tame than usual.

Not only politics, but also the EBU became more conservative, making life difficult for some acts. Finland's participant Erika Vikman had to tone down her performance of the song "Ich komme." Miriana Conte from Malta suffered the most drastic blow. Her song "Kant" played on the ambiguity between the Maltese word for song and the obscene English term for the female genitalia ("cunt"). The EBU forced her to completely rewrite it. The song is now called "Serve," and the word "Kant" was replaced with a moan.