Eurovision 2025: and Celine Dion never appeared...

So, will he come, won't he come? Won't he come! This Saturday evening, Celine Dion was not at Eurovision , much to the dismay of her fans. The Canadian star, who had already made a spectacular and surprising appearance at the opening ceremony of the last Paris Olympics , did not repeat the feat on the sidelines of the international song contest.

Until past midnight, the audience watched for the presence of the singer of "Pour que tu m'aimes encore," whom everyone expected to arrive on stage in Basel. In vain. And this despite the fact that local television station, RTS, announced at 7:30 p.m. that she was there and that there would be news at 10 p.m.

Thirty-seven years after winning the world's biggest talent show representing Switzerland, which propelled her to stardom, Céline Dion was clearly keen to salute the Swiss public, as the artist herself suggested in a video broadcast on the sidelines of the semi-finals on Tuesday .

Rumors have been rife for several days, especially since Friday afternoon, after the BBC reported the arrival of the Quebec diva's private jet at Basel-Mulhouse Airport. The information was also relayed by the local daily, the Basler Zeitung, during the day.

For months, the presence of Celine Dion had been a target of Swiss-German public broadcaster SRG SSR. The broadcaster had repeatedly confirmed that discussions had been underway since September.

Eurovision 2025 production had then explained that Celine Dion and Eurovision in Switzerland went "hand in hand." Even this Saturday morning, the organization maintained the uncertainty surrounding the star's presence: "Santa Claus exists, and we'll have to wait and see," Martin Green, the contest's director, had said during a press briefing.

A young, unknown Quebec singer of barely 20 years old, Céline Dion won Eurovision 1988 with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi", a song that has enjoyed a second lease of life in France in recent years since it became the anthem of "Star Academy".