10 acts win a place in the Eurovision final but 5 are sent home as the
music contest heats up
[May 14, 2025]
By MARTIN MEISSNER and JILL LAWLESS
BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Competition in the 69th Eurovision Song
Contest kicked off Tuesday, with sauna-loving Swedish entry KAJ gaining
a place in the final and five countries going home after the first of
two semifinals of the pan-continental music extravaganza.
Performers from 15 countries battled it out in front of thousands of
fans in Basel, Switzerland for 10 spots in Saturday's final, with the
result decided by viewers' votes.
Betting market favorites KAJ, a trio of Swedish-speaking Finns,
performed “Bara Bada Bastu” – a catchy ode to steam and heat whose title
translates roughly as “just take a sauna” – accompanied by dancers
dressed as lumberjacks and clad in towels.
Joining KAJ in the final is another favorite with oddsmakers,
21-year-old Dutch singer Claude with soulful, Parisian-style ballad
“C’est La Vie.” Claude hopes to win for his country after the
Netherlands’ 2024 contestant, Joost Kein, was kicked out of Eurovision
last year over a backstage altercation.
Others voted into the final included Icelandic brother duo VAEB with a
rap song about rowing, “Róa,” Norwegian singer Kyle Alessandro’s
“Lighter” and two uber-Italian songs that aren't from Italy: DJ Gabry
Ponte, representing San Marino with the upbeat “Tutta L’Italia” and the
highly caffeinated “Espresso Macchiato” by Estonia’s Tommy Cash.
Ukraine, Portugal, Poland and Albania also made the final. Azerbaijan,
Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus and Slovenia were eliminated.
Music fans across Europe and beyond have traveled to the northern Swiss
city of Basel, which is hosting Eurovision because Swiss singer Nemo won
last year’s contest in Sweden.
Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion, who won Eurovision for Switzerland
before she became a mega-star, sent a video message that was played
before some of last year’s competitors performed her 1988
contest-winning song, “Ne partez pas sans moi.”
Viewers were also entertained with a comic song performed by hosts Hazel
Brugger and Sandra Studer celebrating Swiss inventions, including the
Swiss Army knife, muesli, processed cheese – and Eurovision, first
staged in Lugano in 1956.
Tuesday’s showdown and a second semifinal on Thursday will narrow the
field of 37 nations down to 26 who will compete in Saturday’s grand
final. Twenty finalists will be decided by viewers’ votes, while six
countries automatically qualify for the final: the host, Switzerland,
and the “Big Five” who pay the most to the contest — France, Germany,
Italy, Spain and the U.K.
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Hosts Hazel Brugger, left and Sandra Studer, on stage during the
first semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel,
Switzerland, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
 Eurovision was founded partly to
foster unity on a continent scarred by World War II, and its motto
is “United by Music.” But political divisions often cloud the
contest, despite organizers’ efforts to keep politics out. Officials
say more than 1,000 police officers are on duty in Basel this week,
and organizers are expecting protests against Israel’s participation
because of the country’s conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza.
A demonstration against antisemitism is also planned on Thursday,
the day Israeli singer Yuval Raphael performs in the second
semifinal.
Raphael is a survivor of Hamas militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on
southern Israel that killed 1,200 people. More than 52,800 people in
Gaza have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according
to the territory’s health ministry.
Following tensions over Israel’s participation and Klein’s expulsion
last year, the European Broadcasting Union that organizes Eurovision
has tightened the contest’s code of conduct, calling on participants
to respect Eurovision’s values of “universality, diversity, equality
and inclusivity” and its political neutrality.
Audience members will be allowed to wave Palestinian flags inside
Basel’s St. Jakobshalle arena, after a contentious ban last year.
Participants, however, can only wave their own national flag onstage
or in other on-camera areas. Some delegations have protested that
effectively bans LGBTQ+ pride flags from an event with a huge gay
following.
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Lawless reported from London.
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