It’s all happening this week! 24 tracks for Dora dropped today, Finland has started releasing their tracks, the Greek line-up is getting revealed tomorrow, and Lithuania will soon follow. My backlog keeps expanding, but I did take the time to listen to all the MESC entries and I have to say…Malta has OPTIONS. I still think that 24 entries are too many and that this roster is a bit bloated, but compared to the 36 entries from last year, we’re a million miles ahead in terms of overall quality as well as production – all the acts got the chance to film their own music video, which I find very encouraging in terms of the budget being pumped into the contest. So let’s take a look at the tracks that stood out the most!
Say what you want but Linnea Deb knows how to write a BOP. I know that this track came out of one of the ESC songwriting camps (Teya of Who the Hell Is Edgar fame is also credited as one of the composers) and guess what? So did last year’s ESC winner. Now, I’m not saying this can actually win Eurovision – we know Malta’s got a hard time getting out of the semis especially with the new televote-only system – but this is probably the most competition-ready song I’ve heard from Malta since Je me casse. There is just something incredibly joyous and infectious about the production here – it uses the Scandipop trick of anticipating the melody of the chorus in the very first bar, hooking you in right away – the lyrical interplay of “you must be heaven sent/’cause what the hell did you do me” is pop perfection, and the bridge into the last chorus soars with those sumptuous strings punctuated by a truly outrageous money note. Kristy is an absolute powerhouse of a vocalist, switching effortly between chest, falsetto, and opera tones (the “-e -e -e -e” refrain in the chorus is devilishly addictive and perfectly delivered). In short, Malta needed this. And so did I.
Watch out for this amazing, intense, moving ballad about Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher and father of trascendental idealism, and the profound messag – I AM KIDDING OBVIOUSLY THIS IS THE MOST ICONIC TRACK OF ESC 2025 AND MIRIANA IS LITERALLY SINGING ABOUT SERVING C*NT. Listen…I don’t know if this can realistically win (although there is a lot of good will for Miriana from her participation last year) and if it does, I don’t know if it would be allowed to compete (it wasn’t an issue for Zorra, but the double entendre here – Kant also means “singing” in Maltese – is a lot more risqué) but frankly, I am just thankful this song exists, that is slaps so hard, and that I’m going to see it performed on stage live. I will say, though, that I do think there is ridiculous viral potential here, and if this one catches on, watch out.
Kantara – LalaRataTakeke LalaRataKabum
My gut tells me this is the song that’s going to win, and it makes absolute perfect sense – it’s in a foreign language, it’s danceable as hell (Linnea got her hands on this one, too), it’s giving folksy vibes, and it’s going to be a huge, colorful party on stage. I do really, really love it, and I’m always going to stan a group of dads serving up a banger and just having fun. This will be televote catnip, as well, which is historically Malta’s Achilles’ heel and exactly what they need to turn their fortunes around. Depending on how strong of a year we end up getting, I feel like this one’s possibly got Top 5 potential, but beyond that…juries will be a bit of a hurdle here.
ESC Etc. 
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