ESC Etc.

I love it when there are literally 4 finals + a bunch of semis all happening at once and I need 15 TVs and 8 sets of eyes. ESC season keeps me supple and young. Here are this past weekend’s winners!

Country: Belgium
Artist: Red Sebastian
Title: Strobe Lights
Songwriter(s): Ameerah A. Roelants, Billie Bentein, Seppe Herreman, Willem Vanderstichele
Tempo: 145 BPM Mode: Major Key: G Duration: 2:58

I’ve raved (pun intended) about this song enough, so I would just like to point this out:

Strobe Lights simply destroyed the competition in the final, and when that happens (see above, but let’s also throw in Baby Lasagna for good measure) it is wise to pay attention. Watching this live with a fully realized staging package, I really did feel like I was watching a potential ESC winner for the first time this season. While it remains to be seen how this concept will translate to Basel, where the stage has a much higher ceiling, the color palette and overall vibe are just incredibly luxe and exciting. Belgium has historically really, really…really struggled with staging, from a basic lack thereof all the way to actively damaging a song’s chances, so this really does feel like a huge upgrade across the board. This is easily my #1 among the ESC entries that have been already selected (pending Finland, where Puppy has been disqualified completely reshaping the competition in Erika’s favor).

Jury Potential: The outstanding vocal and striking staging should make up for the fact that juries aren’t generally drawn to heavy electronica productions (although this is actually a very complex track that producers in particular might be very keen to reward).
Televote Potential: It will easily qualify – duh – and while it’s too early to make predictions, this is definitely among the ones to watch re: potential televote Top 5 contenders.

Country: Spain
Artist: Melody
Title: Esa diva
Songwriter(s): Alberto Fuentes Lorite, Melodía Ruiz Gutiérrez
Tempo: 127 BPM Mode: Major Key: F♯/G♭ Duration: 2:58

Well…it happened. She did it. Melody did the thing. I was half joking when I included her my Spain review but consider the following: a male solo act is yet to win Benidorm, and Spanish voters at home love themselves some bold fierce slay show(wo)manship. And Melody served exactly that – in a field that lacked a clear standout entry, Melody came with the budget, the staging, and the flair to sell the crap out of her package. Let’s be real – this is not a competitive song, at least in its current state (we were promised a revamp for Basel), but Spain doesn’t need to worry about qualifying, and the live show she put together, complete with a hairicopter in the bridge and the gay panic of not knowing exactly what octave she’s going to land on when she hits the money note, kinda reads like a love letter to all of her gay fans. We know Spain wants to win ESC, but it really does seem like they want to do it on their own terms, and I kinda respect that.

Jury Potential: Barring a revamp that updates the production to the current century, there isn’t much here to appeal to juries. I am however curious about the live, and how she’s going to elevate what she did in the national final.
Televote Potential: This is where the bulk of the votes would ideally come from, but it remains to be seen how competitive a year we’re going to get, and this has bottom 5 written all over it. Not that it really matters.

Country: Greece
Artist: Klavdia
Title: Asteromáta
Songwriter(s): Arcade, Klavdia Papadopoulou
Tempo: 122 BPM Mode: Minor Key: C♯/D♭ Duration: 2:55

Not to toot my own horn but…the three songs I reviewed for Ethnikós Telikós ended up being the actual top 3 in the final, and it does feel correct. In the end, however, Klavdia managed to barely edge out Evangelia on the strength of the national vote (international juries placed her in 3rd, which is a bit of a concern), and for the second year in a row we’ll be getting a song sung in Greek after 5 years of English entries (Katerine Duska, you will always be famous). As I previously said, Asteromáta is an atmospheric midtempo with a subtle, electronic backbone, and Klavdia performs it beautifully. I did find the live to be static and solemn to the point of almost feeling sleepy, but there is time to work on that and create more of a visual story to accompany the wistful message of the lyrics, which will be inevitably lost on most viewers. That should also help with the fact that, as ethereal and pleasant as it is, this song does lack a moment – either in the production or the vocal – to look forward to.

Jury Potential: This should do well to very well with juries depending on the competition. It wouldn’t surprise me if this actually turned out to be this year’s jury shield, since it fits the bill to a T.
Televote Potential: This is a bit more complicated. I do expect this to qualify, but I fear it will be ultimately overlooked in favor of entries that are a bit flashier and more immediate.

Country: Slovenia
Artist: Klemen
Title: How Much Time Do We Have Left
Songwriter(s): Klemen Slakonja, Maja Slatinšek, Ryan Small
Tempo: 120 BPM Mode: Major Key: E Duration: 3:03

I was initially very excited to have EMA, the Slovenian national final for ESC, back in 2025 after two years of internal selections. In the end, however, it turned out to be an absolute slog where things just didn’t click for me (the only track worthy of note, Grace by Trine, ended up dead last) and I didn’t have it in me to review it. Not that it matters: this was Klemen’s final to lose from the moment his participation was announced – he is one of Slovenia’s most famous and celebrated entertainers – and I’m honestly surprised he wasn’t internally selected, as well, given the overall lack of depth in this selection of songs. While I do appreciate the fact that this song goes completely against character (Klemen is known as a comedian and the fandom at large was expecting a novelty entry) as well as the message behind it, there’s just not a lot here for me to cling to – the lyrics feel overly descriptive and clunky, the melody simplistic, the vibes kinda depressing. Does he perform it well? Yes. Does the visual gag of him singing upside down work? Sure. Is this going to qualify? I fear not.

Jury Potential: I don’t know that juries will respond to this. Which assumes this will make it to the final, which it won’t.
Televote Potential: Outside of Slovenia, where most people are not familiar with the artist, this will struggle greatly to leave a dent.