By Neil Durham

WHEN?: Thursday 15 May 2025

WHERE?: St Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland

HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC1 at 8pm in the UK or eurovision.tv or SVT

We think this is by far the tougher of the 2 semi finals and also that it will be much more difficult to lose 6 of these songs ahead of Saturday’s final rather than the 5 that will go home early in Semi 1.

• Read on for reasons including who are the 10 acts we’re predicting will make it to Saturday’s final

1. AUSTRALIA: Go-Jo Milkshake Man (Amy Sheppard, George Sheppard, Jason Bovino, Marty Zambotto) PREDICTION: Qualifier

1 of our favourite entries this year. Subtle enough not to be caught out like Malta’s entry, Go-Jo evokes haunting, 80s sounding Stranger Things soundtrack territory coupled with a playful suggestive lyric that will go over the heads of the show’s younger viewers. Very much looking forward to the performance because this could be a contender if Go-Jo can, ahem, pull it off live.

2. MONTENEGRO Nina Žižić Dobrodošli (Welcome) (Arno Krabman, Claude Kiambe, Joren van der Voort,
Léon Palmen) PREDICTION: Qualifier

Missing for the last 2 years, Montenegro really deserves to make its 1st final since 2015 with this well-performed and heartfelt number. Welcome indeed. Žižić performed previously in Eurovision in 2013 when she finished 12th in her semi with Who See.

3. IRELAND Emmy Laika Party (Emmy Kristine Guttulsrud Kristiansen, Erlend Guttulsrud Kristiansen, Larissa Tormey, Truls Marius Aarra, Henrik Østlund) PREDICTION: Qualifier

Emmy sang Witch Woods in Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix in 2021 and, although this has an Irish co-writer, it seemed destined for that country’s selection procedure until the number of programmes was cut. A shame after Bambie Thug‘s success last year something a little more Irish wasn’t selected. This, however, is a banger and should make it 2 finals in a row for Eurovision’s equal most successful winner.

4. LATVIA Tautumeitas Bur Man Laimi (Bring me happiness) (Asnate Rancane; Aurelija Rancane; Elvis Lintins; Laura Licite; Gabriela Zvaigznite) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

We have rainfall and the beaded curtains from Malou Prytz‘s failed MF performance this year. The song offers precious little to hold onto however.

5. ARMENIA: PARG Survivor (Alex Wilke, Armen Paul, Benjamin Alasu, Eva Voskanian, Joshua Curran, Martin Mooradian, Pargev Vardanyan, Thomas G:son) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

The UK, France and Germany vote here and this entry offers a stomping 70s glam rock beat, an unusually gruff vocal and an unexpected songwriting credit for Eurovision royalty G:son. Might’ve fared better in the weaker semi 1 but this has its work cut out to qualify from here.

6. AUSTRIA JJ Wasted Love (Johannes Pietsch, Teodora Špirić) PREDICTION: Qualifier

Co-writer Špirić represented Austria as half of Teya and Salena who finished 15th in 2023 with Who The Hell Is Edgar?. As we write, this is joint favourite with KAJ to win although we’re not loving the combination of falsetto and pop-opera that others are finding quite so appealing. Singer Johannes Pietsch, or JJ, was born in Vienna to an Austrian IT specialist and a Filipino cook and grew up in Dubai. Competed in The Voice UK and Austria’s talent show Starmania. If he can produce the live vocal, this could be the jury winner.

7. GREECE Klavdia Asteromata (Starry Eyed) (Arcade, Klavdia Papadopoulou) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

Hats off for selecting something immediately recognisable as being from its country. The vocal’s strong and this strikes us a jury effort rather than a televote crowdpleaser which might be a problem in this public vote only semi.

8. LITHUANIA Katarsis Tavo Akys (Your eyes) (Lukas Radzevičius) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

The most hardcore indie in this year’s contest. There are elements of Radiohead about it. An unpleasing and challenging struggle through a song without a hook. So out there it could qualify because there will be an audience for it. Especially in these semis without juries. We think not currently however.

9. MALTA Miriana Conte Serving (Benjamin Schmid, Miriana Conte, Matthew Mercieca, Sarah Evelyn Fullerton) PREDICTION: Qualifier

The EBU decided the original Maltese title Kant (Song) was too similar to arguably the most expletive word in the English language and, as we write, we wondered whether Malta would opt instead for Can’t as its title or just choose to leave a gap in the song for the live audience to chant. Quite frankly, this should have been sorted out before the song was selected but we blame broadcaster PBS rather than the EBU. The song is a bit of a 1-trick pony without its RuPaul-esque original title yet still controversial enough to get Malta’s best ever Eurovision result since Destiny finished 7th in 2021.

10. GEORGIA Mariam Shengalia Freedom (Buka Kartozia, Keti Gabisiani) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

Stunning singer and slightly odd presentation. A militaristic vibe and clearly a song that will resonate in the country it represents. Lurches into English late on to be better understood.

11. DENMARK: Sissal Hallucination (Chris Rohde-Frisk, Lina Spangsberg, Linnea Deb, Malthe Johansen, Marcus Winther-John, Melanie Gabriella Hayrapetian) PREDICTION: Qualifier

Best Danish entry since 2010 when close friends Chanée and N’evergreen romped to 4th in a Eurovision we attended in Oslo, Norway. Sissal is a Faroese singer and this is a dancefloor banger drawing on 90s inspirations which is bang on trend but it’s charismatically delivered in a memorable booming voice also. Yes, most of our favourites are in semi 2.

12. CZECHIA ADONXS Kiss Kiss Goodbye (Adam Pavlovčin, Adriano Lopes da Silva, George Masters-Clark, Ines Coulon, Lorenzo Calvo, Michaela Charvátová, Ronald Janeček) PREDICTION: Qualifier

Out gay Adam Pavlovčin is ADONXS, the former lead singer of the London-based alternative band Pace and at the time of writing we’ve only seen him perform a slowed-down version of this almost-Bond theme just once. Our only negative is that rather than ‘one kiss of love’ we can’t help but hear ‘w*nkers of love’. Probably just us and we’re blaming Malta (see above)! One of our favourite entries this year nonetheless.

13. LUXEMBOURG Laura Thorn La Poupée Monte Le Son (The doll turns up the volume) (Julien Salvia;
Ludovic-Alexandre Vidal) PREDICTION: Qualifier

An updated homage 60 years after France Gall won Eurovision with Poupée de cire, poupée de son (Wax doll, sound doll) for Luxembourg. This is given a youthful, upbeat performance, we’re so glad to have the country back in the contest and have sky-high hopes for this.

14. ISRAEL Yuval Raphael New Day Will Rise (Keren Peles) PREDICTION: Qualifier

Raphael was attending the Nova Sukkot Gathering music festival in Re’im on 7 October 2023, when Hamas militants attacked the festival. New Day Will Rise is co-written by the author of last year’s Hurricane which finished 5th and contains elements in French and Hebrew although is predominantly in English. This is an uplifting piano-led ballad likely to benefit from those wishing to show this country their support.

15. SERBIA Princ Mila (Dušan Bačić) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

Well-performed but this is a much tougher semi than Tuesday’s and someone’s got to miss out although we’d prefer perhaps not to break the news in person to Serbia’s former national champion in karate. The pointless acrobat in the instrumental break three-quarters of the way through the national final performance perhaps underlines how dated the package is.

16. FINLAND Erika Vikman Ich Komme (I’m coming) (Christel Roosberg, Jori Roosberg) PREDICTION: Qualifier

A song of the month for us in February. We said: ‘Vikman (pictured above) writhes like a young Madonna in the video in a paddling pool filled with a jelly-like substance while singing in Finnish lyrics including: ‘I am Erika, you’re full of stamina, hit me once again, grab my ass, and when you want more love, just shout: ‘Encore!’ and baby I’m coming.’

Subtle it isn’t but the music is euphoric, 80s-inspired pop with handclaps and even a shout of ‘Wunderbar!’ thrown in to ensure points from German speakers.

Eurovision is a Saturday night family show with an 8pm start time if you’re watching in the west and critics have pointed to last year’s failure by Olly Alexander to score in the public vote attributing it to its sexy gay male aesthetic.

2 years earlier Chanel won Spain its best result for 27 years with a routine that saw her repeatedly flash her buttocks in a suggestive heterosexual sense so perhaps Vikman is onto something.

For us it’s important she has agency and is not exploited and that feels the case here. She’s also no stranger to controversy in Eurovision after winning the public vote but eventually finishing 2nd in UMK in 2020 with a song called Cicciolina, inspired by the Hungarian-Italian pornographic actress-turned-politician Ilona Staller, also known by her stage name Cicciolina.

The UMK routine reminded us of our favourite Melodifestivalen performance of all time when we saw Lena Philipsson both win in Swedish in Stockholm in 2004 and then switch to English where we saw her romp to 5th before our very eyes in a strong Istanbul final.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Erika Vikman Tickets
• Have you seen a Eurovision semi final before and what do you think of this 1? Tickets
• Let us know what you thought in the comments below. Our predictions for the pre-qualified 2025 Eurovision Song Contest finalists. Semi 1 predictions Updated final predictions
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