After the second semi-final of Eurovision Song Contest 2025

Yesterday we got to know the qualifiers of the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Like the first semi-final, I have also commented this one live on Bluesky:

After the adrenaline of this bloodbath semi-final has toned down, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on the result, and what we should expect from the Grand Final.

So, let's see again if you agree with me or not!

Sexual innuendos sell, being kinky doesn't

One of the surprise non-qualifiers of the night was Australia, represented by Go-Jo with the song Milkshake man, where he sings about blowjobs using milkshakes as the core metaphor.

He was not the only artist singing a song referring to sex: Malta's song was Serving by Miriana Conte, originally titled Kant, and Finland's song was Ich komme by Erika Vikman, which talks about having an orgasm.

Both Finland and Malta went through, though, whereas Australia was left behind. What went wrong?

Youtuber ESC Gabe astutely pointed out that Ich Komme and Serving were much more lowkey in comparison to Milkshake man, for two different reasons, and I agree with him.

Ich komme is sung in Finnish, with some German words inbetween, so in this case the language barrier played in Erika Vikman's favour, and the general public could focus more on the general appeal of the song and on Erika's insane talent.

Serving's original title was Kant, a Maltese word meaning "singing", but it got changed because the lyrics included the phrase "Serving Kant" in the chorus, which was deemed too similar to the English expression "serving cunt". With this removal, the most explicitly sexual part of the song is now gone.

Instead, Milkshake man was sung in English and it had more explicit lyrics - everyone could tell that it was about blowjobs. However, being this explicit backfired in a similar way to Olly Alexander's performance last year.

Last year, British artist Olly Alexander represented the UK with his song Dizzy. The performance had a very explicit and kinky staging, with half-naked, muscular backup dancers dressed in boxing attire.

The song ended up getting zero points at the televote, and since Olly's vocals were on point, the only possible cause was that the performance was way too kinky for the general public, so it makes sense to think that a similar thing has occurred to Go-Jo this year as well.

Upgrades ultimately paid off

In comparison to the first semi-final, I have noticed more upgrades in the stagings in comparison to national finals, which led Greece, Luxembourg and Denmark to qualify.

Denmark's representative Sissal has been very self-aware about her national final performance of her song Hallucination, and has committed to improving the staging once in Eurovision, and she did.

By adding a costume change, strobe lights, backup dancers and a fan that was not blowing her hair into her face, her performance faced one of the biggest improvements of the night and, combined with her perfect singing, it got her a ticket to the Grand Final, breaking Denmark's non-qualification streak after five years.

As per Greece, the fans of Asteromáta had no doubt on Klavdia's amazing vocals, but they were worried about the staging, because the national final performance felt static and flat and the Greek delegation is not always good at staging.

However, this time they got it right: Klavdia was standing on a cliff, with one dancer moving around her, and with the background images displaying a fire shaping into a tree, and then a galaxy. Like Denmark, they also added a costume change at the end.

While the singer herself was not moving much, the background changes, the dancer and the clever camera work made the performance more dynamic, moving and memorable, and Greece got into the Grand Final.

As per Luxembourg, they upgraded the staging for La Poupée Monte Le Son with a dollhouse background and graphics, but what stood out to me the most was Laura Thorn's attitude: she seemed a little bit bolder in comparison to the national final, even aggressive at times.

This little switch was key to her qualification: if you want to make a song about female empowerment, there's no room for uncertainty, you have to go for it with full confidence, and that's exactly what she delivered.

Little mishaps made a great difference

While I think no singer really messed up big times, there were a few voice cracks and little mistakes in some performances, which ultimately doomed certain artists to their non-qualification.

The first artist suffering this fate is Montenegro. Nina Žižić, despite being an amazing vocalist and having sung overall very well, had a voice crack which, combined with her unlucky running order, led to her song Dobrodošli failing to qualify.

Montenegro's case was a mix of unfortunate events: the voice crack, the aformentioned poor running order - she was the second artist to perform - but also the song itself, as it sounded outdated for a portion of the Eurovision fans.

Regardless, vocals were definitely the strongest suit of the entry, so that voice crack, albeit small, put the nail on the coffin for Montenegro.

The performance was not completely ruined by it, but in such a situation the vocals really have to be beyond perfect in order to be able to drag such an underrated song to the Grand Final.

The second country that had a similar situation was Czechia, represented by Adonxs with the song Kiss Kiss Goodbye.

Again, the performance was not a flop at all, but he was visibly nervous and went offbeat. As a result, Czechia did not qualify.

Much like Luxembourg, this proves a harsh reality: there is no place for insecurity or nervousness at Eurovision, especially in such a competitive semi-final, as these feelings inevitably lead to messing up the performance, even if just a bit.

Final note: beware of shady ads!

Despite the ongoing genocide and war crimes being carried out in Palestine while you're reading this article, Israel is still participating in Eurovision, with the EBU using anti-booing technology and threatening other European broadcasters with fines if they mention the genocide in their commentaries.

Since they have been so shielded by the EBU, you would think that the Israeli delegation would at least play by the rules when it comes to getting points. Wrong, and this is also why I wanted to talk about this, as the readership here on Vocal is not always from Europe.

If you stumble across an ad on Youtube, or in the streets, telling you to vote for "New Day Will Rise", you will notice that there is a code to text and a phone number (as with any televote), but you will never see why you have to vote for them, there's no mention of Eurovision.

This lack of transparency is a violation of Eurovision rules, and a tactic to get extra votes from people that are unaware of what they're voting for.

Also, voting is not free, you will get charged about 50 cents per SMS, so not only you won't know whay you're voting for, but you will also have to pay for that.

So, as we're approaching the Grand Final, beware of those ads, they are not transparent and they will end up making you spend money without you even knowing.

For more insights as to how Israel uses Eurovision as a PR campaign, I'll leave below two videos that explain the situation more thoroughly than I could probably do:

With that said, I'll see you on Bluesky in the next hours for my live commentary on the Grand Final!

In the meantime, feel free to share your opinion on this semi-final in the comments below!