🗞️ Australia🇦🇺 are IN / Tommy Cash🇪🇪 / NF🇱🇻🇸🇮🇬🇷 Updates | Eurovision News 2025

[@ryeco5428]

I’m so glad to hear Australia are in

[@cxstellation]

“Glad to see one country’s having a first female something.” As an American viewer, that’s BRUTAL (also accurate 🥲)

[@ESCOscar]

Also Poland had announced participation and they will hold a national final. 100% Televote system to choose ESC 2025 participant

[@ESCTom]

yea the news broke after I filmed😭, ill cover it in the next episode

[@in_wino_veritas]

Yeah, great to see them coming back with a new NF, but I'm not sure about televote only. Maybe 60-40 with international juries would have been better, but okay. Also, in their national finals, it was mostly televoters who screwed up and juries who saved them by pushing through a song that ended up being successful. Generally speaking, many successful Eurovision songs were actually jury picks and didn't win the televote in their national finals, while many songs that won the televote in their national selections even failed to qualify or came last in the final (or televote), Ulveham, Blood and Glitter, Rockstars, EaEa, etc. And to think, we would have had Rollercoaster instead of Because of You or Bresvica's song instead of Ramonda (and neither SloMo, nor Solo, nor Hold Me Closer) just leads me to the conclusion that NF juries tend to prevent countries from making terrible decisions. But it's great if they're holding a national final so that everyone can see whether the contestants can sing or not, especially coming after Rafał and Luna. (although they could have had live sessions with candidates that landed on a shortlist, just like in my home country, and yes, we've had our own Luna as well).

[@ignonito6130]

​@@in_wino_veritasHi, so I know what you mean. But no, in Poland it needs to be 100% televote because if the juries favourite wins anytime and not the favourite, like last 2 years, well we are not happy at all and get angry. Oh yeah also looks like nepotism helped Luna and Blanka go to Eurovision so....

[@in_wino_veritas]

@ignonito6130 Solo was Poland's best result in the semis, it was a great song and losing it for a mediocre song by a guy who can't even sing (and wouldn't have qualified, just like Luna) would have been a bad idea. An internal panel chose Luna (over TVP employee in the form of X Factor or the Voice judge, can't remember which one, Justyna). There was no NF. Ths main problem with her selection was that there was no National Final (or at least the fact that shortlisted artists didn't have to appear before the pane). Otherwise, she wouldn't have been chosen. Didn't jurors also pick Szpak, Kasia, and Ochman, while televoters picked Groomee? And I'm not Polish, but didn't Polish televoters choose Rafał over Kasia Mos in the 2017 National Final? If so, I'm not taken by surprise. Another reason why I support juries (especially international ones) in national selections is that they would prevent stars (who aren't even well-known outside the participating countries and its neighbors) with a mediocre song (or one that isn't bad, but not competitive either) to be selected over a great and catchy song. Or that a high school band is being selected in a very small country with very few people participating in the televote, just because people from their school voted en masse for their song. This actually happened at EMA 22 and is even being mentioned in that video we're now commenting on.

[@skyefab]

21:38 Estonia 🇪🇪💕

[@TannerBowman]

When you check out Tommy Cash, make sure that you also look into his fashion show appearances… he is ALWAYS pulling hilarious stunts and is a performance artist.

[@TheTerkzzz]

My fav outside the shows is him being a paparazzo and his interaction with Doja Cat ☺️🤣

[@Zakarias89]

I don't know if this reaches international media or not, but Martin Österdahl made his first appearance on Swedish TV this week, since the grand final. He said they were prepared for the protesting and he supports it as such, and with regards to the booing he said that this is exactly what it should be like in a democracy. But he also accepted having to take on the role of personifying what they were protesting against. I think he's being a good sport about it anyway.

[@ESCTom]

hes always been a decent person from what ive seen in person

[@esc_germany]

RTL is not part of ARD, the ARD-Group are public channels, RTL is a private channel

[@esc_germany]

The concept of the current german system is as follows: The first 2 shows are 12 participants each, with coversongs and song challenges (like "ich will zum esc" i think) 6 or 7 of the 12 will go to the third show (dont know the concept of this show) And at the end from the 12 or 14 9 acts will go to the final (first three show 100% jury voting, final 100% public voting) And rhe last time Stefan Raab was involved was not 2011 with Lena, it was 2012 with Roman Lob

[@carl-johanfougstedt199]

Great ESC update from you, Tom, as always! KAJ is a very interesting addition to Melfest. They are three Swedish speaking Finns who are singing humor songs in a Swedish dialect from the West Coast of Finland. Their first names are Kevin, Axel and Jakob (=KAJ). They are culturally brought up by following Swedish culture. Swedish speaking Finns on the West Coast actually tend to follow much more Swedish than Finnish TV channels. I´m a Swedish speaking Finn from Southern Finland and I love Finnish music culture and I´m a huge fan of UMK, but I know many Swedish speaking Finns from the West Coast who don´t know anything about Finnish culture.

[@marsukarhu9477]

Agree about Australia! But I have to admit that at first I was not at all into Australia taking part, but they've proven me wrong by totally getting ESC and sending cool stuff every year.

[@AnneMa_]

Yes Australia 🎉

[@DarkFlareGC]

Australia lets gooooo! 🥳 I give that announcement 5 sandwiches 🥪🥪🥪🥪🥪

[@MariaMariamuzieklove]

According to Dutch delegation member, Cornald Maas, they immediately received a lot of songs even by artists who said they would never participate. Douwe BoB and Anouk want to participate again in 2025, personally I hope for a fresh start, with a Eurovision newbie. A lot of people don’t understand why NL is joining the drama again.To be continued.

[@ullarajala4784]

Cannot wait to hear Espresso Macchiato. Will it be Käärijä lite? You did not make fun of the apocalyptic song titles in Eestilaul: Trouble, Psycho, Armageddon etc.

[@ESCTom]

oh lol i didnt notice the titles, maybe they were omen for what was going to happen in the world this week

[@thisislaurine]

About the German national final: In the first two shows 12 songs perform and 6 or 7 make it to the third show, which is called the semi final. In the third show 9 acts will qualify to the fourth show, the final. Interestingly the first 3 shows are all gonna be decided by a jury based of 3-4 people (Stefan Raab is one of them) and we will not hear the offical songs until the final. And for the first time since idk how many years or decades the national final takes place on a Saturday on ARD, in primetime (20:15). Stefan Raab is really well connected and being part of his shows is an honour for many artists, so we might see some more established artists there for real:)

[@ESCTom]

awesome, thanks for this info 🙏🏻 Im not a huge fan of this thing where people are paired up with songs at the final stage - what is they cant match someone appropriately to a song? It feels like trying to force a puzzle piece into the wrong hole

[@thisislaurine]

@ESCTom I absolutely agree. But people can also apply with a song and sing this in the final (if they qualify for it) but then perform a cover or one of their previous songs in the first shows

[@Sinivalkoseepra-yz1ke]

"Interesting that they had to import humor from Finland" 😂 I was just thinking the same. And as a finn I love the thought of that 🤭

[@Ben-Immnl]

So hyped for the new season! Let’s hope it will be better than last season 🙏

[@ESCTom]

😬

[@vanessalisa77]

As an Aussie I’m so happy we’re back! I’m hoping we send a real game changer act- Client Liaison or Baker Boy or maybe even G-Flip!

[@ZakhadWOW]

Ironic that Moldova ended up more democratic and forward looking than USA. Sigh.

[@PersonaNG-oo7ku]

There needs to be some balance in the universe, I guess ;-;

[@Zakrusta]

I'm gonna be one of the very few people that will be very excited about Minimal Wind coming back to Eesti Laul for once. I've been following their music scene quite closely and they've improved so much since What to Make of This. Their most recent song Lullabies is such a gem.

[@ESCTom]

ill keep an eye out for them

[@bojandam963]

Btw North Macedonia aren't officially out yet. MRT got a mail from fans that asked for them to go and listed some reasons for why it would be beneficial to go. MRT stated that as the past two years all members of the MRT council or whatever it's called agree that we should participate in Eurovision and that they will have a meeting strictly dedicated to answering the question are we going and if yes how are we going to pick an artist. This meeting hasn't happened yet. They have regular meetings every other Monday or so, the next one being on the 11th + - a day or two, which hopefully will be the one. The meeting where they discussed all of this happened on the 22 of October but the notes were released publicly on the 29th.

[@smstewartdc]

Tommy Cash also did a track and video with Käärijä

[@Sinivalkoseepra-yz1ke]

Yes, "It's Crazy It's Party", which is really awesome! 😁 Also, Tommy Cash already has a song Untz untz made with Johannes Naukkarinen / Kiro. I like that one a lot too, so I am expecting something great from them again! 🤩

[@Hana9916]

Hey, Tom! In Slovenia, we all pronounce our national final just like the name, Ema/Emma.

[@ESCTom]

noted 📝

[@Gimlo_Goblin]

Gimlo luvs you Tom, great update :^D

[@Sinivalkoseepra-yz1ke]

Käärijä, Joost and Tommy Cash (and Kiro) all mentioned in the same video, oh I am so loving this! 😍 First Käärijä competing, then Joost, and now maybe Tommy? Is this real life or am I daydreaming because of having spent too much time in this Käärijä fandom universe 😅

[@Eva-mp7xg]

Yess, Tommy Cash!!! I wanted him so bad for 2024, but 2025 is okay, too! Please Estonia, vote him in! 🤗

[@stevenwilliams3038]

I reckon Armenia will confirm Participation after Junior Eurovision (or when the Participant list gets revealed if the Participant list gets revealed before or on the day of Junior Eurovision which would be interesting dont think it will be on the Day of or within 24 hrs either side)

[@in_wino_veritas]

I'm not from Germany, but I gotta tell you that RTL isn't part of the ARD, it's basically a private network that is internationally connected with both, the Dutch and the Luxembourgish RTL, along with other privately owned channels in that same network.

[@phuttyyt]

Hi from Estonia! Tommy Cash being in Eesti Laul 2025 pretty much means the other 15 artists just get three minutes of free promotion. Unless his song or performance are so bad that the jury rank him dead last, there's no chance anyone other than Tommy Cash is winning. Unless Elysa repeats her, ahem, remarkable televote success from a few years ago 😅

[@willardprenfrew4303]

Loved the Vēstulēs song 😭💙

[@jennysid]

Great video as always Tom and btw you have such beautiful eyes

[@ESCTom]

thank you Jenny ❤️

[@big_splashy]

Usual segment : Dutch drama. ❤

[@natasafortuna6521]

Thank you for the great update. Klemen Slakonja (for SLO) asked the public on one of the social media (X I think…?), if he should apply for Eurovision 25. I pray to all the Gods he does. Look him up Tom, worth mentioning with one of your next updates. He makes a super star impersonations - like Putin, Slavoj Zizek, the pope, Melania and what not. I 🫶 him, he would be visible on the night, no doubt about that. 😉

[@ESCTom]

Haha yes I saw someone mention this on Twitter, but in a negative sense, I don’t think that they wanted him to possibly compete for the place instead of July jones 😂

[@natasafortuna6521]

@ I never hear of her, ups. 🫢 Anyway as long as there is a good competition right? 😉

[@Pannenkoekenplantje]

The family name Van de Nieuwenhuijzen is very hard for English speakers, because you don't have the sounds you need, they don't exist in English. But the best proxy-pronunciation of Nieuwenhuijzen (for quick and easy pronunciation, not 100% similar) would be New-an-hey-zen. If you say it fast enough, we will not miss the Uij

[@ESCTom]

Ok thank you. I might attempt it in a future video 🙏

[@lachysims6327]

Guy Sebastian did also just announce that he isn't going to be a judge on the voice next year so that he can do more live shows. Not that this really means anything butttttt, The Voice Australia filming was between March and late April sooooo I meannnn he should be slightly more free around that special time of year.

[@owendy274]

33:10 how dare u talk about loco boombox that way

[@AmaanStorm]

I genuinely thought we'd seen the last of Australia! I couldve put money on it, purely because the rumours had been swirling for a few years that Australia would be finishing up after their 10th year participating. And after their performance last year, I figured they'd call it a day and end their dalliance with Eurovision before they do their legacy any more damage. But im so glad they're back! This has made my day!

[@ESCTom]

well this will be their 10th participation, so if they wanted to end on a round number, they would pull out after this year 😭

[@AmaanStorm]

@ESCTom oh yes, sorry, I counted Montaign twice, even though 2020 didn't go ahead 🤣 Regardless, I'd love for them to stay. They generally send fantastic quality to the competition and it'd be a shame if they did pull out

[@Hydraas]

I'm sad you don't remember Angelino 😔. His song was my second favourite from melfest that year, behind Cornelia

[@ESCTom]

i swear to god i didnt remember a single thing. ill keep an eye out for him this time though

[@idraote]

so many news!

[@alipanroosendaal9503]

I am one of the hardcore loons who watches the whole of the San Marino odyssey. Beyond surreal, but also compelling, too. Helps if you have company, though.

[@ESCTom]

you have my respect

[@thesnesgeek]

News flash: accoring to reliable sources, the swedish fashion model Victoria Silvstedt is seemingly ready for Melodifestivalen. (Yes i posted the same comment but now it's the right word: fashion model instead of photomodel.)

[@Masaim6]

Would love if you had sources in your discription I can't find the source for the 2025 rule change.

[@Masaim6]

A Finnish-Swedish band in Melfest? Why on earth didn't they apply for Umk?

[@Masaim6]

I just looked into them, it's gonna be fun, the Swedish dialect they speak is something even Swedes don't understand.

[@ESCTom]

I think UMK is harder to get into

[@Masaim6]

@@ESCTom I think they're going to play into how Swedes won't understand them, so them applying to melfest makes sense and it would be pretty poetic if A Finnish-Swedish band won Eurovision for Sweden.

[@adrianhorn8832]

Hey Tom, I am From germany and i would like to correct you on rtl. RTL is a private broadcaster in germany, and not a Part of ARD.

[@icesam931]

Melfest host is Keyyo and Edvin Thörnblom

[@esclaev]

Tarjei Strøm confirmed it is 10 songs in 2025 (So just one final). He also heavily indicated its going to be in Oslo Spektrum this year, not Trondheim :)

[@ESCTom]

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? only 10 songs, no semi-finals?! 😭

[@esclaev]

@@ESCTom Yep. I think the reason is a mix between budget and Stig knowing he was going to step down before the year was over. Stig with less time to choose the line-up, and with budget I think they want make one great show with 10, instead of 4 shows (18 stageings, costume and so on).

[@XSunacX]

Ema is pronounced like the name "Emma" even though it's an abbreviation for Evrovizijska MelodijA.

[@Hydraas]

8:43 did you mean to say 2015?

[@ESCTom]

oh yea i meant to say 2023 - i didnt even notice that in my second edit 😅

[@DarkFlareGC]

I am really excited about the German revamp. What I want most from Germany is GIVE ME SCHLAGER! I want that German language schlager at eurovision 🤣Or something like Ich Kundige.

[@ely03cassandra]

I’m Swiss from the German speaking part and I just really don’t like Schlager. However, I really want to see Germany send a Schlager song to ESC. It’s been a while since Germany sent Schlager. 😂 But regardless of the genre: I want Germany to send a song in German!

[@DarkFlareGC]

@@ely03cassandra From my short time living in Germany, I found everyone SAYS they don't like Schlager and yet even the most vocal haters will be singing along when they have a beer 🤣 Also Switzerland is absolutely beautiful 🥰

[@ely03cassandra]

@ A lot of Germans (and Swiss) love Schlager and in the past scoot of people had been a bit ashamed to admit it. But nowadays people are more honest about it. But I’ve never understood the appeal (not even drunk). 😆 Thanks, I hope everyone coming for ESC will enjoy their stay here. 😊

[@thomasharteveld9614]

Because I haven't seen a comment about it: the tv-shows / people that start complaining about Joost behaviour are also the first ones that if there is something with the Dutch Eurovision entry, they will dive on to the controversy. They love to gossip and burn them down the ground with little to no regard. - Really glad they now are having new rules at Eurovision. - Nemo said 'I'm Awaiting EBU's Response on What Happened" (at Eurovision 2024) - Joost went to the toilet after Andre van Duin but they said he went during it. - on the tv it was clear it was a memorial, but in the room with the band playing being energetic Joost was just cheering for the band. He did say sorry for missing the social context in the talkshow of Eva, but I think it was pretty clear that he was just cheering for the band.

[@Masaim6]

Interesting, Norway adopting Finland's strategy, bringing in a music industry professional to produce their nf.

[@cokolesnik]

For EMA. Joker Out let EMA people know they were going to enter, and they decided that they will just select them and not hold the selection. Last year EMA was supposed to happen, but Raiven song in preselection blew all the competition away that they decided to just give it to her. I think as you assumed we just don't have any bigger artists this year and they will just hopefully get a good song from EMA. The "issue" with LPS was that their whole highschool voted for them, but they received a lot of points from juries...which I just don't get...still.

[@ESCTom]

yea like LPS only won with 4000 votes, so i can definitely see how a school could muster up that many votes. I think they need to avoid that by getting more public interest and getting voting numbers up, so that a school cant win a vote

[@cokolesnik]

@ESCTom the jury will pick two superfinalists and then public will choose. I think they decided for this system with this in mind. If you need any info on slovenian ema or entries in the future you can contact me btw. Happy to help.

[@syndrom4193]

Very ironic, a non German just explained the Broadcasting system of germany to a german. But I can explain you something: I think the change of our national final right now is because Stefan Raab just got his comeback. After 2012 he completely went out of television and noone knew much about him until he asked a very succesful german female boxer (don't know her name) for a boxing fight. In the past he did 2 boxing fights with her and because he wanted to come back to television he planed a final boxing fight to celebrate his comeback. The final show was like half about the fight and half about his comeback, he did a really big thing out of it so the boxing fight was went a bit in the background. What so ever he is back in television and started a cooperation with the Channel RTL (in the past he got a cooperation with Pro Sieben (Sieben = Seven)) and started his first show in the exclusive RTL+ called "Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million" (You will not win the million here) and now he wants to come back to free TV with another show and as a part of his comeback he also comes back to Eurovision. And that's why our national song contest got changed right now, but I think NDR knew it cannot go on like this, so it was the perfect chance to change something

[@ESCTom]

Thanks for the background info 🙏

[@cmgoodell]

You should get on bluesky Tom.

[@ESCTom]

haha i literally signed up yesterday

[@HejaSverige]

Imagine being 12th and going “oh so maybe people actually like us”😭

[@ritvarsberzins9426]

SNIPPETS OF ALL SUPERNOVA SEMI-FINALISTS ARE PUBLISHED! THIS SEEMS TO BE AN INTERESTING SELECTION! (Citi Zēni, Justs, Katrīna Gupalo, Markuss Riva, Toms Kalderauskis are back!)

[@ritvarsberzins9426]

Now the whole songs are out as well! The national selection is gonna be really tough this year.

[@kellieknight2561]

I saw a rumour about Delta Goodrum as possible Australia artist (WAY better than Guy Sebastian)

[@Zakarias89]

Also Norway is going to space, wish your astronaut all the best from 🇸🇪

[@PersonaNG-oo7ku]

The fact that Poland announced the participation just late enough, so that they couldn't be included in this video looks like they've done it on purpose just to be annoying xD (of course it's not the case, but it's funnier to think that it's what happened)

[@lillecathrine]

As a Norwegian I just want to clarify something you unintentionally misstated and which hasn't really been clearified as a part of the news. Before Stig Karlsen, the role of producer and head of music were mostly separate, but Stig ended up being a natural link to the EBU and therefore those roles were kind of one and the same. He also became head of delegation. When he left, the producer (Mads) was asked if he wanted to take over. Mads said he did not feel competent enough to do the music selections, so they decided to go back to how it used to be. So that's why Mads works towards the EBU and with the production of the show, and Tarjei does the (future) music selection and focuses more on the artists. My understanding is that Tarjei will still be a part of the Norwegian delegation traveling, to work with the artist(s) that ends up representing us :) Also, yay for Australia being in!! one of my fav countries to compete. Almost always in my personal top 10.

[@ESCTom]

Ah awesome, thank you for that clarification 🙏🏻

[@Andre_stats_0111]

Apparently, the German organisers forgot that a lot of the bad German results in the past came from songs that were chosen by the public. I hope for Stefan Raab's sake this won't be the case again. As for The Netherlands: we already know that Anouk (2013, the one that broke us out of the Eurovision dungeon) has submitted a "hard" song, and that Gerard Joling (1988, goodness me that's a long time ago) has also submitted a song. Gerard mentioned that he doesn't know yet who will perform his song, and I really, really hope it isn't him. He's past his prime and I don't want a Dutch Bonnie Tyler/Engelbert Humperdinck shock again. Furthermore, there a lot of rumours about artists and as soon those artists are mentioned they immediately reply they don't want to participate. So we'll have to wait and see.

[@GLee-sy7ek]

I hope Australia makes a selection based on the best song available rather than a popular artist.

[@ESCTom]

i think they definitely want a good son, but they do need to factor in how they are going to pay the bills

[@FeeESC]

Not the Dutch drama again😭 How have we become so dramatic in the contest 😭

[@MariaMariamuzieklove]

Behind the scenes, the Dutch, together with the EBU, are trying to change things so next year will be a better year for all participants a little more respect please😢.

[@kevanmcdougallmph]

EXCUSE ME WITH THE "THE END" ERASURE 😡

[@ESCTom]

sorry i dont know what you mean

[@kevanmcdougallmph]

@@ESCTom 😭29:47

[@mirzasara85]

You are beautiful… but Australia out of Eurovision! regards from Vienna 🇦🇹

[@Mloofylicious]

It's embaarassing how much animosity there is towards Israel, bordering on Antisemitism. It's just a fun tv competition, Klein is a creepy guy who'd be cancelled forever had this happened in America and the woman in question would have been protected instead of ridiculing her. She's working for the EBU so she's higher in the ranking of the event than the artists and Klein was unable to control himself. I hope they never let him anywhere near Eurovision again. Eden Golan had to book herself in a hotel with a hidden location to protect herself from harassment she was exposed to. But because she's representing Israel nobody of the EBU had a problem with this. I don't care about his political attitudes, neither is it her own problem. Get a hold of yourself or get out. The woman was trying to do her job and Klein acted the way he did. I don't care the charges were dropped. He should have faced consequences. It sent a message that abusive behaviour towards women was acceptable.

[@harald1132]

You can’t be serious 💀😭

[@EmoBearRights]

​​​​​​@@harald1132Zionism is one helluva drug. Israel should be banned and if Mocroccoil can't cope with that they should be replaced. That delegation cheated and behaved like bullies. They wrecked last year's contest and I'm afraid you'll do it again. A televote isn't an approval rating if you fix it - they should take the hint and leave.

[@EmoBearRights]

​@@harald1132Zionism is the one helluva drug.

[@MariaMariamuzieklove]

I guess your from Israel…according to the police nothing serious happened and charges were dropped immediately after the thorough investigation. people like you are the reason he received death threats, I hope you are proud of your self.

[@EurovisionESC]

25:40 Fully disagree on this. EMA is an absolute amazing national selection and Slovenia should never internal select anyone.

[@EmoBearRights]

Idk I loved both Joker Out and Raven..