2nd semifinal preview: the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 continues! Did you take a deep breath since Tuesday? Did your favourite get through? Well, last night, the 2nd dress rehearsal for the other semifinal took place. We of Eurovision Universe have been looking carefully again to the show and made our own preview for tonight’s show.
The opening is a man placing a Swiss Eurovision heart, a reference to the connection between Switzerland and the festival. They start even faster than the day before yesterday, because after 5 minutes the postcard of the first country starts:
🇦🇺 Australia
We see an old-fashioned television set as an opening, after which a kind of 70s show unfolds, both in terms of clothing and the show itself. On stage is a giant milkshake blender. An old woman disappears into the blender and comes out as a beautiful young lady. After the “sweet sweet yum yum” Go-Jo takes off his shirt. In terms of singing it is fine, it is not really special.
🇲🇪 Montenegro
Once upon a time, Nina Žižić stood on stage with two astronauts. Now she stands alone. There is white smoke. In the middle of it, Nina stands in an enormous white robe with a gigantic hood. Above her, a kind of solar eclipse and then colorful graphics. Nina is a lot quieter than in 2013 with her astronauts.
🇮🇪 Ireland
Emmy is standing on a kind of spaceship-like plateau. In front of her we see her brother, who stands still during all the performances as a gimmick. Fortunately, she is also flanked by four dancers for the much-needed movement. And of course we see Laika herself, depicted as a kind of constellation.
🇱🇻 Latvia
The silhouettes of the six ladies of Tautumaitas can be seen in front of a curtain of streamers. A kind of rain is suggested on the LED screens. Later, the ladies are standing in the clouds. A quiet act that suits the song. Whether it will be enough for a place in the final, we do not know. It will be difficult.
🇦🇲 Armenia
Where Go-Jo took off his shirt, Parg doesn’t even have one on. With soot marks on his bare torso, he stands amidst blue-green light. We see many flashes of light and a lot of smoke, so that Parg is sometimes no longer visible. Although the singing is good, except for a slip, the whole thing makes little impression. Maybe the Armenian diaspora can vote it to the final, but it will not be easy.
🇦🇹 Austria
In black and white we see JJ sitting on the ground with a blanket around him. In front of him hangs a paper boat, the same kind he had tattooed on his arm a few weeks ago. When he opens the opera registers he appears to be standing on a kind of boat. That has to weather a storm. In the last part of the song it seems to end badly, but then he ends up at a lighthouse. The singing is perfect. Not many people can do it like JJ does.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
The ladies of Remember Monday wear pink, blue and yellow: pastel colours. They start at a kind of fallen chandelier where the crazy act is playing. They sing that they have made a huge mess of their lives, but we do not see that in the act. It ends with the three ladies looking through a heart shape. The ladies can certainly sing!
🇬🇷 Greece
Klavdia wears a black dress and starts against a black background. When there is more light, she appears to be standing on a kind of pier, with a boulder at the end. In front of the boulder, a line of fire appears on the floor, over which a dancer walks towards Klavdia. At the end, there is a change of clothes and she suddenly stands there in a white dress. It seems as if this second semi-final is more about the singing, Klavdia’s is also perfect. Because of that, she could well end up in the final.
🇱🇹 Lithuania
For Lithuania, Katarsis has almost the same performance as during the national final. Pale blue suits, the wind blowing through singer Lukas’ sleek hair. The graphics suggest flying debris. The song is one for the connoisseur. It is certainly not cheerful, but there is a market for it.
🇲🇹 Malta
In a big yellow dress, with red hair, Miriana stands in front of a disco ball in a kind of painted lips. The graphics in the background, two legs, however, leave it unclear which lips are involved here. Miriana makes a party of it in any case. She ends up on a skippy ball. And of course it is smart to leave out that word ‘Kant’. The audience will sing it anyway. Will she go to the final? That is not a question, that is a fact.
🇬🇪 Georgia
Mariam Shengelia wears a large white dress when she stands on a kind of platform. Four dancers walk around her with white flags, to support the theme ‘Freedom’. Halfway through, the white dress comes off and she stands in a red suit. The background now also turns red. Until the end, when the LED screens turn blue again. Here too, the singing is perfect.
🇫🇷 France
Louane from France is standing in a kind of sandbox. A whole stream of sand is coming down next to her, and she occasionally puts her hand in it. When she sweeps some sand from the ground, there appears to be a mirror underneath and she looks at herself. Halfway through, an enormous stream of sand comes over her. She had already indicated earlier that she also occasionally gets sand in her mouth. This is evident because after the song, during the applause, she has to cough for a moment. Nevertheless, she continues to sing this emotional song beautifully.
By the way, the floor is swept by two very special cleaning ladies….
🇩🇰 Denmark
In a large white and blue dress, Sissal is illuminated by blue and pink disco lights. She stands in a kind of mosquito net-like curtain the whole time. Later, the curtains and dress disappear and she stands in a bright blue suit with large blue boots. In the first semi-final, she would have delivered one of the better singing performances, but here she meets her match in many candidates.
🇨🇿 Czechia
At first we see only a small part of the image, just like in Cyprus. Now the black beams are above and below. ADONXS wears a white coat with a kind of black vest over his shoulders. He is flanked by four dancers in white. At the end the black vest comes off and he appears to have bare shoulders. The singing is fine, one of the better ones this year.
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
Pink is the main colour for Luxembourg this year. Since Laura Thorn sings about a doll, she starts in a dollhouse. A trained eye will see the old Eurovision logo from the time of “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” in the background. Flanked by dancers, she leaves the dollhouse at a good moment and shows that she is not just a doll. Vocally, this is the low point of the evening, hopefully she will do better during the live broadcast.
🇮🇱 Israel
Yuval Raphael starts in the dark in a black dress. Then she appears to be standing in front of an enormous contraption that is completely covered with (fake?) crystals. She climbs that tower. At the end, a golden rain can be seen. Yuval is doing well vocally.
🇩🇪 Germany
Abor and Tynna: We see Abor on a kind of cello, after which Tynna starts on a scaffolding. She later climbs down, after which we see her under an open staircase. After that we seem to end up in a Berlin disco. Later she walks past Abor and stands at the very front of the stage in the middle of the audience. A nice act, but it can’t hide the fact that the singing is downright bad. Sorry Germany.
🇷🇸 Serbia
While singing his Balkan ballad, Princ wears a red suit. He is flanked by four dancers. The LED screens depict small lights, first a kind of surf, then a starry sky. In the second half of the song, the LED screens also turn red and Princ is dragged across the floor by his hair. All the while, he manages to keep singing perfectly.
🇫🇮 Finland
Last but certainly not least is Finland. We already know the act with the golden microphone. Erika Vickman is wearing a black leather suit, and yes, her buttocks are covered at the request of the EBU. When she says “I am Erika” you see her name projected huge on the LED screen. The act is flashy, but where it seemed to be heading for a Finnish victory at the beginning, that bubble will definitely burst after tonight.Â
After the first recap, the corona period is recalled in our memory. The songs of Gjon’s Tears (Switzerland), The Roop (Lithuania), Efendi (Azerbaijan) and Destiny (Malta) are performed for the first time on the Eurovision stage. After the second recap, we look at how some Eurovision fans experience the festival.
At the end of the show, our conclusion is that it is harder to predict than last Tuesday. For this moment we think that Australia, Ireland, Austria, Greece, Malta, Czechia, Luxembourg, Israel, Serbia and Finland go through.
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