For my last blog of Eurovision Song Reviews of this year, I saved the Alpine nations for last. Interesting how two of the songs are internal selection while two had a national final to decide theirs. All four are different in their own way. Do they have what it takes to win? Let’s see:
AUSTRIA
Song: “Wasted Love”
Performer: JJ
For 2025, the Austrian broadcaster ORF held an internal selection to pick this year’s entry for Eurovision. A songwriting camp was held in August with eight writers to create eligible songs for the Contest. In January, it was decided the representative would be 23 year-old singer JJ and his song “Wasted Love.” JJ, whose real name is Johannes Pietsch, was born in Austria, but spent much of his childhood in Dubai. He is a former student of the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and has competed in talent shows like The Voice of Germany and Starmania.
This song JJ co-wrote with two other Austrian writers. One of which is Teya who represented in 2023. The song is about a man looking back on a recently-ended relationship and how his lover just let it die like they didn’t care. Possibly the biggest standout quality of this song is its intensity. The song begins slow, but with an intense mood. The song grows in intensity when the second verse begins and continues in its intense mood until the last 20 seconds when the song becomes relentless in its drama. JJ’s countertenor voice which almost effortlessly goes into the soprano voices adds to the intensity. It’s easy to like because of all the Eurovision songs this year, this is the most unpredictable and indescribable. You can’t really put this song in a genre but it goes beyond what you expect. It definitely won me over!
ESC Chances: Back when WatchMojo did a Best Eurovision Songs video and mentioned Conchita, they mentioned his 2014 victory was Austria’s second. The first being Udo Jurgens in 1996. The narrator ended it by saying “Will it take Austria another 48 years to win again? I doubt it.” Even 2018 gave reason to doubt it with Cesar Sampson’s third-place finish. This year, we have a song with winning potential. It’s unconventional, unpredictable and pull a lot of delightful surprises. It gives a lot to like and even be blown away by, like I was! There are however naysayers who don’t want it to win. One person commented “Do we really need Nemo 2.0 as the winner?” JJ risks such a comparison. We have one month to go and anything can happen. It will all be decided in Basel.
SAN MARINO
Song: “Tutta L’Italia”
Performer: Gabry Ponte
How does a microstate like San Marino have a national final to decide it’s entry? Since citizenship doesn’t matter in the main Eurovision, anyone from any country can enter into SMRTV’s San Marino Song Contest 2025. Last year’s winner was from Spain. For finalists, last year’s Albanian entry Besa was among the contestants, but most of the contestants were from Italy. Crazy thing of the contest is there were seven semifinals of a total of 206 songs to decide sixteen of the twenty finalists! A second-chance contest would decide the remaining four. The final was held in March and the winner was decided to be Italy’s Gabry Ponte with “Tutta L’Italia.” Gabriele Ponte is most famous for being the producer of Eiffel 65 and has produced their biggest hits “Blue (Da Da Dee)” and “Move Your Body.” He has released many more songs as a solo artist including four Top 10 hits in Italy.
The song is co-written by Ponte with two other writers, including the song’s vocalist Andrea Bonomo. A unique fact is this song was used as the theme song for this year’s San Remo Festival! This song is a mix of pop, dance and Italian folk music. By the looks of the translated lyrics, it’s about being Italian and celebrating it. The song starts off giving you the impression that a Tarantella dance is about to start and then it goes into its dance beats. The song mixes the genres up to deliver a celebration of a song. I found it enjoyable from the start and I still enjoy it. I can picture people dancing the Tarantella to this song at an Italian festival!
ESC Chances: In order for San Marino to achieve their best-ever finish this year, they need to finish 18th or higher. They’ve only been to the Grand Final three times ever and only once this decade. This song has excellent chances to be San Marino’s fourth-ever Grand Finalist. This song is one that does a great job of lifting spirits and is even more enjoyable than Italy’s entry this year. The question is will people vote for the song or the nation? Since televoting, songs from microstates have struggled. San Marino will have to pull the right moves and right staging as they have a potential best-ever finish with this.
SLOVENIA
Song: “How Much Time Do We Have Left”
Performer: Klemen
For their participation in this year’s Eurovision, Slovenia’s RTVSDLO held their EMA 2025. Songwriters and performers interested in performing or writing were given time in the fall to submit, and the field was narrowed down to twelve finalists a week before the national final. The twelve songs that were part of the contest consisted of six English-language and six Slovenian-language. The final on February 1st consisted of a main final of the twelve and a ‘Superfinal’ of the the Top 2 of the final that same night.
The main Final was decided by jury only. The Superfinal was decided by televote only. At the end, the winner was decided to be Klemen with the song “How Much Time Do We Have Left.” Klemen Slakonja is famous in Slovenia for his work in music, acting and comedy. He’s even hosted four editions of the EMA. He’s also known for his impressions. After winning EMA 2025, he even did a Youtube video where he did impressions of all the Eurovision winners of the 21st Century!
The song, written by Klemen himself, is the opposite of comedic. It tells the story of him learning of his wife’s diagnosis of a fatal disease right after their son’s birth and the determination to beat the odds for the sake of their love. Something Klemen experienced with his own wife who’s also a well-known actress in Slovenia. She herself did survive the a cancer battle. The song also talks of the importance of loving one another and valuing their time with each other. His vocals are consistent, if not spectacular. Unless you know the story of Klemen and Mojca Fatur, you will dismiss this as a boring song. The song is heartfelt, but it risks being dismissed as boring if you don’t understand it.
ESC Chances: Last year, someone brought up an interesting statistic involving Slovenia. They noted the last time an English-language song made it to the Grand Final was in 2015. That’s worth taking into account as in the eight Contests since, the four times Slovenia made it to the Grand Final were with Slovenian-language songs. I am not too optimistic about this song. I can see why the song won EMA 2025. Because Klemen is a star there and they know the story of the ordeal. Even though this song is worth admiring, Eurovision viewers are going to want a song with the thrills and the spectacle if they want to make it a winner. Some might even find this song too dark for them to vote for. For a song like this, Klemen is going to need staging that works. Better than that in the EMA.
***Host Nation***
SWITZERLAND
Song: “Voyage”
Performer: Zoë Më
Switzerland has had incredible success in the 2020’s! All of their entries have qualified for the Grand Final and they achieved a third place in 2021 and of course last year’s win! Already more Grand Final appearances than in the 2010’s and their biggest Eurovision consistency since the 1980’s! For 2025, host network SRG SSR held the SUISA songwriting camp just three weeks after Nemo’s win! They also held an internal selection where submissions were open in August. There were 431 submissions, and it was up to a Swiss panel, an international panel and a 25-person jury of international music professionals to decide.
The song and artist was to be revealed on March 10 but they would be revealed on March 5 instead. SRF revealed the singer to represent is 24 year-old Zoë Më with the song “Voyage.” Zoë Më’s real name is Zoë Kressler and she was actually born in Basel, but her family then moved to Germany and returned to living in Switzerland at age nine in Fribourg. She’s had a love for singing and songwriting since she was ten and last year won two major awards: the RTS Artiste Radar award and SRF 3 Best Talent award.
Zoë Më is known for a style of poetry-pop where she mixes pop and chanson along with mixing French and German lyrics. The song “Voyage” which Zoe co-wrote with two other writers is completely in French. The song is about a woman who’s being strong in a relationship despite her partner being hurtful emotionally. Although I’ve never heard Zoe’s previous music, this does sound like the ‘poetry pop’ or the ‘chanson pop’ that Wikipedia talks about. Almost like a pop symphony. The song starts out soft and mysteriously, but its intensity grows starting in the bridge and peaks in the final chorus. One could describe the song as sounding ‘heavenly’ as opposed to ‘angelic.’ It’s quite original for a pop song. I find it likeable, but not loveable.
ESC Chances: Hard to say exactly when the comeback of Switzerland happened. Many might point to 2019 with Luca Haenni’s fourth-place finish, but I think that even though ZiBB’S “Stones” didn’t qualify in 2018, they sent the message there will be more awesome Swiss songs to come. I know many sense that the host nation often sends a less-than-spectacular entry in hopes they don’t host twice in a row. Sometimes the host nation will send an original or experimental entry. Like the last time Switzerland hosted in 1989, their song was in Romansh. This is something out of the ordinary that gives a lot for people to like, but it doesn’t have the common song elements or song qualities that would win over Eurovision. Once again, proper staging will make or break its finishing position in the Grand Final.
And there you have it. That’s my look at the songs from the Alpine nations. That also is my last review blog of this year’s Eurovision songs. Now it’s time to rank the songs and see how my favorites fare in Basel.
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