Eurovision build up 2026

[EurovisionFanGirl]

Yes it is early this year but here we are, back for 2026.

Two songs are out already. I think I prefer Montenegro over Albania on first listen but obviously very early days.

The Scoreboard app has updated for this year. The Aussievision podcast is two episodes in. A new season is beginning.

Ready sad about the controversies and boycotts but hoping for a positive thread discussing the songs as they are released.

Hello 👋

Happy New Year! Thanks for the new thread.

I prefer Albania to Montenegro on first listen (but then I often quite like the Albanian song - my favourite being Mall from 2018).

Thanks for the new thread. I'm looking forward to starting to hear the songs for 2026.

Hello and thanks for starting this thread. 🥳

I enjoy national finals season almost as much as the main event and I always find some songs that end up being real favourites.

So far, I like both Albania and Montenegro and am excited that we'll be adding 2 more songs to the 2026 line-up this weekend with Malta and Moldova both choosing on Saturday night. I'll be watching the Maltese semi-final tonight.

In case it's of any interest to anyone, here are links to the Spotify playlists I've saved for what's been released so far (and my personal favourites).

Croatia - Dora
open.spotify.com/playlist/4UTdQYzXDtezkfc5VjBebW?si=ee290a99af074898
LELEK Andromeda

Estonia - Eesti Laul
open.spotify.com/playlist/5Og8fEynpiOGAUzwLpfx9S?si=22a2087764dd48ee
Clicherik & Mäx Jolly Roger

Latvia - Supernova
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0DCeeuD2kBmFDInzLfK3Mt?si=3c5f41c02bef43dc
Er, nothing much here is standing out for me!

Moldova - Selecția Națională
open.spotify.com/playlist/3C1swFQzT49eeLPXEMt1xq?si=85e087dbf122415b
Satoshi Viva, Moldova! This is my favourite of all the national final songs released so far. AMAZING!

Luxembourg - Luxembourg Song Contest
open.spotify.com/playlist/588pgQKq5eFUkVcu4fqUBi?si=4c9224f6ebc646cd
Luzac Prison Dorée

Malta - Malta Song Contest
open.spotify.com/playlist/6C5wZIzJvUpVdIm2GqwvMb?si=938c9c8627634d16
AIDAN Bella

Goodness, while I was typing that overly-long post, the Vidbir (Ukraine) songs have been released! 🤯

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp4i8IJdXtsb39HNM3pocaZPLtmooCFtE&si=xt2kczs53w-1fFl7

Fantastic @SanMarinoOutletExperience
I have never watched the national finals, but do wonder if I should start. The closest I got was last year with Sweden and Måns being an option before.Kai stormed to victory.

They have announced a Eurovision tour for the 70th anniversary which is coming to the O2 on 15th of June. Sounds like it might be fun.

Two more songs chosen last night! You must be pleased that your favourites are through @SanMarinoOutletExperience . I think Viva Moldova might take a bit of time to grow on me. I quite like Bella but I did have a listen to a few of the finalists for Malta and then wanted Matt Blxck to win.

DH 😍 said thank you very much.
That's his evening sorted.😉

Malta - within 10secs of the start he said "Bond"...then he said "Oh, it's a bloke!" 🤦🏻‍♀️

I'm so disappointed with Moldova.

Where's my Sax guy (again) ?!??😢
it sounded a bit like "my humps" to me

Montenegro - DH "No" 🤷‍♀️

Albania - DH "Yeah.., No"

He normally gets the top 3 right every year.

Bookies prices:

Fav is Israel at 5/1, then Sweden and Ukraine at 7/1.

(I wonder if Denmark will have someone from Greenland performing?🤔)

@RedToothBrush are you around? what are your thoughts this damp sunday afternoon?

@EurovisionFanGirl Luxemborg is next Sat.

Yes, delighted with the Moldovan and Maltese results! Moldova is right up my street and something that I would listen to outwith the Eurovision bubble. I knew I liked it within about 15 seconds of the first time I heard it but I do think it could suffer from Tutta l'Italia-style limited voting opportunities. Still extremely hopeful that I'll see it in the final, though.

I have a new joint favourite on repeat since Friday, Jerry Heil's Catharticus, potential entry for Ukraine. Such a beautiful song with a great mixture of musical styles in it. I really, really wanted to get behind Monokate (Kate from Go_A) and hers is a brilliant song too but I do love Catharticus more, and I think it could easily win.

Vidbir is one of my favourite national finals apart from Finland's UMK. I absolutely love the 2 UMK songs released so far. It's sounding like a good year for me!

I'm less excited by Luxembourg next Saturday but I'll still enjoy it. JJ and Laura Thorn will be performing.

I'm undecided about the Eurovision tour as well. I'd really prefer to know some of the line up before committing to tickets.

Oh, and how could I forget the treat of Aliona Moon performing with Satoshi for Viva Moldova! Her "O Mie" is one of my all-time Eurovision favourites. ❤️

Oh wow, yes Catgarticus is really good. I like the violin in one of the songs from Finland - Liekinheitin.

I’ve just had a listen to Malta and Moldova.

Is it just me, or is Moldova reminiscent of Woki mit deim Popo (Austria, 2012)?

😆 I know what you mean, Oubliette! I love both songs so that's no bad thing!

Alexander Rybak is trying again. I think his song is better than That’s how you write a Song but I don’t think it’s as good as Fairytale.

I'm not a big fan of Eurovision returnees (I know, I know, I was just bigging up Jerry Heil) so Alexander Rybak's second return seems like too much to me. I'd like someone new to have the opportunity but who knows how MGP will go.

I'm definitely enjoying Liekinheiten too, @EurovisionFanGirl . It's a lot of fun and really well put together. Million Dollar Smile is my other UMK favourite so far. It didn't click with me immediately but I like the tone of Etta's voice and it's been on repeat this week.

Another possible returner - Sissal for Denmark. I heard good things about her last year personality wise and I really liked Hallucination in the end - although I think perhaps it didn’t stand out enough and maybe Infinity is similar in that way. I saw her live by chance in the summer at an event and she was really good.

Not sure about the result from Luxembourg. Out of the 3 in the super final I personally preferred Bad Decisions (Irem). But they still seem quite high in the odds, so perhaps I’m wrong!

I thought Irem's song was decent enough but her vocals were shaky. I was surprised to see her in the super final. Eva Marija's winner is pleasant enough but I could imagine it languishing in the lower reaches of its semi final, unfortunately. Maybe Luzac's lack of staging didn't help him.

I didn't catch much of Lithuania's first heat and was disappointed to see too late that there was an un-geoblocked YouTube channel streaming Bulgaria heat 1. There's too much on at the same time and it just keeps getting more crowded over the next few weekends!

I'm glad to have Sissal back competing again as I loved Hallucination and also really enjoyed her enthusiastic participation and sense of fun. I like Infinity but it's maybe not quite the banger she had last year.

I like eurovision but i havent watched TV in quite some time.

I watched the Luxembourg final last night. I was quite surprised by the final 3 and the winner having looked at the odds but I quite liked Mother Nature.

i enjoyed all the guest acts. Surprised Conchita popped up to say hello by video link having said no more Eurovision association recently.

I have seen a lot of one of possibilities from Greeceon Facebook - Akylas with Ferto. Some committed dancing in the video. It’s one of 28 songs though so who knows how it will do.

It’s nice to read this thread just looking forward to the contest, as the talk I’m seeing on other social media is vile. So thank you OP!

Don't usually get involved this early on but will check out Jerry Heil, as would have loved her and Alonya Alonya to win in 2024.

Jerry Heil and Catharticus didn’t win 😢

But we have song 6 confirmed. Ridnym by Leléka for Ukraine. I will need to listen a few times to know what I think. Jury and public agreed though so no controversy.

Cyrus released their song last night. Seems to be popular on the Facebook groups.

So far I like 6/7 of the songs but don’t love any of them despite some dedicated listening! Hoping for something inspirational to come out of the five new songs from next weekend.

Shouldn’t get my hopes up for particular songs from the national selections - too much risk of being disappointed but still would like Infinity by Sissal for Denmark and Ferto by Akylas for Greece. Then I could say that I do love two of the songs!

I quite like "Jalla".

Also hope Sissal gets though, me and DD still regularly sing "Hallucination" now!