The Eurovision 2025 selection season is nearing its conclusion. At the time of writing we’re about 32 songs in and we can safely say it’s been a rocky road so far. In fact I dare say we’ve wrecked the car a few times and now we’re driving a replacement whilst our own is being repaired.
With all that’s been going on in the world for the past couple of years it’s no wonder we all long for a bit of fun. A place to escape into to forget about all the drama. But those who thought the Eurovision Song Contest is without drama may be slightly disillusioned by now.
The Eurovision iceberg has never been this big. One of the things that’s been rearing its ugly head once again is the accusation that this year is full of joke entries and it’s therefore the worst year ever. But what exactly defines a joke entry? And what is the difference between that and a novelty act? Is it really a joke? Or is it just a good 3 minutes of harmless fun? And aren’t jokes meant to be fun anyway?
Jokes from the past
I’ve been going through some of the past ESC entries trying to find songs that I myself would class as a joke act. And honestly, I’m struggling to find a handful. I suppose it all comes down to personal taste and perception.
LT United quite successfully defended the Lithuanian colors in 2006 with a song called: We Are The Winners. All though they didn’t end up winning, so perhaps the joke was on them. That same year a Finnish band called Lordi won the contest with a hard rock song, hallelujah! And just because they had monstrous costumes and it wasn’t pop for once, it’s considered a novelty act. Everyone seemed to dismiss the fact that actually, the song was brilliantly written, catchy and the costumes just fit the genre.
In 1980 Belgium sent a song called Eurovision (pronounce as French as possible please), literally asking the public to fall in love with them for votes. Europe did not listen and rewarded them with a 17th place. I guess they were just ahead of their time. It might have even been one of the first songs in the contests history that could be considered a joke.
In 2008 Ireland trolled us all by sending a turkey who made fun of just about everything and everyone including themselves. Europe was not impressed and Dustin had to bite the dust (yes, that was a joke). Ireland was sent packing early and the turkey flew home on Wednesday morning.
What defines a joke entry?
For many people it could be a song that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Literally anything and everything could be the trigger. A silly costume, a high pitched vocal, a funny dance routine, funny lyrics, a song sung in an imaginary language or even any song that’s not considered pop music.
There have been many entries that had one or two or even all of these ingredients. But to me that still doesn’t make it a joke entry. To me a joke entry is a song that makes fun of a specific subject, person, a group of people or even the contest itself. But does that mean that it’s necessarily bad?
When people call a song a joke they say it as if it’s a fact. Something that everyone simply agrees on. Like the fact that there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing (another clever pun). They say it as if it’s something negative. But newsflash: people generally enjoy a good joke. It makes them laugh. That’s why we enjoy comedy movies. That’s why we love shows like Friends or The Big Bang Theory. I never saw a joke as something negative. Same thing when people say a song is generic. Generic means normal, common, general. That’s not a bad thing. Your words don’t mean anything to anyone but yourself.
What is the intention?
I think we should learn to dive into the meaning of songs. Especially when sung in another language than your own. They might have a funny or comedic act but still have some hidden message layered somewhere in there, if you’re clever enough to work it out. Now I’m not saying I always research lyrics before I listen to a song. But before I judge I do like to know the full story. What is the artists intention?
Europapa is an excellent example of a song that felt very silly and crazy but when you get into the lyrics you realize that it has a much deeper and personal value. Sometimes people use comedy to cope with bad things that have happened to them. Joost is a very clever songwriter and understood well how to write something deeply meaningful without people disconnecting cause of the sad message.
And other times artists might just want to write a song that will make people smile and forget about their worries for a little while. Cause you know what: not every song should be about trying to make the world a better place. Käärijä wrote a song about someone wanting to go out and drink to forget about their troubles and open up. Feel free to spend some time without inhibitions, without caring what people think and without being scared about the world. Not exactly the message you’d expect judging from the instrumentation and the genre.
But these type of fun entries very often have a fantastic arrangement, and take serious craftsmanship. Being funny is a talent. Anyone can memorize a joke but if you haven’t got the talent to deliver it, you become the joke yourself. And that is where I draw the line. Is it well written? Does it land? And I often think: will this song endure the test of time? Is it good just because it’s shocking the first time you hear it? And will I still find it funny by the time May comes around?
But even that is subject to personal taste. Songs will sometimes grow on or off you. Even I have been guilty this year of disliking a song simply because I couldn’t take it seriously. Or maybe it’s because I took it too seriously for what it was.
Kant to me at first was just an average pop song hyped up by a single word that sounds like a profanity. But eventually I caught myself singing the song day in day out. And I realized that it takes a pretty brilliant writer to come up with a melody that gets stuck in so many people’s heads like that
I’ve seen people get offended by the Australian entry, then going their merry way liking literal pornographic posts on the “popular with friends” tab on Bluesky (please stay away from the popular with friends tab, honestly it’s pure filth).
Sometimes artists can do no good. When you write a song using clever word play and double entendres to express sexuality, it’s labelled a joke. But when you’d sing about sex in a literal sense you’d be considered unholy. Not to mention you’d be breaching several EBU rules, whatever they may be.
So let’s all just let eachother enjoy whatever we want to enjoy. The world is serious enough as it is. And here’s a tip: if you can’t stand a song, skip it. There’s no need to continuously spew your thoughts all over the internet just because you can. Your opinions are exactly that: opinions, not facts.
So in conclusion: ALL HAIL TO JOKE ENTRIES. The more the merrier!
Much love,
Tomas 🩵
Woo! It’s been a while since we posted anything here! So glad you got all the way to the end of my rant! Whilst you’re here, do remember to check out niallpoints.com where you will find the links to our YouTube channel (go and check out our reaction videos for Eurovision 2025!). You will also find a link to our podcast and all of our socials!
Until next time folks!
