EUROVISION 2026 RECAP + my unwanted opinions

Eurovision 2026 has come to an end, and like every other year, I'll be talking about this edition. Songs, rankings, friendships, and scandals.

Let's start by saying that on the first two nights there were very few songs I liked. Among them were Germany, Norway, and Poland. (Honorable mention goes to Estonia and Switzerland, which I loved but didn't qualify.) All this without mentioning Italy because I'm biased.

To prepare for the final, I listened to all the songs again, and I must admit I started to like many of them, and by the evening of the final I knew almost all of them.

Finland, Denmark, Moldova, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, Georgia—in short, I changed my mind. I liked the songs of this year.

Not an edition as exciting as others, no spectacular songs that stood out from the rest, but still, most of them were good. The ones I really didn't like were Portugal, Lithuania, Serbia, and England.

I haven't even become obsessed with any contestant like I usually do, which is sad. Maybe Jonas a little, I'll go listen to more of his songs, but it wasn't love at first sight like with Kaj or Joker Out.

Sal Da Vinci sang almost better the first night he wasn't competing than the last, but it doesn't matter. We still managed to take home a nice fifth place, with 12 points from both Albania and Azerbaijan.

So let's start talking about these votes.

The judges' votes weren't as predictable as in other years, despite many going to Bulgaria. Honestly, I don't understand why Bulgaria, but that's okay.

The whole world was shouting boycott Israel, but then the countries voted for it anyway (123 points), like if you wanted to boycott it, at least do it right. I almost feel sorry for all those countries that withdrew and then watched Israel come in second place.

All of Europe breathed a sigh of relief as Bulgaria's televoting points continued to rise. I'm very happy for Dara; the song was very Eurovision-ish, and despite the criticism, I enjoyed it.

Let's move on to the televoting.

England once again received zero points this year, as per tradition. Belgium and Germany also received zero points. How DARE you, you don't understand anything. Sarah was the BEST.

After the jury's votes, Italy was sixth. Thanks to the 147 public votes, we climbed to fifth place, surpassing the Finns.

The country that received the most public votes was Bulgaria with 516 votes, followed by Romania with 232 and Israel with 220, although Israel still surpassed Romania.

Then we have Australia, with 122 public votes, coming in fourth, just below us Italy with our total of 281 points. Not bad, just 6 points less than Australia.

But enough numbers, let's move on to my favorite topic: SCANDALS!!!!

Let's move beyond the biggest one, namely the non-participation of some countries (Spain, Iceland, Slovenia, Ireland, and the Netherlands). Everyone makes their own decisions, and I don't want to go against their choice.

Again during Israel's performance, many in the audience started booing. Which is why the performance was apparently uploaded to YouTube afterwards to silence the audience's screams of disapproval.

Did we expect that? Yes, so nothing to say.

Another thing about Israel is that the interviewers went to the contestants and asked them to say hello to the Israeli fans, and a clip of Alicja not only not answering the question, but actually walking away is circulating online. I love her, so iconic. I mean, she actually went to the manager, probably to ask if she should answer, and then waved the journalist no.

But they continued by asking all the artists what they thought of the Israeli song; for example, Dara said she liked it.

Of course they have every right to ask the other contestants what they thought of their song, but it all seemed a bit forced, since the journalists knew many wouldn't respond. In short, it seems like they did it on purpose to stir things up.

Continuing the scandals, criticism has come to Romania's song by Alexandra for its themes. They say it "Represents the normalization of dangerous practices and promotes sexual strangulation." Because the song says "Choke me"... I think that's exaggerated.

Regarding song lyrics, controversy has also been sparked for Croatia with Andromeda by Leleke and Moldova with Viva, Moldova! by Satoshi.

The first one was criticized for being too political, addressing internal social tensions. In my opinion, the song is magnificent, and they did well to bring it, especially given the issues it addresses. These kinds of songs are needed in times like these.

For Moldova the criticism is because the song is considered "too pro-Russian," given that the country has Russian influences and is a song that celebrates its own culture. This criticism also seems like bullshit to me.

I don't know if there are others, but let's stop here for now.

The only two "problems" they had on stage were the freeze frame during Daniel's performance and Jonas slipping on stage. But then he got up with this pose, so like what can you say to him? Iconic!

On top of that, let's also throw in all the technical problems they had on the first night. Not a single one of them hit a single note right; they said it was the in-ears fault. Among the most absurd ones was the singer from Cyprus who was out of time and couldn't hit a single note right; she did much better in the final. As did Leléka from Ukraine, who sang out of tune on the first night but sang perfectly in the final. 

And Felicia from Sweden fainted during rehearsals after her performance. She said it was because it was very hot, she hadn't drunk enough, and her corset was making it difficult for her to breathe. Luckily she's alright.

As for the show itself, they could have done better.

The segment were long and boring. They say the quiz segment was pointless, and we in Italy didn't even saw it because there were commercials. Oh, and while I'm at it, FUCK YOU ITALIAN TELEVISION I HATE YOU who goes on commercials right when my Beauty Blenders are on. I didn't saw them because of you, you bastard.

But Miriana, along with Erika and Alexander Rybak, came back at the end to sing together. That was really beautiful. Especially when they all started singing "Volare." You have no idea how much I wanted to be there.

Of the contestant from last edition, aside from JJ, of course, who sang his new song and was DIVINE, my love Go-Jo also returned for a short segment on the differences between Austria and Australia. If it weren't for him and his kangaroo, the whole thing would have been pretty cringe. But Go-Jo was there, so it's okay.

Among the returning past contestants, some have announced their country's jury scores, such as Aurēlija from Tautumeitas, Sissal, Daniil from Ziferblat, Parg, and of course, MY HUSBAND JAKOB. As soon as he appeared on screen, I screamed.

Before talking about friendships and memes, I want to take some time to talk about the hosts.

Eurovision: United by Music, but this year it was United by hating the Austrian hosts.

Everyone was making fun of them. At first, I thought it was just the italian host Gabriele Corsi's relentless attack on them, but then I discovered they were being made fun of in other countries too. Especially in Sweden and Norway. It cracked me up when the Swedish host said, "Thank god it's not a comedy competition because I know two people who wouldn't have qualified." WHAT A DIVAAAAA.

But never a diva like our divas Elettra and Gabri, the two italian hosts, who eat hard-boiled eggs in the commentary booth and bring out the bilateral parties every night (it's a Sanremo inside joke). We love them.

But I love Gabri so much, like, the final hadn't even started yet, you can't just drop this stuff on tv without any context.

We love him.

Let's get to the wonderful friendships that were formed during this Eurovision.

We obviously have to start with the bromance of the year. Joining Kyle-JJ and Bojan-Käärijä are Jonas-Søren.

The two quickly became friends, and Jonas even proposed.

Then we have the couple who melted everyone's hearts. During the waltz, which was danced by the entire arena, Eva and Daniel were filmed dancing together. So cute.

Then Simón who danced to every song together with Antigoni.

Like Jonas, Søren, and Leleka dancing to Cosmó.

Lavina are definitely the memes of this edition. All their videos are amazing. Thanks to Pavle, who runs their social media. He's an idiot and I love him so much.

And also Lion from Lithuania who is literally a living meme.

Then, probably the most famous meme was when, as mentioned, Alicja didn't respond to the Israeli interviewer. She turned to her manager to ask if she should say something and simply ignored the interviewer, calling out "Nataliaaa" and it became a meme.

Then we have Kaleen (Austria's 2024 representative), who was spotted on stage working as a contest producer and stage director. We love a hard-working queen.

And the Italian flag wich was folded and turned to create a Polish flag so the cameraman could frame it after Alicja's performance.

Now let's move on to our Italian representative: Sal Da Vinci.

During rehearsals, the poor dancer Francesca Tocca fell when they unrolled her dress. Thank God it didn't happen in the final, but everyone seemed pretty calm about it.

Speaking of backstage, despite being the oldest of the show, Sal couldn't help but join the circle of silly videos for social media with the other contestants. He's often seen with Alicja; he even gave her a ring to promote his song.

Yes, Sal was walking around with a bag full of rings and giving them to everyone, what a boss.

Then he made several videos with Alis and other participants like the one on the stairs where he makes everyone sing his song (Alicja was clearly forced)

Or others where everyone speaks English and it's clear that he's just not capable, he doesn't even try.

Then we have Satoshi and Aidan singing Per sempre sì and Lavina and Akylas singing it in the green room, and Alis saying his favorite meme is the explosion after "accussì", I love him.

And Alexander Rybak playing it on the violin.

Another famous meme is about our very own Sal and the faces he made when asked his opinion on ketchup on pasta. Iconic.

Now onto the Crushes.

As I said, I'm not obsessed with anyone (yet) but if I really had to make a list of crushes, I'd definitely include Jonas, Alicja, Daniel, and, of course, Pavle from Lavina, I love him. (Honorable mention for Luca, Alexandra's drummer.)

And we finish with this year's postcards. They're really ugly, but Sal is so funny.

Me when I take melatonin:

The Mascot was ugly, but everything is better than Lumo, I still dream about him...

And so another Eurovision is over. Many divas, many memes, many beautiful songs, it didn't disappoint.

I can't wait for the next one.

"La burla Europea"