On Tuesday, May 12, 2026 the 70th Eurovision Song Contest kicked-off in the Austrian capital Vienna. Read everything about the semi-final 1 here.

Vienna is all on fire to welcome the world: The 7th jubilee of the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in the Austrian capital in the Wiener Stadthalle after JJ has brought the contest back with his song „Wasted Love“ last years in Basel, which you can read about here. Before the Eurovision Song Contest had already taken place in Austria thanks to Conchita Wurst who has won Eurovision for Austria in Copenhagen 2014 with the song „Rise Like A Phoenix“ and Udo Jürgens with „Merci, Chérie“ in 1966. The contest along with all delegations had already been welcomed on the Sunday before within the frames of the Turquoise Carpet Opening ceremony, which was on the same day as Mother’s Day a reason for many participants to celebrate twice as much. In the following you are going to find impressions and rankings.

Eurovision Song Contest 2026: Semi-Finalsts Impressions

1. MOL — Satoshi „Viva, Moldova!“: Cool opener! He embraces the idea of uniting by music with a song in multi-languages. I wonder if the final of the song was an intended homage to Aliona Moon who represented Moldova in the ESC 2013 with an equal volcano-dress. Could it even be that it was her?
2. SWE — Felicia „My System“: Swedish pop at its finest. It may be that this song could remind one of Cascada‘s „Everytime We Touch“ but Felicia’s beautiful voice gave it an original touch. I also loved her voice in contrast to her unapproachable appearance of covering either her mouth or her eyes which she does out of personal reasons.
3. CRO — Lelek „Andromeda“: Croatia was the typical Slavic serious, Christian-folk you know from them. People can appreciate it or ask for more if you compare it to their competition. Especially their traditional attires put an extra on this.
4. GRE — Akylas „Ferto“ („Let’s Go“): The unfortunately secret conqueror of ESC 2026. He messed around with several cultures in the most forgiving way. His song is a mean ear-catcher you don’t want to get out of your head anymore.
5. POR — Bandidos do Cante „Rosa“: Portugal has brought up these calmly romantic classics which are typically Portuguese quite frequently in the last years. I am happy that they don’t stop with this because it gives you that little Portugal trip you’re secretly wishing for. The roses-paintings on the screens were the perfect addition to this.
6. GEO — Bzikebi „On Replay“: These yellow outfits were a blast and matched the energy of this rather unusual for Georgia powerful and uplifting pop-song. You could hear that the two Mariams were not professional singers but they did a great job on stage. James Bond and his two lady-boss agents.
   ITA — Sal da Vinci „Per Sempre Si“ (Forever Yes): Italians stay true to their beautiful language and alluring culture. And that is something they should definitely never get rid of! Once again we found another reason to say: Italia, ti amo!
7. FIN — Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen „Liekinheitin“: I usually don’t like these odds and bets ahead of Eurovision because it takes the legitimation for other great artists. But I do understand the hype for this one with the emotional drama and Linda‘s extraordinary violin‘s play. Also Pete and Linda harmonised perfectly with their light and dark contrasting appearances.
8. MON — Tamara Zivković „Nova Zova“: In the beginning you might think ‚typical Eastern European Christian-Pop‘. But she rather proved true strong emancipated female empowerment. Her outfit reminded me of Nina Sublatti from ESC 2015 and she was just as equally powerful. Her maiden-looking background dancers made her performance perfect to provide the message on point.
9. EST — Vanilla Ninja „Too Epic To Be True“: The only rock entry so far — with which they did lift up for sure. The energy people said they missed in the national selection was delivered ten times as much. I love the positive vibe of the song and that the audience joined during the bridge. What could have ruined their rating is the expectation of literally ‚Cool Vibes‘ even after more than 20 years. People and media should have given Vanilla Ninja to grow beyond Brandes/O‘Flynn. After all Lõhmus has provided successful songs throughout Estonian Eurovision history. Speaking for my children „Too Epic To Be True“ has become the new „Espresso Macchiato“ children anthem.
10. ISR — Noam Bettam „Michelle“: A song sang in French with subtle folklore tones in the melody. Clever but still dangerous. Israel is a very difficult topic this year due to the ongoing Iran-war, which is why five countries, among others one of the big five, Spain, boycott this year’s contest by retreating from their participation. Of course you could say now that Noam isn’t singing to represent Netanjau but of course a representative on Eurovision is always connected to its president to a certain degree. If you can disqualify Russia, you should be able to disqualify Israel, too. So it is a pity for the singer, regardless form the political position he has, that the song way
    GER — Sarah Engels „Fire“: The song is nice but it is missing the energy the stage, outfits, performance, dance and title were screaming. But it is not the worst song of the night. I wonder if this was actually a song for her.
11. BEL — Essyla „Dancing On The Ice“: If you are currently streaming the anime One Piece on Joyn, like I do, the staging will probably remind you of the island Punk Hazard, too. That was quite a funny sidekick. Otherwise I liked Essyla‘s song and singing. However I was lacking charisma on with her.
12. LIT — Lion Ceccah „Sólo Quiero Más“ (Just want more): In the beginning the silver boy reminded me of Marvel‘s Dr. Doom — then he said goodbye to his cloak. A very beautifully presented song. Not only the atmosphere was dramatic and touching but moreover his outstanding voice that reached high notes of classically schooled vocals was amazing! He also combined multiple languages in his song. Another artist who embraces the idea of „ United by Music“.
13. SAN — Senhit „Superstar“ (ft. Boy George): A four-time Eurovision returner! Again with a featured artists — I love Senhit‘s choices of featured artists and that she always brings this 80s disco-fever to Eurovision. On top she also stands up to represent minority groups which I appreciate a lot about her. Sadly there were some slight mismatches among others in her styling that didn’t do her necessarily a favour.
14. POL — Alicia „Pray“: Alicia was a warrior-lady who demonstrated exactly this on the stage. She wore a female adapted armor and had a minimalistic staging so that her powerful song and voice could stand out in the way it deserved to. Very clever. I love these powerful Polish ladies.
15. SER — Lavina „Kraj Mene“: I was truly speechless after this performance. You had this really dark stage and gloomy performance just to have this ceremonial one minute at the end of fire and legacy. But honestly it was too less most of the time and too much in the end. However what else could you create to still conjure this blasting end? Actually you would have needed the end throughout the song and a bigger final probably? Not exactly something I’d consider a song for Eurovision

ESC Semi-Final 1: Ranking & Outcome

Here are the qualifiers in the running order. You had the top favorites Finland, Greece and Israel already announced first which made the last three spots way too exciting.

Actual Qualifiers	Personal Qualifiers
Moldova Sweden Greece Belgium Serbia Finland Croatia Israel Poland Lithuania	Moldova Sweden Greece Portugal Georgia Finland Estonia Israel Poland Lithuania

The choice between Montenegro and Poland was indeed a tough one. If you asked me Israel could have been left out in favor of both. Also, I highly doubt that people who watch Eurovision belong to the same group of people who are into this hardcore dark-metal like we heard it from Serbia (nothing against the country itself). Rock has grown quite popular over the last years of Eurovision but rather this „people’s rock“, as Deban from Wiwibloggs called it, that Vanilla Ninja had given it (on top of being another girls-banger). I cannot imagine how a contestant who has won the national final with the power of the international televoting does not at least pass through the semi-final of Eurovision. Therefore I most of all suspect the jury-points and demand more transparency from the EBU (short European Broadcasting Union).

Most of all I am very sad for the members Lenna, Piret and Kerli. They doubtlessly had a blasting performance and a flawless marketing to interact with fans close and far as well as to bond with fellow contestants such as gifting them with their merch. Despite the great emotions immediately after the show I can only imagine their disappointment and to process it while serving your little children, speaking as a mother of little children myself – especially if you are introverted. No surprise they refuse to talk to the media, that is working on accusation, justification and explanation and shut down for now. I hope for the very best for them and that they can still look back on it positively.

I am very excited about the upcoming semi-final 2 which is going to take place on Thursday, May 14th, 2026 on 21:00 pm CET. Armenia and Azerbaijan are together in one pot which is going to be interesting.