r/eurovision

Despite Eurovision calls itself apolitical contest, there were and will be songs with some political/social context. For example in our pre-selection contest (Ukraine) there is always one demand - people should hear that song is Ukrainian, because in current times, everything is perceived as a way to survive, even such silly (as someone might think) musical contest. Despite there are loud debates about spending money for it instead for more necessary things…

For me personally one of my favorite political songs is "Biti zdrava" by Konstrakta. It’s pure art performance, sounds like a funny rhythmical song, but has deeper context and personal story behind.

It is enjoyable to watch these reviews by Pete and Linda - the interesting thing was at the end after they watched Delta. After debating the possibility of Australia hosting, a guy appears (Finnish Head of Press? Delegation?) and explains that according to his official sources, it would not be in Australia but the initial negotiation would be with the runner-up in Vienna, like we had with Ukraine and UK. I wonder if that had been checked already in case Finland were that nation?

I know that stand in rehearsals should be starting soon if they haven't already begun, as we should be expecting 1st rehearsals to begin around the 2nd May which is just over a week from now!!!! How exciting! But I have always been curious about what actually occurs during Stand In Rehearsals and how the whole thing works so if you know some information, I would love to hear about it.

What I do know is that it's volunteers that take the place of each countries artists (that being music professionals, students, etc.) but how do these stand in's know the routine. Are they with each country's artist when they are working out the staging or are they sent a video to work off of.

Also are each countries staging directors/designers allowed to be there for stand in? I had assumed they would in order to show where they want props and work out camera angles. But then I have heard of stories where delegations have been sent horrendous rehearsal clips of terrible camera angles. So does that mean that the Eurovision Production Crew just work off from notes given to them by the staging directors for what camera angles they want?

Lastly, when does stand in rehearsals actually begin and how long does stand in rehearsals last? Is it just a couple of days before 1st rehearsals? Additionally, what time is allotted to each country for the stand ins. I know that during 1st and 2nd rehearsals they are 30 mins. So does stand in's get the same time or even longer?

Appreciate any information you might have, it's just I've always been so curious about something we rarely ever hear about beside the odd leaked rehearsal footage after Eurovision.

© LRT

Ah, I see you only want more Song of the Day! Don't worry, I'm happy to oblige even if we're living in a mad world. Aujourd'hui, la canción att razgovaramo om kommt aus Lietuva ir è cantato mewn nifer ton glossón różne. Sorry, maybe it would be easier with subtitles? I was just about to get to the part where I mentioned that we're Babel-ing about Lithuania's entry, 'Sólo Quiero Más' by Lion Ceccah, today. ¡Vamanos! We have so much more to discuss!

Astute readers may have noticed that 'Sólo Quiero Más' does not look Lithuanian. In fact, it's Spanish, and it means 'I Only Want More'. You might expect from that title that it would have a lot in common with Greece's 'Ferto', but it actually has a lot more in common with Taco Bell's slogan of 'Live Más'. Even if all hope seems lost and the world seems like it's falling down around us, Ceccah states that he still longs to keep existing and experiencing life.
And he states that in no less than six languages throughout the song. Namely, Lithuanian, English, Spanish (of course), and French, plus two single lines in the final chorus in German and Italian. This makes it the most linguistically diverse song of this year, and double that of the runner-up.
Speaking of runner-ups, as a brief aside, the runner-up of Lithuania's national final this year ('Contact!' by SHWR) had a very similar theme about living life being the most human thing we can do, even if life seems grey and hopeless sometimes. Are the Lithuanians doing okay? I dunno, I just feel like maybe we should send someone to check up on them because it seems like they're really working through some things the past two years.
Anyway, brief aside aside, 'Sólo Quiero Más' is a tender and extremely human song filled with dramatic vocal flair and production that sounds a bit like an orchestra scoring the end times. But the end times in a Pandora's box kind of way where there's still a little bit of hope left.

Ceccah may only want more when it comes to life, but that philosophy does not apparently apply to the songwriting team. The song was written by duo Ceccah and Aurimas Galvelis, with Galvelis solo on the production.
Galvelis may have studied jazz guitar at college, but he has expanded to más areas since graduating, now working in songwriting and production. He has worked on the past Lithuanian national final entries 'Drobė' by Lion Ceccah (2025), 'Make It Real' by Gabrea (2022), and 'Running Chords' by Urtė Šilagalytė (2022). He also competed himself as part of duo The Artrace in 2012 with their song 'Fly LT', then again in 2022 as part of duo Moosu X (The Artrace rebranded) with 'Love That Hurts', both of which he helped write and produce. He also releases his own solo music, including an album last August. However, none of this individual work has competed in a national selection. Yet, anyway!

Ceccah, meanwhile, has competed no less than 5 times in Lithuania's national final by my count, including the most recent. Only two of those times is under the name 'Lion Ceccah', though. Born Tomas Alenčikas, he studied music at gymnasium before transitioning to getting a Bachelor degree in musical theatre at university... and then a Masters in music. During his studies, he became heavily involved in the Lithuanian drag scene, performing sometimes under the name 'Alen Chicco', based on his last name. In 2018, he began releasing original music, and already a year later, made his first attempt to represent Lithuania at Eurovision with the song 'Your Cure', ultimately placing 5th out of 8 acts in the final. Still, he only wanted more stage time, so he returned in 2020 with 'Somewhere Out There' and 2023 with 'Do You', unfortunately failing to reach the final either time.
It was at this point that he decided to change his stage name for some reason (not one I could find in my research, anyway), to 'Lion Ceccah', pronounced like 'Lyin' Seek-ah'. Under this new name, he competed in 2025 with the aforementioned 'Drobė' (transl. 'Canvas'), coming in the silver slot. He clearly took that to heart this year, though it ultimately paid off. I guess we should expect a golden winner's reprise next year!

You may want more, but no escribo más. Go live your life. Ceccah certainly will be on the Vienna stage, singing a song of sixpence languages, and isn't that a dandy thing to see on the TV? It's a good thing he is creating music that unites without words. And if that fails, well... subtitles can always be Plan B.

Lion Ceccah - Sólo Quiero Más | Lithuania 🇱🇹 | Official Music Video | #Eurovision2026

P.S.: I have only ever seen 'solo' in Spanish without the accent on the first 'O', but this song has made me learn that it apparently has a variant spelling. And that both are apparently correct to use. The más you know!

DISCLAIMER: Song of the Day is for appreciating and showing love to whatever that day's chosen song is in a positive manner, and moderation decisions under this post will be made accordingly. Please be nice down there in the comments, you hear? To the naysayers, the overly critical, and the haters, you have had and will have future threads to make your opinions known; sit this one out. Thank you!

24th - 7 points

Denmark was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "Tell Me Who You Are", written by Michael Ronson, and performed by Malene. The Danish participating broadcaster, DR, organised the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2002 in order to select its entry for the contest. Ten songs competed in a televised show where "Vis mig hvem du er" performed by Malene was the winner as decided upon through two rounds of jury voting and public voting. The song was later translated from Danish to English for Eurovision and was titled "Tell Me Who You Are". Marlene won with 61 points in the NF in Denmark. However after the NF. Some issues were raised. The winning song of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2002, "Vis mig hvem du er", was ranked last by the jury in the second round despite receiving top points from all five public voting groups. Jurors Keld Heick, Sascha Dupont and Sanne Gottlieb publicly criticised the song for its poor lyrics, with the latter two stating that "the Danes are too easy to fool". Gottlieb also accused the media and DR of favouring Mortensen before the competition due to her being already well-known.

Subsequently, Mortensen cancelled her scheduled appearance in the programme Hit med sangenwhich Dupont also participated in.

In the final. Lots of viewers point on Malene's nervousness, possibly from the issues from the NF affected her. And her back being towards half of the audience & not moving on stage much. Possibly a choice made by the Denmark team or Malene herself. It's a good song and didn't deserve last place.

So happy to be here with you all! You’re already waiting for May, right? 🪽

I remember from myself when I was a casual viewer that whenever I heard that a song was considered a favourite I would pay way more attention to it, in order to understand if it's worth the hype. So is this something that happens in general and if so in a year that seems to be extremely competitive can we see a lot of favourites flop and other songs that are considered outsiders overperforming?

EN: I have 2 tickets on which I would like to make name changes. I don’t want to sell them, but basically give them away.

The FAQs say that it will be possible in time, but I can’t find any more detailed information.

Has anyone ever done this? The OETicket hotline costs €1 per minute.

DE: Ich habe 2 Ticket bei denen ich Namensänderungen vornehmen möchte. Ich möchte sie nicht verkaufen, sondern quasi verschenken.

In den FAQs steht, dass es rechtzeitig möglich sein wird, aber näheres dazu finde ich nicht.

Hat das schon jemals wer gemacht? Die Hotline von OETicket kostet einfach mal 1€ die Minute.

https://preview.redd.it/ozptx1louowg1.jpg?width=1488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8ababc224f1816d16978ed83980546d63cffa18

Hey! I randomly remembered you have to preorder the flags this year (or have one with a certain certificate, which I don't), and since tomorrow is the last day to do so, I need to hurry 😅

But: Is it still like last year that only one flag per person is allowed? Because I would love to show support for both Serbia and Croatia this year, but I don't want one of the flags to be taken from me.

And are the bigger flags they offer actually ok when it comes to their size?

Thank you in advance^^