Sweden SWEDEN 2025 - KAJ - Bara bada bastu

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[Fluke]

Not that unexpected at all, but so happy. As so many others have already said, finally something fun and different, and in Swedish! And the international support was already MASSIVE.

In fact, this has been pretty much the only song anyone outside of ESC fans have been talking about, along with Tommy Cash, Erika and "Kant", and it hadn't even won MF yet! Sure it's gonna be even crazier now. A win in this weird and in some ways weak year is not totally out of the question, but a top 5 finish seems likely.

As for the results, a jury win would have been more impressive, but it was still remarkably close, and i knew there was no chance Måns was gonna win the televote with everyone talking about KAJ everywhere. I'm almost surprised Måns did as well with televotes as he did, but the competition wasn't that strong and everything was polarized to be between these two entries.

Personally, this ticks a lot of boxes for what i've wanted to see from Sweden - funny, unusual, ethnic, in Swedish, featuring accordion and even rap - all somehow at once. I just hope they don't use this as an excuse to never send any songs with these elements for the next few years!

That being said, musically it's no masterpiece, even the main melody isn't that strong, but they are extremely professional in performing it and i can't wait to see how it will be performed in the ESC.

I can see some changes to be made, maybe simplifying the performance a bit while making it feel even bigger and more impactful - skip minor things like the sausage and the campfire, maybe the entire "night" bit, make the "building" more elaborate and shortening the "rainbow" bit to just the final chorus.

And i still think the song could use a four-bar dance break - there's enough time to fit it without removing anything.

So a bit about the others, first off... i personally really didn't want MånsZHomophobicus to win, of course, but he did an okay performance, his facial expressions looked a bit forced and at one point he sounded out of breath. But why the hell did the juries put Dolly Style so high? Did they find some kind of musical masterpiece in that My Little Pony nightmare that i couldn't notice? Televoters put them way lower, strange.

Scarlet did well, but i was really unengaged by the song and this wasn't their year. I don't really think they should come back next year, artists very seldom do 3 years a row in MF, but i would still like to see some attempts at something similar in the next few years.

Annika Wickihalder is actually one of the best singers to be in MF in recent years, but she's so awkward looking on stage, and the cold, glossy high energy radio pop thing doesn't do her justice. I don't think MF is the right venue for her, it's just not working.

Finally, when Greczula jumped down from the piano, i thought it looked dangerous as hell - imagine if he landed wrongly, broke his feet and just lied there screaming in agony for the rest of the song! I noticed his performance was even more mobile than in the semi. I think he's got potential but the song needed more of a real rock feel, the arrangement sounded outright wimpy when it was supposed to be high energy.

So of course i'm very satisfied with the choice and that's what matters. This really was one of the weakest editions of MF as far as songs go, but that often seems to be a recipe for the right song winning.

It's gonna be really interesting to see if the odds go up or down for Sweden now - were the betters just hoping for Måns to win, or is it just Sweden always leading the odds before they've even chosen their entry?

Now Europe's gonna learn how to count to four in Swedish - Yksi, Kaksi, Kolme, SAUNA!!!!

 

[b4ld3r]

Maybe this means SVT will be more active again in inviting artists directly, considering how well it worked out this year? A return of the "joker" system, perhaps?

 

[Judas]

News reports that Mans had a tantrum after the show, quickly left, kicked a few things and returned, then cried. The guy's having it hard tonight.

– "I was shocked that the jury gave KAJ such high scores. I know it sounds like I’m being a sore loser, but we’ll see in May if the international juries made the right choice," he told Expressen.
He then revealed what he had been doing while he was gone.
– "I changed clothes and kicked some things."
But no one got hurt?
– "No, except for my own phone."
Will you compete in Melodifestivalen again?
– "Not as far as I can see right now."
Will we see you at the afterparty?
– "Hell if I know."
Then Måns Zelmerlöw left in tears.
– "I’m devastated, there’s nothing else to say," he told SR.

(assuming translations are correct)

Måns Zelmerlöws ilska efter förlusten

Vart tog Måns Zelmerlöw vägen? När det stod klart att KAJ tagit hem segern i Melodifestivalen lämnade Zelmerlöw plötsligt. En stund senare kom han tillbaka. – Jag är lite lack, blev svaret. – Jag sparkade på lite grejer. Sen lämnade han i tårar.

www.expressen.se

 

[I bims]

Is their Swedish very different from standard Swedish? I feel like I hear differences…

Was very curious about that too!
From what I gathered it's a dialect from swedish speaking people in Finland that is mostly different in the way it's spoken rather than written? Comparable to the differences of German in Austria and Germany. Could be wrong though, just my quick research results.

 

[Sammy]

Seems we have another opera connection in this years contest...

 

[b4ld3r]

Was very curious about that too!
From what I gathered it's a dialect from swedish speaking people in Finland that is mostly different in the way it's spoken rather than written? Comparable to the differences of German in Austria and Germany. Could be wrong though, just my quick research results.

Yeah, several of the words they use are different. And the general rhythm of speech, sounds like they are talking with a Finnish accent.

 

[NemesisNick]

Melodifestivalen 2025 Final, the Swedish national final, for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, is over. What close voting there was this year! Once all the jury points were put on the scoreboard, the top two were 1st Måns Zelmerlöw "Revolution" 76 points, 2nd KAJ "Bara bada bastu" 74 points. In other words, there were just 2 points difference between first and second in the jury vote. Things got really exciting when the public votes were announced; KAJ scored 90 points (1st), and Måns Zelmerlöw scored 81 points (2nd) in the public vote. The upshot of this was, KAJ won outright with 164 points and Måns Zelmerlöw finished second with 157 points. In other words, just 7 points difference between first and second. In all truth and honesty, I’m glad KAJ won over Måns Zelmerlöw. KAJ’s "Bara bada bastu" may be seen by some as a bit silly, but it’s certainly a lively song, a fun song, and it was the only completely non-English song tonight. On the other hand, Måns Zelmerlöw’s "Revolution" is somewhat similar to his 2015 Eurovision winner “Heroes”, in terms of song structure, and the way he varies the intensity of his voice in the verses, chorus etc. Despite my initial dislike for "Bara bada bastu" when I first saw it on YouTube last night, I began liking it with repeated plays of it yesterday evening and this afternoon. Tonight, I ended up putting KAJ top of my ranking, and Måns Zelmerlöw 5th, in My Eurovision Scoreboard.

Congratulations to KAJ for winning the public vote and overall tonight. So KAJ will represent Sweden with "Bara bada bastu" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel in May. Sweden is drawn to perform in the first half of the First Semi-Final on Tuesday 13 May 2025. I won’t be able to vote that evening, as the United Kingdom doesn’t vote that evening. Good luck to KAJ in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 First Semi-Final, and in the Grand Final if they get there.

Well done also to the other eleven artists who performed tonight, no matter what their scores, and where they placed, in both halves of the voting and overall. In particular, congratulations to Måns Zelmerlöw for winning the jury vote by such a tight margin, despite being the runner-up in the public vote and overall. Remember, all of tonight’s finalists did well to get past one of the Melodifestivalen 2025 Heats, which took place the last five Saturdays (1 February to 1 March 2025 inclusive).

 

[AlekS]

 

[gigi_copp3]

News reports that Mans had a tantrum after the show, quickly left, kicked a few things and returned, then cried. The guy's having it hard tonight.


(assuming translations are correct)

Måns Zelmerlöws ilska efter förlusten

Vart tog Måns Zelmerlöw vägen? När det stod klart att KAJ tagit hem segern i Melodifestivalen lämnade Zelmerlöw plötsligt. En stund senare kom han tillbaka. – Jag är lite lack, blev svaret. – Jag sparkade på lite grejer. Sen lämnade han i tårar.

www.expressen.se

The Swedish Ultimo?

 

[freerider]

Ireland gave low points to Måns a bit suspicious perhaps they wanted to keep their record and viewed Revolution as more dangerous then KAJ who knows. Or that was their taste.

 

[jatojo]

Is their Swedish very different from standard Swedish? I feel like I hear differences…

If you know Swedish and Finnish, it sounds exactly like the way you imagine a guy from Finland would speak Swedish. Btw, to other Scandinavians, Finland Swedish is one of the easiest dialects to understand. This is quite different from German where it gets more and more difficult to understand the dialects the further away they are situated geographically.

 

[I bims]

Being THE huge favourite to win is such a shitty position to be in, cause when you lose the weight of that feels much more crushing. He came second and is still having a worse time than people that just came middle of the table. Sounds bizarre but that's real.

Kudos to him for embracing his feelings and crying openly. The vulnerability is pretty endearing, not gonna lie.

 

[Jupiter]

I've seen Måns being treated harshly for his reaction in some places, and I hate that. The guy was in a tough Position, it's so difficult to lose when you were the heavy favorite. He has all the right to be disappointed, sad, etc, and I think it's actually likeable to see him be so open with his emotions. Hopefully he gets good support from the people around him.

 

[aef]

It seems like he has been putting a lot of pressure on himself.

 

[I bims]

It seems like he has been putting a lot of pressure on himself.

I mean he clearly put his whole Mansussy into the whole thing, it was delivered with a lot of passion, he clearly wanted this.
If he only had a better song, though...

 

[WWE]

I don't want to sound like an asshole, but... Boo hoo. He won a Eurovision already, what is he crying for? That he wouldn't be able to win a SECOND one? Sure, losing sucks, but the guy is already etched DEEP into Eurovision folklore and history. He doesn't have anything to prove.

 

[Rocket man]

Måns song is called "Revolution" and yet it sounded nothing like it. He's a great performer with a lot of charisma, with impressive staging, but this time the song was too weak.

I like that Sweden decided to go with their heart, instead of their head this time. I don't really care for the sauna song and I don't see it winning, but it's clearly a fun song and authentically Nordic.

 

[b4ld3r]

I mean he clearly put his whole Mansussy into the whole thing, it was delivered with a lot of passion, he clearly wanted this.
If he only had a better song, though...

Not to mention A LOT of his own money as well He mentioned to Aftonbladet that he would want to "scream at the international juries" (paraphrasing lol) but that he wouldn't want to be seen as a sore loser. Seems like he doesn't want to come back to Melfest anytime soon

 

[Ewigkeit]

THANK YOU SWEDEN

 

[jatojo]

Måns song is called "Revolution" and yet it sounded nothing like it. He's a great performer with a lot of charisma, with impressive staging, but this time the song was too weak.

I like that Sweden decided to go with their heart, instead of their head this time. I don't really care for the sauna song and I don't see it winning, but it's clearly a fun song and authentically Nordic.

The scary thing is that the bookmakers thought "Revolution" would go to Switzerland and win. That would have been the worst winner since the chicken song.

And I fully agree about the heart vs the head here.