Skip to content
Search
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

What We're Watching

At Eurovision 2025: Glitter, geopolitics, and a sauna diss track

KAJ performing Bara Bada Bastu for Sweden at the First Semi-Final in St. Jakobshalle

KAJ performing Bara Bada Bastu for Sweden at the First Semi-Final in St. Jakobshalle

EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett
Molly Rubin
By Molly RubinMay 15, 2025
Molly Rubin
Molly Rubin is a producer for GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on PBS. Before joining GZERO, she was a video producer at The Recount and at Quartz, where she worked on the award-winning "Because China" video series, reporting on China's growing influence around the world. She's won multiple Webbys, a Gracie, a SABEW Business Reporting Award and her work has been featured in Time, Business Insider, Yahoo, and BBC News. She started her career as a production assistant for Investigation Discovery's "On the Case with Paula Zahn" and is obsessed with Saturday Night Live, post-modern fiction, and film noir.
See Full Bio

Europe’s glitter-soaked, pyrotechnic-powered, music competition fever dream – otherwise known as the Eurovision Song Contest – takes place Saturday in Basel, Switzerland at 9pm CEST (3pm ET). It’s part talent show, part geopolitical popularity contest, and fully unhinged fun. Eurovision is officially “non-political,” but that’s never really the case: Ukraine won in 2023 after Russia’s invasion; Israel’s 2024 entry was about the Oct. 7 attacks.

Unlike in the past two years, politics is taking a relative backseat this time out. Nonetheless, this year’s entries include not one but two European diss tracks. Here are a few standouts.

KAJ - Bara Bada Bastu | Sweden 🇸🇪


The odds-on favorite to win, Sweden’s “Bara bada bastu” by the comedy-music act KAJ, makes fun of neighboring Finland’s obsession with saunas. The Nordic diss track draws from Epadunk, a Swedish genre of music that blends EDM with tractor culture. Which is apparently a thing!

Tommy Cash - Espresso Macchiato | Estonia 🇪🇪


Members of the Italian government tried (and failed) to get Estonia’s viral “Espresso Macchiato” by Tommy Cash banned for perpetuating Italian stereotypes. With lines like “Mi money numeroso, I’m sweating like a mafioso,” they may have a point. Mamma mia!

Shkodra Elektronike - Zjerm | Albania 🇦🇱


Albania's entry “Zjerm” is a fusion of pop, electronic and traditional Albanian folk music, anchored by infectious Middle Eastern strings. Sung by Shkondra Electronike, an Albanian duo living in Italy, Zjerm Albania’s best chance of making the top 10 in over a decade.

JJ - Wasted Love | Austria 🇦🇹


Austria's song, an operatic techno-banger “Wasted Love” by JJ is another contender for the top spot. It’s high-energy, surreal, and dramatic, a perfect Eurovision contender. Be sure to listen to the song—mid track it shifts from the Opera House to the rave, and JJ ends on a superhuman high note.

Tautumeitas - Bur Man Laimi | Latvia 🇱🇻


Latvia’s dreamy “ Bur man laimi” by the all-female sextet Tautumeitas is a dark horse candidate but very much worth the listen. The ethereal, hypnotic track is heavy on traditional drumming and polyphonic harmonies. It sounds like it’s being sung by elves casting a spell, and maybe it is… the title translates to “a chant for happiness.”

Let us know who you're rooting for! Send us a note at gzerodaily@gzeromedia.com.

eurovisioneuropeswitzerlandswedenestoniaitalyalbaniaaustrialatviamusicculture and geopoliticseurovision guide

More For You

What We’re Watching: New fronts of Iran conflict, A better week for Russia than Ukraine, US and Spain butt heads

​An explosion in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, Iran, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in this still image from a social media video released on March 5, 2026.

An explosion in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, Iran, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in this still image from a social media video released on March 5, 2026.

Social Media/via REUTERS
Iran conflict hits new frontsTwo Iranian drones hit Azerbaijan, Iran’s northern neighbor, on Thursday, injuring four people and expanding the Iran conflict onto another front. The Azeris, who have a tense relationship with the Islamic Republic over their growing ties to NATO countries, have reportedly deployed troops to the Iranian border, which [...]

What We’re Watching: Khamenei’s son emerges as favorite to succeed him, Nepal to hold election, US helps Ecuador in drug raids

Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024.

Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Could father-to-son succession return to Iran?When the Islamic Republic’s senior clerics met yesterday to decide on the next supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei reportedly emerged as the favorite to succeed his assassinated father, Ali Khamenei. Mojtaba’s appointment would be viewed as a continuation of the previous regime, but it does present risks: [...]

What We’re Watching: The US and Israel reportedly court the Kurds, The race for US Congress begins, China’s new five-year plan

​Fighters from the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish opposition group, are pictured near the border with Iran in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, in the outskirts of Sulaimaniya, Iraq, June 21, 2025.

Fighters from the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish opposition group, are pictured near the border with Iran in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, in the outskirts of Sulaimaniya, Iraq, June 21, 2025.

REUTERS/Ako Rasheed
Trump reportedly speaks to Kurdish leaders in the Iran conflictAs the Iran conflict shows no signs of slowing, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu appear to be seeking allies within the country. The US president reportedly spoke with Kurdish leaders in Iraq after the attacks on Tehran over the weekend. The Kurds – considered one of the world’s [...]

What We’re Watching: Two “middle powers” make deals, Power struggle in Senegal, France to boost nuclear arsenal

​FILE PHOTO: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands before posing for a photo during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, in Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025.

FILE PHOTO: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands before posing for a photo during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, in Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025.

REUTERS/Amber Bracken/File Photo
Canada-India relations continue to recoverIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney struck a series of deals during a meeting in New Delhi on Monday, including a 10-year nuclear energy deal under which Canada will provide India with uranium. The two sides also agreed to finalize a free trade deal by year’s end. [...]