The introduction of the new Code of Conduct for the Eurovision Song Contest reminds us that the Song Contest is “a space to show the world as it could be… where everyone involved shares a common desire to respect one another…” The reaction to the Grand Final of Melodifestivalen 2025 shows just how far away from that ideal the community can be.
Melodifestivalen’s Surprise Victory
Going into Saturday night’s show, Måns Zelmerlow’s ‘Revolution’ was the favourite, a status earned in December and never let go. This was Zelmerlow’s return to the competitive stage following ‘Heroes’ winning Melfest in 2015 and going on in 2015 winning Melfest and then Eurovision. Many talked about ‘Revolution’ sweeping the board and heading to Basel 2025 as the favourite to lift the Eurovision crown.
As we now know, KAJ and the colourfully fun ‘Bara Badu Bastu’ sprinted through the field in the final moments of the near three-month Melfest season to snatch victory by a handful of points. It should be impossible not to empathise with Måns in the moment. Yet many in the Eurovision community managed to do just that.
The Community’s Reaction
The vitriol against Zelmerlow that has been present since his return to Melodifestivalen only increased as the Grand Final approached.
In the run-up to Melfest he received unjustified criticism online because of; his love of the Contest and his willingness to appear on stage for sketches and interval acts since his victory in 2015; how he was selfishly taking a space away from another act, he was only there because he was glory hunting, knowing that he would “win by default” because of some misguided loyalty to Sweden in the fabric of the Contest; and more that we’re not publishing here.
Following the loss, a still visibly shocked Zelmerlow felt obliged to speak to the press. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the pressure of the moment led to an emotional outburst, one that he acknowledged afterwards would come over as being “a sore loser.” But that response on Saturday night was too late for many, as voices glorified their viewpoints and decided to finish Melfest by gloating over a loss rather than celebrate ‘Bara Bada Bastu’s‘ fairytale win.
Lessons For Everyone
There is much to discuss around the pressure on artists in competition, pressure that will only rise as we approach the Semi Finals and Grand Final in May. We’ll look at this area in the coming weeks and months. It does have a bearing on Zelmerlow’s reaction to defeat in the immediate aftermath and the following days, but the community is not under that pressure. The community must look at itself and take responsibility for its own reaction and what we put out in the public realm and direct at the artist.
In a year when many assumed that established acts would skip the Song Contest given the controversies of Malmö 2024, in Zelmerlow, we have a long-established friend of the Contest. His history of engaging with the community since ‘Heroes’ won in Vienna 2015 emphasises the common desire to “respect one another and look out for each other” that we want to see in the Contest.
Not only was he ready to come back competitively, but he also made a significant personal investment to make the best song and show possible. This wasn’t a ‘rock up and collect the ticket money’ approach; it was a long and detailed financial commitment.
Of course, there will be discussions over ‘Revolution’ as a song, the staging choices, and the ‘get the vote out’ campaign. Singling him out personally is one of the darker aspects of our community that needs to be recognised and addressed.
As the entry list for Basel 2025 fills up, we all look forward to discussing, reviewing, and comparing this year’s songs. We’ll look at preview party performances and read the interviews. Critiquing art is what we should be doing as a community. Not every artist—especially women and artists of colour—is in a position where they can talk openly and safely about the levels of abuse they will receive over the next few months.
If we never see that level of venom directed at Måns again, it will be too soon.
Spot on Ewan. It has been an awful “fan” season…seeds sown in the vitriol from last year’s debacle. Yes, Mans came back, and I will say this, the strongest entry this year, which would have had Sweden close if not getting it’s 8th title. With Kaj – they are scrapping for the novelty votes and the bits of jury.
If they tried something different and fail spectacularly – watch Christer Bjorkmann explode. But Melfest was stale, the fans could see it – everyone hates an always winner, sadly Mans took the brunt – despite the loads of other contestants being frequent fliers, Klara, Lundjvik. Loreen was worshipped – what’s the difference?
The pile ons have been shocking giving abuse to Remember Monday on the anti BBC vibe following the change of Kant. Malta knows what it is doing and stirred up the vibes against the Beeb who have denied it was them (hello RTE), and with what happened with Israel, Bambi and Joost meant the slightest bit of tinder would catch alight.
Mans has been a friend of Eurovision since his win, hosting the contest, parting about with Mel on UK selection shows, with punditry and commentary – he loves the show. So for him and any competitor to be treated like this when there’s anti EBU Ukraine stuff from Tommy Cash and the Slovene entry doing black face!!!
Eurovision…. It’s a bit toxic at the moment and it’s not a pleasant vibe…
Totally agree with this. It’s been totally disgusting reading the hate. He’s done nothing to warrant the reaction from keyboard warriors labelling themselves as Eurovision fans.
Absolutely love Måns, play his music frequently. Deserved the win with Revolution and I’ve been so excited since December when it was announced he was coming to Melfest.
He absolutely has the right to be disappointed
He doesn’t deserve the hate and I wish him well. And to enter again in future but I think this will likely put him off which is a shame. Revolution is the song he promised in December. Great job Måns!
Well said, Ewan. Thank you.
And thanks for your podcasts.
Anyone spewing hate against Måns is obviously in the wrong, but I do feel criticism against the comments of a number of contestants is valid, as they questioned the merits of the winner, and even suggested they could only compete against them by doing something similar which was beneath them. I think here lies the real problem: all the bland Loreen copies follows a script they hope will increase their chances of a win.
I saw several professional productions that just didn’t have any soul or anything to make you remember them past the next entry. Regardless of whether an act contains humour or not, a winner needs to capture the voters attention and have something that sets them apart from the competition. You can argue that Måns provided a safe choice and already had votes secured because of his large fanbase. Kaj was virtually unknown, and still managed to challenge Måns even for the votes of the international jury groups.
I had given up on the thought of an entry sung in Swedish would ever win again, and in happy this joyous entry won. It may not do very well in the finals, but it’s bound to become an anthem for less glorious occasions on the sauna world (Sweden and Finland).In the end, I think Bara bada bastu is the reset the melodifestivalen needed.
Well said! Totally agree. The Eurovision fandom has become so toxic and the hate that Mans was getting was terrible. Instead of celebrating Kaj the fandom celebrated Mans defeat and his anger and disappointment. I hope he can come back again at some point and this hasn’t killed off his love for Eurovision
There definitely needs to be a reset, and it’s the production of Mello towards the public that needs it. Every year there are thousands of entries but the same select few songwriters and hand picked artists that get “picked”, all to maximise the profits for the cartel that run it.
Måns is an example, not only was he given unfair entry by default, he was given the final slot in the heats to maximise his already hot favourite chances.
It used to be a song contest but now it is so far down the road of being about a spectical, they don’t even bother to hide the fact that every act mines their songs, against the rules that it sets.
Talking of rules, Måns broke the rules with prior advertising of his song and they just said” maybe we should change those rules”. Ridiculous.
And finally, when Måns lost he threw a big stroppy mood and stormed off only to return and criticise the winners and also the international juries for having the temerity to not vote for his guaranteed winning effort.
It’s a song contest and needs to go back to being one, not the current vehicle for a select few to mime their way to the Eurovision.
I agree with another commenter on here – spewing hate is ALWAYS wrong, but there’s a difference between hate and criticism. If you are a public figure, you’re always going to be praised or criticized, usually both. And my criticism is that Måns was arrogant and big-headed after his loss, and even went as far as saying that he has his doubts that Kaj will even make it far with votes in Eurovision, but that he would have. That his song was better than Heroes. That he can’t compete with artists like Kaj because they’re apparently a different category and how the international jury were wrong. On the other side, Kaj is calling Måns a friend who’s been a great motivator to them, cheering them on. And that makes me feel bad for those guys too! I mean, I feel sorry for Måns, because he genuinely wanted to win and yes, he would have done well in Eurovision, but even the king of Eurovision doesn’t have the right to belittle others and be mean and condescending, especially when it’s aimed at those that he, before losing – called his friends.
What he said it’s not a fan gossip from one video, maybe you don’t understand if you don’t speak Swedish but even the Swedish media talked about his bad reactions in many places. We can’t react to things he’s saying? We have to watch out not to break the egg? He had also thrown his phone and kicked some things – HE ADMITTED THAT
You say yourescared for women to hear abuse don’t you think it’s scary for him to kick and throw things because he lost? And you want to blame everyone except him for that, do you? Isn’t it victim blaming saying the fans caused it? it’s more bad than saying «he is glory hunting» for sure…but you like his song and he is handsome so i think he can’t be blamed for anything, right?
I’m glad to read an article on this site, always well thought out.
Yes there is a lot of toxic fandom and people who really need to go out there and touch grass. But this phenomenon of people who are chronically online is not limited to Eurovision fandom.
Yes Mans Zelmerlow is a friend of Eurovision but he is the kind of friend who makes you feel bad about yourself, overconfident and often the centre of attention. Too many repeat appearances has worn the friendship a little thin for many, and this outburst has only cemented what many people have thought already. Mans and John Lundvik seem to have a winner takes all mentality which is at odds with being kinder, which was what this article was about.
Melodifestivalen seems to have the same songwriters over and again and subsequently Eurovision itself is sounding more and more the same with Swedish song writers entering their songs in other countries competitions. Jury bait entries have won over the popular choice for a few years now and many in the fandom don’t like it.
Many people, like myself, feel like too many Swedish wins has made Eurovision itself a very slick machine at the cost of some of its charm and rising costs making an obstacle for other less well off countries to compete.
Obviously many were disappointed Sweden prevailed over Finland in 2023. People love a David and Goliath style battle unfortunately in this instance Goliath stomped all over David. Kaarija and Loreen however showed much more graciousness than Mans did with his little outburst.
To think in 2008 people thought that Western Europe would never win the Contest again and then the path changed. May be time for the path to divert again now before people get tired again.
As for people who spew out hate online maybe they need to identify what they are feeling and putting those feelings into words and then what they say will be more constructive and have less hate in it.
Yes, let’s balance this up. Mans would have been a favourite to win ESC and he has indeed been a great supporter of the show, as it’s provided him with a lot of work over the years, especially co hosting the UK national Final. However no one can deny how he belittled Kaj’s win. It’s always easy to retract a comment on, but his true feelings were shown. He’s had some great songs over the years, but I feel the contest has moved on in 10 years since Heroes, and quirky and fun songs do well these days. Simple. I hope Mans hasn’t shot himself in the foot by his ourburst.
I think as long as you balance out it all and call Mans out for his words and his behavior he definitely has some self hate and angry management but by saying it’s toxic for any fan to call that out is within itself surely the same ? So your article is written no better than fans who called out Mans so your admitting your part of this so called toxic behavior too then right if not is that not hypothetical of you ? I wish Mans the best and think it would be best for him after slating how the international juries scored and his violence yes threw a chair and his own phone but that alone is very worrying and concerning acts of behavior. For instance I too had taken part in Eurovision this year none of my songs got to be selected but I didn’t lash out or throw my toys out the pram. We shouldn’t encourage this type of behavior. Friend of Eurovision or not there are limits to when you can and can’t defend someone. I hope in time he’s regretful of his actions and actually takes some responsibility. Yes their is toxic behavior within the Eurovision community as their is in every community. It doesn’t make it right or fair however in this instance fans like myself calling someone out for their self destruction is not Toxic as long as you wish them the best and encourage that they seek the help they needs that is not Toxic that is speaking facts and truth. So again best of luck to Mans. I’m happy with the result for Sweden I’m glad they went in a direction that is traditional and different from the general Pop songs we have come to get used to.