VIENNA – After weeks of preparation, pre-parties and two exciting Semi-Finals, the 70th Eurovision Song Contest ended Saturday with an upset by Bulgarian artist DARA.
Listen to the author read this story:
Twenty-five countries took part in this year’s contest in Vienna, but only one could win.
DARA ran away with the trophy with her song “Bangaranga.” The song combines modern elements with classical Balkan uptempo music. The title means “Chaos” in Jamaican Creole.
Darina Nikolaeva Yotova, 27, is one of Bulgaria’s main pop artists. She had hits like “THUNDER,” “Call me” and “Mr. Rover,” was the inspiration for K-Pop Idol KAI’s “Rover” that has more than 200 million streams on Spotify.
Yotova was born in Varna and rose to fame when she finished third in the Bulgarian version of the X Factor. What followed were a dozen number one hits in her home country, with Bangaranga being the 13th.
“Bangaranga” is about inner confidence and strength (I don’t follow, I’m the leader). This was also DARA’s mantra, since she had to endure a lot of criticism from her home country when she was chosen as the representative.
Bulgaria was not the only highlight of this year’s Grand Final: The show’s opening, which traditionally is the flag parade, was accompanied by JJ, who sang his new single “Unknown” and a Techno version of his 2025 winning song “Wasted Love” with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
First to perform was Denmark’s Søren Torpegaard Lund and “Før vi går hjem.” Despite being seen as a contender for the win, he came in seventh. This might be due to his early appearance in the show, an effect that historically is a disadvantage.
Also underperforming was “Liekinheitin,” Finland’s contribution by Pete Parkkonen and Linda Lampenius. It placed first in the odds before the show, but ended with sixth over all.
While Finland’s winning probability was seen at 44%, Bulgaria only had a 11% probability to win.
Meanwhile, Romania received 296 points and therefore the third place, beating all the odds. They’d been expected to place sixth.
The Interval Acts consisted of several former Eurovision legends, such as 2007 Ukrainian participant Verka Serduchka, who marked the contest with “Dancing Lasha Tumbai,” Norwegian Alexander Rybak, whose song “Fairytale” is known worldwide and Erika Vikman, who was a fan favorite last year with her song “ICH KOMME.”
Together with many more artists, they sang all-time Eurovision hits, such as ABBA’s “Waterloo,” Céline Dion’s “Ne partez pas sans moi” and Loreen’s “Euphoria.”
Another Interval Act was 2018 Austrian representative César Sampson who sang “Vienna” by Billy Joel. Joel himself appeared on the show in the form of a pre-recorded message before Sampson’s performance.
The voting segment is always the most exciting part of the show, and consists of the distribution of the jury votes, audience votes from 35 participating countries and then the rest of the world, a block that has the same voting power as one participating country.
Bulgaria dominated both the audience vote and the jury vote, receiving respectively 312 and 204 points, leading to a total of 516 points.
DARA’s victory means that Bulgaria and its national broadcaster BNT have the right to host the contest for the first time next year, possibly in Sofia.
If the contest takes place in Sofia, Bulgaria next year, it will be the first time in 19 years since the first and only time the Balkans hosted Eurovision.
Florian Gashi is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International from Germany. He covered Eurovision in Vienna for YJI, wrote this story and made photos and videos.
Samantha Esquivel is a Correspondent with Youth Journalism International from Matamoros, Mexico. She edited the video.