#POLAND: Live blog of Polskie Kwalifikacje from 20.45 CET

Poland have always been enthusiastic about Eurovision, and tonight hold their national final to pick an entrant for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel in May. Eleven acts will be vying for the Golden Ticket, and public voting alone will determine the winner. There are no jury votes here. All times below are in GMT

You can watch the action HERE.

21.35 – So Justyna will be returning to Eurovision (with a 20,000 Zloty voucher) after 30 years! That must be some sort of record. That’s the end of the blog. Did your favourite win? Tell us what you think. Dobry wieczor

21.34 – Justyne got over 39% of the vote. Swata x Niczos got 23%

21.34 – It’s between Swata x Niczos and Justyna. The winner is Justyna!!!

21.33 – 5th is Kuba Szmakkowski. 4th is Chrust, 3rd is Dominik Dudek

21.32 – The top five all get called onto stage. No pressure then.

21.31 – 11th Daria Marx, 10th is Marian, 9th is Tynsky, 8th is Sonia Maselik, 7th is Janusz Radek, 6th is Teo

21.30 – 11th to 6th first…

21.29 – General chatter from the two “lodges” where the acts are sat.

21.27 – It’s results time now. Yes, this final is speeding along

21.26 – Michał is getting a crowd sing-a-long going now

21.23 – Michał is singing Colour of your life now. It came third, remember.

21.22 – Voting has closed. We have a winner in there somewhere

21.19 – And now, Michał Szpak with his song Bondage

21.14 – Another quick recap, with about five minutes of voting to go.

21.13 – Baby Lasagna gets interviewed in English.

21.05 – With some time to kill, and after the first recap, it’s back to Baby Lasagna. He has other songs in his repertoire don’t you know.

21.00 – The voting lines are now open. For 20 minutes

20.59 – Songs over, in just over an hour. Take that, most of the rest of Europe! ;-)

20.57 – In English – and credible English too. Dom starts at a piano covered in a plant. His dancers are all around him, helping the song along. This moves OK but again is quite a strong yet safe song. It does that thing where, instead of a key change, it goes to a cutback chorus before the final one that is again strong. Quite classy, but maybe too safe.

20.54 – Finally – song 11 – we get to Dominik Dudek. He sings Hold the light

20.53 – We ask what the recipe for success is. It’s to represent Sweden or Ireland. But not Norway. Hmmm. And female singers beat male singers by far. As does English or French.

20.50 – Sonia is in a long black cloak and pink dry ice. This has a nice subliminal beat to it. There’s lots of choreography to help it along and when we hit the first chorus, she ditches the cloak – surprise surprise – to reveal a short silver dress. Her voice is quite soul-ly which sets this off well. However, it’s a bit formulaic and safe. Safe never wins Eurovision. But that doesn’t start being a decent disco track.

20.47 – Song ten comes from Sonia Maselik. It’s called Rumours

20.45 – Teo starts seated on stage. There’s a lighting rig that looks like a big lantern. And he’s singing at a young lady also on stage. He’s gone for the heartfelt ballad, but I can’t quite here everything he’s singing. By the second verse, he seems to have loosened up a little.

20.41 – Song nine is Immortal by Teo

20.40 – Marien starts by tearing up an envelop and throwing it to her audience. There are some close camera angles too, before she moves to a classy white settee, accompanied by a couple of white-clad dancers. The song is mid-tempo and bounces along rather than rages. It’s pleasant for what it is. But she does hit all the right notes quite well. The end shot of her sat on one of her dancers is definitely noteworthy.

20.36 – Song eight next – obviously. It’s from Marien and called Can’t hide

20.35 – Eurovision uses “weird languages”, and it’s going back to the Motherland. That’s Switzerland.

20.33 – We have a white piano on stage. Let’s see what Janusz does with it. Well, he’s singing in English. He has a very operatic voice but is maybe trying too hard. He has some similarly operatic warblers on stage with him. This is more performance art that takes a while to really get going. By the time he steps away from the piano and hits some more soaring notes – which aren’t bad, It’s OK.

20.30 – Song seven is In cosmic mist by Janusz Radek.

20.29 – We talk about languages. Made-up languages, Swahili, Ancient Greek.

20.27 – Something more edgy now. It starts with more chanting, as Sw@da is accompanied by four backing singers. Niczos is at his keyboards and wears a shiny veil over his nose and mouth. There’s more chanting and then a bit of rapping for good measure. Then the music starts and Sw@da sings in an operatic stylee. It reminds me a bit of a song by Armenia’s Maruv in part. It could get the crowd going in Basel, as well as any Eurovision disco. There is some quality stuff going on tonight.

20.23 – Song six comes from Sw@da x Niczos. it’s called Lusterka

20.22 – Ooh. Dry ice and a veil. And purple hair. But no, it’s not a cemetery. Daria is popular hereabouts and starts in a kneeling position. She’s also performing in English. This has a power ballad quality and has a profound lyric. It may be traditionally arranged, but that’s no bad thing. In fact, it could accompany a travelogue of some stunningly rugged scenery. Pretty good, and she oozes class.

20.18- Song five is Let it burn by Daria Marx

20.17 – We’re discussing previous stagings now. Yellow masks, turkeys from Ireland and golf buggies.

20.15 – This is in English. And the screen goes to black & white. This is a competent ballad which is good for what it is. It’s maybe not quite what the Polish will be looking for tonight though and ends more with a whimper than a bang. Having said that, it’s pleasantly heartfelt and constructed nicely.

20.11 – Song four comes from Tynsky. It’s called Miracle

20.08 – This is severe. Justyna is in slinky black and has backing dancers with her wearing less black. There’s a musician involved too. It’s full of choreography and quite a kicking beat. There are also some big notes to demonstrate she’s note lost her edge, even 30 years on from her her first Eurovision. The violinist does get in on the act, at the same time Justyna gets suspended above the stage. It’s like something Cyprus would do, but far classier. Wow! This could be in with a chance

20.05 – Song three is Gaja from veteran Justyna Steczkowska

20.03 – Kuba is alone on stage, dressed in a long red coat. The song starts slowly, in shadow, before it kicks off about a minute in. Then we get a strong beat and a hook that could be memorable. He’s also joined by a number of beefy dancers. His voice is higher than you would expect but he does hit the challenging notes easily. Not bad. But we may see better.

20.00 – Song two is Pray from Kuba Szmajkowski

19.58 – This starts as a chant, and there’s lots of swaying around. The band are wearing rustic headdresses. It’s definitely of an ethnic persuasion, and a nice way to open proceedings. After the strong start, it them gets nicely mellow, before the final strong chorus.

19.55 – Song one is Chrust with Tempo

19.54 – It’s public voting only, and only once all the songs have been performed

19.53 – The crowd is the best audience in Europe, we’re told.

19.52 – We have two hosts. MIchal Szpak is one of them.

19.47 – We’re off. And we start with cabaret. A certain Baby Lasagna. He’s possibly miming

Author: John Stanton

Source: Eurovision Ireland, TVP