Special Melody Q3-2025

The Special Melody Contest Q3-2025 - was the 9th edition of the Special Melody Contest that has been ever made. It took place in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. The contest was organised by the International Eurofan's Countries Organisation (IECO) and the host broadcaster BBC. The contest was held at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music and consisted of a single show (Grand Final), and was consisted a final on 28 September 2025.

Special Melody Q3-2025
A Pair In Despair
Dates
Final	28 September 2025
Host
Venue	The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Executive supervisor	Pasha Kulik
Executive producer	Igor Kapsharin
Host broadcaster	BBC
Participants
Number of entries	22
Debuting countries	Czechia
Returning Countries	Netherlands
Non-returning Countries	Kazakhstan San Marino
Participation map
Vote
Voting system	Each participating country and the ROW awards one set of 12, 10, 8–1 points to 10 songs.
Winning song	Japan "Young Queen"

Second season a row a record twenty two countruies participated in the competition, with Czechia debuting to the competition and the Netherlands to return. Kazakhstan and San Marino withdrawal from the competition.

The winner was Japan with the song "Young Queen", performed by Mimoza. Hungary (best result), Czechia (best result), Norway and Italy (best result) rounded out the top five. The following countries improved their results: China.

Location

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, host venue of the Q2-2025 contest.

On August 6, the competition organisers announced that Newcastle upon Tyne would host the ninth season of the competition. The venue was The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, with a capacity of 2,240 people.

Format

This was the first time that the competition involved paired interactions between the contestants.

Season's Rules

On August 6, the theme of the season was announced - "A Pair In Despair". So the theme of the season was the interaction of two curators in pairs. The pair had to decide on a common word that would coincide in the name of the application of each in the pair. This word had to be a noun. Only one word was allowed per pair and it was not allowed to be used for other pairs. It is noteworthy that the use of the same word in different languages did not count, but it was impossible to use the same word in different languages in different pairs. Performers of the Eurovision and Junior Eurovision contests, as well as songs for the selection of these competitions, were not allowed.

Draw for pairs

To determine the pairs, the rating of the participants for the last 4 seasons was used, from which the first half of the best-rated and the second half of the worst-rated participants pulled envelopes with groups separately so that each group consisted of a participant from the best half of the rating and the worst half of the rating. This was done to balance the participating pairs.

Confirmed participation.

Refused to participate.

First half (11) Place Country Sum. Q2-25 Q1-25 Q4-24 Q3-24 1 Denmark 30.68 8.21 2.63 9.92 9.92 2 United Kingdom 27.02 12.00 0.39 12.00 2.63 3 Australia 23.52 9.92 2.17 6.79 4.64 4 Israel 21.53 6.79 0.57 2.17 12.00 5 Lebanon 18.49 2.63 12.00 2.63 1.23 6 Albania 17.48 2.17 1.49 8.21 5.61 7 Norway 14.11 0.57 4.64 0.69 8.21 8 Hungary 13.90 5.61 0.48 1.02 6.79 9 Italy 11.10 4.64 1.80 3.17 1.49 10 Canada 10.71 0.22 9.92 X 0.57 11 Switzerland 10.29 X 5.61 0.84 3.84 12 South Korea 9.45 X 3.84 5.61 X 13 North Macedonia 8.81 3.84 3.17 1.80 X

Second half (11) Place Country Sum. Q2-25 Q1-25 Q4-24 Q3-24 14 Cuba 8.53 0.32 8.21 X X 15 Germany 8.19 0.69 0.69 4.64 2.17 16 Thailand 7.75 0.48 6.79 X 0.48 17 Portugal 7.14 1.23 1.23 3.84 0.84 18 San Marino 6.34 3.17 X X 3.17 19 Netherlands 3.61 X 0.32 1.49 1.80 20 Spain 3.39 1.80 X 0.57 1.02 21 France 3.03 0.27 0.84 1.23 0.69 22 Japan 2.52 1.02 1.02 0.48 X 23 New Zealand 1.49 1.49 X X X 24 Kazakhstan 0.84 0.84 X X X 25 China 0.39 0.39 X X X 26 Czechia 0.00 X X X X

Participating Countries

Twenty countries have confirmed their participation in the season of the competition. It's was the first time when Czechia participated in the contest. The Netherlands returning to the competition, but Kazakhstan and San Marino is left from the competition.

Grand Final

#	Country	Pair/"Word"	Artist	Song	Language(s)	Place	Points
01	Hungary	#3/"Home"	Alex Warren	Carry You Home	English	2	96
02	Portugal		Said The Sky, Illenium & Chelsea Cutler	Walk Me Home	English	16	43
03	China	#5/"Call"	Lia Lia	Night Call	English	18	36
04	Australia		Robyn	Call Your Girlfriend	English	17	37
05	Denmark	#11/"Fire"	Nova Miller	Turn Up The Fire	English	9	68
06	Czechia		Floor Jansen	Fire	English	3	91
07	Italy	#1/"Popolare"	Michele Bravi, Mida	Popolare	Italian	5	79
08	Thailand		Gastone	Popolare	Italian	19	36
09	Spain	#2/"Amour"	Mosimann & Maruv	Mon Amour	French, English	20	36
10	Canada		Parade of Planets	Où est ton amour?	French	10	68
11	Germany	#7/"Die"	Lana Del Rey	Born To Die	English	6	78
12	Israel		Ruel	I Can Die Now	English	12	66
13	Japan	#10/"Queen"	Mimoza	Young Queen	English	1	109
14	United Kingdom		Babymetal & Spiritbox	My Queen	English, Japanese	11	66
15	Lebanon	#6/"Heart"	Kerli	Feral Hearts	English	7	73
16	New Zealand		Taylor Swift	King Of My Heart	English	22	20
17	Norway	#4/"Beautiful"	Hurts	Beautiful Ones	English	4	80
18	Netherlands		Labrinth & Emeli Sande	Beneath Your Beautiful	English	21	33
19	France	#9/"Blood"	In This Moment	Blood	English	8	71
20	North Macedonia		Ellie Goulding	My Blood	English	14	49
21	Cuba	#8/"Bass"	Nicki Minaj	Super Bass	English	15	46
22	Albania		DEV & The Cataracs	Bass Down Low	English	13	53

Voting

Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their top ten songs.

Grand Final voting results Total score Hungary Portugal China Australia Denmark Czechia Italy Thailand Spain Canada Germany Israel Japan United Kingdom Lebanon New Zealand Norway Netherlands France North Macedonia Cuba Albania Rest of the World Contestants Hungary 96 7 7 7 12 8 12 3 4 7 4 8 2 12 3 Portugal 43 2 3 2 4 5 5 7 10 5 China 36 3 1 1 10 6 1 6 8 Australia 37 5 6 3 6 2 3 5 2 5 Denmark 68 4 7 1 2 2 4 3 10 10 7 3 3 7 5 Czechia 91 6 2 12 10 3 8 8 8 2 1 12 7 12 Italy 79 8 1 8 1 4 12 6 8 7 2 12 6 4 Thailand 36 6 7 5 1 4 1 10 2 Spain 36 1 6 2 7 10 4 6 Canada 68 10 10 8 8 1 10 6 3 12 Germany 78 10 12 2 1 2 6 6 6 5 6 12 10 Israel 66 1 4 6 7 8 4 6 6 7 4 10 3 Japan 109 12 2 6 12 10 12 5 7 7 12 8 1 8 7 United Kingdom 66 5 5 5 8 1 5 12 2 8 4 10 1 Lebanon 73 7 1 8 4 4 10 1 2 12 2 12 3 7 New Zealand 20 3 2 8 7 Norway 80 8 12 3 10 7 3 3 10 6 8 2 4 4 Netherlands 33 3 5 1 6 3 1 8 4 2 France 71 10 8 12 5 5 6 12 12 1 North Macedonia 49 2 12 5 5 3 4 10 3 5 Cuba 46 5 4 10 1 10 1 5 3 7 Albania 53 4 3 7 4 6 5 2 4 8 10

Detailed vote from the rest of the world Place Country Points BRA HRV SRB 1 {{}} 12 28,42 8,21 8,21 12,00 2 {{}} 10 24,40 12,00 5,61 6,79 3 {{}} 8 17,88 5,61 12,00 0,27 4 {{}} 7 17,19 9,92 2,63 4,64 5 {{}} 6 15,04 0,48 4,64 9,92 6 {{}} 5 14,99 3,84 9,92 1,23 7 {{}} 4 10,65 4,64 2,17 3,84 8 {{}} 3 10,44 6,79 0,48 3,17 9 {{}} 2 10,01 0,57 1,23 8,21 10 {{}} 1 8,67 0,39 6,79 1,49 11 {{}} 7,33 3,17 3,84 0,32 12 {{}} 6,87 0,69 0,57 5,61 13 {{}} 5,81 1,80 3,17 0,84 14 {{}} 5,14 1,02 1,49 2,63 15 {{}} 4,21 2,17 1,02 1,02 16 {{}} 4,04 2,63 0,84 0,57 17 {{}} 3,28 0,84 0,27 2,17 18 {{}} 3,25 1,23 0,22 1,80 19 {{}} 2,60 0,32 1,80 0,48 20 {{}} 2,27 1,49 0,39 0,39 21 {{}} 1,28 0,27 0,32 0,69 22 {{}} 1,13 0,22 0,69 0,22

12 Points

12 points awarded by the jury

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