Eurovision 2026 Favourites

The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest is tonight, so it's time for my second Eurovision post of the year! You can see the first one here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/05/countdown-to-eurovision-2026.html

Similarly to last year, I saw the second semi-final (the one the UK could vote in) and some of the first one. I don't always watch them both because then I've heard all the songs beforehand (I listen to the ones that didn't get through later). Here are my favourites from this year's contest. :) 

 

Sarah Engels- Fire (Germany)

Sarah Engels is representing Germany with the song Fire. As part of the "Big 5"(the countries which contribute the most financially to Eurovision), Germany automatically qualify for the final, along with us (the UK), France, Spain and Italy. However, it's the Big 4 in 2026, since Spain is one of 5 countries not competing due to objections over Israel's participation in the contest. 

Sarah first became famous in 2011, after appearing on Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of the Idol reality show franchise, (which also features shows such as Pop Idol and American Idol.

She released her debut single Call My Name in May 2011. The song was originally recorded by German singer and fellow Deutschland Such Den Superstar contestant Pietro Lombardi and released as his debut single on the same day. Pietro was the winner of Season 8 of the show and Sarah was runner-up. 

Interesting info: Sarah and Pietro became a couple, getting married in 2013 and having son Alessio in 2015. They later broke-up and went on to marry and have children with new partners. Sarah is now married to footballer Julian Büscher and they have a 4 year old daughter, Solea. In a twist on tradition, Julian took Sarah's surname after they got married!

In June 2011, Sarah released the debut studio album Heartbeat, followed by the single Miss You featuring Pietro that same month. In March 2013, she collaborated with Pietro on the album Dream Team. The duo also brought out another together, Teli von mir (which translates as "Part of Me" in English) in March 2016.

To date, Sarah has released 3 more solo albums- Zurück zu mir (Back to Me) in 2016, Im Augenblick (At the Moment) in 2021 and her most recent Strong Girls Cub, which came out in August last year. Strong Girls Club is a double album, consisting of English and German songs.

Her other singles include Teli von mi with Pietro, Genau Hier, Te Amo Mi Amor, Ma Bonita with  Swiss singer, 2012 winner of Deutschland sucht den Superstar and former Eurovision contestant Luca Hänni, Keep You Safe and Fire. The majority of her music has been released in German speaking Europe.

Side note: Luca represented Switzerland in 2019 with the song She Got Me, one of my favourites that year!).

In addition to releasing music, Sarah has a career as a moderator, actress and voice actress, and has  appeared on more TV shows in Germany, including Let's Dance, the German version of Strictly Come Dancing (finishing in 2nd place) and The Masked Singer (Germany). Plus, she starred as Satine in the stage version of the 2001 film Moulin Rouge! last year. 

She's also no stranger to European singing contests, having represented Italy (she has Italian heritage) in the Free European Song Contest 2020, with the song Te Amo Mi Amor. It was held as an alternative to the 2020 ESC event, which was cancelled due to the pandemic and replaced with the Europe wide Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light.  

Sarah won the German national selection competition to represent the country at Eurovision. Fire was released as a single in January.

I saw Sarah's performance in the first semi-final and it's one of my favourites, it's a catchy upbeat pop song, the type that can do well in the contest. My kind of thing! 

 

For more on Sarah visit these links:

Eurovision profile: https://www.eurovision.com/eurovision-song-contest/vienna-2026/all-participants/sarah-engels/

Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarellax3/ 

Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SarahEngelsYT 

 

Antigoni- Jalla (Cyprus)

My favourite entry in the 2nd semi-final was Cyprus' Jalla by Antigoni and I voted for it. This year we couldn't vote by phone in the UK because the BBC decided to stop offering the service. So we had to vote online.

Antigoni's full name is Antigoni Buxton and she is British singer with Greek-Cypriot and English heritage.

Born and raised in North London, Antigoni signed a publishing deal at 14 but didn't release any music until a few years ago. She previously had showbiz connections though, being the daughter of celebrity chef Tonia Buxton, who presents the TV cooking programmes My Greek Kitchen and My Cypriot Kitchen. She herself appeared on Series 8 of the reality dating show Love Island in 2022.

Antigoni made her music debut in 2019 with the single 2 Steps, followed by her debut EP AI in April 2020. Her 2nd EP Hexagon came out in September 2023. Both EPs were released independently for digital download and streaming.

Antigoni's other singles include Is It Any Wonder?, This Ain't Love, You Can Have Him, RUDown? with IAMLIT), Habibi, Agape featuring Leveraux and Teome, El Helwa Zahra with Egyptian singer Ahmed Saad (which became a hit in the Middle East and North Africa) and Jalla. 

Last year she toured the UK and Europe with Marina Satti (who entered Eurovision for Greece in 2024) and also supported Eleni Foureira (Cyprus' 2018 entry) at her London concert.  

Antigoni was internally selected to represent Cyprus. Jalla means "More" in Cypriot. It's described as a "Mediterranean summer pop anthem" and uses traditional Cypriot instruments such as the çifteli and the lute. It was released as a single in February.

A lot of people have  been saying how Antigoni's vocals weren't that good in the live performance. While they weren't the best, I like the song and hopefully she'll do better tonight. :) With Eurovision, it's not always the best singer who wins anyway! It really depends.

 

 

For more on Antigoni visit these links:

Eurovision profile:  https://www.eurovision.com/eurovision-song-contest/vienna-2026/all-participants/antigoni/

Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antigoni/ 

Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AntigoniMusic 

 

Plus, a few others I liked (all from the 2nd semi-final):

JIVA- Just Go (Azerbaijan)- Didn't qualify unfortunately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQDvYwYIT54

Delta Goodrem- Eclipse (Australia)- Qualified: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlze1NdwlII&list=RDxlze1NdwlII&start_radio=1

Daniel Zizka- CROSSROADS (Czechia)- Qualified: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNfJxo04M5I&list=RDMNfJxo04M5I&start_radio=1

 

The Eurovision Grand Final is tonight at 8pm BST/9pm CEST. In the UK it ill be shown on BBC1.

Keep up with all things ESC on the official site: https://eurovision.tv/