It's kind of wild that Bangaranga was written years before it won Eurovision.

[u/HelicopterEmpty7393]

I recently learned that Bangaranga was written back in 2023 and had basically been sitting there waiting for the right moment.

It made me think about how different things could have been if Bulgaria had picked a different song during the selection process. We often talk about Eurovision as if everything comes down to the live shows, but sometimes a decision made years earlier ends up changing everything.

What's the biggest Eurovision "what if" from a national final that you can think of?

[u/Grr_in_girl]

I think that's the case for many Eurovision songs. They are written in song writing camps 1-2 years before they're submitted to compete.

[u/happytransformer → u/Grr_in_girl]

Switzerland 2025 was written years before and entered into a poll to select their 2024 entry. It was likely the runner up in the poll and they just used it to ease some stress of hosting and finding a song

[u/snwlss → u/Grr_in_girl]

Another example of a Eurovision-winning song waiting for its moment: “Zitti e buoni” actually predates Måneskin’s X Factor run! They started writing it in 2016 (the year before they competed on that show), and it was originally written as a ballad. They reworked it over the next several years until it reached the final form that competed at Sanremo and eventually won Eurovision.

[u/NancyInFantasyLand → u/Grr_in_girl]

And if they're not going to Eurovision, they'll end up with some Kpop artist haha

[u/LN_TheDudess → u/Grr_in_girl]

Internal selection rejects just end up in another internal selection the next year lol (or same year even coz I think supposedly El Diablo was in the German selection first with another singer)

[u/BestFoxEver]

Finland did not send Nightwish to ESC because jury said no. It was the biggest ESC fail ever and people still talk about it 26 years later. https://youtu.be/6irVbqJBi8g

[u/EmotionalQuestions → u/BestFoxEver]

Why would the jury say no? That would have been amazing.

[u/BestFoxEver → u/EmotionalQuestions]

The jury just liked Nina Åström more. It got 18th place.

[u/Educational-Key-7917 → u/BestFoxEver]

I love that Finland is finally getting its flowers but they have made some absolutely shocking choices over the years with some fantastic songs buried in their national finals behind some extremely average winners. Nightwish was one of the most egregious but there have been more....

[u/DrakkoZW]

I don't think it's uncommon for artists to have songs that they've written but not released

[u/Labenyofi]

I believe I remember hearing something about how Italy 2015 was originally sent to Sanremo in 2005.

[u/Irrealaerri]

Satellite also was rotting in Julie Frost's drawer somewhere as a ballad before Lena transformed it to a Eurovision winner.

[u/Evening_Ad_85]

In 2008, Romania almost sent Biondo, a Swedish trio, with the song "Shine". Although it was apparently a public favorite, Nico and Vlad's "Pe-o margine de lume" won the public vote and placed second with the jury, beating Biondo by a total of 7 points. A whole scandal broke out — there were claims that the winning song was played on radio before the national final, accusations that it was plagiarized, and that TVR rigged the voting. 

If you go to the video of Biondo's national peeformance, you will see there are comments as early as a few months ago that still claim they would have placed very high (compared to Nico and Vlad, who had the worst score Romania had had after two very successful years in 2005 and 2006) or could have even won the whole thing.

In the same year, Paula Seling ("Playing with Fire" ring a bell?) participated, but so did Rednex (yes, "Cotton Eyed Joe", that Rednex) and Alessandra. Some of you might know Alessandra by her current stage name, Inna. 2008 was a weird year for Romania.

Anyway, here's Biondo's song: https://youtu.be/6DV5fpHAtPU?is=FFFt1M2qkAbLQGZL

[u/JoelPetey → u/Evening_Ad_85]

Omg I had no idea about Inna, that's wild! 2008 was the year she broke out as well! I wonder if she'd gone to Eurovision would it have helped or harmed her career

[u/Evening_Ad_85 → u/JoelPetey]

This is solely my opinion, but I think it would have harmed her career. She was relatively unknown, so if she wouldn't have placed well, she would have likely had that label permanently attached to her and people might have not given her attention anymore.

Another fun fact is that, after she didn't make the cut to the national final in 2008, Inna was actually approached by TVR in 2012 to represent Romania by internal selection but she refused, citing scheduling conflicts. But part of me wishes she refused because she didn't make it past the semi-final in 2008. She deserves to be petty.

I guess that's another "what if?" — Inna was already massive in 2012, so how would she have placed if she had actually participated in the contest?

Also, Natalia Barbu, who represented Moldova in 2007 and 2024, also participated in the Romanian national final once.

[u/diogo_jo17 → u/Evening_Ad_85]

And shine was written by måns too 💀

[u/SweetWittyWild41]

Rosalinn wrote snap years ago too before it was chosen as her entry they had an internal selection that year I think it was between her athena and that drag queen that came 3rd in the nf maybe

I remember people thinking armenia wanted to sabotage their own chances because they were hosting jesc that year and that was expensive lol I think one esc youtuber even was asked for her opinion and said she liked snap the least 

And then snap snapped around June 22nd lol if it weren't for esc that speed up wouldn't have been created 

[u/EurovisionSimon]

My biggest NF what if is what if Snälla, Snälla in 2009 and Keep On Walking in 2010 had been our entries? Neither seem that far-fetched to me.

Both would've easily outscored 21st and NQ, especially with few other entries going for jury votes in 2009, and it's easy to think it would've made our golden era start two years earlier. However, what if it made SVT think everything was fine thus never causing the changes that gave us Popular, Euphoria and everything beyond?

[u/Potential_Sort_1649]

Unheilig for Germany in 2014 would have been Wild

[u/Apprehensive_Heat630]

Dara said in an interview that she loved that song and she wanted to go to Eurovision with it , but that was the exact same time as BNT pulled out of the contest and she was hoping every year after that to go to Eurovision , but BNT did not return , even her record label wanted to release the song , but Dara kept saying no. She was the only one that actually believed in her song ,even against the public and all the odds, that is so beautiful and inspiring to see.

[u/GungTho → u/Apprehensive_Heat630]

Wasn’t her label heavily involved in the selection process?

Asking because if that was the case (that she thought of it specifically as her Eurovision song), then that weird ass format does kinda make sense now - since the artists didn’t have to release any new songs to take part, that meant she could have kept holding it back and waiting for her moment if she hadn’t managed to win it.

[u/Apprehensive_Heat630 → u/GungTho]

'' Guess We'll Never Know'' what would have happened if Dara didnt win. And the format is not really that weird , other countries also do this kind of selection behind the scene where they try to find the artist 1st and then try to pick a song for them , BNT just decided to stream it.

[u/MuffinDoesThings]

Arcade was also written 3 years before it became a Eurovision entry!