In the run up to Eurovision 2025 kicking off in Basel, Switzerland, participating nations have begun to release their acts, allowing armchair critics across the continent time to predict this year’s winners and losers.
So far, we’ve had the UK confirm that we’ll be represented by pop-trio Remember Monday, while Estonia’s entrant Tommy Cash has received backlash from Italians over alleged stereotypes in his song ‘Espresso Macchiato’.
Remember Monday will be representing the UK at this year’s Eurovision (Instagram / @remembermonday_)
However, none of the announced acts have been able to grab attention like Malta’s entrant Miriana Conte, who risks being barred from the competition due to the fact that one of her lyrics in her song ‘Kant’ resembles a very recognisable swear word.
Listen to the offending song below:
In defence of Conte, the word kant comes from the word Latin word cantus, which translates to singing and doesn’t have a derogatory meaning. However, critics have pointed out the close relation to the lyric and the English slang term for female genitalia and argued that the song isn’t appropriate for a family friendly show such as Eurovision.
Factor in that the phrase ‘serving c***’ has become a popular slang phrase in the past couple of years amongst members of the drag community and we can only imagine the incoming landslide of complaints being made to Ofcom.
And it would appear that the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU) isn’t against shutting the song down either, with the 24-year-old singer revealing earlier this week on Instagram that she needs to change the lyrics or face expulsion.
Unfortunately Miriana Conte is unlikely to be ‘serving kant’ at Eurovision this year (Instagram/@mirianaconte)
“We’ve just been notified that @ebu_hq has decided against using the Maltese word ‘Kant’ in our entry in the Eurovision Song Contest,” she wrote on Tuesday.
“While I’m shocked and disappointed, especially since we have less than a week to submit the song, I promise you this: the show will go on – Diva NOT down.”
Should Conte’s original song have made it onto the Eurovision stage then she wouldn’t have been the first – or likely the last – contestant to perform a song laden with sexual innuendo. After all, who remembers Poland’s busy, butter churning milkmaids of 2014.
Other countries’ songs aren’t particularly squeaky clean either, with Finland’s entry ‘Ich komme’ (I’m coming) and Australia’s ‘Milkshake Man’ hardly being ‘safe work’ songs either.
