It’s hard not to love the Swedish Eurovision entry this year, an ode to saunas performed by the Swedish-speaking Finnish trio KAJ. (Millennials – they’re like the Finnish Lonely Island.)
The song is catchy, with the repeated ‘bara bada bastu’ providing a hook that sinks in on first listen. The experience it describes is very culturally specific, but easily understood by a global audience. The staging is just fun. And contrary to most Swedish entries, it’s actually in Swedish.
For many fans, this song represents a new direction for the country. After years of impeccably polished and somewhat sterile pop songs (excepting you, Loreen), Bara Bada Bastu represents Sweden letting loose and having a good time. It’s like Sweden decided to send a Moldovan entry, since Moldova isn’t in the contest this year.
To dislike Bara Bada Bastu is akin to disliking ice cream. Or sunny days in Britain. Or Alison Hammond’s infectious laugh. Or the opening scene of Up. Or Alexander Rybak’s Fairytale. Oftentimes, things are popular because they are good, and Bara Bada Bastu is a good song! It will be an entertaining and fun way to spend three minutes of your Eurovision evening!
So why do I sound so lukewarm in my praise? I don’t want to be! I really do enjoy this song! But in the context of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, where Bara Bada Bastu is being tipped as a potential winner, I can’t be as enthusiastic about it as I am about other songs. I want KAJ to do well and go on to success in Finland and Sweden and across Europe. I just don’t want them to win Eurovision.
And, as we note, there’s more than one way to win Eurovision and I would argue that KAJ has already done that this year. Their surprise victory in Melodifestivalen has cemented their success in the Swedish market, and brought them to an audience much bigger than Swedish-speaking areas of the world.
So I wish most success to KAJ, and I can’t wait to see the delight of Europe discovering Bara Bada Bastu during Eurovision Week as the start of even bigger things to come.
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