Adonxs sings for Czechia in Basel: What are his chances at Eurovision 2025?

Eurovision season is upon us, and Czechia is this year represented by Slovakia-born singer Adonxs (Adam Pavlovčin). Performing Kiss Kiss Goodbye, the singer will first appear before an international audience in the second semi-final on May 15th. But how will he do? Danny Bate spoke to journalist and Radio Wave broadcaster Miroslav Harant to discuss the Czech Eurovision entry.

Adonxs is a young musician originally from Myjava in Slovakia. How did he end up being the Czech champion for this year's Eurovision Song Contest?

Age of Adonxs|Photo: Warner Music

“I would say that fans of Eurovision were already wanting Adonxs to compete. However, the rules in past years meant that artists from other countries than the Czech Republic were not able to compete for the Czech Republic. This rule has changed for this year. This year there was an internal selection; artists could offer various songs for Eurovision. One of them was Adonxs. I think he said that he proposed numerous songs for this year, and he was selected internally with the song Kiss Kiss Goodbye. Now he's competing in Basel.”

Who were the people who made the selection? A panel of experts?

“It was a panel of experts from Czech Television. It was different to last year and the previous years, because there was a national selection for fans, so fans could vote for the songs. This year it was purely internal, done by Czech Television and the experts that they have chosen.”

You mentioned there the title of the song, with which Adonxs will be performing at Eurovision: Kiss Kiss Goodbye. For people who haven't heard it, could you describe this song to us?

“It has a sort of a ‘James Bond’ vibe. It's a ballad, which has a very epic chorus that you can't get out of your head. It sounds a little bit like something from a James Bond movie, but with a Eurovision twist: a classic dance break in the final third of the song. So it changes tempo and it peaks at this final chorus. It's a ballad with a twist.”

Since Czechia is not one of the countries that get a guaranteed spot in the final, Adonxs first has to go through the semi-final on Thursday 15th. How do you rate his chances?

“It's hard to tell, because in the first semi-final, there were a couple of surprises. Countries like Belgium, who were expected to make it into the finals have not, and there have been surprise qualifiers, like Portugal, Iceland and San Marino.

Miroslav Harant|Photo: Tomáš Berný, Czech Radio

“According to the betting odds, Czechia's chances to qualify are quite high. He's actually currently around eleventh or tenth place for the favourite to win. But it's hard to tell, because in the semi-final the voting is a little bit different. It's purely decided by tele-votes. In the final, if he makes it, the vote is split between tele-voting and jury members. This kind of song is more likely to appeal to juries than to the public. But I would say that he is still quite likely to qualify.”

You mentioned that there have been surprises in terms of success and failure at Eurovision. Would you say that ultimately Eurovision is unpredictable?

“I would say so, because if you look at past winners, it's always something different. The Netherlands won in 2019 with a power ballad, sort of like Kiss Kiss Goodbye. Then there was Israel’s victory from the year before that, which was this crazy song Toy by Netta. Then last year it was this opera style mixed with rap. So it's always different.

Adam Pavlovčin alias ADONXS |Photo: David Urban, Czech Television

“For example, this year the favourite is this Swedish band, who sing about Finnish saunas. It's a song that has some folklore elements to it. It's a mix of rock and folk. That's the current favourite for victory.”

A big factor in people's decision to vote for a particular act or not is also the staging. Does Adonxs have a good performance lined up?

“I would say that his staging should stand out a little bit. I think that this year most of the countries have gone over the top with the staging and performance. From what we saw in the first semi-final, there was a lot of props used. I think there are numerous songs which perform with rocks or boulders for some reason. So Adonxs's staging is a little bit more minimalistic. It's a bit more elegant, I would say. It's a mix of white, black and red. I would expect this to stand out in the whole show.”