These rural Aussie teenagers rated the Eurovision 2025 songs - here's what happened next

Australian teacher James asked his students to watch and rate the Eurovision 2025 entries, their response went viral.

James, who tweets about the Contest via @Eurovixion on X/Twitter, teaches students in the wheatbelt of southern Western Australia - roughly 250km from Perth.

"I've been teaching at this high school for about five years now," he told us at Aussievision.

"I'm a humanities teacher and my passion is teaching history."

His love of Eurovision came from his Italian mother.

"She would always tell me stories about it when I was younger and we'd get up early to watch it whenever we could."

The Eurovision watching

James said his Eurovision viewing with his students was kind of accidental.

We had an extended tutor lesson and the provided lesson didn’t last that long," he explained.

"So I was thinking of something fun and engaging to do. So I scrambled to print a ranking system, and got them to watch the 'All 37 Song' snippet video on YouTube, which is a convenient 20-minute video - perfect!"

It was an interesting research sample that we don't usually see in the Eurovision "bubble."

"This was a year 10 class, so they were between the ages of 14-15," he said.

"These students don't often leave their hometown and the vast majority will work in agriculture when they get older."

Their Top 10

James got the students to rate the songs out of 10 and this was the Top 10:

1. Switzerland: Zoë Më – Voyage 8.9

2. Estonia: Tommy Cash – Espresso Macchiato 8.7

3. Germany: Abor & Tynna – Baller 8.2

4. Australia: Go-Jo – Milkshake Man 8.0

5. United Kingdom: Remember Monday – What the Hell Just Happened? 7.9

6. Norway: Kyle Alessandro – Lighter 7.3

7. Iceland: VÆB – Róa 7.3

8. Czechia: Adonxs – Kiss Kiss Goodbye 7.0

9. Malta: Miriana Conte – Serving 6.9

10. Croatia: Marko Bošnjak – Poison Cake 6.3

Notably, many of the favourites didn't rate high.

Austria received 1.0 with comments: Hated it. Liked the vocal ability of JJ, but couldn’t stand the opera all the way through the snippet."

Finland received 3.0: "Meh. They didn’t like it. Boys liked the outfit… None of them really liked the song. I didn’t translate for obvious reasons…"

Sweden received 6.1: "Why are they in a sauna? They didn’t get the gimmick, or the whole idea of the song. Said it was catchy but they didn’t really like it."

James was surprised by the results

"Switzerland, Estonia and the UK really surprised me," he said.

"Whilst I thought Switzerland’s song was beautiful, I didn’t think the students would enjoy it - but they loved it. They said it was very 'Billie.'"

"Estonia was another crowed favourite. I’d heard the euro-fan backlash against it, so I really didn’t think they’d like it. The iconic dancing, easy hook and unique style of the artist meant it stood out for them."

Outside influences appeared to help the UK result.

"The students loved the harmonies, and a few had heard the sound trending on TikTok - something again, I didn’t expect," he said.

"They really liked it, with a few students saying how very Bridgerton or Saltburn it was… I didn’t question why or how they’d seen Saltburn!!"

The reaction to his post

With under 200 followers, James didn't expect a big reaction when he shared his post, but it has since had 180k views.

"The fan reaction was crazy, I wasn’t expecting 10 views never mind that many," he said.

"So many comments have expressed how poorly their personal faves have done, but also the honesty of teenagers being a welcome change! The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, and I haven’t even told the students yet!! Lots of comments have been really supportive and loved the thread - so maybe this is the start of an annual tradition!"

And James's favourites this year?

"Well I’m obviously rooting for Go-Jo and Australia," he said.

"I also love Germany’s Baller. I have a soft spot for the vocals from the UK, even if the song itself isn’t my favourite."

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