Junior Eurovision: TVE airs the contest without Russia or Israel

Junior Eurovision returns to TVE with fewer countries and the same adult showcase

The first edition of the children's contest airing this Saturday night on La 1 arrives with a shorter line-up of countries than usual. There is no representation from Russia or Israel, an absence that shows up on screen as a noticeably smaller list of participants than at the adult contest. Spain does compete, with a young boy who studies music and who, according to the night's own commentary, sings in tune and delivers a catchy chorus.

The format has stopped resembling what it once was. Parchís-style songs are history: children now take the stage with adult-style productions, adult wardrobes and adult choreography. The comparison with the senior contest is not a bar-room exaggeration, it is a literal description of what appears on screen.

Who sings and who is missing from the 2025 line-up

A song-by-song rundown reveals an uneven map. The Netherlands comes across as bland, Montezaino and Poland go off-key, Malta delivers exactly what you would expect from a children's contest, and Albania arrives upbeat and festival-ready. North Macedonia is the favourite of part of the audience for its chorus, though it has not made anyone's playlist.

The absence of Russia and Israel is read in conversation as the reason Spain did send an entry this year, unlike what peine at the adult contest. It is a hypothesis doing the rounds, not a fact confirmed by the organisers.

The stage, the direction and the signal interference

The staging loads the stage until it looks like a carousel, and the direction overdoes it with a display that called for less artifice. Some viewers detect interference in La 1's signal and cannot tell whether to blame their own aerial or the broadcast. The detail matters little and says everything: the typical viewer of this format is hardly a regular consumer of the first channel.

The host, who also sings and does it well, is mixed-race. The remark serves to correct the initial impression that the line-up was homogeneous: in previous editions there has been diversity on stage, including a winner. The reading that the contest has become a monochrome parade falls apart with the first fact you check.

Spain, among the best, shout included

The Spanish contestant studies music, sang well and his song is not bad. You can hear him take an extra breath, but the whole thing holds up. The controversial moment came with a "¡que viva España!" ("long live Spain") which, in the current climate, will earn him some labels on social media. Malta gave Spain 12 points, a jury endorsement that places the contestant in the upper part of the table.

The contest has become an uncomfortable mirror of the adult one. Same paraphernalia, same codes, same children performing as precocious professionals. The question left hanging is not who wins tonight, but how long it will take someone to wonder what exactly this format is for.