Eurovision 2026 is almost here, and one thing is impossible to miss this year: the vocal standard is staggering. In a recent conversation with James Stephenson from ESC Insight, who has been embedded in Eurovision fan media for three years and has followed the contest for over fifteen, we unpacked why the singers stepping onto the Vienna stage in 2026 are some of the most technically capable performers Eurovision has ever seen.
From the year-long preparation to the talent show pipeline feeding the contest, here is what every aspiring singer can take away from this year’s lineup.
Why technical singing now wins Eurovision
According to James, it is no longer possible to win Eurovision without being a terrific technical singer. He pointed to the now famous duel between Käärijä and Loreen in 2023. Käärijä’s “Cha Cha Cha” earned 376 televote points, one of the biggest televote scores in recent memory, but it did not win. The juries gave him under 150 because one of the criteria they vote on is the vocal capacity of the performer.
Loreen, by contrast, scored around 340 points with the juries because there was no question about her technical ability. The lesson is simple. If a country wants to win, it has to send a vocalist who can deliver under pressure. With so many countries now sending their best singers, that bar keeps rising every single year.
The talent show pipeline feeding Eurovision
A huge proportion of Eurovision artists now come through the talent show circuit, which has directly raised the vocal bar of the contest. Belgium’s representative came through The Voice Belgium. Azerbaijan’s entrant won The Voice in his home country.
Israel’s national selection is essentially a talent show called The Next Star. The UK has historically dipped into the talent show world too, with Michael Rice as one example, and Germany’s Sarah Engels came from that same pipeline. Eurovision has become the natural next step for these singers because the platform offers longevity that a TV singing competition alone cannot.
Some of the most well-known talent show alumni at Eurovision include:
- Måneskin (Italy, 2021), who broke through globally after their win
- Käärijä (Finland, 2023), whose career took off after Cha Cha Cha
- Baby Lasagna (Croatia, 2024), who won the public vote and continued his career through the Eurovision ecosystem
- Louane (France, 2025), who arrived as a pre-contest favourite
A year in the making
Most viewers see three minutes on a Saturday night and have no idea how long the journey has been. Preparation often begins the moment the previous Eurovision ends. Through the summer, songwriting camps shape many of the entries you will hear the following year. From there, the song moves through national selection processes or internal broadcaster selection, and only then does the real promotional grind begin.
James estimated that a singer tipped to do well at the contest could perform their song over one hundred times between national selection and the Grand Final. That is roughly one performance a day, with some days featuring three or four. This includes:
- Pre-parties in cities across Europe, where artists perform live for Eurovision fans
- TV appearances in their home country and abroad
- Podcast and media interviews
- Sponsor activations and brand events, including unexpected ones like in-mall performances
- Full rehearsal blocks for staging, camera blocking, and the live shows themselves
Eurovision 2026’s standout vocalists
This year’s lineup is so vocally strong that James said a singer who is “eight or nine out of ten” actually stands out as below average compared to the rest. A few names came up repeatedly as performers worth watching from a vocal craft perspective:
- Monroe (France), who at just seventeen will deliver one of the most technically complex songs of the contest. James described her ability to hit the big notes as “horrifyingly effortless.”
- Sophund (Denmark), particularly for his belted middle eight, where he completely lets the chains off.
- Lea, who holds what is likely the longest sustained note in Eurovision history, around twenty seconds, scaling roughly an octave and a half in the process.
- Felicia (Sweden), whom James called one of the most underrated vocalists this year. She performed her national final while genuinely ill and still hit every note, a real testament to professional technique covering vocal fatigue.
- Salaini (Italy), a 50-year veteran professional who will not let you down on the night.
- The artists from Albania, Romania, and Latvia, all delivering exceptional live vocals at the pre-parties.
Vocal protection behind the scenes
Becoming a 24/7 media property from March to May puts enormous strain on the voice. James spoke openly about the lengths singers will go to in order to be ready for the live shows. Some artists travel with their vocal coaches, and interviews are regularly cancelled at the last minute when the vocal team decides their singer needs to rest.
There is also a darker side. James shared that multiple artists in 2025 were using steroid injections directly into the vocal folds to reduce swelling so they could perform. Ukraine’s representative even wrote a blog post detailing how much of his day revolved around protecting his voice through steroid injections, hot teas, and strict silence. When the show airs, it airs. The producers do not move it for anyone, and that pressure shapes every decision the artist makes leading up to it.
The mindset of a Eurovision performer
One of the most useful takeaways for any singer watching the contest is the mindset shift many artists adopt. Several performers in last year’s group privately called the experience the Eurovision Song Showcase rather than the Eurovision Song Contest. They removed the competitive framing entirely, focusing instead on getting up on stage and delivering the best performance they could. Whatever the public and the juries decided was secondary.
This matters because the pressure can be brutal. James mentioned the cautionary case of Mia and Dion from the Netherlands, who had one off night at a pre-party. The Dutch press tore them apart, and both singers later described the entire Eurovision experience as traumatic. They crashed out in the semi-final. The Eurovision spotlight is incredibly bright, but, as James put it, like all bright things, it casts a dark shadow.
Why a strong vocal on the night matters most
The unpredictability of live performance is exactly why Eurovision rewards genuine technical mastery. Last year, Gojo from Croatia was heavily tipped to qualify. They opened semi-final two from a prime slot with extroverted staging, but something was off vocally. They did not qualify. The vast majority of people watching Eurovision have never heard the song before. Their first impression is the only impression, and it lands or it does not.
This is the through line of what James and the ESC Insight team are documenting this year. The three minutes on stage are the tip of a year-long iceberg of vocal training, songwriting camps, media tours, vocal rest, and mental preparation. The singers who win are not just talented. They have built the technique, the stamina, and the mindset to deliver one perfect performance on one specific night, in front of more than 150 million people.
If you want to learn more about how you can learn to implement these singing techniques into your own voice, let’s sit down for a chat and discuss if the vocal academy is the right fit for you. You can join us here.