The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — is reviewing and rating the 37 competing songs in Eurovision 2025. Next we review Albania, who have chosen Shkodra Elektronike with “Zjerm”.
Were our hearts engulfed by the duo’s flames? Read on to find out!
Shkodra Elektronike – “Zjerm” (Albania Eurovision 2025)
Review: Shkodra Elektronike – “Zjerm”
Pablo: Albania has struck gold. “Zjerm” plays into an Eastern European mass-appealing comfort zone that others like Ukraine have mastered, but they’ve done so in such a unique, arresting way. This song is all about the dichotomy of darkness and light. Lyrically dour and hopeful, musically subdued and present. A yin-yang with so many moving parts functioning like clockwork, and rife with creative decisions that may leave you puzzled, but will keep you engaged. This deserves to be the best Albanian placement yet, and I can’t wait to see it on its maximum expression. Kolë, Beatriçe. Sublime work.
Score: 10
William: There are women and then there are queens — and Beatrice is most definitely Eurovision royalty. She channels the magic of a witch as she marries electronic and folk, casting a spell that is impossible to escape. Her voice is at once delicate and gritty, and her movement is enchanting. Kolë’s entry into the song gives it dynamism and a certain sadness that balances the exuberance. Among my favourites of the year.
Score: 9
Scarlett: “Zjerm” perfectly blends modern and traditional musical elements in a relentless, three-minute package. The lyrics carry a poetic, mythical quality on top of bringing a hopeful, universal message. Beatriçe’s vocals bring plenty of sass, and Kolë’s spoken word keeps the song interesting through its contrast. That particular section might get swallowed up on the big stage in Basel because of how low his vocal register is, but some quality mixing can hopefully prevent this from happening. If there was ever a year for Albania to emerge on top, 2025 is it.
Score: 8.5
Jonathan: Truly a breath of fresh air amongst this year’s line-up, Shkodra Elektronike provide the most unique package of the contest. The combination of electronic and string instrumentation is at the same time catchy and emotive, gripping people who look for either element in their music of choice. Despite no major theatrics, the pair were able to command the Festivali i Këngës stage as a duo – the juxtaposition of Beatriçe’s energetic spirit and Kolë’s stoic nature provides a subtle visual dynamism. The challenge will be maintaining this in the larger Basel arena; but if they can, then this certainly deserves to be rewarded.
Score: 9
Albania Eurovision 2025 ranking
In the Eurovision 2025 Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only have room for four reviews. The remaining scores are below:
|
Andreas: 10 Antranig: 8.5 Bernardo: 8 Burak: 8 Cinan: 6.5 Deban: 6.5 Jordi: 8 |
Lucy: 9 Ruxandra: 9 Simon: 8.5 Suzanne: 6 Tom: 7.5 Tomas: 10 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a high of 10 and a low of 6.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 8.40/10
What do you think of Albania’s Eurovision 2025 entry? Share your own score and review for Shkodra Elektronike’s “Zjerm” below!
Alb anians have spammed polls, scammed on eurov..scoreboard and the entry only has 3.7/5 on eurov…world.
This will most likely fluke hard, maybe even NQ.
Hello Marko fan fake account. Enjoy your NQ lol
My 2nd place this year.
Love it.
the most overrated song of the yeear
Ok, so whose salty fans are mass downvoting comments here?
Whoever you are, you ain’t removing Zjerm from an imminent Top 5.
Kiss kiss goodbye salty fans.
Albania is not going to be top 5 either jury and televote, so forget about a top 5 result. Maybe top 10 but not sure at all
It’s very niche, not the music I normally listen to, I would judge it with a 5 the song does not need the male singer, and the voice of the female singer is not the most pleasant of the whole bunch. I don’t understand the hype.
Albania 12/12 – Masterpiece !
Flop incoming
Albania for the win.
It would be great to see Albania win Eurovision one day but I don’t see the appeal of Albania 2025. I’ve listened to it over and over,forcing myself to listen to it to see why it’s so favoured but I simply don’t like it, the song,the way it’s presented on stage, the dance movements, everything. 1 out of 10 and 37th in my list.
This makes me think about Konstrakta and Shum entry. They are definitely brining something bold and unique to Eurovision. If they nail the live performance with impactful staging and stay authentic — yeah, Top 5 wouldn’t be a surprise at all.
If Albania doesn’t get a good result this year, at least top 10, I’ll be very upset!!!
Wow so many downvotes on comments supporting Zjerm! I guess some people can’t stand it and they log in with different accounts. A few hours before these downvotes weren’t there
That’s because you love or you hate this musical style. Personally I don’t like it.
No. These people are just negative trolls. I am so disappointed to see such fake accounts
No dear Maria. Seeing a steady trend of upvotes and downvotes is something.
Seeing that big upvoted comments are suddenly turned into massive downvotes in a matter of minutes… well, that’s smth else.
And this is not the first time this jas happenned.
It’s a joke right? I only see upvotes for positive comments here (which is a good thing). On the other hand, if you say your not a fan of this song (only that, not even that you don’t like it), you receive many many downvotes. Guys here need to chill.
Well, the trend changed again and my comment didn’t age well. I think wiwibloggs should just delete those up and downvotes. They’re useless. People use them to voice their opinion without using any words, like 5 years old children. People should definitely discuss more, it would be way more interesting.
It’s in my winners tier.
“Zjerm” is mostly in C melodic minor, or “the jazz minor” as some of my friends used to call it. The Chorus shifts away from this key a little, but more on that later. After an folky Intro, Verse 1 speaks to us with a clashy melody that focuses on the D note (the “second”) and is partly more like tuned rap than a sung melody. There are a lot lyrics on the lyric sheet for Verse 1, so it’s impressive to me that all those lyrics and imagery are conveyed clearly here, even if they do fly past in… Read more »
I was going to say something about the Beatrice/Kole yin-yang and how exquisitely balanced this song is, but Pablo basically nailed it. This is my second favorite song of 2025. It would make a glorious winner.
I didn’t like it initially, but it has clicked and now is near the top of my list of 86 Eurovision songs this year (the 37 entries plus the 49 NFs listed by Spotify). I worry that its momentum in the next fortnight will be dampened by Österdahl’s clampdown on rehearsal news.
ALBANIA – One of the countries that rarely picks my favorite songs, but this year, they knocked it out of the park! Zjerm is dark, but hopeful. It’s creative, as it combines ethnic instrumentation with a memorable melody. Feels artistic, yet more accessible than some other ethnic fan-favorites we had in the last couple of years. In these dark times, not many ESC songs decided to take on more heavy subjects, instead focusing on entertainment or personal stories. Albania actually addresses the fears many of us have with the somber themes that consume our world right now. But instead of… Read more »
I still really do not get why this got such a high score. I really think this will be another Blanca Paloma or Gåte, the fandom likes it but overall Europe will not like it
I see that the Blanca Paloma or Gate of this year are Tantumeitas.
Why necessarily Eaea and Gåte and not Shum for example? Europe always tends to appreciate eastern European folk.
Because I see it going in the direction of Eaea and Gåte rather than the Shum direction. I think Shum became popular just a bit before the shows and slayed, while Eaea and Gate were hyped and flopped
Lol do you have a short memory? Shum was not even considered a top 5 entry. People were rooting for San Marino, Malta, Switzerland, and Lithuania. In fact, people didn’t even like the Shum revamp. It’s incredible how yall tend to twist reality
That is exaclty what I am saying? Shum wasnt popular before and slayed, while Eaea and Gate were the opposite
My favourite this year. Would make such a great winner too
Fun fact: It’s unknown if they are a married couple, but according to our rumours, they are NOT married, but friends.
Yes and no. Like everyone else here, I’d love to see new countries winning. + if it is a Balkan countries it could motivate neighbours to come back. However, I ain’t voting for a country just because of the country. I have to appreciate de performance. It’s not Swedish artists fault if they are always good on Eurovision stage… it’s also not their fault if some other countries are constently bad (not talking about Albania here). This year I’m probably going to vote for several countries and yeah, Sweden will be part of it.
Good point. That’s why I think Sweden can’t win because it’s too soon after their last victory. A big chunk of televoters will want to give someone else a turn, and they need those televotes.
9th place: Albania: It’s actually so satisfying that an entry that doesn’t “scream” Eurovision gradually grew so much in the fandom’s rankings and managed to have (small) chances to win. Albania goes alternative by mixing traditional with electronic influences, in a song with an out-of-the-ordinary structure and very interesting instrumentation. Beatrice is vogue-ing, Kole is holding a burning newspaper (please let that also happen on the ESC stage), symbolizing the current state of affairs that the song is describing and the everlasting theme of fire hints at rebirth through destruction (I hope that translates as well through the staging). Good… Read more »
Some jurors gave Poison Cake 8.5 and 6.5 to this?… Music shouldn’t be really that universal imo.
It’s so weird cuz to win ESC, you need the song, appeal, performance power, story, and momentum and Albania has them all (the latter to be determined in rehearsals).
It’s so weird to say it’s Albania of all countries that has it, but work.
100% agree. It’s sad they won’t be real contenders for the win just because it’s Albania. If for example Sweden or Ukraine sent this they would probably win.
100000/10 WINNER!!!
9. Albania – Shkondra Electronite – Zjerm – 8.5/10 – I love how offbeat yet familiar this track feels, the two performers complement each other wonderfully. It feels naturally understated which I like. The female vocal and instrumentation add a mystical quality and the chorus is very catchy. The spoken word part doesn’t quite fully come off for me but I’m happy that something so unique finds its way into the contest
shndrit shndrit shndrit SHNDRIT
This song is unique and interesting for sure. I wish Albania a good result but I truly think that Europe won’t respond that well to this song. I don’t see this song placing higher than 8th-9th but I don’t see it lower than 16th-17th. I’m expecting a mid-table result. I would be glad to be wrong though.
There’s something disturbing about those two, and the song itself is unappealing. 2/10 btw, do albanians know for any other corour except black and red ?!
I really dont get it! I dont like at all. But I dont need to understand everything and I wish Albania good luck….
If there is any justice this song will take the crown. I love everything about it.
Hopefully Europe responds to this. I love it, but this can end up anywhere between 1st (Highly unlikely tho) and 20th. Let’s see
Please don’t flood me with downvotes, I just don’t understand the hype about this song.
Agree
Great song. I love it very much
Would Albania be able to host Eurovision?
Re proper stage presence, I don’t think there’s anyone on Beatrice’s level this edition, she really elevates what was already an interesting song to contender level
And also, this is one of those songs that takes you to another place (even) with your eyes closed.
Thrash 0/10
You’re speaking about yourself? 🙂
Cinan is clearly influenced by Serbs rating Albania so low! You can sense this miles away! Not good.
If there is any justice left in this world this should finish top 5 in May (or top 10)
they should win esc, but the ebu would never let that happen
Why not?
there’s a reason behind or you’re just wrote a random phrase becaure you’re bored?
What are you on about. There is a jury and people at home voting… EBU would never let it happen…..EYEROLL!
I must be the only one who doesn’t like it 🙁
And that’s great, your opinion is as valid as any other 😉
I’m the same – I don’t understand the appeal and why there’s so much positivity towards it
No you are not,I have it 37
No,it’s not my kind of music, too hysterical
Albania – Not since 2018 have I been so desperate to see Albania break the top 3 in Eurovision, and I am 100% rooting for this to win. Everything works here for me, from Beatriçe’s entire aura to Kolë’s spoken-word section. This one gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it, and I hope to God that the entire package during the show will bring them to the top. Absolutely my favourite song this year. Come on, Shkodra Elektronike!! 10/10
I think this is the best Albania has brought to ESC in many years. I wish they get their well deserved top 5.
Albania for the win
Highly deserved. This is definitely one of Albania’s best efforts in a long time and it will certainly and hopefully not be forgotten on the night. There’s a reason this is my number one favorite for Eurovision 2025. Admittedly, I don’t expect it to be the actual winner, but I would be over the moon if it cracked into the top four because fifth place is currently Albania‘s highest place. But as long as Albanian does make it to the final, I don’t care where it’s final place will be even if it ends up in last place. It’ll always… Read more »
Well deserved and easily my #1 for now. I can’t even really describe why, but something about it just scratches my brain right and I can’t stop listening to it.
😮
Well I’ll be damned. Taste!
These two Davids won against Goliath in FiK and now they’re steadily climbing the Eurovision ladder and I’m curious to see how high.
Albania, please save us from those Swedish cringelords and that wannabe Krassimir Avramov from Austria.
Best Albanian entry ever <3