Intervision 2025: How it went down & who won (PHOTOS + VIDEOS)

The ‘Intervision’ music contest was held in Moscow for the first time on September 20, 2025, at the ‘Live Arena’ stadium. The show was broadcast live by TV channels in almost all participating countries and live streams were also available online on popular social networks.

Who participated?

The final of ‘Intervision’ featured representatives from 23 countries: Belarus, Brazil, Venezuela, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, China, Colombia, Cuba, Madagascar, the UAE, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, the U.S., Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ethiopia and South Africa.

Zena Emad, Saidi Arbia.

According to the terms of participation, each country was represented by the winner of a national selection. The song also had to be new, written no more than a year ago. And, most importantly, it had to introduce listeners to the culture of the artist's home country.

Therefore, the contest featured songs in a wide variety of world languages: Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbian, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, English, Swahili, Malagasy and others. For television viewers, song titles were translated into their languages.

Luciano Calazans and Tais Nader from Brazil.

The participants included both established artists, well-known in their home countries and abroad, as well as emerging stars. China was represented by popular singer Wang Xi (performs as Elvis Wang), who possesses a vocal range from bass to upper register.

Colombia was represented by Nidia Góngora, who incorporated elements of Pacific folklore with a modern twist. The result was mesmerizing!

Indian singer Rauhan Malik also combines folk and pop rock. He hails from Kashmir, a region renowned for its musical culture.

Serbian performer Slobodan Trkulja, founder of the band ‘Balkanopolis’, is famous in his home country as a multi-instrumentalist. He plays no less than 12 instruments, including folk ones!

‘Intervision’ surprises

Russian singer ‘Shaman’ (Yaroslav Dronov) unexpectedly announced right after his performance that "according to the laws of hospitality, he has no right to claim victory". He asked the jury not to evaluate his performance.

However, the singer from the U.S., ‘Vassy’ (Vasiliki Karagiorgos), was unable to perform at all. Just before she was due to go on stage, the hosts announced that she could not participate, due to pressure from Australia (she also holds citizenship of that country).

No official statements were made, aside from a comment from an Australian Foreign Ministry spokesperson on the ABC news website, who denied any political interference. The singer herself later said “it's heartbreaking for the fans and the music that I had to withdraw.”

The finale featured a medley of famous Russian songs. This included the viral Bashkir-language song ‘Homay’ by ‘AY YOLA’ and Tatyana Kurtukova's hit ‘Matushka’ (‘Mother Dear’).

As noted by many Russian media outlets, a clear trend at the contest was the use of folk motifs with modern arrangements, but a focus on folk traditions. This was mentioned both by President Vladimir Putin in his address to the contestants and by Russian jury member, composer Igor Matvienko.

Each country had its own giant avatar at the contest, which appeared before the performance both on stage and in the video postcard. Each performance was unique and memorable.

Who won?

The winner was chosen by an international jury, consisting of one expert from each participating country. For instance, the U.S. was represented by Joe Lynn Turner, former frontman of rock band ‘Deep Purple’; China by opera diva Wu Bixia; Colombia by musician and current Colombian Ambassador to Russia Jorge Sorro Sanchez; and India by musician Jaan Nissar Lone, who has written soundtracks for many popular Bollywood movies.

According to the voting results, third place went to singer Dana Al-Meer from Qatar. Her Arabic-language song ‘Huwa Dha Anta’ (‘This Is Exactly You’) captivated the hearts of both the audience and the jury.

The silver medal went to the trio ‘Nomad’ from Kyrgyzstan. They performed the song ‘Zhalgyz Saga’ (‘Only for You’) in Kyrgyz and Russian.

And the winner was Vietnamese artist Duc Phuc with his cosmic song ‘Phù Đổng Thiên Vương’ (‘The Heavenly King of Phu Dong Village’).

He received the grand prize – a crystal trophy and 30 million rubles (approx. $360,000). The artist announced that he would donate the winnings to charity.

Duc Phuc from Vietnam won the 'Intervision 2025'.

In 2026, ‘Intervision’ is set to be hosted by Saudi Arabia – this was announced by the country's representatives during the inaugural competition in Moscow.