Aidan to perform in Eurovision semi-final tonight
Aidan's Bella will be going up against 14 other acts, and only 10 will make it through to the final
Malta's Aidan is set to take to the stage on Thursday night with his song Bella during the Eurovision song contest semi-final being held in Vienna, Austria.
He will be the 14th act - out of 15 - to perform in the second semi-final, with 10 spots up for grabs to move on to Saturday's final.
Aidan has been busy over the past few days with rehearsals, media interviews and other events.
On Sunday, he shared a post about how his mother surprised him on stage. “What a beautiful moment… My mum surprised me during my first international gig… a moment I’ll never forget… Her energy will bring me so much energy on Wednesday and Thursday,” he wrote.
On Monday, he also performed in front of some 250 dignitaries and other guests at the Embassy of Malta in Austria during an event organised with Malta’s Public Broadcasting Services to celebrate Malta’s participation in the 70th edition of the Eurovision.
Tonight, Aidan will be going up against singers and acts from Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Romania, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Armenia, Switzerland, Cyprus, Latvia, Denmark, Australia, Ukraine, Albania and Norway.
The 10 who get through to Saturday’s final will compete against the 10 countries that qualified during Tuesday’s first semi-final: Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Israel, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland.
They will compete alongside Eurovision's major financial backers Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and hosts Austria, who have a guaranteed spot in Saturday's 25-country showpiece final.
This year, the semi-finals are being decided both by public vote and, for the first time since Turin 2022, by professional juries, in a bid to restore fans' faith in the voting system.
Eurovision is the world's biggest live televised music event, typically reaching more than 150 million viewers, and Vienna 2026 is the 70th edition of the glitzy show where spectacle and drama go hand in hand.
This year was marked with a stronger-than-usual political undertone, as Israel's war in the Gaza Strip prompted Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Iceland to withdraw - the biggest-ever political boycott.