Malta through to Eurovision final with Aidan's 'Bella'

Updated 11.58pm

Malta has made it through to the Eurovision final after Aidan dazzled with his cinematic jazzy ballad Bella during Thursday’s semi-final.

After his performance, BBC commentors Angela Scanlon and Rylan remarked that Aidan was "giving Bond" vibes. 

"Maybe Aidan is the new James Bond," Scanlon quipped as a small but lively group of Maltese fans waved the national flag and cheered loudly amid the capacity crowd of 11,200 people inside the Wiener Stadthalle.

Bella, which featured Maltese lyrics, was co-written by Aidan himself together with Joep van den Boom and Sarah Bonnici as a "metaphor for beauty, fragility, and the tragic ending of a great love". 

Aidan was the 14^th out of 15 acts to perform on Thursday evening in Vienna. 

Malta will join Bulgaria, Ukraine, Norway, Australia, Romania, Cyprus, Albania, Denmark, and Czechia at Saturday's grand final.

Malta was the sixth qualifier to be called out, just as the BBC was commenting that Aidan "looks worried" as the camera panned on the Malta delegation awaiting the results in the green room.

But Aidan and his team jumped up with joy as soon as Malta was called out.

PN Leader Alex Borg was among the first to congratulate Aidan, saying "we are proud of you".

Ahead of the performance, Prime Minister Robert Abela posted his good luck message to Aidan saying "tonight we unite as one nation behind Aidan". 

The first semi-final on Tuesday saw overall favourites Finland go through to the final along with Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Serbia and Sweden.

Eurovision major financial backers Britain, France, Germany and Italy have guaranteed spots in Saturday's 25-country final, alongside hosts Austria.

Hours before his performance, Aidan said he was “confident and excited” to see his childhood dream of performing at the Eurovision come true.

In the run up to the competition week, Aidan had embarked on a 12-country promotional tour and he was also featured in a billboard campaign across several countries.

The Eurovision Song Contest is being presented by Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski. Photo: AFP

The 70^th edition of Eurovision was marred by the biggest ever boycott after five countries pulled out in protest over Israel’s participation.

Eurovision is the world's biggest live televised music event, typically reaching more than 150 million viewers.

Austria won the right to host this year's Eurovision thanks to operatic singer JJ's victory in Basel in 2025 with "Wasted Love".