'You'll need ventolin for my performance': Conte ahead of Eurovision semi-final

Miriana Conte has hinted at a breathtaking performance at the Eurovision Song Contest, joking that the audience will need ventolin or oxygen for her show.

She was speaking at an interview with William Lee Adams, the journalist behind the popular Eurovision channel, Wiwibloggs, days before her performance during the second semi-finals at Basel on Thursday.

Last week, during dress rehearsals, fans got a first look at Malta’s stage for Conte’s performance of Serving. It includes a giant disco ball snugged between a pair of bold red lips, which takes centre stage alongside the 24-year-old singer and her dancers. 

Conte swapped her brown animal print bodysuit for a bold red bodysuit and replaced the pink exercise balls of previous performances with red and yellow ones. Her dancers have also revamped their costumes, wearing red faux fur jackets and fishnet tights. 

The singer was asked if the audience could be in for surprises during her performance. 

“You'll need Ventolin (an inhaler) and oxygen for my performance,” she joked.

When asked if people thought she was crazy for having included the word ‘kant’ in the original version of her song, she said it was. 

“Everyone thought I was crazy, until they told me it worked,” she said.

“And clearly, it worked.”

The stage of her performance also includes screenshots of hateful or rude messages Conte received following her winning the Malta Eurovision Song Contest.

Yet, she said, it felt good to add the comments.

“I can read hate comments for hours now, of course, they can still affect me," she said, adding however, that she was the one who had made it to the Eurovision stage after all.   

During the interview, she recounted how she was first told of the European Broadcasting Union’s decision not to allow her to use the word Kant in the song. 

She said the team were in the middle of filming the music video and she was dressed up as a table with dishes around her head. 

Miriana Conte was dressed up as a table for the shooting of her song's music video when she was told the EBU had rejected use of the word 'Kant'. Photo - Malta Eurovision Song Contest video.

“My team came up to me and told me the EBU had rejected Kant, and I told them they were very funny. But then I saw their faces turn white,” she recalled. 

At first, she was worried the song would lose its magic without that word. 

“But now people can serve whatever they want to serve.”

Media attention 

After winning the local contest back in February, Conte made headlines both locally and internationally. Her song drew controversy due to the word Kant's double meaning. 

Kant translates to “singing” in Maltese, but it also bears a phonetic resemblance to a slang English term for female anatomy. 

While Conte insisted she was not out for publicity, the song immediately raised eyebrows, with BBC radio DJs barred from playing it. Under UK broadcasting laws, the word “c*nt” cannot be used on TV or radio before 9pm.

Conte said the media attention had been a very exciting but also a disorientating experience as she was not used to all this love and attention.

Conte said her grandparents would be going to Basel on Wednesday, a day ahead of her semi-final. They loved her song, she said.  

"When I am home, trying to sleep, all I hear is my song."  

Serving ‘unity’: Conte's Eurovision Turquoise Carpet

On Sunday, during the formal opening ceremony of the Eurovision Song Contest, Conte turned heads in an outfit which referred to the Stonewall Rebellion - the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. 

The rebellion was a catalyst for the modern LGBTIQ+ rights movement, and Conte made it clear that her outfit stood for unity with the trans community. 

The dress featured several newspaper headlines, which read "Gender under fire" and "Stonewall Rebellion".

Conte posing on the Turqoise carpet next to the Basel Town Hall during the opening ceremony of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Photo: AFP

In an Instagram post, Conte said: 

We are unity, we are unstoppable,” Conte said.

“My dress is to show unity and to stand with my trans+ sisters, brothers, and siblings, now more than ever. We have always been here and always will be. It may seem heavy, but we will keep moving forward, together.”