The Philippines has won the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia, with 19-year-old Carmelle taking the title in Bangkok after a final contested by 11 countries.
Carmelle, the youngest competitor in the field, won with “Sobra-Sobra,” a women’s empowerment anthem built around a catchy rap section. She finished with 211 points—93 from the national juries and 118 from the public vote.
Thailand’s MANG x DAOU placed second with 170 points. The Thai duo’s emotional duet “Aroma” drew huge cheers from the home crowd at the One Bangkok Arena.
The venue was filled with a joyous atmosphere as the audience cheered the contestants and celebrated a popular winner. Carmelle had been an obvious favorite with both the juries and the public, despite strong showings from several nations.
Other performers brought distinctive approaches to the stage. Bangladesh’s Beatmosphere, a group of beatboxers, dispensed with a traditional backing track and used their voices to reproduce drum patterns and basslines. Laos’s Thinla performed her crowd-pleasing song “Bae” in a traditional Lao hilltribe outfit.
Laos’s entry received an unintended second airing when its music video was played over an apparent technical issue during the broadcast. That made “Bae” the last song the audience heard before the vote.
Voting and the full scoreboard
The voting system followed the same broad model as the European contest. The public vote accounted for 50% of the result, the other 50% came from the 11 national juries, and additional points were awarded through a rest-of-the-world vote.
- The Philippines — 211 points
- Thailand — 170 points
- Vietnam — 164 points
- Malaysia — 152 points
- Laos — 139 points
- Bhutan — 126 points
- Republic of Korea — 113 points
- Mongolia — 94 points
- Nepal — 69 points
- Cambodia — 61 points
- Bangladesh — 35 points
Also performing during the broadcast were Dara from Bulgaria, the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest winner, who sang her winning song “Bangaranga” and a new song, “Bad Idea.” Thai superstar Jeff Satur appeared as well, performing “Black Tie” and hitting its high notes.
An idea decades in the making
A Eurovision contest in Asia had been discussed for decades but had never materialized, despite repeated false starts, until this event. The crowd at the One Bangkok Arena began to thin out not long after Carmelle lifted the trophy.
Enthusiasm for Eurovision Asia was evident, though a large number of the audience were established fans of the original contest from other countries and regions. The arena was crowded but not full. It remains unclear how much commitment regional broadcasters have to sustaining the contest and expanding it beyond 11 countries.