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A white suit, a high C and a toxic love story: Czechia’s ADONXS is ready to shatter expectations in Basel.
Czechia is not playing it safe at Eurovision 2025. ADONXS—Adam Pavlovčin, Slovak-born and London-trained—is bringing Kiss Kiss Goodbye, a dark, dramatic pop entry built around theatrical vocals, gender-fluid styling and a toxic love story. It is the sort of performance that could take Czechia into the top ten—or further.
From street dance to pop opera
ADONXS’s résumé is wild in the best way: five-time Slovak street dance champion, classical bass-baritone, and winner of Česko-Slovenská SuperStar—the show’s first openly queer champion. Now he is the face of Czechia at Eurovision.
His stage name, a riff on the mythic Adonis, is more than branding. It is a mission statement. “Clothes have no gender,” he declared during the competition, wearing translucent gowns and crimson eyeshadow. Since then, he has become a prominent voice for queer visibility in Central Europe, while also landing on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and taking Slovakia’s Album of the Year award in 2022.
A pop drama with room for a scream
Broadcaster ČT selected Kiss Kiss Goodbye from more than 150 internal submissions. ADONXS co-wrote the song with George Masters-Clark, Ines Coulon, Lorenzo Calvo, Michaela Charvátová and Ronald Janeček.
The result is a pop-drama hybrid: reverb-heavy, emotionally bruising and powered by a chorus made for screaming in the rain. The lyrics sting, the vocal keeps climbing and the energy barely lets up. An acoustic rendition at Malta’s preselection show in February was followed by a shortening of its initially wide betting odds.
Precision, restraint and a wardrobe change
The staging is being directed by Matyáš Vorda, who also worked on Czechia’s 2023 and 2024 entries. In Basel, the performance is sleek and monochrome, with English lyrics projected behind him. Midway through, ADONXS changes from a suit into flowing, gender-fluid couture.
The opening relies on close-up facial focus and a whispering introduction before giving way to a dance break rooted in his street-performance background. It is a lot of visual information, but the intention is not to bury the song.
As ADONXS told Eurovisionworld: “We don’t want to overdo it. The vocal needs space.”
Winning over Europe—strategically
Because Czech viewers cannot vote for their own entry, ČT took an international approach to its selection process: 40% of the score came from an international jury of producers and former Eurovision acts, another 40% from global fans, and the remainder from a domestic “expert” jury.
The early response has been promising. Kiss Kiss Goodbye is tracking just outside the top five in fan polls and sits between seventh and ninth in current betting odds. Streaming figures are particularly strong in Nordic and Baltic countries, while vocal coaches have praised the control in ADONXS’s delivery.
More than a song
There is no escaping the symbolism. A queer Slovak artist is representing Czechia at a time of increasing political conservatism back home. ADONXS knows that the Eurovision stage carries more than just a scoreboard.
“This is about more than points,” he told iROZHLAS. “It’s about visibility. About saying: We’re still here. We’re creating. We belong.”
The backlash has arrived too—from nationalists questioning why a Slovak is flying the Czech flag to critics dissecting every falsetto. His answer is simple: “Czechia is my home now. Music has no borders.”
The final countdown
ADONXS performs 12th in Semi-Final 2 on 15 May—a running-order position that gives the performance plenty of room to make an impression. Juries may respond to the technical polish and emotional range; the televote may be drawn to the bold visuals and LGBTQ+ solidarity. Czechia could be looking at its best finish since 2018.
Whether Kiss Kiss Goodbye wins or not, ADONXS has already pushed Czechia’s Eurovision identity somewhere more daring: art, attitude and vulnerability wrapped in velvet and glitter.
And here he is, doing something different …
