Fresh from the mixing studios, the eight competing tracks will be unveiled on Thursday, 11 December across all RTL radio stations, including RTL Today Radio. From 9am, you can discover them on our RTL Today platforms, as well as on RTL.lu and RTL Infos, giving audiences access in three languages.
Starting at midnight on Friday, 12 December, the songs, along with the LSC 2026 playlists, will be available on music platforms such as Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, and Apple Music.
Collective writing sits at the heart of the 2026 edition: each track is the result of multi-author collaboration, sparked by international encounters that were both expected and surprising. Luxembourgish artists worked as co-authors, surrounded by songwriters and producers from across Europe, with a notable presence from Northern Europe, a region with a rich Eurovision tradition.
Luxembourg also keeps to its polyglot roots. Two songs are in French, the rest in English, with nods to languages close to the finalists, including Portuguese, French, and German.
This year’s line-up is the result of three years of creative work on Luxembourg’s Eurovision comeback: six of the eight entries were written in June at the ESC Songwriting Camp held at Rocklab. Part of Rockhal, Rocklab is a creative hub supporting Luxembourgish artists and producers.
Nearly 50 writers, composers, producers, and performers took part in a challenge that was simple, but demanding: teams of three or four had to write, record, and produce a full song in a single day. The next day, the teams changed and the process started again. Over four days in Belval, 28 songs were created.
Two more tracks, born from other artistic encounters, complete the selection.
This track was born at the Rocklab Songwriting Camp during a smooth, highly collaborative session. Trust developed immediately among the four writers: Belgian duo Midfall, made up of Ynke Dingenen and her partner Tchiah Ommar Abdulrahman, Latvian producer and DJ Rudolfs Budze, and André Baptista, who brought his persona Andrew the Martian.
“Every melody and every lyric we created seemed to guide us toward the next step. It almost felt as if the song was coming to us from somewhere extraterrestrial, André says. I’m The Martian explores the feeling of being an outsider, like a Martian on Earth, especially in moments when you feel misunderstood or when you move to a new place.”
The idea of writing a song inspired by the legend of the Luxembourg mermaid had been with Daria Sokova, aka Daryss, for nearly a year. A close friend encouraged her to reach out to one of the writers of Barbara Pravi’s Voilà, a song she deeply admires. She pitched the concept to Antoine Barrau, known as Igit, and they aligned creatively from the very first exchange.
The song came together just days before auditions, with support from composer Alexandre Finkin and arranger Boban Apostolov. Written and produced between Paris and Lisbon, and recorded in Luxembourg, “Melusina is a true Eurovision adventure”, says Daria. “Inspired by the enigmatic mermaid of Luxembourg, the song blends legend and inner rebirth.”
Eva Puc (Eva Marija) met her team at the Rocklab Camp: Swedish singer-songwriter Maria Broberg (Maria Mathea) and two Danes, songwriter Julie Aagaard and producer Thomas Stengaard.
“There was a really special energy and flow within our group. We based the song on the feeling of childhood, when you’d be playing carefree within parks and forests”, recalls Eva. “Mother Nature uses nature as a symbol of hope, freedom and groundedness. It calls to reconnect with your inner child and let go of your fears.”
Right at the end of the timed session, Eva improvised a violin solo, which made it into the final version.
Hugo Dejean, also known as Hugo One, brings an upbeat, 80s-inspired pop anthem. “Born Again is about healing after heartbreak and asks: who would you be if you could start over?” The track was written at the Camp with Luxembourgish artist EDSUN, Swede Albin Fredy Ljungqvist, and Dane Emil Lei, who also produced it.
“They allowed me to be vulnerable and talk about my past”, Hugo says. “The energy in the room was electrifying and I’m so proud of the song we wrote together. Like being Born Again, I’m ready for this next chapter in my life.”
Another creation from the Rocklab Songwriting Camp, Bad Decisions (Hush, Hush) came out of a collaboration between Luxembourgish artist Irem Sosay, Dutch pop and dance producer Remy Cooper, and Swedish singer-songwriter Maria Broberg (Maria Mathea).
At the start of the session, Maria asked what was going on in Irem’s life, and Irem shared a little secret. “They thought it was really exciting, and we were so motivated to turn it into a song that we finished it in just two hours!” As for the secret, we won’t be finding out, because as Irem explains with a mischievous smile that “it’s a little secret”.
As in his first LSC, Luzac returns this year with a song written at the Songwriting Camp. Once again, inspiration came from an early exchange with his co-writers: British producer Sam Ray and the Belgian duo Midfall, made up of Tchiah Ommar Abdulrahman and Ynke Dingenen.
Although Lucas Zagdoudi leads a rich and fulfilling life, surrounded by close friends, a loving family, and an engaging job, part of him longs for something more: music. That is where the metaphor came from, a bird perched in its cage dreaming of freedom.
“Like a little bird stuck in a golden cage, Prison Dorée expresses the feeling of being trapped in a life that looks perfect from the outside but feels restricting and overwhelming from within”, the artist explains.
Eye To Eye stems from the collective work of band members Nathanaël Paulis, Louis Comblin, and Matias Pollicino. “The idea was to write a pop-rock track that symbolises the current state of the world, especially through the eyes of young people”, explains songwriter and singer Nathanaël Paulis. “Eye To Eye is a song about living in a society that you don’t understand, creating states of paranoia within people, and how to deal with all of this.”
A keen Eurovision fan, Nathanaël set himself an extra challenge: ensuring the track carried all the hallmarks of a Eurovision song, from a memorable hook to ethnic voices, a string section and a soaring high note. Written during his academic year at Berklee College of Music in Valencia, the song instantly connected with the other two band members and arrangers through its message and rock identity.
Back to the Songwriting Camp for the eighth track on the list. Sweet Tooth was created by Steve Calçada (aka Steve Castile) together with two British co-writers: Abigail F. Jones and Simon Davis, the latter also being the track’s producer.
As an introduction during their first meeting, Steve kept it brief: “I showed them my vocal range so they knew what they had to work with. When I demonstrated the subharmonic-type singing, Simon immediately jumped up and said: ‘Let’s start with that!’.”
It became the foundation of the entire track: a tailor-made song that Steve sums up as “a dark, obsessive confession about loving someone who seems sweet but is actually bad for you”. As customary in such writing camps, the demo was completed the very same day.
On 24 January at Rockhal in Esch/Belval, one of these songs will earn the chance to represent Luxembourg at Eurovision in May 2026. As is the case at Eurovision, Luxembourg’s entry for Vienna will be chosen through a combined vote from spectators and a jury of 40 experts from eight countries.
