Viewers of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest final in Basel, Switzerland, were left doing a double take when singer Luca Hänni took to the stage, as many believed he shared a remarkable resemblance to the late Liam Payne.
Hänni took part in a special medley of Switzerland’s previous Eurovision entries where he performed his song “She Got Me”, which finished fourth in 2019 with a total of 364 points from the jury and public votes.
Although the 30-year-old is an established star in Switzerland, as well as Austria and Germany where he has topped the singles charts in both nations, other fans didn’t recognise him when he arrived on stage on Saturday (May 17).
Follow live updates from the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest here.
Instead, they pointed out that Hänni bears an uncanny resemblance to former One Direction singer and solo star Payne, who died in October 2024.
“This is actually Liam Payne may he rest in peace,” one fan wrote on X/Twitter.
“The way I had to double-check to be sure this wasn’t Liam Payne,” another astonished fan said.
“Damn I thought I was hallucinating! From far away and especially his voice, I heard and saw Liam Panye,” another viewer wrote.
“That song gave me Liam Payne vibes,” one said.
Payne, who was 31 when he died, fell from a third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The medical cause of the One Direction star’s death was confirmed by a UK inquest in January 2025 as “polytrauma”.
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This year, Switzerland were represented by Zoë Më and her song “Voyage”. The contest was held in Basel after Swiss singer Nemo won the 2024 edition of the competition with their song “The Code”.
Elsewhere in the competition, the United Kingdom is being represented by girl group Remember Monday and their song “What the Hell Just Happened?”. Fans have been calling their performance “sensational”.
Meanhile, Israeli singer Yuval Raphael was left “shaken and upset” after pro-Palestinian protesters tried to storm the stage during the Eurovision Song Contest final.
The incident took place as the October 7 survivor sang her entry New Day Will Rise, which was greeted with cheers and boos, as BBC Eurovision commentator Graham Norton said there was a “mixed response” in the arena in Basel, Switzerland.
A spokesman for Israeli broadcaster Kan said the protesters “were blocked by security officials, but Raphael was shaken and upset”.
