Adonxs from Czechia: "We don't want to overdo the staging"

For the very first time since 2018, Czechia's Eurovision broadcaster (ČT) opted out of a televised national selection contest and decided to choose internally.

That doesn't exactly mean that Adonxs – stage name for Adam Pavlovčin – had it easy. Even though it was all decided away from the cameras, there were many phases and several opinions were taken into consideration:

– It was a full-scale process, Adonxs shares.

– I believe there were about 150 songs submitted. Each artist could sign up with a maximum of five songs. I did three.

He breaks down the process. The decision was split between three different audiences: 40% allocated to former producers and Eurovision participants, 40% allocated to focus groups within Europe, and 20% to a Czech jury.

From the first phase, 15 made it through. The amount was then reduced to five, and within a week the jury agreed that Adonxs' "Kiss Kiss Goodbye" was the best choice to represent Czechia in Eurovision.

– I had already made up my mind that I wanted to try to represent Czechia, but I wasn't aware it'd be an internal selection, he says.

– They decided to change it from TV for several reasons, one of them being money distribution and whatever they could save on the production of such event, he concludes.

The Eurovision dream

In the end it's safe to say that Adonxs went through a similar selection process to what would've been a televised national selection competition, just without the televoting part. And, in this case, the third time wasn't the charm. The first was, but Eurovision had crossed his mind.

– Eurovision has been in the back of my mind as a stepping stone for a while now. I look at it as the Olympics of music and as the only platform that can help artists and bring them to a major spotlight so fast and in such a big scale.

How do you feel about actually doing Eurovision?

– The process is everything I imagined but tripled. It's super intense and I am trying to enjoy the journey because it's going so fast. I don't want it to slip through my fingers, and I feel very privileged to be in this position.

The process is everything I imagined but tripled.

One of the highlights for Adonxs so far has been the Eurovision community as a whole. The support has been incredible as well as the relationships he has been making along the way with other acts such as Denmark's Sissal, Norway's Kyle, and others. A quick journey through a Eurovision-influenced TikTok account will show several funny and peculiar moments of the acts.

As stated above, three songs were submitted to Czechia's internal selection process, but "Kiss Kiss Goodbye" was the favorite. He shares that the two others should see the light of day soon, but we focus on the winning song:

– The song was born in one of the last sessions we had before the deadline, and because I already knew I would submit the other two no matter what this was a session without pressure nor limitations, he explains.

In London, a special place in Adam's heart, he got to reunite with his close friends and it all came naturally to them. After considering all of the possible nuances, they knew this would be another song to submit but there's more to it:

– This song is a full-circle moment. I wrote it with the people that I started my songwriting path.

Before making it in the music business, Adonxs moved to London to pursue the dream. It wasn't an easy process, and during our coversation he admits he almost gave up:

– The first year was one of my biggest struggles. I almost didn't finish my studies and came back home, but I am so glad I didn't because the energy and the investment in the city, even if exhausting, started to come back in so many beautiful ways.

"Kiss Kiss Goodbye" and the staging

We go back to "Kiss Kiss Goodbye":

– We were thinking of '70s guitars for this song and were singing Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang." This was the vibe at the beginning, and that's why you have a little Western influence at the beginning. The actual song was written on piano and we added the guitars to make it recall a cowboy face-off.

How come?

– The line "only one survives when the night arises" was the initial one, and we were imagining a duel between cowboys or two people... Or just with yourself. This was the root for the song that evolved to "Kiss Kiss Goodbye," saying goodbye to the things that no longer serve you in life and are limiting you.

The emotion and connection with the audience is crucial and the most important bit for us.

Matyáš Vorda is again in charge of the stage design for Czechia, and Adonxs has nothing but great words to say about him:

– He's extremely talented and always finds new ways on how to use lights, projection, LED content, and so on. I am trusting him at 100%.

– What we have agreed on is that with this kind of song the emotion and connection with the audience is crucial and the most important bit for us, so we don't want to overdo the staging too much, he clarifies.

In the beginning phase that was exactly Adam's tendency until the team calmed him down and assured him the song would have relevancy within the performance. As of now, he shares that a few intimate moments will happen and that the dancers will join "slightly sooner than the actual break." The visuals will play a crucial part and the music video is a completely different product:

– From what I've seen, I am very happy with it.

You can tell he's concerned about delivering a good performance and there's a reason for it. When we discuss how he wants to be remembered, he goes further into that line of thought:

– For the performance. For me, a performance is coming up with an illusion. When you're on stage, you create a fantasy and you invite everybody in. In that fantasy, I always want everyone to just be the best versions of themselves, knowing they're enough and they're worth it hoping it'll eventually become reality, he says.

– I hope I can deliver that feeling to the audience.

Our chat is almost coming to an end and Adonxs will get back to concluding his "A Little Bit More" Eurovision project, something he interrupted so he could speak to us. But before that, we go down memory lane on his proudest moments throughout his career.

Even though the Czechoslovak singer started singing from an early age, it was only at the age of 17 that he decided to invest in it. Until then, he grew up thinking you could never survive from doing music, a stigma in many European countries:

– I remember thinking "I'm doing everything but nothing," and that's when I looked up universities for pop music in the UK and got accepted to the British and Irish Modern Music Institute in London. That was my turning point.

From then on, music was his number one ambition. He kept on taking dance lessons and learning much more about performing, songwriting and showbizz. Performing at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire in London is one of his highlights, as well as winning Czechoslovak Pop Idol in 2021.

Four years later he's on his way to Basel to represent Czechia, ready to complete a full circle with some of his oldest friends:

– It's really important to me to surround myself with the right people, and I am so lucky to have that within my circle and to have them on this journey. It just means so much for me to complete the full circle with them.

Adonxs will take the stage at Semi-final 2 of Eurovision 2025 on 15 May where he'll sing "Kiss Kiss Goodbye."