The Philippines won the first Eurovision Song Contest Asia. Carmelle Collado took “Sobra-Sobra” to One Bangkok Forum on Saturday night, November 14, and finished first in an 11-country field with 211 points. Host country Thailand placed second with MANG x DAOU’s “Aroma,” and Vietnam’s Tóc Tiên took third with “EM TIÊN.”
She won under rules that gave her no help from home. Half the result came from the 11 national juries and half from the audience vote, and viewers in a competing country could not vote for their own entry. Every audience point Carmelle earned came from outside the Philippines: from the ten other competing countries and from the “Rest of the World” set, which counted as much as one participating country and is where Filipinos in the Middle East, North America, Europe and Australia cast their votes.
Carmelle sang sixth, after Bhutan and before Bangladesh, in a blue-and-red flame-inspired outfit backed by a team of dancers. The show was hosted by Woody Milintachinda and Cindy Bishop. It is the European Broadcasting Union’s first Asian edition of Eurovision, first announced in August, produced with Thailand’s Channel 3 and Voxovation, and it lands in the year the European contest turned 70.
Final Standings
- Philippines: CARMELLE, “Sobra-Sobra” (211 points)
- Thailand: MANG x DAOU, “Aroma”
- Vietnam: Tóc Tiên, “EM TIÊN”
Who Is Carmelle
Carmelle is a 19-year-old Bicolana from Camarines Sur who has been winning singing competitions since she was a child. In 2019 she finished runner-up on the fourth season of The Voice Kids Philippines on Team Bamboo, and brought home seven gold medals from the World Championships of Performing Arts. In 2025 she was named grand champion of Tawag ng Tanghalan: The School Showdown on It’s Showtime. This year she was a housemate on Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Collab Edition 2.0 and released her first original solo single, “Morena,” in May.
On August 30 she won Pili, Pinas!, the national selection held at the New Frontier Theater in Quezon City, beating nine other acts. SAGA’s “Broken Beyond Repair” placed second that night, and “Mapadama” by JM Dela Cerna and Marielle Montellano came third.
The Song
“Sobra-Sobra” (“Too Much”) is a dance-pop track written by Nica del Rosario and Mat Olavides, sung in English and Filipino. It takes on the label Filipinas get for being outspoken, ambitious or independent, and it name-checks Maria Clara and Gabriela Silang along the way. Del Rosario has described the song as a pushback against the expectation that Filipinas should be submissive.
What Comes Next
The Eurovision Song Contest Asia winner is invited to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest 2027 in Burgas, Bulgaria, which puts a Filipino song on the main contest’s stage next year.
Field Notes
What: Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026, the first edition, with 11 competing countries.
When: Saturday, November 14, 2026.
Where: One Bangkok Forum, Bangkok, Thailand.
Winner: Philippines, CARMELLE, “Sobra-Sobra,” written by Nica del Rosario and Mat Olavides, 211 points.
Runner-up: Thailand, MANG x DAOU, “Aroma.”
Third place: Vietnam, Tóc Tiên, “EM TIÊN.”