At an event in Ho Chi Minh City on Sept. 16, Thanh am Viet Nam – The Sound of Vietnam officially confirmed Toc Tien as Vietnam's representative at Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026, the first Asian edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the televised music competition with a history spanning more than 70 years.

According to the European Broadcasting Union, Vietnam is among the first countries confirmed to participate, alongside Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

The final will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 14.

Toc Tien revealed that she had known about her selection for around two weeks. But because the international organizers announced the participating countries before Vietnam officially revealed its representative, she had to “act” surprised in recent days.

She said the fact that many people in the entertainment industry had already heard the news unexpectedly helped ease some of the pressure, as she could feel the support coming from colleagues and audiences.

Toc Tien recalled that when she first accepted the invitation, she saw it simply as another new challenge following her appearance on the Vietnamese reality show Sister Who Makes Waves (Chi dep dap gio re song) in 2024. Her decision was driven by her enthusiasm for trying new experiences, and she had not yet fully grasped the responsibility involved.

Once it sank in that she would be representing Vietnam in a competition held overseas, however, she began to feel overwhelmed.

At one point, she even asked the production team whether her performance could be recorded in advance so that she could make it as polished as possible rather than having to sing live.

Eurovision organizers, however, are applying the same rules to all participating countries: performances at both the national selection show and the final must be sung live and cannot be pre-recorded.

Another source of pressure came when the broadcast schedule was confirmed.

Toc Tien said that one or two months ago, before the Oct. 3 date had been finalized, she remained relaxed because she was accustomed to performing on major stages.

But once the live broadcast was officially scheduled, the anxiety became real. The singer said she hoped audiences would “go easy” on her when judging the performances ahead.

As for preparations, Toc Tien said her team has only about a month to complete five songs representing five different musical styles.

Recording all five tracks has been compressed into roughly one week, after which she will immediately move into performance rehearsals.

She described it as the most difficult challenge of her career so far, even compared with her time on Chi dep dap gio re song.

Her team also outlined several rules for Eurovision Song Contest Asia. Each competing performance must be no longer than three minutes, with a maximum of five people on stage, including the main artist. Vocals must be performed live, and audiences in each country cannot vote for their own representative.

The five songs competing to become Vietnam's Eurovision Asia entry are Em tien, A to a, Love always wins, Kho gi? and Follow me.

All five will be performed during Vietnam's national selection show at 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 3, broadcast live on VTV3.

One song will then be selected for Toc Tien to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest Asia final in Bangkok on Nov. 14.

Huy Minh