A Eurovision contestant has reworked her song after a word in the lyrics sounded like an English swearword.

Miriana Conte’s song was originally titled Kant, the Maltese word for singing.

The song now includes the voice of the BBC economics editor Faisal Islam after he interviewed Conte on Newsnight about having only days to alter the song following a complaint.

On Friday, Eurovision released her official music video for the updated track, retitled Serving, which has similar lyrics minus the word “kant”.

The video opens in a documentary-style format featuring commentators talking about her and the song, including the voice of Islam from the Newsnight interview, suggesting how she could redo it: “Serving brunch, maybe, I don’t know.”

Conte told Newsnight she was not trying to “offend anyone”; the word meant different things to different people, and to her, it meant: “I’m serving singing.”

She made her disappointment known to the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, at the time of the complaint. “We’ve just been notified that [the EBU] has decided against using the Maltese word “Kant” in our entry in the Eurovision Song Contest,” she wrote on Instagram. “While I’m shocked and disappointed, especially since we have less than a week to submit the song, I promise you this: the show will go on - Diva NOT down.”

Maltese news outlets reported that the BBC was the one to lodge a complaint with the EBU.

Islam reacted to Conte’s use of his voice in her official music video by posting a laughing emoji and “well, well, well,” on X. The video was played during the end credits of Friday’s episode of Newsnight.

The all-female trio Remember Monday will represent the UK at Eurovision 2025 with their song, What the Hell Just Happened?

Before last year’s competition, the EBU faced criticism for allowing a representative from Israel to perform while the Gaza war was ongoing. Eden Golan was asked to redo her song, Rain, which was alleged to reference Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Instead, she entered the competition with Hurricane.

Afterwards, Eurovision announced an internal review and a code of conduct to help “protect” the wellbeing of artists in future contests.

The grand final of Eurovision will take place in Basel, Switzerland, on 17 May, with the semi-finals on 13 and 15 May.