Tóc Tiên Will Represent Vietnam at Eurovision Asia 2026

Vietnam has its artist. Tóc Tiên will represent the country at the first Eurovision Song Contest Asia, selected internally by VTV rather than through a competitive final — confirmed by the broadcaster in early September and by contest organisers on 16 September.

For most of the selection season Vietnam was the conspicuous gap on the calendar: a confirmed broadcaster that had published nothing at all while ten other countries announced dates, formats and artists. That gap is now closed, and closed with one of the bigger names it could have been closed with.

Two decades in, not a discovery

Tóc Tiên is not an emerging artist being handed an international platform. She has been working for roughly twenty years, and the career has moved through several distinct phases.

Her breakout single “Ngày Mai” established her commercially. She went on to notable success on The Remix, the competitive music format that rewired how a lot of Vietnamese pop was produced and presented in the mid-2010s.

She has also spent time on the other side of the desk. She hosted Bài hát Việt in 2008, and has since served as a judge on The Voice of Vietnam and Vietnam Idol Kids — which means she has worked inside exactly the kind of televised competition format her own selection has pointedly avoided.

Musically, she is known for blending traditional Vietnamese sounds with pop, EDM and R&B. That combination is worth flagging ahead of Bangkok, because it sits directly on the question this contest has not answered yet: whether juries drawn from across the region reward polished, internationally legible production or entries that sound specifically like where they came from. An artist who does both at once is an interesting test case.

The song: “Em Tiên”

Tóc Tiên’s entry was decided at The Sound of Vietnam on Saturday 3 October, where she performed five songs written for her by five separate creative teams. “Em Tiên” won, chosen by a 40% jury, 40% Vietnamese public and 20% Rest of the World vote. It is sung in Vietnamese. The full result, the jury and the other four songs are in our Sound of Vietnam report.

That format puts Vietnam in a small group. Laos did the same thing with Thinla — internal artist, public song vote — and Mongolia has since followed with Beck, while Malaysia went fully internal with Aina Abdul and “Bluest Sky.” Three different answers to the same problem, which we pull apart in our piece on the three selection models.

What it changes

Practically, Vietnam went from “unknown quantity with no announced route” to “established star with a finished entry” in about a month. That is a large swing on very little elapsed time, and Vietnam has been the biggest mover in our Eurovision Asia predictions all season — from 7% in August to 12% now.

The caveat is runway. Bhutan’s Nyendra has had a public song since 11 August. Vietnam’s entry was confirmed on 3 October, giving it six weeks of exposure as the chosen song before the Grand Final. For a market of Vietnam’s size and an artist with Tóc Tiên’s existing audience, that may matter less than it would elsewhere — but it is still the shorter end of the field.

Vietnam’s full profile sits on the Vietnam country page.

Last updated 7 October 2026.