Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Six more national clubs have voted bringing the total to 14. Denmark still in the lead but Spain and Norway jump to the top-5. You can see the previous votes here . Here are the votes from OGAE Serbia: 1 Azerbaijan, 2 Denmark, 3 Iceland, 4 Croatia, 5 Romania, 6 Germany, 7 Armenia, 8 Spain, 10 Israel and 12 Slovakia Here are the votes from OGAE Italy: 1 Romania, 2 Spain, 3 Armenia, 4 Bulgaria, 5 Switzerland, 6 Ireland, 7 Israel, 8 Croatia, 10 Denmark and 12 Norway Here are the votes from OGAE Netherlands: 1 Belgium, 2 Finland, 3 Denmark, 4 Iceland, 5 Germany, 6 Armenia, 7 Israel, 8 Spain, 10 Slovakia and 12 Croatia Here are the votes from OGAE Germany: 1 Croatia, 2 Switzerland, 3 Slovakia, 4 Israel, 5 Iceland, 6 Spain, 7 Ireland, 8 Armenia, 10 Denmark and 12 Norway Here are the votes from  OGAE Switzerland: 1 Iceland, 2 Croatia, 3 Serbia, 4 Sweden, 5 Israel, 6 Denmark, 7 Germany, 8 Norway, 10 Ireland and 12 Spain Here are the votes from OGAE Ireland: 1 Slovakia, 2 Belarus, 3 Swede...

All is good that ends good. Israel didn't manage to win the televote being second to Croatia with 323 vs 337. Ukraine was third with 307 and France 4th with 227 and Switzerland 5th with one point behind. But Switzerland totally dominated the jury vote scoring 21 times 12 points and 365 total. France was second with 218 and Croatia 3rd with 210. Only nine countries manages to score 12 from the jury. Besides the 21 by Switzerland France 4 times, Portugal 3 times, Ukraine and Croatia twice and Luxemburg (from Israel), Ireland, Sweden and Cyprus (from Greece) once.  And here is the jury result: Here are the televotes: Croatia  337 Israel  323 Ukraine  307 France  227 Switzerland  226 Ireland  136 Italy  104 Greece  85 Armenia  82 Lithuania  58 Sweden  49 Cyprus  44 Estonia  33 Serbia  32 Finland  31 Latvia  28 Luxemburg  20 Georgia  19 Germany  18 Portugal  13 Slovenia  12 Spain...

Time for another some strong females. CROATIA - NINA KRALJIC - LIGHTHOUSE (Andreas Grass & Nikola Paryla) The Voice of Croatia winner Nina Kraljić was internally chosen. Blogilkar: Great to have Croatia back! Sad they don't sing in Croatian. This said this is a very interesting song, nice arrangement and melody and Nina's vocals are memorable. Hopefully she delivers also live! This one is stuck in my head after first hearing so I suppose that's a good sign. 8 Jack:  Nina has been compared to the Croatian version of Ellie Goulding and that surely can't be a bad thing. For some reason, I don't think Croatia will do that well in Stockholm but I'd love to be proved wrong as this is a fabulous entry. Welcome back!! 8 Peter:  Very nice song, original type sound and pretty catchy. It will probably do very well, very likely to get to the final and will probably get a lot of votes. It should have appeal across the board to both young and old - remind...

The national OGAE club votings are on again and 8 clubs have already cast and published their votes. But before we go to see the 2010 votes let's see how it all went last year, shall we?  Norway was a runaway winner in OGAE as in the contest itself but the clubs put France second (ended 8th) and Sweden third (ended 21st). Eventual runner up Iceland was 8th and the third placed Azerbaijan 6th in the clubs. In total the club got only one, Norway, right in the top-5 but if we look at top-10 the number is already 8! And 11 right in top-15. Not bad. The clubs believed firmly on beforementioned Sweden but also Spain (5th but ended 23rd) and Finland (12th but ended 25th). On the other hand Armenia (10th, with clubs 17th), Russia (11th, with clubs 24th) and Moldova (14th, with clubs 26th) did much better than fans expected. So, judging this way the clubs can pick up mostly the successes and the losers, with some exceptions and surprises, as always. And that's what makes Eurovision... E...

Croatia was leading all the way but UK was catching up until Italy nailed the win giving Croatia 12. As icing on the cake also UK gave Croatia 12 points. Greece was trying to catch up UK and the following 4 countries Russia, France, Spain and Israel were all within 4 points so there was enough excitement for those places in the voting. This is Croatia's first win. Watch Franka Batelic's winning entry Rusa a kamenu here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHK2nb8YKrs Results : 01. CROATIA 164 02. UNITED KINGDOM 137 03. GREECE 130 04. RUSSIA 108 05. FRANCE 107 06. SPAIN 105 07. ISRAEL 104 08. ITALY 83 09. SERBIA 75 10. AUSTRIA 70 11. TURKEY 58 12. IRELAND 53 13. LEBANON 51 14. SWEDEN 43 15. FINLAND 37 16. ESTONIA 34 17. THE NETHERLANDS 32 18. REST OF THE WORLD 28 19. GERMANY 28 20. DENMARK 25 21. AZERBAIJAN 19 22. PORTUGAL 18 23. BELGIUM 14 24. NORWAY 12 25. POLAND 12 26. LITHUANIA 11 27. ANDORRA 7

My flying reporter had a great interview with Croatian hopeful Nina Badric. They talked about Dora, how she got selected, what does she do besides singing. And did you know this is not her first time on Eurovision stage against common belief? And that she's one helluva party girl! Here: Yesterday was the opening party. Did you have a good time? Great time! The red carpet was like in Monte Carlo! Lots of beauiful dresses, so many people. For me it was a first time but it was ok. Did the location meet your expectations? The open terrace was nice. The rest... puff.... ha ha ha! Nina, you clearly wanted to participate in Eurovision because you participated already when Yogoslavia existed as a backing singer.. . How do you know that?!? I'm well informed :-) You also tried in 1993 so you wish to be here for a long time. Now that you are finally here, how does it feel? Ok! :-) Back then I was just starting my career and the most famous song festival was Dora. I wa...

Ok, here we go. Moment of truth. We have our list. The Bicycling reporter Robert  on spot in Malmö and yours truly at homefront infront of the laptop have been watching and analysing, and surprisingly we have come to an agreement 9/10. I was toying with Belgium, Slovenia and Croatia for the last place but went for Croatia in the end to have a joint prediction. ESTONIA, CROATIA, DENMARK, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, THE NETHERLANDS, MONTENEGRO, IRELAND, MOLDOVA, SERBIA As for our personal favorites that we would like to see in final Robert goes for Austria, Estonia, Croatia, Ukraine, The Netherlands, Montenegro, Moldova, Cyprus, Belgium and Serbia. I go for Estonia, Denmark, Russia, The Netherlands, Montenegro, Moldova, Ireland, Serbia, Cyprus and Belgium - but I also like Slovenia, Austria and Croatia! So Despina Olympiou is our both favorite but we are afraid Europe won't appreciate her beautiful song enough with first hearing to vote it to the final.

Seven more OGAE clubs have voted bringing the total to 21. Denmark is still leaving but Armenia is picking up the speed toward the top just outside top-5 and Croatia falls to 7th place. Here are the votes from OGAE Bulgaria: 1 Moldova 2 Turkey 3 Sweden 4 Azerbaijan 5 Romania 6 Armenia 7 France 8 Germany 10 Greece and 12 Slovakia Here are the votes from OGAE Cyprus: 1 Switzerland 2 Denmark 3 France 4 Iceland 5 Turkey 6 Spain 7 Armenia 8 Azerbaijan 10 Norway and 12 Israel Here are the votes from OGAE Croatia: 1 Latvia 2 Switzerland 3 Albania 4 Israel 5 Norway 6 Germany 7 Iceland 8 Azerbaijan 10 Denmark and 12 Armenia Here are the votes from OGAE Lebanon: 1 Turkey 2 Albania 3 Moldova 4 Spain 5 Germany 6 Romania 7 Slovakia 8 Armenia 0 Azerbaijan and 12 France Here are the votes from OGAE Denmark: 1 Ireland 2 Latvia 3 Armenia 4 Spain 5 Slovakia 6 Azerbaijan 7 Norway 8 Sweden 10 Croatia and 12 Germany Here are the votes from OGAE Belgium: 1 Azerbaijan 2 belarus 3 Ireland 4 Norway 5 Croatia ...

Last year it was Portugal, now it's Croatia. Namely the country I will miss a lot. HRT has made public they won't be in Copenhagen 2014 and thus joins Turkey, Andorra, Czech Republic, Monaco, Luxembourg, Morocco and Slovakia as countries that won't participate in 2014 (either). Portugal instead is apparently returning :-) Croatia joined the Eurovision family in 1993 and did very well scoring six top-10 placings between 1995 and 2001. Then the success vanished and Croatia hasn't been in the final since 2009, when they were actually picked up by jury's wildcard after finishing 13th in the semifinal.  This blogger has several big favorites among the Croatian entries like Sveta ljubav , Marija Magdalena , Everything I want, You are the only one , Romanca , Lijepa Tena , Lako je sve and Nebo , and how could we forget Neka mi ne svane or Moja stikla ? Croatia will be greatly missed in Denmark....

Sweden with Loreen may have won Eurovision song contest 2023 thanks to juries but Finland stormed the televote. Finland won the televote in 18 countries, was second in nine, third in four. The worst score was six points, meaning Finland was 5th. Top-5 in every country! That means Finland scored the second highest televote ever, second only to last year's Kalush Orchestra fro Ukraine - a deserved winner but televote highly powered by the war. So how did countries vote for Finland: 12: Latvia, Netherlands, Ireland, San Marino, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Iceland, Serbia,                  Norway, Australia, Denmark, Spain, Israel, Sweden, Lithuania, United Kingdom 10: Ukraine,Portugal, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Rest of the World 8: Malta, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Georgia, Czechia, Slovenia, Greece,  7: Moldova, Cyprus 6: Italy, France, Armenia, Albania A total of 376 In comparison Sweden didn't score one single 12 points, let's see ...

Iceland - Eythor Ingi - Ég Á Líf One of the most underrated songs this year. I admit this wasn't my favorite in the Icelandic national final but it was a good runner up for me. The song has a quiet beauty about it and luckily it also stays in Icelandic that sounds especially soft and delicate in this particular song. Eyþór himself comes across rough and sweet at the same time. Like a heavyrocker daddy singing a lullaby to his kid, and the song is indeed a lullabylike one that works also well live . Hard to say how the televoters react to this, and will the jury overlook it as well. This said, one of the better songs this year, and one of the best singers, too. No matter what happens, Iceland should be proud! Croatia - Klapa s Mora - Mižerja Croatia surprised us all with their choice (anticipated by last year's Nina Badric exclusively to Blogilkar here ) but like Iceland, whatever happens they can be proud of it. The song is similar to the Icelandic one in the way that...

Time to kick off the Eurovision 2019 reviews based on my own taste and thoughts. The main criteria is Would I like to listen to this outside the Bubble? Will I ever listen to this post-May? Does it make me feel anything? Things will certainly change once the rehearsals starts what comes to the ideas how well or bad they will do, but more of that later. Let's start with my current bottom-4: Croatia - Roko - My dream ** "I dream of love You dream of love Angels of God We all dream of love" Roko Blažević (19) sings reasonable well but it's all so old fahioned and kitch it's almost painful. And therefor almost good. If sung entirely in Croatian this song would have a reason to exist. On the other hand a similiar kitch took his Talent of Croatia coach Jacques Houdek to the final top-8 in 2017, so this could be a shock qualifier, but I doubt it... yet I'd just giggle it away not bing surprised at all! I just hope they drop those wings, that's so la...

31 clubs have voted now when the next five clubs reveal their votes, including non participating Austria and Andorra. No change in the lead, still Denmark followed by Israel, Germany, Norway and Armenia. Votes from OGAE Poland: 1 latvia, 2 Slovakia, 3 Armenia, 4 Albania, 5 Denmark, 6 Turkey, 7 Israel, 8 Sweden, 10 Germany and 12 Azerbaijan Votes from OGAE Austria: 1 Croatia, 2 Israel, 3 Belgium, 4 Germany, 5 Belarus, 6 Netherlands, 7 Switzerland, 8 Norway, 10 Ireland and 12 Denmark Votes from OGAE Andorra: 1 Iceland, 2 Ireland, 3 Turkey, 4 Norway, 5 Spain, 6 Germany, 7 Armenia, 8 Denmark, 10 Croatia and 12 Israel Votes from OGAE Finland: 1 Slovakia, 2 Serbia, 3 Germany, 4 Switzerland, 5 Spain, 6 Denamrk, 7 Armenia, 8 Israel, 10 Iceland and 12 Norway Votes from OGAE Israel: 1 Finland, 2 Ireland, 3 Sweden, 4 Belgium, 5 Spain, 6 Slovakia, 7 Iceland, 8 Denmark, 10 Croatia and 12 Azerbaijan The current situation: 1....

UPDATED WITH JURY VOTES ! We can see that the top-2 would be the same but smaller margin. UK and France climb up while Azerbaijan and Turkey drop. Biggest climbers are however Denmark, Germany, Malta and Israel. Armenia, Russia and Albania drop the most while Spain and Finland switch places at the bottom. 01. NORWAY 387 (01 - 312) 02. ICELAND 218 (02 -260) 03. AZERBAIJAN 207 (08 - 112) 04. TURKEY 177 (07 - 114) 05. UNITED KINGDOM 173 (03 - 223) 06. ESTONIA 129 (05 - 124) 07. GREECE 120 (10 - 93) 08. FRANCE 107 (04 - 164) 09. BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 106 (12 - 90) 10. ARMENIA 92 (15 - 71) 11. RUSSIA 91 (17 - 67) 12. UKRAINE 76 (16 - 68) 13. DENMARK 74 (06 - 120) 14. MOLDOVA 69 (11 - 93) 15. PORTUGAL 57 (18 - 64) 16. ISRAEL 53 (09 - 107) 17. ALBANIA 48 (23 - 26) 18. CROATIA 45 (19 - 58) 19. ROMANIA 40 (21 - 31) 20. GERMANY 35 ( 14 - 83) 21. SWEDEN 33 (22 - 27) 22. MALTA 31 (13 - 87) 23. LITHUANIA 23 (20 - 31) 23. SPAIN 23 ...

As every year many Eurovision artists tried a comeback, but for them this 2024 season has been very poor. Out of 24 only two succeeded in the task - and curiously both of them now in the very bottom of the betting odds - namely Iceland's true veteran Hera Björk who besides being the artist in 2010 with Je ne sais quoi placing 19th, has been backing singer many times already. Moldova's Natalia Barbu managed to win again after her Helsinki 2007 participation with Fight and Top-10 finish. The only winner trying a comeback this year didn't qualify from a wildcard voting.  Many artists saw their adventure finish in semifinals already: Lithuania's Andrius Pojavis and Vilija (both last in their semifinals), Norway's Benedikte Adrian, Latvia's Agnese Rakovska,  and Malta's Moira Stafrace. Some were close to making it again being the runner ups: KEiiNO in Norway, Basim in Denmark and Max Mutzke in Germany. Pretty close were also Let 3 in Croatia, The Roop in Lithuani...