Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Latvia's Supernova 2026, the national final to select Latvia's entry for Eurovision song contest came to conclusion tonight and the winner is Atvara.  Atvara or Liene Atvara (33) is Latvian singer-songwriter. She has studied music, English and  marketing in Denmark. Her first attempt in music was in 2017 in X Factor but without luck. Her first single Pie manis tveries came out in 2024 and was a Top-10 hit in Latvia.  Dzīve mūs mētā was a radio hit. She has released some more singles as solo or featuring, and her debut album came out in 2025.  Out of 124 submitted entries and a jury of Latvian and international professional selected 24 entries for the two semi-finals where from the ten finalists were voted by a professional jury and televoters. Among the acts Eurovision veteran Robert Ox (2022 as a member of Citi Zēni). The semi-final results were not made public beforehand to keep things exciting. Last year's runner up Emilija seemed to be the favorite ...

The Danish national selection for Eurovision song contest 2026 took place tonight and the winner is Søren Torpegaard Lund. It was his second time in DMGP after Lige her in 2023 when he didn't reach the top-3. Søren Torpegaard Lund (27)  is a Danish singer, songwriter and actor. At the age of 17 he cecame the youngest ever student to be accepted to Den Danske Scenekunstskole. He has done several musical roles from West Side Story to Kinky Boots and even won awards for them. Past three years he has released few singles and an Ep. beforementioned Lige her being his debut. Other singles include En dreng som mig , Stor kunst and De ting jeg hvisker . There was an open call for entries and DR also invited record companies to send in their best offering. After selection committee and several national and international focus groups eight songs made it to the final. The number of submitted entries has not been revealed I believe. Amng the acts last year's winner Sissal again along wi...

Estonia has had the final of the 18th Eesti laul tonight, the national final for Eurovision song contest 2026. Vanilla Ninja was selected as the winner so they return to Eurovision after finishing 8th in 2005 for Switzerland with Cool vibes (that was actually cool). This Too epic to be true isn't very epic sadly. Neither the whol selection this year. My initial favorite was NOEP and indeed it may still be the best one for me. Vanilla Ninja these days is Lenna Kuurmaa, Piret Järvis and Kerli Kivilaan. They had their prime time in 2002-2008 when they had several hits in Central Europe ( Tough enough , When the Indians cry and Blue tattoo just to mention some) and reunited in 2020. They tried to win Euro laul also in 2003 with Club Kung-Fu (9th) and 2007 with Birds of peace (4th).  A total of 177 entries were submitted for the contest. A 34 member jury chose the 12 finalists and the songs were presented on October 30 and 31. Among the artists Eurovision veterans Getter Jaani (2011),...

  Ukraine's national final for Eurovision song contest 2026, Vidbir, has had its final and was won by Ukraine is the only country that has managed to qualify every time they have participated plus they have won three times and been runner up twice in the past 20 participation. War or no war Ukraine is one of the Eurovision power houses no doubt. In 2026 the selection followed already familiar path: Out of submitted 451 entries  15 were announced and invited for an audition where from nine made it directly to the final. The rest were put on an online vote and the winner Khayat was added to the final. Other familiar names made the cut as like last year's runner up Molodi, and two Eurovision veterans: Jerry Heil (3rd in ESC 2024 with Alyona Alyona) and Monokate (5th with Go_A in ESC 2021). Ad Olena Usenko, a member of The Elliens (6th in JESC 2021). Read more here   My favorite in the end was Laud witj Jerry Heil even if her song doesn't quite fit into Eurovision stage I sup...

Yle has usually revealed the hosts even before the artists but this year they have kept the secret for a long time. But today the news are out: Jasmin Beloued, already at it last year, will host the show with celebrities Jorma Uotinen and Sami Sykkö,  a popular podcast couple and not only. Jasmin Beloued (26) started hosting Yle's youth program at the age of 17 and few years later moved to Yle Mix channel. Since then she's been a regular in Yle's programs and made it to mainstream with UMK last year and later last year as one of the reporter's in the Independence Day  Ball, the most watched tv program in (along with Eurovision and sports) in Finland annually. Jorma Uotinen (75) is a household name in Finland. Since 1970 he has danced and choreographed in Finland and abroad. He has danced in Paris Opera, Milan's La Scala, Royal ballets of Denmark and Sweden and in Berlin's Staatsoper. Later he created also a career as a singer and was the boss of National Ballet ...

Last week Ebu and ORF shared the news we have hosts for the 70th Eurovision song contest 2026 in Vienna. Earlier hotly speculated Conchita Wurst announced she won't be part of Eurovision anymore in any form.  Victoria Swarovski (32) sparkles with her surname and yes, she an heir to that crystal empire. But she's not been waiting for the family money but created her own empire as tv-presenter, entrepreneur, model, designer and singer as Victoria S. Her musical started already at the age of 16 and later took her to Los Angeles where she worked with likes of Diane Warren. Later she went on to win Austrian Let's dance and later become a long running judge while hosting other nig shows. She has her own beauty brand ORIMEI, as a model she has been in covers of ELLE, Glamour, L'Officiel, Gala style and Forbes. And just like Finnish hopeful Linda Lampenius she's also a rally driver! Michael Ostrowski (53) is an actor and presenter. But also comedian, screenwriter, director....

Bulgaria returns to Eurovision song contest after three editions away and staged a selection show to choose the artist and doing so managed to engage big and most popular names in the Bulgarian scene. After semi-final and final the winner is out: Dara. Another show later on will select an entry for her as she will perform three songs and one will be voted for Vienna. Read more here . Dara (or Darina Nikolaeva Yotova, 27) is a big name in the Bulgarian entertainment business as she has built her career in the past ten years through X Factor, Bulgarian version of Your Face sounds familiar, being the coach in The Voice and Dancing with stars besides releasing hit singles in regular basis. Nearly 30 singles as solo or featuring including three #1s and eight Top-10 hits and two album under her belt she's off to Vienna next. Countless nominations in Bulgarian annual music awards winning the Artist of the year in 2018 and video of the year in 2021. In 2016 her song was the most played one...

Israel's selection show HakokHav Haba or Rising Star for the Eurovision song contest 2026 artist came to conclusion last week and was won by Noam Bettan. The selections and eliminations startd in November 2025 and a total of 21 singers took part in the televized shows this time. The final was a foursome with Noam Bettan, Gal De Paz, Shira Sloof and Alona Erez.. As usual only the artist was chosen and the song he will perform in Vienna on behalf of Kan is revealed later, on March 5, 2026 Noam (27) comes from a French Jewish family and grew up in Israel. He has already experience from other talent shows and has released his debut album and several singles and scored some hits, too.  Below are some of his songs and covers for your enjoyment along with his Rising star performances:

Luxemburg had its national final for Eurovision song contest on January 24, 2026 and was won by Eva Marija.with Mother nature. Eva Marija Kavaš Puc (20) was born and raised in Luxemburg by Slovenian parents. She has studied singing (from jazz to pop, rock and classical), violin, bass and piano in Conservatoire de Luxemburg. Her music writing studies continue in London. She took a clear win by winning both jury and televotes. Mother nature is her fifth single after When 2 lovers meet , Toxic trait , Time to go and Sweet child in the past five years.  Out of 83 submission came through different ways to enter and 15 were invited for an audition and an international jury chose the 8 for the final. In final the top-3 entered the superfinal. The other placements haven't been revealed yet. (Full results published January 30 and added below) Luxemburg song contest (jury + televote) 1. Eva Marija - Mother nature (94 + 128)  222 2. Steve Castile - Sweet tooth (80 + 65)  136...

  Moldova had its national final Finala Națională for Eurovision song contest 2026 on January 17 and it was won by Satoshi and his Viva, Moldova! Satoshi (aka Vlad Sabajuc, 27) is a Moldovan singer, songwriter, rapper and composer. He's been involved in music as Satoshi since 2019 and has already released four albums and 40 singles since 2022! However so far only two have apparently charted: Noaptea pe la 3 (#16 in Moldova) and Diferente (#81 in Romania).  Satoshi won in the final both international and national jury and also the televote by huge margin: he got 13.084 votes versus CatalinaSolomac's 861! Originally 37 songs were submitted, 34 attended the auditions round in December and 16 acts reached the final. Both the national and international jury included several Eurovision artists who also performed during the show.  Finala Națională 2026 (nat jury + int jury + televote) 1. Satoshi - Viva, Moldova! (12 + 12 + 12) 36 2. Pavel Orlov - Can't say goodbye (10 + 8 + 8)...

It was third time lucky for Aidan (aka Aidan Cassar, 26) winning the ticket to Eurovision after placing 4th in 2018 with Dai laga and second in 2022 with Ritmu .  In 2023 was set to participate with Regina but was disqualified. He won the jury vote by far and placed second in the public vote after Matt Blxck those two being runaway favorites by public. Seasoned performer he has taken part also in Junior Eurovision selection in 2015 , X Factor Malta, Muzika Muzika festival in 2021 . He has released one album so far, an EP and over 20 singles since 2015. He has 13 #1 singles in Malta.  The semi-final was hold on January 15 and the final on January 17, 2026. The jury had ten members: five from Malta and one from Cyprus, UK, Germany, Turkey and Greece.  Malta Eurovision song contest 2026 (jury + televote) 1. Aidan - Bella   113 + 170 = 283 2. Matt Blxck -  Ejja lejja ħdejja 'l hawn (The Flute)   68 + 200 = 268 3. Mychael Bartolo Chircop - My sweet ...

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

Now as Iceland has withdrawn from Eurovision song contest at least in 2026, let's have a look of some Icelandic favorites of mine over the years. Starting off with Euroband's banger that is one of my all time favourite and sure to put me in the mood anytime in seconds! This is my life!  Enjoy! 2008 Euroband - This is my life (14th) 1997 Páll Òskar - Minn hinsti dans (20th) 2003 Birgitta - Open your heart (8th) 1994 Sigga - Nætur (12th) 2019 Hatari - Hatrið mun sigra (10th) 2022 - Systur - Með hækkandi sól (23rd) 2009 Yohanna - Is it true? (2nd) 2025 Væb - Róa (25th) 2010 Hera Björk - Je ne sais quoi (19th) There would have been quite a few to pick up as well but these sounded the ones at this time and space.  Special mentions go to: 2013 Eyþór Ingi - Ég á líf (17th) 2007 Eirikur Hauksson - Valentine lost (sf 13th) 2005 Selma - If I had your love (sf 16th) 1985 ICY - Gleðibankinn (16th) 2018 Ari Olafsson - Our choice (sf 19th)

Now as Slovenia has withdrawn from Eurovision song contest at least in 2026, let's have a look of some Slovenian favorites of mine over the year. I have always had a soft spot for their debut entry in 1993.  Enjoy! 2011 Maja Keuc - No one (13th) 1997 Tanja Ribič - Zbudi se (10th) 2001 Nuša Derenda - Energy (7th) 2006 Anžej Dežan - Mr Nobody (sf 16th) 2015 Maraaya - Here for you (14th) 1993 IX Band - Tih deževen dan (22nd) 2008 Rebeka Dremelj - Vrag naz vzame (sf 11th) 2019 Zalagasper - Sebi (15th) 2012 Eva Boto - Verjamem (sf 17th) There would have been quite a few to pick up as well but these sounded the ones at this time and space.  Special mentions go to: 1996 Regina - Dan najlepših sanj (21st) 2002 Sestre - Samo ljubezen (13th) 2023 Joker Out - Carpe diem (21st) 2018 Lea Sirk - Hvala, ne! (22nd) 2025 Klemen - How much time do we have left (sf 13)

It's no secret I'm not a big fan of Junior Eurovision but one song, one winner has left an everlasting mark in my books: Georgia's 2008 JESC winner Bzikebi with their Bzzz. It's just what I think Jesc should be: fun, a bit silly, childish and age appropriate. I don't know what they have been up to in between but last month they re-appeared in Jesc 2025 that was held in Tbilisi as interval act. And from that the step to Vienna was short! They have been interbally chosen by GPB. The trio is made of Giorgi Shiolashvili ( გიორგი შიოლაშვილი), Mariam Kikuashvili ( მარიამ კიკუაშვილი) and Mariam Tatulashvili ( მარიამ თათულაშვილი). Back then they were all 10, now 27. Their entry for Vienna 2026 will be revealed later. Meanwhile enjoy some Bzzz below: