Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Also Denmark will have their final next Saturday and there my favourite by now is Sandee May with Spanish soul . Otherwise the field is open. I wouldn't mind Josefine & Lars with Sweet memories of you , if Denmark wants to be all jolly & happy again, or Simon Mathew with All night long if his fanbase will be activated. Or maybe a second chancer (like last year) Kendra Lou ? Oh well, if we follow this year's trend propably Amin Jensen or The Dreams will walk it....

Estonia had a string of wonderful entries and even after starting to choose the wrong entries had something good in their selections. This year there is nothing outstanding but if I have to choose three favourites they would be Iiris Vesik's Ice cold story with positively crazy melody, cello players á la Apocalyptica and Iiris singing like she was 5 years old. Or Rolf Junior's One on one hoping he would get the right sparkle in his eyes, too, to match with the look and the performance. Or Birgit Öigemeels' 365 days , a traditional big Eurovision ballad... But then, most likely Kreisiraadio will win it with the horrid and not funny at all Lato svet . And those few lines in Finnish amogst other languages aren't helping!

Today in Belgrad they did the draw for the two semifinals and it's looking good for Finland: Estonia, Greece and Israel are also in the first one along with Norway and Russia, all countries that managed to give us a point or two even when we failed everywhere else in the pre-Lordi era, unless my memory completely fails me. Here are the countries. The running orders will be drawn on March 17: Semifinal one on Tuesday May 20, 2008: Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland Israel, Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Slovenia, Germany (voting rights, will not participate) and Spain (voting rights, will not participate) Semifinal two on Thursday May 22, 2008: Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, France (voting rights, will not partic...

Stefan Filipović (21) won the Montenegro selection last night to be the artist for Belgrad. The song itself will be chosen later... Meanwhile here is his runner up in the Montenegro selection last year.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi9kMrHKsx8 (yawn....)

Are they the new Lordi?* Three semifinals were held this weekend besides the Maltese and the Czech Republic's finals. In Norway Torstein Sødal with Eastern wind and King of Trolls* with Far away qualified to the final while Lene Alexandra with Sillycone Valley and Ole Ivars with Som i himmelen went on to the second chance. Avalanche with Two monkeys on the roof and Maria Trøen with Hear when I'm calling are out of the game for good. In Iceland Davíð Þorsteinn Olgeirsson with In your dreams and Baggalútur with Hvað var það sem þú sást í honum? continue to the final while Bjartur Guðjónsson and The girl in the golden dress pack up and go home. And finally in Lithuania Auguste with Do somethin' , Mini Me with Yes , Nerri with Step into this world and Pokeris with Stone earned their ticket to the final.

Bulgaria has finished their semifinals and wildcard additions and all and this should be the final line up for the national final on February 23: Simona Sivanio - Obeshtay mi Nikolai Manolov - Po-dobre Dani Milev - Svetlinata i mraka Ivailo Kolev - Should've been the one Te & Preslava Peycheva - Taci vezer Ivan & Stani - You are magic Deep Zone & Balthazar - DJ, take me away Stoian Roianov - Sombero Generation - Running scared Georgi Hristov & Gianni Fiorelino - Sogno Nevena Tsoneva - TBA Desi Dobreva - Strong

Bulgarian TV has announced three wildcards to be added to the final line up and the Italianizing of Eurovision takes another step: Italian Sanremo veteran and Reality TV star Gianni Fiorellino from Naples is one of them in duet with Georgi Hristov . Fiorellino participated in Sanremo 2002 in new comers with Ricomincerei and the year after with Bastava un niente gaining 4th and 5th place. His latest collaboration in home soil is a duet with fabulous Fiordaliso . Hear it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61akgdUGNTk and watch Fiorellino in duet with Georgian Sopho here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BukZ5aqsLWo The other two wildcards are Nevena Tsoneva and Desi Dobreva

Writing team Borg-Vella scored their 5th victory in Malta in 8 years when all of sudden Morena's Vodka was declared the winner despite Claudia Faniello's two songs winning both televote and jury vote - but with different songs. Mind you, I didn't even include this one in my possible finalists in a previous post! I find it as irritating as Dancing lasha tumbai last year, without the humour that I learned to appreciate only much later. Now said that, this piece of noise will propably win the whole thing but what do I know? But how will the Finnish - and not only -authorities like the open alcohol advertising when it is not allowed on TV? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNDYnvM9pT4

Czech Republic has chosen a 21-year old step dancer Tereza Korndlová with a Britney-like B-class pop thingy Have some fun or Eurovision. She beat the other ones in number of SMS received despite a bit weak performance featuring her panties in a very Victoria's Secret inspired choreography. Oh humanity! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgB5yQnOZ2U

EBU has revealed the contents of the six pots that will be used to divide the countries in two semifinals. Fans have been going crazy trying to see more in them than there really is. EBU says the division is based on geographic location and mathematical voting patterns since 2004 when the semifinal was introduced. Zeljko Joksimovic will serve as the master of ceremonies. So, here they are: POT ONE: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia POT TWO: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden POT THREE: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Netherlands and Turkey POT FOUR: Andorra, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania POT FIVE: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine POT SIX: Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, San Marino and Switzerland and then there is of course the group of BIG4 and the host country that will be insert into the semifinals for voting and presentation purposes only: Fra...

The Israeli songs are out and one of the writers is Dana International herself. Now the speculation is high whether she will join Boaz Mauda on stage as there are rumours about possible duets and not only solo numbers. Dana International won for Israel exactly ten years ago with Diva and caused the biggest media fuss until the days of Lordi in the Eurovision.... The song and writers chosen for the Israeli final are: Ke'ilo kan (As if here) by Dana International and Shai Kerem Masa Haiyai (The journey of my life) by Itay Pearl Hin'e Ha'or (There's the light) by Ovadia Hamama Bli ahava (Without love) by Henree Parparim (Butterflies) by Doron Gal

Thursday in Malta they have the semifinal to sort out the finalists for Saturday's final and I have tried to pick up the ones. And in my book Eurovision veteran Mary Spiteri fights it against two artists who were just little children when she sung about Little child (1992) in Sweden, namely Claudia Faniello , who finally seems to step out from his brother's shadow and last year's revelation Klinsmann Coleiro . My pick for the final: 2. Claudia Faniello: Caravaggio 5. Morena: Casanova 6. Daniela vella: Throw your stones 10. Pamela: Whispers 11. Klinsmann Coleiro: Superhero 12. Jean-Claude Vencelli: Contradiction 15. Mary Spiteri: If you believe 17. Claudia Faniello: Sunrise

One of the national finals next weekend is Czech Republic, last year's debutant that came last in the semifinal. Unfairly so. Their entry Mala dama was melodic hardrock and I liked it. This year the have the same system as last year: artists were picked up with their songs and the videos and songs have been on line almost a month and people have been able to vote. And a mixed group of songs it is, and none of them is really what you would call Czech music (but then what is?). Anyways, after listening once or twice the songs I can only say all is fine as long as Daniel Nekonečný's Holiday won't win. Who is he anyways? Male Nina Hagen in Caribian? My favourite is Iva Frühlingová with Partir et revenir . If the French speaking countries won't provide a nice song in French let other do it, like Cyprus last year and hopefully Czech Republic this year! Listen it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94CCTXqhPGk Listen all the songs here: http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/program/...

Ruslan Alekhno and Hasta la vista will represant Belarus in Belgrade. He was chosen by a jury and none of the four participants had changed their song. Ruslan still has time, will he do it? Natalia , Sertab and Ruslana gave their best shots, too, while waiting for Lordi. What happened to them? This was their first and very unexpected appearence as they have stated many times the Helsinki 2007 would be their last Eurovision related thing they do... (Can I see the figures on their pay cheque, please?) Anyways, they took the stage at 23.12 local time and did Hard rock hallelujah , Would you love a monsterman and the brand new single Beast loose in paradise . Hasta la vista, baby! See & hear here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUioehfjdAI

While waiting for the official video and the movie here's a little tribute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dIjB5iPLK8

Tomorrow's the EuroFest, the Belarussian final for the Eurovision. Four songs are still in the running and after careful listening (not) I stand for Ruslan Alehno , even if he strikes as a poor man's Koldun . Not because he and his Hasta la vista would be so great, but because the other ones ( Gunesh , Litesound and Po glazam ) are just worse! Oh wait, this is Belarus! Propably all of them have changed their songs now and tomorrow we hear something completely different? More interesting are the guest stars Sertab Erener , Ruslana , Natalia Podolskaya and... did someone mention Lordi ? Is it April Fool's already? See Hasta la vista here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQHOgA60LlM

Lithuania has its second semifinal as well, and the superfavourite Sasha Son with Miss kiss made it easily to the final. Last night's four qualifiers will join the four acts from the first one plus two wild cards in the final. Sasha Son- Miss kiss 72 points ( Jury 38, Televote 34) Raimonda Masiulytė- Birdie tweet 60 points (Jury 30, televote 30) Funny Beat- Evertown 44 points (Jury 22, televote 24) Ingrida Žiliūtė- You 38 points (Jury 20, televote 18) Justina Adeikytė- Calling your name 37 points (Jury 16, televote 21) Face time – Celebrate 35 points (Jury 20, televote 15) Flaer- New love story 21 points (Jury 12, televote 9) Kristina Botyriūtė - Life is joyful 20 points (Jury 8, televote 12) Flaxon - Lietuva man kaip Paryžius13 points (Jury 7, televote 6) Angelas - Sunshine 6 points (Jury 3, televote 3) Watch the top-2 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4pGEY-tjA0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyE0riUAcoE

Yet another qualifier in Iceland but this time the songs that made it are really in the final! One of the best, if not the best, song made it; Magni Ásgeirsson with Nuna veit ég . In the previous qualifier he still sung it as a duet with Birgitta , will he sing it solo in the final?? The other one is Páll Rósinkrans with Gef mér von , while Ína Valgerður Pétursdóttir, Seth Sharp og Berglind Ósk Guðgeirsdóttir with Lullaby to peace is definately eliminated. See the original version with Birgitta here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO_7YH125Ls

The best selling foreign male artist in Finland in 2006 makes it to Denmark now.... and to Eurovision!

I missed the first Danish semi because I watched the Cypriot final last week but this week I did enjoy some Danish delights. The show started with Yawn, I mean Gunhild but picked up when Julie Rugaard took the stage. Next was Simon singing a happy song with a lot of celebrates and stuff so may I ask: why did he look so miserabel most of the time??? Next on stage was Kendra with her entourage singing a nice song and looking even better. Vocally very good. Then the 60's teenage summer love story by Josefine & Lars . Cute and sweet followed by Danish pussycats fronted by Sandee May that for some odd reason made me think of Pheobe from Friends?! Anyways, a very interesting song and voice. After them it's time for the obligatory Motown song in any national final by Lars . The back up singer on the right should go solo. Now. To end the show an obligatory punkrock thingy called The Dreams . These guys were all too sweet to be convincing bad boys. Interval acts were by Hej Mat...

The 90's are definately here. After Aqua, Ace of Base, Movetron and many others also Aikakone, the number one Finnish 90's europop band makes a comeback! They will release a double greatest hits with new songs in February. Their debut album in 1995 sold triple platinum in Finland. In 1996 they participated in Euroviisut with Ihan hiljaa (6th). Two more hit albums followed before a short break and chance to Aika in 2001 and an album in English. They were back in Euroviisut in 2002 with Stay (2nd). Band's songwriter Maki Kolehmainen took all top-3 in that year's Euroviisut, and has had songs in Estonian and Russian selections as well over the years. Get nostalgic here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EQNvCi4jRI and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK6cSCEuiJw

Crash with Get up! and Maria Haukaas Storeng with Hold on, be strong made their way to the final so no surprises here. Neither of them is really my cup of tea. My favourite Zuma with Always always and Anna Hvidsten with A little more went on to the second chance from this rather weak semi....

Carola is celebrating her 25 years in business by re-releasing a remastered version of her debut album Främling . It will be released on February 20, six days short of the night a star was born in Sweden on February 26, 1983 when she won the Melodifestivalen with full jury points, something no one else has managed. (And I was there at my aunt's, watching!) Later her album, that was recorded in a record time, with its singles, sold over one million copies. Her summer tour broke the public records in 24 out of 26 places (at least one of the non breaking places because of a storm). The re-elease will feature as a bonus different language versions of Främling with her other Melodifestivalen entries as well as a full Happy days album, for the first time on CD. Total of 36 songs of schlager history! Watch here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW0tY2ucBNo how it all started.... Besides that, on the big night, February 26 she will give a special concert in Palladium in Malmö

One of these three is going to be the first ever Azerbaijan Eurovision entrant. Will they send western pop with Elnur Guseynov ( centre ) or etno with Aynur Iskenderli ( right ) or maybe go rockier with Unformal ( left )? February 2 we will hear and see... on eurovision.tv's webcast that is!

These are the 24 songs chosen for the two Romanian semifinals, but not necessarily the artists. Again some Swedish writers, including Måns Zelmerlöv of all people, and a Slovenian one. Fan favourite Paula Seling seems to be set for a come back, and Rednex are just trying not to get disqualified this time... Stay tuned for changes and artist confirmations! C’ est la vie – Yanna Come this way – Zero Dragostea mea – Lucia Dumitrescu Dr Frankenstein – Master Måns (Sweden) Fairytale Story – Nicola Fight For Life – Nico Follow Me – Ada Heaven – Ana Mardare Love Is All I Need – Tabasco Mas conmigo – Viper Pe-o margine de lume – Nico şi Vlad Miriţă Prea mici sunt cuvintele – Leo Iorga & Pacifica RailRoad, RailRoad – Rednex feat. Ro-mania Şapte zile – Paula Seling şi Provincialii Shine – Oscar, Lars, Alexander, Fredrik (Sweden) Te iubesc – Adrian Enache The Key Of Life – Simona Nae Time To Rise – Maya (Slovenia) Vorbe care dor – 3 Sud-Est When We’re Together – Cătălin J...

Jippu got engaged in Rome, of all places, on New Year's with her boyfriend of many years, Markus Bollström. She tells the it all happened very quickly but the decision was easy "We had like half an hour to get the rings before the shops closed!" she tells in today's Ilta-Sanomat. Congratulations and good luck for Euroviisut!

Latvia will have two semifinals in February and the final on March 1. Here are the hopefuls (with quite a many Swedish composers amongst them....): 1. All come together - Elli U and Miks Dukurs Group 2. You really got me going - Aisha 3. Fly to the moon - Janis Moisejs 4. Put some love in the world - Iedomu Sparni 5. Observations - Iveta Baumane 6. Take me home - Elizabete Zagorska 7. Lovely Dexter - Funny Pictures 8. Mr.Weatherman - Camillas & Viče Almana 9. If I only knew - Sabīne Berezina 10. Wolves of the sea - Pirates of the Sea 11. Broken lullaby - Andris Ērglis 12. More than 27 - Jöran Steinhauer and Guntis Veilands 13. Bye bye - Triānas Parks 14. Memory lane – Peater Garden & Juris Vizbulis 15. I’m a part of you - Déjà vu 16. One last touch - Dace Planāre 17. Download your dreams - Lily (Linda Kalnina) 18. The one - Borowa Mc feat. Kips 19. Until you find a friend - Kristina Zaharova feat. Julian 20. Summertime - Funky Drivers

Looks like Johnson & Häggkvist are planning a more durable co-operation than just Melodifestivalen. Their first single Lucky star has been released today to download, the same song they performed last night on TV. Apparently some critics are saying this match is similar to Marie Fredrikson and Per gessle getting together in the early 1980's. That became Roxette, as we know.... See and hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Nv6Qw-4n8

The nominations for Emma awards, or the Finnish Grammys are out today. Lauri Tähkä & Elonkorjuu that I tipped for Euroviisut got six nominations, Anna Abreu that I also tipped and hoped got five, as well as Apulanta and Nightwish. Former and future Euroviisut artists include Vesa-Matti Loiri ( male artist ), Nightwish ( metal album, album of the year, song of the year, band, people's choice ), Kari Tapio ( pop album ), Johanna Kurkela ( pop album ) Paula Koivuniemi ( pop album, people's choice ), Tarja Turunen ( people's choice ). Apocalyptica ( metal album, song of the year, band ) and Johanna Jukola & Milla Viljamaa ( etno album ) from the Eurovision song contest 2007 interval acts are also nominated for their latest work.

It was a yes after all. Carola returns to Melodifestivalen for the 5th time but for the first time as a duet, with Andreas Johnsson singing One love in the 3rd semifinal. Niklas Strömstedt will sing För många ord om kärlek in the 1st one, Eskobar Hallelujah new world in the 2nd one and Amy Diamond Thank you in the 4th and last one. She will turn 16 just in time to compite. It will be interesting to see if Carola can keep up her record as well as Andreas - nothing but a win would be a way down....

Six songs have withdrawn from the Macedonian final. Hasn't it been awfully quiet at this region so far what comes to Eurovision mess ups?? Anyways, the songs by Maja Vukicevic, Agon & Džoksi, Sanja Lefkova, Igor Šarevski, Filip Jordanovski and Bojan & Big Mama will NOT be heard in the final....

Hungary returns to national final format after last year's fortunate adventure in Helsinki. 15 acts will compite to follow Magdi Rúzsa's success on February 8: EZ ONE zenekar Candis Imre Zsuzsa Vágó Zsuzsi - Mészáros Árpád Zsolt Antal Zsuzsa & Fishers Company DURE Lola 21 gramm Gál Csaba Boogie Szekeres Adrienn Hoffmann Mónika Fiesta Szatmári Orsolya Csézy Pflum Orsolya

Eurovision song contest 2007 won the Venla Award (or the Finnish Emma) last night as the best music program of 2007 in Finland. Each of Finland's 5 main TV-channels (YLE1, YLE2, MTV3, Nelonen and FSTV) can nominate up to two programs to each category.

Montenegro has chosen six experienced artists and will pick up the artists amogst them first, then the song. The artists are Nenad Knežević Knez , Vesna Milačić Kaja , (Montevizija 2005, Evropresma 2006 ), Stefan Filipović , (Montenegrosong 2007), Grim , (Montevizija 2006, Montenegrosong 2007), Andrea Demirović (Montenegrosong 2007) and Jelena Kažanegra (Montevizija 2006). As we can see all except Knez have previous national selection experience, too!

While Cyprus was having its final and Switzerland waiting for Paolo Meneguzzi on stage, also Lithuania, Denmark and Iceland were having their semifinals or such. In Lithuania Jeronimas Milius with Nomads in the night , Justas Lapatinskas with Muziką garsiau!, Laiptai with Aš rasiu and Vilma Voroblevaitė with Vakaras qualified for the final from the first semifinal. In Iceland it was time for the first second chance show and Dr. Spock with Hvar ertu nú? got a ticket to the final while Hafdís Huld Þrastardóttir with Boys and perfume and Margrét Kristín Sigurðardóttir with Bigger shoes had to say goodbye for good. In Denmark Anne-Marie & Claus Hassing with Come on over , Charlie with Den jeg er , Amin Jensen with Luciano and UNITE with Tree of life conquered the voters and went on to the final. Anorah surprisingly didn't make it....

Paolo Meneguzzi presented his entry for Switzerland last night for the first time and as expected he was stupendo and so is his song, Era stupendo. Watch and hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1IihTZs9tQ .

Evdokia came, sung and looked a lot like young Evridiki singing a song she might have done in the early 1990's, in Greek - the only one - and beat Nikolas to 2nd place. Shame. Nikolas clearly had the best songs of the night, threatened only by Evdokia and Marlain, whose rock chick trick wasn't enough and she got rejected. Evridiki herself performed, so did Dimitris and their songs were better than any of the real contenders. A lot of shaky voices or just a bit boring songs and what was Sofia wearing? Did she escape from the Moomin valley or the valley of the dolls? But in all a pretty good final and the webcast from Cypriot tv worked fine while the one provided by eurovision.tv failed completely. At least here... On the positive side the song's in Greek despite the title and brings some original flavor to Belgrad. And a guaranteed 12 points from Greece. 1. Femme fatale - Evdokia Kadi 104 2. I can’t be - Nikolas Metaxas0 100 3. Rejection - Marlain Angelidou 84 4. Turning to ...

Many familiar names in the Macedonian final from the previous national finals: 1. Aneta Kačurkova - Poraka 2. Tuna - Prašuvam bez glas 3. Igor Mitrović - Se sakame 4. None - Vrati se 5. Saša Vučković - Sé što znam 6. Lambe Alabakovski - Zemjo moja 7. Risto Samardžiev - Mediteran ska 8. Nokaut - Samovila 9. Synthesis - Docna e 10. Sonja Tarčulovska - Balada 11. Jova Radevska - Jas sum ovde 12. Vlatko Ilievski - So drugi zborovi 13. Parketi - Strawberry 14. Tamara feat. Vrčak & Adrian Gaxha - Izgubena vo noćta 15. Elvir Mekić - Armija 16. Maja Vukićević - Apolon 17. Agon & Džoksi - Kubana 18. Sanja Lefkova - Životot e tvoj 19. Igor Šarevski - Slatka mala 20. Filip Jordanovski - Eden čekor ili dva 21. Bojan & Big Mama - Holivud

Veronica Akselsen with latin inspired ballad Am I supposed to love again and Ann-Marie Anderson with Sami language Ándagassii qualified straight to the final while Tinkerbells with Hold on and Podium with Lystgass will have a second chance later. Am I supposed to love again was also my favourite but I didn't warm up much to the Sami etno thingy....

I said earlier I would shamelessly promote Jippu here and I still plan to, but I must admit Cristal Snow's latest video Scarred is pretty fabulous! Somehow it looks like post-Lordi Lapland, he being the last survivor of that Lordi's explosion in the Eurovision 2007 opening video waking up to a new morning.... And the female backing vocalist brings something extra to the song. If his Euroviisut entry is something like this I will love it! Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUacdgw-aoY You can also watch The making of part 1 & 2 if you are into Lappish wilderness, freezing wind and Cristal Snow!

This year's Finnish selection has a record number of entries in Finnish since the language rule was liberated, 8 out of 12. Some veteran song writers are behind the songs even if most artists are also songwriters themselves. Kerkko Koskinen of Ultra Bra has even two songs, Pertti Haverinen and Risto Asikainen are also no strangers to Euroviisut. Here are the songs: HEAT 1 - FEBRUARY 8 Kari Tapio - Valaise yö (Light up night) Music: Pertti HaverinenLyrics: Ilkka Vainio - Pertti Haverinen Arrangement: Pertti Haverinen Hanna Marsh - Broken Flower Music:. Hanna Marsh Lyrics: Hanna Marsh Arrangement: Lennart Östlund Movetron - Cupido Music:. Jukka Tanttari Lyrics: Timo Löyvä Arrangement: Jukka Tanttari - Timo Löyvä Crumbland - Pleasure Music:. Crumbland Lyrics: Crumbland Arrangement: Crumbland - Mikko Raita HEAT 2 - FEBRUARY 15 Mikael Konttinen - Milloin (When) Music: Kerkko Koskinen Lyrics: Kyösti Salokorpi Arrangement: Kerkko Koskinen Jippu - Kanna minut (Carry me) Music:. Markus Kos...

The latest Melodifestivalen wildcard rumour is that Carola, after travelling home in the back trunk of a car from the Swedish Grammis (none of the Eurovision stars nominated was awarded btw), has said no to Eurovision after all. But a new name has been thrown in: Peter Jöback! I would say it's about the time. I have been wondering where he has been since his debut in 1990. Perfect Eurovision artist: sings musicals and classics and occasional pop. Sings high and looks good. Gay. What else do we need?

One of the debutants this year, Azerbaijan, plans big for their first ever national final. Five acts that have been chosen as artists are getting songs from big names in the business and the final will feature three previous Eurovision winners as guests: Toto Cutugno (1990), Ruslana (2004) and last year's winner Marija Serifovic. The cherry on the cake is Dima Bilan, Russian runner up in 2006.... Here are the singers: Elnur Aynur Iskenderova Erkin Osmanli Aytaj Jafarova Unformal

Iltalehti readers have had their say on who's the worst dressed in Finland. Amogst various "vips", TV personalities and such the rapper Kana comes out at number one. Three Euroviisut stars made the list, too. Laura Voutilainen is at number 5 "chameleontic in her change of styles but carries with dignity every horrible tasteless piece of dress she ends up wearing". Hanna Pakarinen is at number 9 "somewhere under all that black and heavy make up is a beautiful young woman" and Anna Eriksson at number 10 concludes the list "today gipsy, tomorrow wall flower. Shame, with some styling she would look stunning"... Enough said.

Germany goes from 3 to 5 and have these five acts to choose from, everything from Japanese wannabes to Spanish wannabes, from Popstars winners to Mamma Mia! musical star.... No Angels - Disap Marquess - La histeria Tommy Reeve - Only one woman Cinema Bizarre - Forever or never Carolin Fortenbacher - Hinter'm Horizont

Music for "Black Ice", written by Apocalyptica's Eicca Toppinen has been nominated as the best music in the Jussi Awards, the Finnish Oscars. The title song is performed by Hanna Pakarinen.... See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbSGKscdORc

Malta has selected the final 17 songs to participate in the semifinal on February 24. Two days later only 8 will fight for the ticket to Belgrad. Former winners Mary Spiteri and Chris & Moira made it to this stage, as well as both Claudia Faniello songs. Also several other singers have two songs in the running. Last year they had to find new singers but this year?! Gerard James Borg and Philip Vella have a record number of five entries in the top-17! Apparently they are Vodka, Casanova, Superhero, Tangled and Throw your stones. 1. Loved by you – Pamela & Glen 2. Caravaggio - Claudia Faniello 3. Give me a chance - Eleanor Cassar 4. My last encore - Mary Spiteri 5. Casanova - Morena 6. Throw your stones - Daniela Vella 7. Love is just the way - Rosman Pace 8. Go - Klinsmann Coleiro 9. Vodka - Morena 10. Whispers - Pamela 11. Superhero - Klinsmann Coleiro 12. Contradiction - Jean Claude Vancell 13. Alright - Chris & Moira 14. Tangled - Jessica Muscat 15. If you b...

Expressen puts their money on Carola & Anders while Aftonbladet seems to be sure child-wonder-finally-of-Eurovision-age Amy Diamond , Niklas Strömstedt and Eskobar would be the other ones. Niklas wrote Imorgon är en annan dag in 1992, the song that came second to last (needless to add Finland was last?) but don't hold it against him, he has written good stuff over the years. Eskobar would be the Ark-alike act to complete the list, according Christer Björkman. Let's wait and see....