Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

"I would go to Eurovision. Totally." told Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters on BBC Radio Five live. "If I was asked I would gladly do it for you. I'd be happy to! " So, after BBC asked Jason Donovan and apparently Hurts this year and ended up wwith Engelbert Humperdinck and 25th place, maybe they should not look any further than this. Scissor Sisters would actually be pretty perfect for an Eurovision stage, especially in Sweden. They might be American (but so is Katrina of The Waves) but they call the UK their spiritual home and have a following in Europe. This could also be of course only a publicity stunt as their new album Magic Hou r hits the stores this week.... The latest single is Only the horses and other hits include  I don't feel like dancing , Any which way and  Fire with fire . They could surely stage one Eurovision cliches filled 3 minutes! In a good way...

Albania's Rona Nishliu who came 5th in Baku with her groundbreaking Suus, was welcomed home as a hero. She scored the best result for Albania to date and it adds to the the fact she won the 50th Festivali i Këngës and Albania celebrates its 100th anniversary of independence! A huge crowd was waiting for her and she also met with the prime minister of Albania Sali Berisha.  Not only does Rona have incredibly voice, also her song is very special. Or you get it, or you just think it's endless screming or "woman in agony giving a birth to a baby" as someone described. I love it. I get it. Enjoy it again - or try to get it - here . And read her exclusive interview here . And don't forget the English jazz version !

Nina Zilli is back in Italy where many expected a victory but she came home with a respectful 9th place, or "nono posto" and it's that what she has now taken as her new nickname, Nona Zilli, 9th Zilli. "I knew I was considered a candidate for the victory but it didn't come. But it's ok, I'm happy anyways. I managed to make my music known in many, many countries and everything went well, that's all that matters. I have played basket ball for many years and I know how to take defeat. You win and you lose. You just have to level with it and go on."   She also tells she prefered in Baku the old town to the new town but unfortunately she had to spend more time in the new one. "From my hotel room I saw the Flame towers and a boutique with all the luxury labels but just around the corner was the old city, alleys from the 6th century, echoes of the minarets, people who love Italy and like in Italy, those you have little are easier to share the ...

One thing is now clear. It is very unlikely Stockholm city will host the Eurovision song contest 2013. The Globen arena is occupied by the Ice hockey World championships and the building of Stockholmsarenan (30.000 seats) next to it has been delayed and will be ready only in summer 2013. All this due to the manufacturer of the concrete plates Betongmästarna Sverige AB that has had delivering problems and in fact went bankrupt earlier this week. The city of Stockholm is suing the main builder Peab for 11 million euros for damage.  Friends Arena in Solna, a city next to Stockholm now gets all the support from the city of Stockholm. This arena is also in the building right now, will have a capacity of 50.000-67.500 and should be opened on October 27, 2012. Also Melodifestivalen 2013 final will take place here. If it will be here we will be calling it Eurovision 2013 in Stockholm but it's really in Solna instead. Greater-Stockholm yes, but not Stockholm. Solna is a t...

Every year we talk endlessly about the blocks, neighbors voting for each and such. The guys over at 12points.tv have done an interesting count how it would have gone without that in 2012. And guess what, it doesn't change much! Have a look here . And have you wondered about Azerbaijan's success the past few years? Have you noticed they are voted by neighbors and small European countries mainly...? 12points.tv investigates also that here .  Are you suffering from P.E.D.? They also give useful tips how to cope with that here . 

The Nordic countries Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland along the United Kingdom and Austria are apparently demanding new rules for the Eurovision song contest with new ethics excluding the dictatorships or the countries without proper democracy and/or the countries without proper human rights. That means Belarus and Azerbaijan, and maybe even Russia and Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. EBU should discuss the matter in their meeting in late June. This incident seems to have been the last drop to NRK and others in Azerbaijan. It also seems Sweden has chosen the human rights as the theme of Eurovision 2013 already.

Dutch nu.nl reports :   Azerbaijan claims to have terrorist attacks occur during the Eurovision Song Contest.  The Ministry of Security in the country said on Wednesday 40 members of a group of suspected conspirators have been arrested. The Contest took place last week.  The terrorist group was planning attacks on the Crystal Hall where the contest was held, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Alijev, police buildings, hotels, mosques and other religious places. They were in possession of tickets for the contest, let the Ministry know. The security forces seized the members of the group during operations in Baku, Ganja, Sumgayit and other regions of the country. One of the conspirators was slain.  A spokeswoman for the TROS, the Dutch delegation sent to the contest, said nothing of an impending attack to have noticed.  

The Eurovision song contest final 2011 was watched by 1.323.000 Finns making it the 5th most watched TV program of the year (only Ice Hockey world championship games and TV news related to them went ahead, and Finland won by the way!).  This year the final was watched by 558.000 Finns, slightly more than the first semifinal (505.000) and the second semifinal (300.000). The drop in line is comparable to the flop of UMK final's 454.000 viewers instead of the usual nearly one million. The semifinals were watched by less than 300.000 thus not making the top-20, when in 2011 they were watched by some 500.000.  And YLE is still planning to go ahead with UMK in 2013. No further comment. 

The stage in Baku's Crystal Hall hasn't probably yet been completely taken down when in Sweden the guessing for the future Eurovision 2013 hosts are being discussed in a serious matter. At the moment there are two front runners, namely Måns Zelmerlöf and sarah Dawn Finer. Both singers with Melodifestivalen experience. Måns also has gone a long way from Cara mia to become Sweden's hottest male host in TV, and Sarah of course charmed the nation and not only as one of the hostesses for Melodifestivalen this year. And what to say about her alter ego Lynda Woodruff who gave out the Swedish votes in Baku? Could she take it over? But there are about two dozen other names in the talks from Gina Dirawi to Jovan Radomir, from Charlotte Perrelli to lena Philipsson, Carola, Mark Levengood and Petra Mede. Just to name a few. 

Loreen was officially welcomed home this evening in the center of Stockholm when thousands of people gathered to Hötorget where she performed on the rooftop. Watch it here .  It's not quite like Lordi's homecoming, is it? Here . :-)

As you may know, there was another strong earthquake in the northern-central Italy hitting the areas that were damaged already 9 days ago. Today we had at least 15 victims and serious material damage. Nina Zilli put this message to her official Facebook :  ogni tanto la natura ci ricorda chi è che comanda e a noi non resta che AIUTARCI. usate questa pagina per linkare aiuti, info e tutto quello che vi pare per far fronte alle disgrazie di tanti esseri umani. un abbraccio grande, sono con voi. stay soul z sometimes the nature shows us who's in charge and all we can do is HELP US. please use this page to link help and useful information and anything you want in this misfurtune of so many human beings. a big hung, i'm with you. stay soul. z And indeed there is a lot of information; which hotels are offering free accommodation for those in need, what to do to help people use Skype where phones are not working and so on. The initiative contin...

If Arlanda's airport was packed when waiting for Loreen's return ( here ), no one noticed that at the same time also Finland's Pernilla arrived to Helsinki airport. Not a single fan was expecting her and only one media was there to welcome her home. Truth to be said her flight was some five hours late. How come most everyone I hear have sent hours and hours in Istanbul airport both going to Baku and coming back...? Pernilla told she was very tired but had a great time in Baku. After Tuesday's semifinal where she placed 12th and also got 12 points from Hungary, she stayed in Baku and followed the rehearsals and other shows. After all she's a true Eurovision fan!

The Eurovision 2012 is over and most everyone has left the city and Azerbaijan, the winner Loreen has just arrived home, Nina Zilli just tweeted she had a long sleep and woke up at 8pm, Tooji's back home, too.... But did you know it didn't go all so well for a Norwegian delegation, when one of them ended beaten up, threatened, and amused causing Norway almost to pull out from the contest.  Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) almost pulled Tooji out of the competition before it even started on Saturday, to protest the treatment that an NRK team received upon departure from Baku. NRK reported that they were detained at the airport, threatened and abused by Azerbaijani police, apparently because the Azerbaijani authorities were provoked by the content of material broadcast by the team, which included a Norwegian-Iranian comedian who works for NRK’s channel P3.“But we chose to go ahead (with Tooji’s performance),” said NRK’s program director, Per Arne Kalbakk. “Pulling Tooji...

Loreen landed in Arlanda airport tonight around 22.25 and one hour later she met the press and a few hundred fans waiting for her. While waiting the fans kept singing her Euphoria . The homecoming was webcasted live by both Aftonbladet and Expressen! Tomorrow the big party in Hötorget in Stockholm. That will be broadcasted live on TV2 (19.00-19.30 CET). Move out Carola and Charlotte, Sweden's got a new schlager queen!

Christer Björkman is one happy man. Sp happy that he jumped to the pool fully cloathed after the final. Loreen went to bed instead, btw. As you can read in Blogilkar's exclusive interview with the man here Eurovision means a lot to him and I have a feeling he won't retire. At least for a year!  Meanwhile the Swedish delegation is expected back home tonight 22.25 at Arlanda airport while already today there's a meeting in SVT to start preparing the Eurovision 2013. Three cities seem to be fighting over the right to organize the contest: Stockholm, Malmö and Göteborg

Loreen's winning entry Euphoria is #1 all over iTunes and one would think it's a perfect time to release an album but no, it will only come in September 5, 2012. She will release a new single late July-August, then the album. He record company is telling they really want to do things well and prove Loreen is more than one song and will make a world star. She won't lack songs as it seems everyone wants to write for her and be on her debut album in Sweden and beyond. Prior Euphoria Loreen has only three singles to her credit; The snake in 2005 after Idol, and My heart is refusing me from Melodifestivalen 2011 that was produced by Måns Zelmerlöv who actually started a record company just to be able to sign her! Last year she also released Sober . Here's some more of her.

The Russian president Putin doesn't miss any good publicity stunt and now he's got his eye on the Russian grannies. His office has sent this message to the press and he plans to visit Buranovo soon, also to check out if it true they have only one TV in that village of 650 souls, at the rural council's office!  “I sincerely congratulate Buranovskiye Babushki who came second at the Eurovision contest.  I am amazed by the talent and enthusiasm, with which Buranovskiye Babushki performed their song. Performing songs, including in Udmurt, is a wonderful popularization of our multicultural country. Hopefully soon many people in Russia and  Moscow will be able to listen their live performances.  I will make a trip to Udmurtia in the very near future and personally meet the grannies,  visit their village, see how its occupants live."  

The lights have hardly been turned off in Crystal Hall when the first announcements of those who will be in Sweden 2013 are coming in.  Armenia  in the front line. But also Belarus and Albania didn't waste time to say yes and also Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Switzerland, Ireland, Bulgaria, France, Romania and Spain are going to be back. Let's see if Sweden and EBU's new plans of a shorter and smaller scale Eurovision will attract the missing children of Andorra, Czech Republic, Monaco and Poland back and keep the others participating, most of all San Marino, Slovakia and Italy. And will Kazakhstan and/or Liechtenstein make their debut?

Or actually not. She told she has been taking beta blockers, often used by sportsmen to improve their performance when you need good nerves and steady hand. It is forbidden in some sports like shooting. However she tells she didn't take it for the final. "I watched the video of the rehearsals that I had been taking it and something was missing, the connection. I decided not to take it and it went much better!"  She told also that her mother was her best support in the end. Loreen, who is a little hermit by nature and prefers to do yoga in silence rather than go to parties went through a very tough two weeks when in Baku. She had to deal with the pressure of being almost the only favorite to win, the critic by the other contestants and organizers, problems with her voice and the tight rehearsal schedule, not to mention the balancing between being a private person with political views and opinions on human rights in Azerbaijan and the artist who could not say a word in t...

Today even the royal guards had an euphoric performance to the delight of the tourists! :-) Here .

Eurovision made for Americans. Or rather how The Hollywood Reporter, world's leading entertainment magazine wrote about it:  “BAKU, Azerbaijan – Swedish singer Loreen won the 57th Eurovision Song Contest in the early hours of Sunday, easily outdistancing a field that included a Russian folk group made up of six dancing grandmothers and 1960s and 1970s crooner Englebert Humperdinck. Television and online viewership estimates ranged from 100 million to as many as 160 million viewers, nearly twice the audience of the average Super Bowl. The event, which first starting pitting singers representing different countries against each other in 1955, is by some measures the world’s most watched non-sporting event. Loreen won the title just days after angering local Azerbaijani authorities by meeting with civil rights activists protesting ahead of the gala event. Those protests and the resulting police crackdown somewhat marred the glitzy — and often quirky ...

The times have changed. Not so many years ago we had the physical singles and charts based on them. Today the entries are not necessarily printed as singles at all (Hello, Finland?) but we have iTunes charts and it seems Loreen's Euphoria is taking over that in all over Europe and not only. Isn't it nice that you can just download an anonymous file on your computer and help creating #1s in a flash just like that? Call me old fart but I'm old school. I want to go to a store and buy the single and hold it in my hands... :-) Anyways, Euphoria  went to iTunes #1 (when writing this) at least  in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, Greece, Malta, Belgium, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Hungary, Portugal...  #8 in France, #15 in Australia, #22 in Italy, #52 in Poland, #158 in Mexico #169 New Zealand.... I will update this as new information emerges....

What is SVT to do? Sweden is hosting jointly with Finland the Ice Hockey World championships in Stockholm  on May 3-19, 2013. This year the semifinals and final was played in Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, the venue of Eurovision 2007 while half of the earlier games in Globen, Sweden. In 2013 it will be the other way around. And don't underestimate this as this is for us Nordics this is like the football world champs. So, it takes the full effort of the TV-crew, equipment and stuff of SVT.  The preliminary dates of Eurovision 2013 are set to May 14, 16 and final on 18. I doubt they can manage both at the same time. My guess is the dates will be changed two weeks ahead meaning the final would be only on June 1, 2013 or/and it won't be in Stockholm.... We will see. This is getting interesting now....

Nina Zilli's performance in the Eurovision song contest 2012 had a peak in the viewing figures in Italy when over 2 million Italians or 9,1%  turned in to watch her belt it out on stage of Crystal Hall in Baku. Otherwise the show was watched by over 1,4 million viewers and 7,51% making it the 6th most watched TV program last night. Not excellent but maybe better than expected... She finished at somewhat disappointing 9th place besides being one of the hot favorites... If we look at the minute by minute share Rai2 was leading briefly during the voting reaching almost 15% share!

Swedish Thomas G:son has finally won the Eurovision song contest with Euphoria . He can also be proud of his Quèdate conmigo that finished 10th. But how many times has he tried before? 2001 Sweden - Listen to your heart beat - Friends (5th) 2006 Sweden - Invincible - Carola (5th) 2007 Norway - Ven a bailar conmigo - Guri Schanke (18th/SF) 2007 Spain - I love you mi vida - D'NASH (20th) 2010 Denmark - In a moment like this - Chanée & Thomas N'Evergreen  2012 Sweden - Euphoria - Loreen (winner) 2012 Spain - Quédate conmigo - Pastora Soler (10th) Besides that he has 32 songs in the Melodifestivalen in Sweden since 1999, six songs in the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix since 2003, three songs in the Danish Melodi grand Prix since 2010, four songs in the Finnish Euroviisut since 2002, 12 songs in the Spanish national selection since 2007, one in Latvia, Belgium, Romania and two in Poland. That's the total of 62 songs!

Ok, let's have a look at how the countries did with calm after last night's euphoria.  In the first semifinal the winner was Russia as expected with surprisingly Albania close second. On the other hand only Albania didn't give it any points. One could say these two songs are the extreme ends of styles this year. Montenegro scored 12 from Albania and 8 from San Marino and nothing else! Austria came last. Finland gave 12 to Russia, 10 to Iceland, 8 to Denmark, 7 to Ireland, 6 to Moldova, 5 to Albania, 4 to Hungary, 3 to israel, 2 to Belgium and 1 to Cyprus. Ireland got its only 12 from San Marino. Finland received 12 from Hungary (!!!), 8 from Denmark, 6 from Latvia, 3 from Ireland, 2 from Israel and one point from Albania, Belgium and Switzerland, a total of 41 points and 12th place . Full results here .  In the second semifinal Sweden and Serbia were clear favorites with Sweden winning. Sweden got points from everyone, Serbia everyone but Turkey! Su...

YLE has published the votes Finland gave and who were in the jury. The Finnish jury was Anni Hautala (radio speaker), Kristiina Wheeler (singer), Freeman (singer), Maki Kolehmainen (composer, producer) and Leri Leskinen (musicians, producer). They gave the following points: 12 points to Sweden + televotes = 12 10 points to Estonia + televotes = 10 8 points to Denmark + televotes = 5 7 points to Spain + televotes = 3 6 points to Russia + televotes = 8 5 points to Iceland + televotes = 7 4 points to France + televotes = 0 3 points to Germany + televotes = 1 2 points to Albania + televotes = 6 1 point to Norway + televotes = 0 0 points to Ireland + televotes = 4 0 points to Serbia + televotes = 2

So, Sweden took its 5th victory after 1974, 1984, 1991 and 1999.  Zeljko Joksimovic has now 2nd and 3rd place as a singer plus 3rd and 6th as a composer! Albania got its best placement ever with Rona Nishliu and UK, France, Cyprus, Norway, Ireland and Iceland must be very disappointed. I'm so happy for Albania, Estonia and Macedonia doing so well. Not so happy for Italy and especially Azerbaijan's 4th place. And who would have thought Lithuania ends up 14th??!! In my prediction I got 8 right :-) Sweden, Russia, Serbia, Estonia, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary and France. A few others were a close call. 22 countries managed to score the top-3 marks. Sweden got the most 12s with 18 (a new record; Rybak got 16)  followed by Albania, Azerbaijan and Serbia with four. Macedonia, Greece and Cyprus got two and Turkey, Moldova, Russia, Lithuania, Spain and Romania one. Serbia got most 10s (9) folloed by Sweden, Russia and Germany (5), Azerbaijan and Estonia (3). Russia got the most 8s...

Loreen did it. She managed to keep up the hype and collect votes from all over Europe in unison - I think only Italy left her pointless? 18 times 12, 5 times 10 and 3 times 8. Russian grannies second, Serbia third :-) And I'm so happy for Albania, Estonia and Macedonia! How come it takes always a Nordic country to break records? First Finland with Lordi (296), then Alexander Rybak for Norway (387) and now Loreen nearly overpassed Rybak with 372 - if Italy had given her 12 it was done! And Finland came 12th in the first semifinal. Results of the semifinals: Russia - 152 Albania - 146 Romania - 120 Greece - 116 Moldova - 100 Ireland - 92 Cyprus - 91 Iceland - 75 Denmark - 63 Hungary - 52 Switzerland - 45 Finland - 41 Israel - 33 San Marino - 31 Montenegro - 20 Latvia - 17 Belgium - 16 Austria - 8 Sweden - 181 Serbia - 159 Lithuania - 104 Estonia - 100 Turkey - 80 Bosnia - Herzegovina - 77 Malta - 70 ...

Mr Lordi is ready and waiting to give out the Finnish points! Mr Lordi giving 12 points to Buranovskiye Babushki will enter the Eurovision history..... ;-)

Ok, the moment of truth. I keep repeating myself as this is so hard this year. I would like to forget the diaspora and the draw and all that but I have tried to take that account here as well. A little at least! And my heart cries when I look the countries that I have placed as 21st-26th as I like them all. In fact I like ALL the final songs but someone has to end up last unfortunately. This said, probably I get it all wrong but that's the beauty of Eurovision! You never know.... I have divided the countries in groups of five as I couldn't possible put them in order for a prediction as I can't even put them in order of my own preference! Here goes: 1st - 5th - Italy, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden 6th -10th - Cyprus, Estonia, Ireland, Malta, Ukraine  11th-15th - Germany, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey 16th-20th - Albania, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Norway, United Kingdom 21th-26th - Bosnia & Herzegovina, France, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, M...

The order for the voting has been determined  by the results from last night's Jury Final. An algorithm has been created to try and make the voting as exciting as possible. Remember how Italy was nowhere in the beginning and then slowly started its raise to the top and runner up?  Among the spokespersons many familiar names and faces and even one winner, Finland's Mr Lordi! The former contestants Paula Seling, Dmitry Koldon, Safura, Amaury Vassili, Matthias Matthiasson, Getter Jaani, Sopho along with national finalists Sarah Dawn Finer and Aleksey Matius and last year's hostess Anke Engelke are just some of them! Albania - (Andri Xhahu) Montenegro - (Marija Markovic) Romania - (Paula Seling) Austria - (Kati Bellowitsch) Ukraine - (Aleksey Matius) Belarus - (Dmitry Koldun) Belgium - (Peter Van de Veire) Azerbaijan - (Safura Alizadeh) Malta - (Keith Demicoli) San Marino - (Monica Fabbri) France - (Amaury Vassili) United Kingdom - (Scott Mills) Turkey ...

The news about Loreen coughing during her jury final performances has made the rounds around the world today and some are speculating if that may have cost her the victory. We will know in few hours. But maybe it was the first time we hear a cough in Eurovision. But no really, it wasn't as we didn't. That was a rehearsals that we are not even supposed to be watching, lol. But here it is anyways.  And I have always been wondering how they manage singing with the fake snow, smoke, wind machines, smoke from pyros and god knows what else there is going on stage these days... But I have to say after relistening this performance that fake snow moment wasn't her only trouble. She was off several times before it and after, too. The dancing was a bit off, too, at times. Clearly not her best performance in my books. Cough or no cough. 

The Italian fans are in outrage after the head of RAI entertainment Giancarlo Leone tweeted "Eurosong tonight. Nina Zilli as a favorite. Who wins organize the next year say the rules. But it's not obligatory. " Past days various comments have made us believe RAI is in it for real and is ready and willing to organize Eurovision 2013 should they win, and even the city of Torino has popped us a hot favorite for the occasion. Leone, who is knows to be very anti-Eurovision has now pulled the rug under the hopes of the fans who are ready to say their mind by tweeting him back @giankaleone . Why don't you tweet him as well? And after making Eurovision with #Escita the number one in Twitter trending topics last Tuesday the fans tonight they are ready for another attack so all readers all over Europe and world, join and tweet! Also #eurovision will do. Forza ragazzi, ce la possiamo fare! Uniti, uniti! 

Here it is again, what's another year? In semifinals we have said good byes to Montenegro, Latvia, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, Israel, San Marino, Austria, the Netherlands, Belarus, Portugal, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Georgia and Slovakia - no big surprises there really. Tonight the grand final at 21 CET for the 57th time. The biggest favorite of them all to win this is Sweden followed by Russia and Italy, but we can't rule out United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Serbia either. And what about Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Romania? I guess we can't rule out Ukraine, Estonia and Iceland either... Can Sweden keep up with the hype and win it after all? Or will the Russian grannies melt the hearts of the juries as well? Or will Nina Zilli boom boom her way to the top and give RAI something to think about? Tonight we will know... 01. UNITED KINGDOM - Engelbert Humperdinck - Love will set you free 02. HUNGARY - Compact Disco - Sound of our hearts 03. ALBANIA - Rona Nis...

The second dress final, also known as Jury final has just started in Baku's Crystal Hall. The juries will cast their votes based on tonight's performances and that's 50% so it counts. There will be fireworks and flying men in the opening and then Eldar and Nikki take the stage to sing once more their winning entry from last year, Running scared . Many people have been running scared in Baku there past weeks but for different reasons. The female presenters have to start the show alone after Eldar recovers from his duties as a singer and joins them. One thing that I have spotted already in the semifinal: This year the camerawork excludes the crowd almost completely. All we see is the stage and when the shots include the arena itself it is very dark and you can't really make out the crowd. Oh well, I guess they have their reasons for that.... ... What? Did Loreen just swallow some fake snow and cough?! The interval act is of course the president's son-in-law Emi...

So, who do we have in the final this year?  Bosnia & Herzegovina, Russia, Romania, Greece and Ukraine are in again. They haven't missed one finalsince the semifinals were introduced, just like the host country Azerbaijan. Iceland is in for the 5th time in a row, so is Denmark. Moldova does 4th year in a row. Norway and Turkey return after missing the final last year and Italy is trying to better they excellent return last year after 13 years of absence and scoring a 2nd place.  Hungary, Albania, Lithuania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iceland, Cyprus, Romania, Malta, Macedonia and Moldova are hunting their first win.  Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, Spain, Macedonia and Serbia sing in their own language (6), Russia, France, Italy and Romania a mix of English and something else (4) and the rest (16) in English. We have 12 female artists, 9 male artists, 3 bands and 2 duos. In the first semifinals the juries and televoters agreed...

Here it comes, the interview number 20 from my flying reporter Robert who I wish to thank here publicly and I hope we can do this again! :-) But to the business. German hope Roman Lob had a chat with him, too and they talked his music taste, holiday plans and how does it feel to be a sex symbol? Read it here: Who is Roman Lob besides the singer we know? Hobbies, interests..? Who is Roman Lob? Me and myself and I! My greatest hobby is singing but I like also extreme sports, snowboarding, biking and... that's all I guess. Did you concidered stydying after high school or was it clear that you would go for the music business right away? No, I have done studies, industrial mechanic. But I have been singing since I was 13 and it's cool, I like it a lot. What kind of music do you listen to yourself? I like heavy metal music, hardcore, deathcore... but I like also pop, rock'n roll, electro.... bands like Kiss, AC/DC, Metallica.... So we can maybe expect different...