Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Serbia has revealed today it's  Tijana Bogićević (35) for Eurovision 2017 with a song written by Borislav Milanov, Bo Persson, Johan Alkenas and Lisa Ann-Marie Linder who have already written songs like Rise like a phoenix and If love was a crime .... Tijana tried to get to Eurovision already back in 2009 but scored zero points in the semifinal. Two years later she was at Eurovision however, as a backing singer. Then she moved to the USA and now she's back.....

No stopping for the success of Occidentali's Karma . It has already been certified platinum for its sales in digital platforms. The song is also #1 in both official singles chart as well as the radio play chart.  The Spotify streams are over 4 million already, and the video on Youtube has passed the 34 million mark (and 2,7 million for the eurovision.tv live version). Now we can only wait for the Eurovision 3 minute version, that will be Italian only, as announced last week, and then we all can stream and download it again, and watch the video again.....

After all these decades of Eurovision it isn't easy to have any firsts anymore but Ukraine comes up with one: for the first time ever we have an all male presenter team. Three of them to be exact. Oleksandr Skichko , Volodymyr Ostapchuk and already very familiar Timur Miroshychenko , who will be the Greenroom host while O&V are the main hosts. Oleksandr (26) is ahouse hold name in Ukraine. He's been around since he was 15, made a name in Ukraine's Got Talent as a parody act but then has moved on to host popular shows on television.  Volodymyr (32) has done a lot of live shows, presenting fashion shows on television and he's no stranger to dubbing either: he's the Ukrainian Hans in Frozen. Timur (31) is no stranger to anyone following Eurovision. He has hosted both JUnior Eurovisions held in Ukraine (2009 and 2013). He has been also the Ukrainina commentator in Eurovision since 2007, two years after he started commenting the Junior one. 

Austria's the one that got Spotified this year following the previous leaks in Finland and Denmark in the years before. Nathan Trent's Running on air won't be a surrise anymore when it will be launched officially tomorrow. And how it is? Pleasant to listen, the original "nice". It's a bit unoriginal, easily forgettable, more of a nice album track than a lead single and I doubt it will set the voting lines on fire come May. 

Triana Park finally made it this time - 6th time lucky! - and won Supernova 2017 with Line . The Supernova line up was very mediocre this year and they were the only ones that had something going on so well done.

The third busy weekend in the Eurovision boubble. As usual I will gather and update here the information and the results as they happen ( so the links are being constantly updated ). Enjoy! Friday February 24 SLOVENIA FINAL Moldova Saturday February 25 DENMARK FINAL  and HERE UKRAINE FINAL  and HERE MOLDOVA FINAL  and HERE Iceland Sweden Lithuania Sunday February 26 LATVIA FINAL  and HERE Portugal Romania

Four songs made it to the final in Latvia's Supernova and tonight it's all about televote only. The final four is a bit unwhelming and boring to be honest. None of these songs sounds like a winner, nor manages to keep my interest up til the end. I suppose Triana Park finally wins, but only thanks to their colorful staging and some attitude they have.....  Triana Park - Line My Radiant You - All I know The Ludvig - I'm in love with you Santa Daņeļeviča - Your breath

Romania returns to Eurovision after last year's fiasco and has its Selecția Națională again. Tonight a jury will pick up the ten finalists, while in the final thee will be only televote. The selection hasn't been without scandals this year either and apparently it doesn't matter who are in what happens, the yoel thingy will win it anyways. Maybe. The rest are pretty much inoffensive fillers with a few exceptions like Petale and my original favorite is already out. I'm also amazed MIHAI manages to do a song without falsetto oh-oh-oh's. I'm shocked.  Alexandra Crăescu - Hope Ana-Maria Mirică - Spune-mi tu  Cristina Vasiu - Set the skies on fire D-lema - Adventure Eduard Santha - Wild child Elizé & No Stress -  Fără bariere Ilinca ft. Alex Florea - Yodel it! Instinct - Petale Maxim -  Adu-ți aminte MIHAI - I won't surrender Ramona Nerra - Save me Tavi Colen & Emma - We own the night Tudor Turcu - Limitless Xandra - Walk o...

Portugal's  Festival da Canção 2017 continues tonight with the second semifinal. Once again half the songs will proceed to the final after televotes and jury votes. Last week's first semifinal offered very good songs, Portuguese songs not powing to europop and Eurovision clichès and one must give RTP credit for not taking the easy way out but offering Portuguese music that is not made to fit the Eurovision formula. If only more broadcasters went that way... (Another example is Iceland that has its own style and approach, but then again it's a bit closer to the main European style, perhaps). After all, also Finland won in the end by doing our own thing and not caring about Eurovision formulas.... :-) Let's see what tonight has to offer.... David Gomes - My paradise (jury 6+televote 6=12) Lena d'Àgua - Nunca me foi embora (10+4=14) Beatriz Felicio - Ao teu olhar (8+5=13) Pedro Gonçalves - Don't walk away (4+12=16) Helena Kendall - Andamos no céu (5...

Second time lucky, ex The Voice of Australia Anja Nissen has won the Danish national final DMGP with Where I am . She scored 64% of the votes in the superfinal beating Ida Una (26%) and Johanna Beijbom (10%)

Another tie of the evening and in the end O. Torvald has won the ticket to Kyiv Eurovision 2017 for the host nation with Time

Following Omar Naber for Slovenia tonight we have another comeback when Sunstroke Project (and the Epic Sax Guy) wins after a tie the Moldovan final with Hey Mamma . Let's see if Ukraine follows with another mama song :-)

Sweden's Melodifestivalen 2017 has reached its final semifinal, of the season that has been in my books the worst ever but apparently some Euroboys are also waking up and seeing what it is as there have been some complaint online as well about the level of the songs. I have to say I don't even like the stage that much this year, nor the presenting trio.  But tonight it's all about Loreen. She's trying to tell everywhere she doesn't care about the competition but we all know she has to win. And then she has to win in Kyiv, anything else would be a failure and flop. To save her skin and her legend like  status she's gained among fans she'd better lose in Sweden, become a victim and shine her euphoric crown again.... But let's see how the full song is as the snippet is rather confusing and unmelodic to sound like an Eurovision winner. Otherwise this fourth semi is maybe the most deecent of them all. I'm curious to hear Jon Henrik's effort in ...

Eight songs made it last night to tonight's final. The jury preferred with margin Hey, mamma and Discover Modova, followed by Breathe and Dor de mamă. The televoters then added to the lot Join us in the rain and Glow, that the juries really didn't like, Freedom that was jury's 5th and Don't lie. Mst likely Sunstroke Project will walk this and join last night's Slovenian Omar Naber as an Eurovision returnee. Watch here from 18.35 CET Sunstroke Project - Hey, mamma! Samir Loghin - Glow Valeria Pașa - Freedom Aurel Chirtoacă - Dor de mamă Diana Brescan - Breathe Marks & Ștefăneț - Join us in the rain Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu - Discover Moldova Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu - Don't lie

Denmark has now missed the final twice in a row and are desperately looking for the song that would take them back to final and on the left side of the scoreboard. A record breaking 1.115 entries were submitted and a special jury chose these ten to the final. Now these will be judged by televoters and a five member jury of Danish Eurovision fans (sigh) in a two round voting with a superfinal. I must admit I didn't get excited by any of these with the first hearing..... Watch here from 20.00 CET Ida Una - One Thomas Ring - Vesterbro Rikke Skytte - Color my world Anja Nissen - Where I am Calling Mercury - Big little lies Anthony - Smoke in my eyes René Machon - Warriors Sada Vidoo - Northern lights Jeanette Bonde - Hurricane Johanna Beijbom - A.S.A.P.

The hosting nation's national final takes place tonight. After three semifinals six songs have made it this far. Last time Ukraine won and hosted they got the worst result to date (19th) with their rap anthem, will they go with something strange this time again? Salto Nazad would somehow continue that tradition and just like I did like Razom nas bahato I adore O, mamo! as well! It's catchy, groovy, fun and a bit weird. The choreography bit is insane, in a good way. Perfect! Then we have Melovin with his gimmicky eye and a pop tune that isn't bad at all. O.Torvals offers some quite decent poprock, Illaria some strangely titled sugary pop ballad that could have played in some American elevator some 30 years ago and no one would have noticed, Tayanna delivers a song from Lara Fabian songbook and finally Rozhden offers some groovy jazzy pop that is pleasant but who would pick up the phone and vote for it come May? I'm team #SaltoNazad! Watch here from 18.00 CET ...

The neverending Lithuanian selection continues tonight with the 8th heat. Half the entries will be kicked out after Lithuanian and international juries have cast their votes along with the televoters. For me in this heat there's only one I care for: Gabrielius Vagelis with his fantastic atmospheric ballad that echoes Jean-Jacques Goldman's masterpiece Nuit . In a good way. If only he manages to deliver live...  Four of these will qualify for the semifinal (yes, only eight songs left then! The end is near....) Watch here from 20.00 CET Alanas Chošnau - 7 Days Paula - Let U go Gabrielius Vagelis - Feel myself free Queens of Roses - Fisherman Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė - Love shadow Mia - Sacrifice Fusedmarc - Rain of revolution Valerija Iljinaité - You made me glow

Iceland kicks off its Söngvakeppnin 2017 tonight. Six songs in the first semifinal. Three songs will be televoted to the final. Rúv has released all the songs already also in English versions. And yes, Iceland has once again some fantastic, original selection. Mostly ballads yes, but they have some great melodies, and the Nordic flavour. It's easier to drop out the ones I don't want in the final... Get back hom e and Bammbaramm . I will miss any of the other ones if they don't make it.... Watch here from 20.45 CET Aron Hannes Emilsson – Nótt Hildur Kristín Stefánsdóttir – Bammbaramm  ( English ) Rúnar Eff Rúnarsson – Mér við hli / Make your way back home Júlí Heiðar Halldórsson and Þórdís Birna Borgarsdóttir  – Heim til þín/ Get back home Erna Mist Pétursdóttir – Skuggamynd Arnar Jónsson & Rakel Pálsdóttir – Til mín/ Again

Omar Naber has won the Slovenian national final Ema 2017 with On my way. He's indeed on his way back to Kyiv where he already competed back in 2005 with Stop and stop he did failing to reach the final. Let's see how it will go with his power ballad. 

As we know Francesco Gabbani's Sanremo winner and Italy's Eurovision song contest 2017 entry Occidentali's karma takes idea from the English zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris book The naked Ape , published in 1967. The book has sold tens of millions of copies and it has become again a bestseller in Italy this month. But the faith is also Desmond Morris (89) has recently reworked an updated version of it to be published shortly. However he says it all still stands and all he had to do was to update some facts and figures.  Morris who lives in Oxford declares to La Repubblica newspaper he's a fan of The naked Ape coctail (gold rhum, dark rhum, lemon and banana - I have to try that, Ed.note ) and he adores Gabbani.  "I listened to the song and it's wonderful, so rich with quotations. I also had to watch the beautiful video and for sure you will find me in front of the television in May to cheer Gabbani at Eurovision! I would love to meet him but sa...

After two semifinals it's time for the final in Slovenia. I don't really have any superfavorite here, but I'm content if the winner is one of these: Nika, Omar, Raiven, BQL or Tim. Surprisingly I might like the most Omar's old fashioned ballad while Raiven would be interesting but a bit demanding maybe for European televoters? Somehow Ema isn't anymore the kitchiest, funniest national final around it used to be years ago.... In a way it's a shame. Watch here from 20.00 CET Sell Out -  Ni panike Nuška Drašček -  Flower in the snow Tim Kores -  Open fire Nika Zorjan -  Fse King Foo - Wild ride Omar Naber - On my way BQL -  Heart of gold Raiven -  Zažarim Jury votes Televotes: 12 Nuska, 24 Sell Out, 36 Nika, 48 Raiven, 60 Omar and 72 BQL Final results

Moldova's national selection O melodie pentru Europa hasn't had an easy start this year (again).  A total of 40 entries were submitted and invited for a live audition. One withdraw already before that, one didn't show up but in the end they managed to sort out 14 semifinalists. Then Constantin Cobilean was disqualified as his song was already performed in Russia two years ago in a talent show. Then Irina Kit withdraw as it was noted her song was a bit too similar to Akon's Bananza . Finally one of the favorites Boris Covali withdaw due to personal reasons, whatever they may be. They were replaced by Nadia Mosneagu, Samir Loghin and Valentina Nejel & Sergiu Punga. To be honest they could have cut the songs straight to say six, as most of them are as usual very bad, and in most cases the heavy accented English isn't helping the matters either. If it was for me I'd make the final SunStroke Vs. Samir (hoping he will fix his live vocals asap) than be done wi...

EBU has made an announcement that Christer Björkman has joined the preparation team in Kyiv 2017 Eurovision song contest. After all the trouble, delays and most everything that could go wrong my wild guess is he's there to pull it all together in time and be the dictator. What is what he does best. Oh, he's the executive producer for the acts on stage? Oh, that, too! Check out what he has to say in the video below.

Denmark has released its finalists for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. One of these is supposed to take Denmark back to the final after two years stoppingin the semifinal.... good luck!  It's a very solid group of songs, none stands out nor is inferior to the others with the first impact. The live performances will be crucial once again to make them any way memorable or to break through....  Listen to the songs here

Francesco Gabbani's Sanremo winning entry and the Eurovision song contest 2017 entry for Italy has become already a phenomenon. It's all over the place in Italy and beyond. People are doing flash mobs with the monkey dance, and the monkey costumes are soon sold out everywhere.... But more concretely Occidentali's Karma has been certified gold for its digital sales of over 25.000. In a week. That's a first in Italy. Ever. Ommmmm....... Meanwhile the video has almost 22 million views on VEVO, and the Sanremo live on eurovision.tv's Youtube 1,6 million more.....  More about his success here . Occidentali's karm a is also the most played song in the Italian radios in years in the week after Sanremo, and with a huge margin. It was played 3.310 times while the others in previous years ar just a bit over 2.000: J Balvin's Ginza in 2016 (2.079), Nek's Fatti avanti amore in 2015 (2.075), Pharrel William Happy in 2015 (2.068) and Lykke LI's I follo...

Another busy weekend ahead: three national finals (Hungary, Malta and Poland), Slovenia has its two semifinals, Latvia its semifinal, Portugal starts, Estonia, Ukraine, Sweden and Lithuania continue.... I will update  all the results here once they happen so check in here for easy access.... To be updated... Friday February 17, 2017 Slovenia Saturday February 18, 2017 MALTA FINAL POLAND FINAL HUNGARY FINAL Slovenia Estonia Ukraine Sweden Lithuania Sunday February 19, 2017 Latvia Portugal

Claudia Faniello was... err... 9th time lucky when she finally won the ticket to Eurovision with Breathlessly , following her brother Fabrizio's footsteps, but this blogger thinks she will outshadow his performances in the contest and finally step out to the spotlight big time! It's also a return to the contest for songwriting team Philip Vella and Gerard James Borg, with added Sean Vella.  Claudia (29) needs no presentation. This was already her 9th Malta Eurovision entry and 8th year she was taking part. Previously she has scored two second places and one third so it was about the time, too! She has released one album so far and a string of singles since 2006, when she won Festival Kanzunetta Indipendenza.  Just for the fun here's Claudia's Eurovision journey to this point: 2007 L-imhabba ghamja (7th) 2008 Caravaggio (2nd)           Sunrise (3rd) 2009 Blue sonata (4th) 2010 Samsara (8th) 2011 Movie in my mind (9th) ...

Poland has its national final this Saturday and Kasia Mos turned out third time lucky with her Flashlight (even if she didn't seem happy about it at any point of the evening...)  Kasia (30) has been around since 2002 and comes from a musical family and studied music properly. She tried her luck for the first time in Eurovision in 2006 but her I wanna know didn't make an impact. Later she joined The Pussycat Dolls Burlesque Revue in 2011. After that more tries in talent shows and musicals and in 2014 finally her debut album is released. Last year she tried again Eurovision with Addiction and finished 6th. Now, with Flashlight she became third time lucky and flies to Kyiv. 

Hungary's A Dal 2017 came to an end this Saturday and Pápai Joci won with Origo . Hungary will be bringing into contest a heavily ethnic, gipsy flavored entry sung in Hungarian. This blogger is loving it! Joci (35), who is of Romani descent, interested in music already at early age thanks to his brother. He first tried his luck in 2005 with the local Idols Megaztar but didn't get that far. The year after he was enjoying his first hits with rapper Majka but then he had another quiet period until 2015-206 when he scored a couple of hits in collaboration with Caramel and again with Majka.  But now it's all about himself and Origo!

Portugal makes a welcome return to Eurovision after a year of soul searching and revamping the Festival da Canção. The expectations are high it would be finally if not in the 2010's at least in the 2000's...  Anyways, 16 invited composers have all maide their winning package, four our of eight semifinalists will advance to the final after a televote-jury vote. In the final there will be regional juries and televote. Márcia - Agora (jury 5+televote 3=8) Golden Slumbers - Para perto (6+5=11) Fernando Daniel - Poema a dois (7+10=17) Deolinda Kimzimba - O que eu vi nos meus sonhos (8+4=12) Rui Drumond - O teu melhor (6+3=9) Lisa Garden - Without you (4+7=11) Salvador Sobral - Amar pelos dois (12+8=20) Viva la Diva - Nova gloria (10+12=22)

Latvia's Supernova has reached the semifinal stage. Eight songs remaining and two of them will be televoted to the final tonight, another two from the remaining ones will be selected by the jury. Some weird stuff made it this far and I don't really have a favorite here. I doubt Franco Franco wil make it, and hopefully Linda Leen won't make it with that noisy nonsense. My Radiant You - All I know Triana Park - Line Santa Daņeļeviča - Your Breath The Ludwig - I'm In Love With You Miks Dukurs - Spiritual Priest Lauris Valters - Magic Years Franco Franco - Up Linda Leen - Who Is In Charge

Poland announced their finalist for Krajowe Eliminajce on Saturday 11th, in the middle of the businest Eurovision evenings of the year. Smart move? Who knows. Anyways hardly no one noticed. Among the artist Eurovision veteran Marcin Mrozinski aka Martin Fitch. He's return to the contest has been only a matter of time. Or years. The Polish final has been postboned to February 18 from the original 11. Watch here from 20.30 CET Kasia Moś – Flashlight   WINNER (Kasia Moś, Pete Baringger, Rickard Bonde Truumeel) Martin Fitch – Fight for Us (Marcin Mrozinski, Sean Kennedy Aneta Sablik – Ulalala (Kevin Zuber, Maciej Puchalski/Heavynn Gates, Aneta Sablik) Carmell – Faces (Margorzata Bernatowicz, Marcin Kurczarski, Pawe? Jurczak) Agata Nizińska – Reason (Allan Rich, Jud Friedman, Marcin Kindla) Isabell Otrębus-Larsson - Voiceless (David Kreuger, Fredrik Kempe) Lanberry – Only Human (Lanberry, Piotr Siejka, Sarah Reeve) Paulla – Chcę tam z tobą być ...

Hungary's A Dal 2017 comes to an end tonight and we will know who will travel to Kyiv and try to bring the trophy to Budapest for the first time. First the juror will rank the songs and send four to the next round, where televoters will have the final say. The field is very much open here. My guilty pleasure is Joci and I wouldn't mind if Kállay Saunders wins again. I can't not think about ByeAlex when I hear Soulwave.... Let's see what the Hungarians end up with.... Watch here 19.30 CET Gigi Radics - See it through Joci Pápai - Origo  WINNER Gina Kanizsa - Fall like rain Soulwave - Kalandor Gabi Tóth & Freddie Shuman feat Begi Lotfi - Hosszú idök Leander Kills - Élet Zävodi & Olivér Berkes - #háttérzaj Kállay Saunders band - Seventeen

Malta will select its entry for the Eurovision song contest 2017 tonight in a show from MFCC Ta' Qali. Daniel Azzopardi and Charlene Mercieca are the hosts and Ira Losco will be performing, too. Malta has dropped the usual semifinal + final selection and goes for one off final instead, also goes for 100% televote to choose the winner. All this aid this is one of the most unintereting Maltese finals ever in my opinion filled with anonymous bubblegum pop. To stand out one must shine on stage, or will the ballads be strong enough to beat the pop acts? Brooke is the big fan favorite, but this blogger goes for Richard Edwards, Claudia Faniello and most of all Janice Mangion singing in Maltese. Kevin Borg could surprise as well this time around.... Maybe. How sad it is that one is looking forward most for the interval act, The Travellers ? Watch here from 20.50 CET Laserlight – Klinsmann Coleiro  10th (332 votes) Ray of Light – Raquela Dalli Gonzi   8th (551 vote...