Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Waylon of The Common Linnets (Eurovision 2014 runner ups) fame was internally chosen for the Netherlands already last year. Now the time has come to present his songs. Or actually the song is already chosen but he will tease us all the next week by presenting five songs from his new album The world can wait , but we don't get to know which one is The Song until we have heard all of them. The first one tonight was Back together , listen to it here .  23.2 Back together 26.2 Outlaw in Em 27.2 The world can wait 28.2 That's how she goes 1.3 Thanks but no thanks

  Rarely any Eurovision news leave me so disappointed as this one, when I heard it late last night. When my faves don't win a national final: sh't happens. When Finland doesn't qualify: sh't happens and I move on. But somehow this one left me rather disappointed and even sad.  Canção do Fim was my clear favorite in the Portuguese selection Festival da Canção and on top of that Diogo Piçarra is one of my favorite Portuguese artists I never dared to dream of participating. So, it was all a bit too good, and I was hoping Portugal could do very well in their own contest in Lisbon, as theere's no way he wouldn't have won the final and be there. Now I'm not so sure.... So, what happened? Once he performed his song last Sunday it didn't take long he was accused of plagiarism. The song in question would be Abre os meus olhos by certain Walter McCallister, a clergyman and founder of New Life Christian Church. A song from 1979. A chaos started online with...

  Portugal's Festival da Canção had its second semifinal last night and as expected Diogo Piçarra took an easy win, and also the highest score in both semis when getting full marks. Maria Inês Paris - Bandeira azul (jury 7 + televote 5) 12 Dora Fidalgo - Arco-íris (0 + 0) 0 Sequin - All Over Again (0 + 0) 0 Diogo Piçarra - Canção do fim (12+ 12) 24 David Pessoa - Amor veloz (5 + 4) 9 Tamin - Sobre nós (6 + 2) 8 Cláudia Pascoal - O jardim (10 + 10) 20 Minnie & Rhayra - Patati patata  (4 + 6) 10 Rita Ruivo - Anda daí (0 + 1) 1 Susana Travassos - A mensageira (8 + 0) 8 Lili - O vôo das cegonhas (3 + 7) 10 Daniela Onis - Para lá do rio (2 + 3) 5 Peter Serrado - Sunset (1 + 8) 9 And here's the full line up for the final. It's inteeresting to see how al top marks went basicly to same acts, with the expceptions on Anabela's  and Peter Serrado's televoting success, and Janeiro's jury success... Diogo Piçarra - Canção ...

  The Humans won the Romanian national final beating the fan favorites when Romanian televoters had the last word. Apparently the band had its one year anniversary today as well.... 01. The Humans – Goodbye 02. Alexia & Matei – Walking on Water 03. Feli – Royalty (Bună de iubit) 04. Jukebox feat. Bella Santiago – Auzi cum bate 05. Rafael & Friends – We Are One 06. Dora Găitanovici – Fără tine 07. M I H A I – Heaven 08. Claudia Andas – The One 09. Xandra – Try 10. Teodora Dinu – Fly 11. Echoes – Mirror 12. TIRI – Deșert de sentimente 13. Erminio Sinni & Tiziana Camelin – All the Love Away 14. Eduard Santha – Me som romales 15. VYROS – La la la

  Sevak Khanagyan wins easily the Armenian national final Depi Evratesil with his Armenian language Qami scoring maximum points. And this blogger is one happy bee: one more song in original language, one more song that has local elements instad of multiglobalnonsense. Well done, Hayastan! Sevak Khanagyan - Qami (jury 12 + televote 12) 24 Gevorg Harutyunyan - Stand Up (3 + 5) 8 Lusine Mardanyan - If You Don't Walk Me Home (7 + 1) 8 Kamil Show - Puerto Rico (2 + 10) 12 Amaliya Margaryan - Waiting for the Sun (8 + 7) 15 Nemra - I'm a Liar (10 + 8) 18 Mariam Petrosyan - Fade (5 + 4) 9 Mger Armenia - Forever (1 + 6) 7 Robert Koloyan - Get Away With Us (4 +2) 6 Asmik Shiroyan - You and I (6 + 3) 9

  Armenia has its Depi Evratesil final tonight to select its entry for Lisbon 2018 Eurovision song contest. After two semifinals we have quite a strong line up, but without an outstanding favorite (as Tamar Kaprelian aka the fan wank sung herself out of the final). No detailed rankings or scores has been made public from the semifinals so we have no idea who the juries and televoters are backing the most. Sadly Kamil Show is in as she's no Verka Serduchka, more Dustin the Turkey and forgot she needs also a proper song.  If the national language trend continues and Armenia sends Qami I'll be more than happy as it is clearly my favorite. Stand up is a lovely melody ruined by broken English and all that dancing, more like a musical number and going nowhere. Shame.  If you don't walk me home is lovely, but would it be lost among the others in Lisbon? And it has absolutely nothing Armenian in it. Same goes for Waiting for the sun . As long as Forever won't win it...

  Romania's Selecția Națională 2018 final takes place tonight after five semifinals. Judging the semifinals Alexia & Matei, Jukebox feat Bella Santiago, Claudia Andas and The Humans would be the front runners but that's only the according the jury vote in the semifinals. In the final we will have 100% televote and everything might change, because people tend to vote the artist, not the song.... Rafael sounds like Toto Cutugno song, TIRI had some plagiation accusation flying around. Eduard Santha has some cool gipsy thing going on and divided the jury totally and barely made it this far. Let's see how televoters react. This blogger approves big time! Same goes for VYROS.  Feli brings some etnovibe to the contest but what is it? African? Brazilian? MIHAI is back for the 978th time with another overproduced 13 in a dozen nonsense in ill fitting jacket and surprisingly manages not to include his trademark sneaky high notes! But there's also Xandra, doing the sa...

  Lithuania's national Eurovison selection has been dragging on forever but guess what? Last night we got the first finalists! Incredible but true. Strangely all three finalists fit into a same groovy genre, so is that what Lithuanians want for Eurovision this year? Hmmm.... Sadly Greta is out again after being saved by a wildcard... Gabrielius Vagelis - The Distant (jury 4 + televote 4) 8 GeraiGerai & Silvija Pankūnaitė - More Than You Know (6 + 7) 13 Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė - That Girl (10 + 6) 16 The Roop - Yes, I Do (7 + 12) 19 Godo - Fire Fountain (8 + 5) 13 Greta Zazza - Broken Shadows (6 + 8) 14 Jurgis Brūzga - 4Love (12 + 10) 22 Next week the second semifinal takes place and another three will make it to the final including Ieva, Marija and Monika who all have been in top places in various heats, plus Saulès kliosas....  now that will be interesting... Ieva Zasimauskaitė - When We're Old Marija - This Love Monika Mar...

  Laura Rizzotto has won the Latvian Supernova and brings Funny girl to Lisbon 2018 Eurovision. 1. Laura Rizzotto – Funny Girl (televotes 1 + jury 1) 2 2. Sudden Lights – Just Fine (2 + 2) 4 3. MADARA – Esamība (4 + 3) 7 4. Ritvars – Who’s Counting? (6 + 4) 10 5. Markus Riva – This Time (3 + 7) 10 6. Edgars Kreilis – Younger Days (7 + 5) 12 7. Liene Greifane – Walk the Talk (5 + 8) 13 8. Lauris Valters – Lovers Bliss (8 + 6) 14

As I suspected Hungary chose rock as AWS did win A Dal 2018 with Viszlát nyár. At least they will stick out among all acoustic ballads! The jury didn't quite believe in it as it only barely got into the second round but once there televoters took care of the matter.  First round (jury): Gergely Dánielfy - Azt mondtat 36 Viktor Király - Budapest girl 30 yesyes - I let you run away 28 AWS - Viszlát nyár 8 Leander Kills - Nem szól harang 6 Biga - Good vibez 4 Szolt Sule - Zöld a május 0 Támas Hárvath - Meeggyfa 0

  He took revenge this year and won. Melovin will take his Under the ladder to Lisbon 2018 Eurovision.  Melovin - Under the ladder (jury 5 + televote 6) 11 Tayanna - Lelya (6 + 4) 10 Kadnay - Beat of the universe (3 + 5) 8 Laud - Waiting (4 + 2) 6 Vilna - Forest song (1 + 3) 4 The Erised - Heroes (2 + 1) 3

  Lea Sirk wins Slovenian Eurovision national final with Hvala, ne! BQL won the televote the second year in a row but the jury stopped their way to Eurovision (again). Actually the televoting winner hasn't ever won in Slovenia, has it? Lea Sirk - Hvala, ne! (jury 68 + televote 48) 116 BQL - Promise (34 + 72) 106 Nuska Drascek - Ne zapusti me zdaj  (28 + 60) 88 Lara Kadis - Zdaj sem tu (38 + 36) 74 Proper - Ukraden cvet (30 + 24) 54 Ina Shai - Glow (26 + 12) 38 Indigo - Vesna (18 + 0) 18 Marina Martensson - Blizu (10 + 0) 10

  No surprise here. DoReDos have won with the help of Kirkorov and will sing My lucky day for Moldova in the Eurovision song contest 2018 in Lisbon. DoReDos – My lucky day ( jury 12 + televote12) 24 Vera Țurcanu – Black Heart (10 + 5) 15 Doinița Gherman and One Voice  - Dance in flames (7 + 6) 13 Tolik – Broken Glass (3 + 10) 13 Ana Odobescu – Agony (8 + 3) 11 SandyC & Aaron Sibley – Once upon a time (5 + 4) 9 Nicoleta Sava – La Esencia del Sur (0 + 8) 8 Felicica Dunaf – Alien (6 + 1) 7 Cobîlean Constantin – Numai tu (0 + 7) 7 Lavina Rusu – Altundeva (4 + 2) 6 Anna Timofei – Endlessly (2 + 0) 2 Ilia Soroceanu & Dasha DaGro – Minds & Veins (1 + 0) 1 Bella Luna – Moments (0 + 0) 0 Ruslan Tsar – Come to Life (0 + 0) 0 Viorela – The Gates of Love (0 + 0) 0 Che MD – Inima-n stângă (0 + 0) 0

Sweden has its fourth semifinal of Melodifestivalen 2018, that has been a bit of a flop it seems and no wonder. It's about the time people wake up and see it's a lot of nothing but great television. Maybe it's time they do some major changes to the program and realize without great songs you have nothing really. Break that chain indeed. Mariette is once again the top favorite, but let's see if she manages to win it this time? This said, after hearing the snippets it's sad. As it's even worse than I expected. I'm ready to jump on Party Voice 's wagon and hope for its win..... And secretly hope somebody like Rolandz or Moraeus will win and shock the entire Eurovision fandom and flop in Lisbon.... ;-p Emmi Christersson - Icarus  - 7th Elias Abbas - Mitt paradis - 5th Felicia Olsson - Break that chain  -  6th Rolandz - Fuldans - FINAL Olivia Eliasson - Never learn - Andra chansen Felix Sandman - Every single day - Andra chansen ...

  Ukraine also has its national final for Eurovision song contest 2018 in Lisbon tonight. Vidbir has six entries running after two eliminatory semifinals, among them last year's runner up Tayanna with her hysterical attempt of mixing Wild dances and Fly with me  and televote winner Melovin with his straightforward pop song (I think it's the first time I see an artist start the song standing my the microphone centre stage and moving to the piano for the last part of the song - usually it's the other way round!). Could it be the case here, too, that the moral winner gets the ticket a year after with an inferior song? Or will it be Kadnay with their more of a show than a song act with some crazy dancing? Or will Vilna's wilderness conquer hearts of the televoters? Actually it sounds even a bit Lappish or is it that it simply samples all native folks heritage globally? Might be quite a clever choice?                    ...

Slovenia had last week its semifinal where half the entries, including Eurovision veterans ManuElla and Tanja Ribič had say sadly goodbye to their comeback to the contest. Apparently some of the songs will be performed in English in the final, BQL and Ina Shai at least....  I'm a bit confused about some of the final choices as all my three faves are out, and I don't really care for any of the finalists even if some are ok. Will this be the usual case when last year's moral winner comes back and wins with an inferior song to make up? BQL- Ptica Ina Shai - V nebo Indigo - Vesna Lara Kadis - Zdaj sem tu Lea Sirk - Ne, hvala! Marina Martensson - Blizu Nuška Drašček - Ne zapusti me zdaj Proper - Ukraden cvet

  Hungary's long selection process has come to an end and tonight we will know who gets the ticket to Lisbon 2018 Eurovision song contest and follows hopefully Hungary's rather succesful recent story and maybe becomes Hungary's 8th straight year in the final, including three top-10s.  The jurors will vote this time only after all acts have performed and ranking the entries in order. The top four will go to the superfinal. It's good to see 5 songs out of 8 in Hungarian! yesyes was my istant favorite, but it has lost a bit ground over the weeks and I'm not sure anymore. Horváth has emerged a new favorite, but is it a bit too similar to last year's entry? It also makes me think of Sting.... Király seems to be a favorite (again), but I don't like his song at all (again). Or could Hungary pull out the metal card and send AWS or Leander Kills amongst all those acoustic ballads in Lisbon? Or is it all about good vibez in the end? One thing is sure: It'...

Latvia's Supernova comes to an end tonight after three semifinals, where two songs qualified for the final out of seven thanks to jury/televote. In the second semi there were technical problems with the televoting and actually Markus Riva qualified ahead of Ritvars. In fair game he was added to the final line up, and Ritvars was kept as well making it seven for the final. MADARA is the designed winner, but let's see. Rather weak line up in general, none stands out, except MADARA but how many times do you want to hear that one? I got tired half way the second run. She's no Enya. And has a lot to desire in live vocals, like most everyone here. Maybe it's Riva's time finally? Or funny girl laughs in the end? Earlier this week a wildcard was given to one of those entries that didn't first make it, and it went to televoting favorite Sudden Lights and their Just fine .                           ...

Moldova was ment to have a semifinal before the final but as no one but the usual wannabes from Perssons to Pogladens and Downs not forgetting Artesero-Santana dumb their songs to countries like Moldova where it is known the competition isn't so hard and most anyone can get to the semifinals it all just wasn't worth the semifinal. Here they are and it's not a nice hearing. Then there's Kirkorov who's going to win anyways. If not fair then with money. Or that's the sad impression one gets. Maybe Moldovan tv should next year just stop this amateurish cheap circus and choose internally? There's no fear Moldova would repeat their accidental success last year. The most professional sounding one is Sandy & Aaron, but is it strong enough? Maybe not, but best by far. (And then again, he doesn't sound very Moldovan, does he?) This is by far the worst national final of the season. Any decent song has foreign songwriters, so I don't even want to judg...

  San Marino has published the final versions of the songs competing to represent the tiny nation in the Eurovision song contest 2018 in Lisbon. Recorded in studio and produced instead of the live acoustic ones we have heard so far. Meanwhile the voting procedure seems to change every other day so I'm not even going to keep up anymore. The rules might be changed before I have time to post this anyways, so let's see what's the deal next week. If it even matters in the end. And Irol dropped out of Who we are it being too pop and not fitting into his hip hop genre. Yawn.  Jenifer Brening - Until the morning light Giovanni Montalbano - Per quello che mi dai Franklin Calleja - Stay Sebastian Schmidt - Stay Judah Gavra - Stay Camilla North - Yo no soy tu chica Tinashe Makura - Free yourself Sara de Blue - Out of the twilight Jessika Muscat feat. Jenifer Brening - Who we are Irol feat. Sebastian Schmidt - Sorry Emma Sandström - Diamonds

  Tonight it was Germany's time to choose their entry and the winner is You let me walk alone by Michael Schulte , and Germany joins the countries sending something more acoustic and real instead of bubblegum Swedish pop. Less fireworks and more feelings, people! 1. Michael Schulte - You let me walk alone (12 + 12 + 12) 36 2. Xavier Darcy - Jonah (8 + 10 + 7) 25 3. Ryk - You and I (10 + 8 + 5) 23 4. Ivy Quainoo - House on fire (7 + 7 + 8) 22 5. voXXclun - I mog Di so (6 + 5 + 10) 21 6. Natia Todua - My own way (5 + 6 + 6) 17                  (voting: Eurovision panel + International jury + televote)

  Here they now are. The three entries by Saara Aalto for Eurovision song contest 2018 for Finland. What can I say? Not much there to say. Queens is plain bad, Monsters is okeyish and Domino is my favorite out of these three. Not that it is great. And she keeps pushing the LBGT theme in all videos, that aren't so great either. Monsters would have been cool and ground breaking. In 1995. 

After the surprising first semifinal tonight Armenia has its second one of Depi Evratesil, and it will be interesting to see what happens. Kicking Tamar Kaprelian out thanks to her weak vocals and poor staging proves a name and fan wankness means nothing to Armenians. Again a lot of goodies with decent songs. With the exception of the joke that is Puerto Rico . I have a feeling it will be a total disaster on stage vocally and everyway possible. Then we have a again something totally un-Armenian like AlternatiV, Mariam and Amaliya. And quite a few songs that sound good on studio version but have a risk of being disasters live (or real goodies) depending on vocals and singer's presence on stage. And of course there's one nonsense foreign 13 in a dozen product: You and I . Why this wasn't in the UK selection instead?  My clear favorite in this semi and in Armenia's selection in general is Sevak Khanagyan. Period.               Maria's...