EUROVISION 2018 REVIEW: SAN MARINO, MACEDONIA, POLAND, MOLDOVA
San Marino - Jessika feat. Jenifer Brening - Who we are
Jessika Muscat (29) has the faith of fellow Maltese Christabelle: several national final attemps and now she gets finally to Eurovision with the worst of them. Or almost. She is joined by German Jenifer Brening (21) who took the original rapper Irol's place when he turned down the song stating it's not his cup of tea. He would have given this at least some Sammarinese touch. Anyways, the innotative Sammarinese national final selection promised a lot but in the end gave us this. I would have chosen differently but what we have is a rather anonymous and heard before anthem against bullying, well sung by Jessika with Jenifer's rap as bonus. Sadly unforgettable and the only thing that might get attention and viewers to remember this are the robots. If they travel to Lisbon, too. What's their deal anyways?! 3/10
Macedonia - Eye Cue - Lost and found
Eye Cue is Bojan Trajkovski and Marija Ivanovska (21), with producer and writer Darko Dimitrov. They have been working together for years and for their entry it sounds like if they have smashd up every their song as there are so many genres and changes of beat in these three minutes you are left wondering WTF was that? Some parts of the song I like, some I don't. The mix is confusing but that's what makes it somewhat interesting. Marija does her job well. One can only wonder what the staging will be about and sadly this will be lost in the 1st semi and not found on the finalist list. 5/10
Gromee feat. Lukas Meijer - Light me up
Andrzej Gromala (39) aka Gromee is DJ, producer and songwriter and Swedish Lukas Meijer (29) is his choseen vocalist for this song. I realized I hadn't really ever listened the full song until now when reviewing it - is that a good sign? You get all there is in the first minute or so. Rather anonymous radio song that isn't great but enjoyable and works well. In the aftermath of Avicii's death this might get all nostalgic ones to vote for this tribute to the final - Gromee has said Avicii has had a huge impact to his music and indeed you can hear it - and even without that this should make it being in the 2nd semi. Who will remember this come June? But for the moment, 6/10
DoReDos - My lucky day
DoReDos or Marina Djundiet (32), Eugeniu Andrianov (25) and Sergiu Mita (25) were third time lucky winning the national final with a little help from Russian Philip Kirkorov. Last year they won also New Wave festival. My lucky day sounds very oldfashioned in production (and I think it's intentional) and without the addiction of the local elements and sounds would be like any Ralph Siegel track. They perform it with such energy and gusto that you can't but look in amaze. This is rubbish but they make it work and propably will do better than anyone thinks now. Not like Moldova last year but top-10 perhaps? Or... they could bomb big time as well but I don't quite think so. Lucky qualifier from 2nd semi. 6/10
The Azerbaijani selection show for the represant was as long as the selection process for the five finalists. Kurt Calleja from Malta and Can Bonomo from Turkey were present with Ell/Nikki to see Sabina Babayeva to emerge as the winner after each and every finalist had done about zillion songs amongst other guests. Now the Azeri TV will shop around a suitable song for her.
Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!
The Norwegian entries are now and there to listen, or here . This time Norway has only one off final with 11 songs and a live orchestra, so it will be interesting to hear how these songs will turn out as most are rather modern sounding and not so Eurovisionesque midtempo numbers. There could have been also only ten if they had dropped that joke entry from the line up. The old veterans Elisabeth and Tor have nothing to be ashamed among this lot. To be honest I didn't get excited by any of these really... Something is wrong in my books if a classic schlager like Heaven sounds almost the best... What's wrong Norway?
Małgorzata Jamroży aka Margaret has also been tipped for Eurovision and apparently she did turn it down but she'd be perfect. She's got a look and persona you can't unnotice nor forget, she's got hit songs, she has been voted or nominated for everything from Trendy artist to the Hope of the Year, Fashion Icon and Glamour Woman of the year besides the usual best video, song, album, debut..... Oh she's also a fashion designer! She's very clever with social medias and would surely use it to her advantage if selected for Stockholm 2016. Her debut album is titled Add the blonde , do we need to say more? Except it includes mostly Swedish written pop tunes like Tell me how are ya , Wasted , Start a fire and Heartbeat . And of course her debut single and internationally noticed Thank you very much that you can enjoy below with all its anti-textil feel. I think she's Eurovision perfection, she's cheeky and fun, can we have her?
Brand new studio album SEXORCISM is released tomorrow, 12 years and 5 days after their monstreous victory in Athens 2006 Eurovision song contest. It is quite possibly the most controversial Lordi album yet and already their 9th stuido album (plus three compilations and one Ep)
The 2016 Eurovision song contest organizers didn't manage it - or any of the previous ones either nor those offering them millions of dollars - but they seem to get together for birthdays, the way the old friends do. Back in 1999 they performed together in a private party for Görel Hansel's 50th birthday, and now to celebrate the first meeting of Björn and Benny 50 years ago. Venue was Stockholm's Bern's Salonger and once again in a private setting but today even they can't stop the cell phone videos and social medias. Enjoy the magic of Frida's and Agnetha's voices again.
Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further? No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )
The time has come. After all these years, 5,7 million visits, 12.000 articles I guess the time has come. As much as I love and care for Eurovision it just doesn't feel the same. The Corona years took their toll and the past two years and certain decisions have helped me to mature the idea that next year I will hear the songs for the first time in semi-final just like any so called local. The bubble has burst. Add the toxicity in social medias and fandom. The arrogant teenagers who saw their first contest somewhere 2017 or even 2021 who think they know it all and only their opinion matters. Did I mention the toxic atmosphere on social medias? I'm too old for that sh*t. It's been a long ride that took me to various Eurovision on spot as a fan and tourist, as a journalist, as a delegation member. I met some great people, made memories of lifetime. In stressful, sad periods of my life this blog has been my safe place, a place to escape and forget everything else for an hour o...
"Siamo fuori di testa, ma diversi da loro" they wrote in Instagram already in May 2017. The street musicians from Rome have gone a long via X Factor to Sanremo and to Eurovision in a short time. As I didn't do any artist presentations this year, and to be honest I'm not so familiar with Måneskin, let's do a short biography who they are and what they have been up to in the past few years. The band is made of lead singer Damiano David (21), Victoria De Angelis (20) in bass, Thomas Raggi (19) in guitar and Ethan Torchio (20) in drums. Novembre 2015. Damiano asked Victoria to form a band, she brought in her friend and school mate from Monteverde Thomas. Ethan was found after an ad in Facebook. The year after they took part in a competition Pulse - High school band contest and won it. The same year they had their official concert and usually they were found playing in the streets of Rome, their hometown. 2017. They took part in X Factor when they all were j...
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