EUROVISION 2019 DARE TO REVIEW 4: SWITZERLAND, BELARUS, AUSTRALIA, UNITED KINGDOM

More mid table entries in my own personal ranking

Switzerland - Luca Hänni - She got me ***

All the bros go Yo yo yo, All the girls go Yo yo yo

Everyone go Yo yo yo, She got us dirty dancin'

Luca Hänni (24) has been on Eurovision radar already years and here he is, as one of the main favorites. No wonder, She got me checks all the boxes of what is a succesful Eurovision entry on paper. The result is this year's male Eleni: a lot is happening in the video, and certainly on stage in Tel Aviv but not so much in music. My mind drifts away half song and I lose interest.... Long three minutes. Winner? Hardly.

Belarus - ZENA - Like it **

Yes, you gonna like it, Yes, you gonna like it

Let me in your heart

Alexandrovna Kupriyanovich or simply ZENA is this year's youngest, 16, but has already a lot of experince. As a kid star she has participated in various major contests like New Wave Junior and Slavinski Bazaar, and tried to get to Junior Eurovision twice as well but instead ended up co-hosting the show in Minsk last year. She' s allaround media personality and her song fits her persona and career; she looks like a perfect pop star and the song is exactly what you would expect to hear. Harmless and forgettable, but catchy and engaging when it's playing and when you hear it for the first time. People may Like it. It shouldn't make the final but who knows? I wouldn't be surprised.

Australia - Kate Miller Heidke - Zero gravity ***

Hey you (hey you, hey you, hey you) It’s me again

Hey you (hey you, hey you, hey you) Stone in my shoe

Kate (37) is actress, singer-songwriter and classically trained singer who loves alternative pop. And that's what she's mixing up in this Zero gravity. This one's a stone in many shoes really. Some say this comes too soon after Estonia's opera pop last year but this is very different from that I think. I love the Kate Bush vibes in the verses and the rest calls for opera arias mixed up with electronic sounds. It's all so weird it's already pretty good. How this one will succeed will be one of the most interesting things to follow come voting. Or will the journey end up in semi final already?

United Kingdom - Michael Rice - Bigger than us ***

It’s bigger than us, It’s bigger than you and me

It’s bigger than us, It’s bigger than everything we see

Michael (21) got here through X Factor 2014 (eliminated in bootcamp) and All together now 2018 that he won. The song is co-written by Swedish entrant John Lundvik who dropped it by advice of Christer Björkman it being "too weak", or so they say. Not the best starting point is it? This gets an extra kitch point for the finger snapping and the classic wave to the left and wave to the right choreography by the choir. He gives the song all he's got but I'm afraid Sweden will sweep off the votes and beat this one by some 20 positions.....

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ESC 2016 WISH LIST: MARGARET FOR POLAND

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?

SONGS OF THE YEAR 2015: #5 KRISTA SIEGFRIDS - ON & OFF

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!

Regina Lund - naked and censored

Regina Lund's new video Jag är osynlig was censored by Youtube only minutes after it had been uploaded. In the video she was playing a female Jesus who gets crusified in the end. "I was shocked!" she says. "There's nothing more naked in it as in every church! It's ok to have naked man hanging on the wall but my nakedness is too much on internet? ". Oh well, no comment. She's prepairing a new album Dare Regina Lund and we of course remember her from her Melodifestivalen 2007 adventure with Rainbow star .

ESC 2016 BELARUS: NAKED WITH WOLVES?

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..... )

CAROLA'S BOOBS STEAL THE SHOW, SVT APOLOGIES

Update! Another thing got Swedes talking last night: Carola's boobs when she was giving away an award. This is not the first time her boombs cause headlines; her misfortunate adventures in the 80's in Japan wer explained with her boobs being too big for Japanese market. Ok.... Or was it the song ? Anyways, Carola apologies and says she thinks the dress is stylish and elegant (even her friends said so) and she's a mature woman in her 40s, not a 16-year-old girl and looks like one. The Swedish Oscars, Guldbagge awards were given out last night. Carola was there as a guest star to sing Barbra Streisand's The way we were when honoring the movie stars who passed away during 2012. However, the cameras were too much on Carola, not on the stars showed in photos in the background and that upset many viewers as that part of the show was to celebrate them, not Carola. Oh well... The producer of the show tells in Aftonbladet the part of the show was made the sam

TIM SCHOU AND HIS NAKED GRAVITY

Tim Schou has a pretty good solo career going since he left his friends in London. He's travelling the world and relesing songs and videos. The latest one is a great track and comes with a steamy video that kinda takes away from the song really. But who's complaining. If you got it, flaunt it. Enjoy the video below. This post coming after the other Dane, Rasmus Seebach as wishlist for Eurovision. To think about it, Tim would do nicely, too. Maybe he should give it another go?

JEDWARD GETS NAKED FOR THE FANS

Well, almost. The boys celebrated their 650.000th follower on Twitter by being photographed fresh from shower as promised. It's not the first time they drop their clothes as you see here . Meanwhile their second album is nearly here and the title track Young love is hitting the charts....

GREECE: HELENA PAPARIZOU HITS AGAIN WITH HAIDE

Eurovision song contest 2005 winner Helena Paparizou has been enjoying Top-5 hits every year since 2003 with the exception of 2010 and 2014, this latest one being already her 27th! And Haide is charting also in Bulgaria and Finland, of all places. The catchiness of her hits has changed less over the years than her face.... Here's the English version , below the Greek version.

ITALY: ALICE 70 - PER ELISA

Alice's second Sanremo. No longer Alice Visconti, nor Carla Bissi but simply Alice. A song written by Alice herself with Franco Battiato and Giusto Pio. An usual song lacking a proper refrain, performed in an aggressive way by fierce looking Alice with wild hair. It was a real breakthrough. If the trio's first offering the year before for Italian hit waves was a hit this became a mega hit and international success that made her known not only in Italy but abroad as well. Such a shame Italy didn't participate in Eurovision that year (but her time would come) but then again, most likely they wouldn't have had sent Sanremo winner anyways. Number one hit in Italy, Top-5 in Austria and Switzerland, Top-20 in Germany. The song featured in her 4th album simply titled Alice, that was published abroad as Per Elisa with different styling. A new version of the song is included in Personal Jukebox album. Per Elisa Vuoi vedere che perderai anche me Per Elisa Non sai più distinguere

ITALY: ALICE 70 - NATA IERI

Alice - Nata ieri In 2012 Alice released her first studio album with new original songs in 14(fourteen!!!) years, Samsara . Among them a song Franco Battiato had written especially for her (Eri con me), a first since 1982!, a couple from Tiziano Ferro including this Nata ieri. The album included also three covers from Lucio Dalla, Giuni Russo and Califfi. Her fans had been waiting for this album and it entered the Italian charts straight at number 10. Se la vita è migliorata dopo ogni ferita, è grazie a te. Tra le grigie ceneri dei giorni neri, lì sono nata ieri. If life has improved after every wound, it is thanks to you. Among the gray ashes of the dark days, there I was born yesterday.

Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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