Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Dario Faini aka Dardust is the hottest producer/composer in Italy this summer but not only thanks to Mahmood's Soldi . Megastars Jovanotti and Luca Carboni are among those wanting a piece of him in their productions. Over the years he has written hits to Marco Mengoni , Emma , Ermal Meta , Francesca Michielin , Annalisa , Elodie , Elisa , Giusy Ferreri and many others besides his solo career and his band Elettrodust. 

The 70th Sanremo festival will take place in Teatro Ariston on February 4-8, 2020. That is all that is known from the meeting between RAI and the city of Sanremo officials earlier this month. Since Claudio Baglioni stepped down as the artistic director and the host of the past two very succesful editions no one seems to know who will be given this job, or will there be separate artistic director and host. Many names have been rumored, denied and dismissed as the possible artistic director from the return of Carlo Conti to Mina to Andrea Bocelli and lately Lucio Presta, while for the hosting job Amadeus and Alessandro Cattalan have been the most gossiped ones but Baglioni could also be an unlikely but possible last minute call to act as both again, or the eternal other choices Fabio Fazio or Paolo Bonolis. Bonolis however has often stated he would do it once Sanremo moves out of the tiny theater and he could make it a big scale show like Eurovision in some arena. Meanwhile Sanremo ...

Today of all days it is a good reason to remember this pearl from the national finals, one of the best ever. If only Laura went solo to Eurovision with this runner up rather than shouting along with other Suntribe girls Estonia would have most likely moonwalked to the final and who knows how high in there...  That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind

One of the season's biggest radio hits. A song about Finland with a lot of "ifs" 80's teenage heartdrop & 90's superstar joins forced with the coolest rapper of the moment Trying to repeat his 2018 success when he had the most played song in the radios Today's humor poprap meets Danny who's been in business decades before his featured girlfriend was even born....

Rotterdam started as a front runner the race as the host for Eurovision song contest 2020 but then came Maastricht with its bid and presentation and is now really challenging Rotterdam. As the Dutch broadcasters dismissed the other candidates , we now have to wait for the EBU delegation to have a visit to both of these cities and be introduced to the venues and intended opening ceremony, red carpet, Eurovision village and other venues as well as the overal plan and idea of the 2020 contest.... Rotterdam is the second biggest city in the Netherlands and its history goes back to 1270 while it's a city since 1340. It's also Europe's biggest port with a population of about 635.000. The city center was nearly completely distroyed in the World War II and today its skyline is heavily marker by skyscrapers and some very original modern architecture. Rotterdam also has the oldest metro in the Netherlands, it opened in 1968 and today it has five lines. Today it's also...

Marco Mengoni is Simba, and Elisa Nala in the remake of Disney's The Lion King in its Italian version. The version follows the success of Disney's non-animated covers of their most famous animated films, a winning concept that has won at least this blogger over ( Aladdin was fabulous!) Marco Mengoni, who celebrates his 10th anniversary in business this year has been touring Italian arenas this spring-summer with his Atlantico tour , and will continue in November. His fifth studio album Atlantico that came out last November has sold already double platinum and topped the Italian album charts with four singles released so far. Now the success continues certainly as Simba. Can you feel the love tonight?

Sanni replaced JVG as #1 in the album chart Video has Mika Häkkinen, former F1 world champ in it Yet another radio hit for the one who's at his best live on stage Young, pretty and free.  Younger and prettier Mikko Leppilampi? Mikko's ex replaced him with Leo...

La dolce vita, life has been so sweet and wonderful. ... so she sung in Lausanne 1989 Eurovision and scored 7th place, one of Finland's rare successes against all odds and changed her career. "It was a jackpot" she tells to Helsingin Sanomat in an interview this May.  "I was so nervous, I felt I am about to die" she recalls. "There's a photo taken just before going on stage ans I look like a standing mummy. In a post-performance photo I look like a 8-year-old schoolgirl who managed to sing pretty and gets praise from her mom" she laughs.  Anneli Saaristo was no stranger to great public in Finland before La Dolce Vita , but Eurovision and doing well opened her new doors and major success. Her album sold gold and she got gigs as many as she could do, she was all over the press. It was a question of faith she says now. Had she failed and done bad her career might have been over, like so many other artists back in the day. She looks back Eu...

Amir has announced he will retire from the public eye shortly for awhile to relax, spend time with his family and of course to write new songs. He has been on the road, releasing music and gaining success and winning awards non stop since his Eurovision 2016 success. Recently he won again La chanson de l'année aka Song of the year 2019 award for his Longtemps .  But before vanishing he has released a bilingual   בואי נלך with Israeli Moshe Peretz.... This is not Amir's first collaboration with Israeli artists, check out also Comme les oiseaux with Ishay Ribo.

Täydellisii paperil , or Perfect on paper is Topi Latukka's new solo single in Finnish. It follows Pehmeitä pintoi and Tekohengitystä   in the past few months  The video is apparently the first in the world fully filmed with OnePlus phone. The song itself is midtempo radio pop, maybe a bit anonymous like the previous ones with lyrics that challenge all grammar rules like it is the habit these days. He is a good vacalist and writes good songs, perfect on paper , but something better is needed to stand out I'm afraid. However I'm positive sooner or later he hits the jackpot and gets a major smash hit he deserves. This one is not that one. Yet. 

Frans Summertime is the time for the Eurovision stars to enjoy the sun, sea, sand and beach like any common mortals, and showcase their muscles or bikini bodies. Here's a round up of their Instagrams for your viewing pleasure. Claudia Faniello Sergey Lazarev & son Tamta Andras Kallay Saunders Eleni Foureira ZalaGasper Emmelie De Forest Dima Bilan Lindita Kobi Marimi Polina Gagarina Gianluca Ginoble Ilinca Melovin Ruth Lorenzo Rui Andrade Mikko Leppilampi

Mahmood Summertime is the time for the Eurovision stars to enjoy the sun, sea, sand and beach like any common mortals, and showcase their muscles or bikini bodies. Here's a round up of their Instagrams for your viewing pleasure. Laura Rizzotto Max Jason Mai Iveta Amir Zena ByeAlex Edurne Deen Elhaida Dani Elnur Nina Zilli Miki Samra Mikolas Josef Kaliopi Hovig Amaia John Lundvik