NORWAY: ATTENTION! MGP 2020 FINAL THIS WEEKEND

Norway is having its Melodi Grand Prix 2020 final this Saturday after five regional semi-finals and five pre-qualified finalists. For the first time (anywhere?) there will be only online voting happening. Raylee is the big fan favorite but Ulrikke has a song and a vocal performance that could win it all in Rotterdam if chosen. There is a risk Norway goes for the nonsense aka Rein Alexander. I would be a bit surprised if anyone else is going to win this, despite Magnus having a song co-written by Alexander Rybak and there's even Tone Damli taking part and such.

Raylee – Wild ***

Didrik & Emil – Out of Air **

Magnus Bokn – Over The Sea ***

Akuvi – Som du er **

Kristin Husøy – Pray For Me ***

Rein Alexander – One Last Time *

Tone Damli – Hurts Sometimes **

Sondrey – Take My Time *

Ulrikke Brandstorp – Attention *****

Liza Vassilieva – I Am Gay *

Raylee offers a little tune that's pleasant but doens't really sound like an Eurovision classic. Forgotten before we know it. Didrik & Emil's song is like a title tune from some 80's romantic comedy running under end titles when everyone's already hurrying out of the movie theater. Magnus delivers the song Rybak didn't want for himself. Quite charming and authentic but not really getting going in the end. The dancers and violinist remind a bit too much Fairytale. Akuvi offers standard radio pop without taste or smell, the music video is the best part of it. Even the staging is as unoriginal as possible, with weak vocals. I like Krisitin's humming but that's about it, nice atmosphere though. Rein Alexander, what can I say? All heard before overloaded with clichès. Besides the verses sound very familiar.... No, just no. Tone offers another standard pop tune that's so unforgettable I lost interest already while listening to it... and started wondering where I have heard it before? Sondrey sounds somewhat Benjamin Ingresso. Elevator music. Ulrikke gets my attention from the intro. For a moment it sounds like some random Swiss entries we've had that crashed and burned in the semis but then Ulrikke's vocals save the day. She sounds so vulnerable yet eager at the same time I buy whatever she is selling. Classy and emotional, a real song. This said not very original but all falls in place and this feels real instead of calculated and manufactured to fit a formula. My clear winner and one of the best entries of the whole national final season. Lisa? Everything about this os off putting starting from the title. No, just no.

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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!

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?

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..... )

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.

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?

CONCHITA WURST RELEASES YOU ARE UNSTOPPABLE VIDEO

Just awhile before her debut album simply titled Conchita will be released Conchita Wurst has released a video to her latest single You are unstoppable . And yes, she does Loreen or goes topless. Beautifully shot in black and white the video once again provides some beautiful imaginary and shots. And she's off to Australia for promotion soon.....

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...

SWEDEN: MEDS MAKES MÅNS ZELMERLÖW HARD AND NAKED

Earlier this year Måns Zelmerlöw invested some of his money into web pharmacy MEDS and now he's ready to bare it all for its advertising film, which is.... how to put it? The corniest thing I have seen for a long, long time perhaps? Supposed to be funny the way his Eurovision presenting stunts were I presume, but this falls somewhere between embarassing and uncool. Well, we get to admire some over acrting and a lot of naked Måns riding a horse and sporting a hard on at one point. Maybe that's enough to make MEDS a success.... Where's Edward af Sillen when you need him?

GERARD JOLING RELEASES LIEVELING

Gerard Joling, that walking advert for botox clinic and teeth whitening gone bad (remember Ross in Friends back in the day?) has released his new song Lieveling sporting some interesting wardobe choices. Especially the jacket is genius - never thought those aprons sold for tourists in Italy could be fixed to look so good! All this said, Gerard has a lovely voice and this song is insanely catchy! Not usually my cup of tea but I love it! And Dutch has never sounded so good. Or maybe it has, in Shangri-La . Watch and learn, Jari Sillanpää :-)

Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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