Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

The fifth and last episode of AmaSanremo aired on Thursday night and delivered us the last two Sanremo Giovani finalists. The guest of the evening was last year's winner Leo Gassmann.  You can watch the show here and read more about the previous episodes here , here , here and here . Folcast - Scopriti was both panel's and televoters runner up but ended up winning the  evening. A very nice song that gets better with each listen and I gave it already 8, surprising myself, too. Franco Battiato was mentioned as a reference tho his song.  Alioth - Titani was last with both panel and televoters but it's not that bad. I kinda liked it, but this said it's not very original or interesting and he gave rather shaky vocal performance. This said I gave 7. Galea - I nostri 20 won the panel's vote but the televoters didn't warm up more than third place. Rather interesting song, strong vocals and 80's beat and her singing style was compared to those of Alice and Giuni

Elena Tsagrinou (26) becomes the first new confirmed artist for the Eurovision song contest 2021, joining the 20 already confirmed 2020 acts to do it again in 2021. Her song El Diablo is written by an international team (sigh) of Jimmy Thornfeldt, Laurell Barker, Oxa and Thomas Stengaard.  For 2020 Cyprus had internally chosen Sandro Nicolas but soon after announced he is not the one for 2021 as well. One can only wonder why..... or maybe it's not so hard? Elena started at 14 in Ellada eheis talento aka Greece's got talent and soon fronted a band Other View scoring some hits. Since 2008 she's gone solo releasing videos with millions of views, and also been a regular in tv shos as coach or hostess like Just the 2 of us, The Voice of Greece and  K-Pop Stars.  Enjoy below some of her songs:

The fourth of five episodes of AmaSanremo aired last Thursday and delivered two more finalists for Sanremo Giovani.  The night started however with missing Morgan who was "searching for Bugo" in reference to the Sanremo 2020 scandal , and continued with another rather scandalous tone as Nova's entry Giovani noi had been blamed of plagiarism the day before and it was yet unsure if it would be disqualified. When in doubt it was declared the night would go on as planned. Should he make the final he then would be disqualified, if he didn't case closed. He was fine with the solution himself. Let sho show begin. The musical guest of the evening was Marco Masini, who is one of those very few who has won both categories of Sanremo (1990 Newcomers, 2004 Big). This week the all three juries agreed on everything and the order remained pretty much the same with each added jury group. Even the televote was divided to each between 16,24 and 32,57%. Hu - Occhi Niagara won the stu

The third episode of AmaSanremo took place last Thursday and with the already familiar formula two more entries made the Sanremo Giovani final in December. Once again the in studio jury didn't quite agree with the televoters as they put the televote winner I Desideri last, and their winner Sissi came last in the televote. This said it was expected as I Desideri already have a devoted fan base.  Malika Ayane was the musical guest of the evening. She came second in the Newcomers 2009 behind Arisa, and the year later got the orchestra in Teatro Ariston protesting and throwing their notes in the air and booing when she didn't make the top-3 thanks to televote. She did place third in 2015.  You can watch the episode here  and the results of the previous episodes here and here . Gaudiano - Polvere da sparo scored 37 from the in studio panel and 39,43% from the televote and won the evening. He was my favourite, too. The song is catchy and a nice mix of many things, a bit Kendji Gira

  And last but not least some artists that are more of a wistful thinking and maybe not fitting any other category but being more or less known/upcoming/popular/possibly interested in Eurovision as a career move. Without further explanations enjoy some of their songs: Antti Ketonen Konsta Hietanen Elias Kaskinen Olavi Uusivirta Ilta Janna Diandra Nelli Matula

  Let's continue with the most unlikely ones. See the previous post for more information.... ABREU - Lusikat Antti Tuisku - Valittu kansa Chisu - Ikävä Sanni - Yksinäinen milleniaali Arja Koriseva - Leipää, lempee, lämpöö Evelina - Mä en haluu tietää Kasmir - Aamu Mariska - Minä liityin sinuun Suvi Teräsniska - Samase Ressu Redford - Viimeinen päivä Jukka Poika - Papaija Laura Närhi - Helsinki

Vain elämää is a hugely popular semi reality music program where top artists get together for a week and each day is dedicated to one of them. The day's artist sits through lunch and dinner telling about own life and career while the others each perform a cover song of this artist's repertoire. At the moment the season 11 is airing. The season always gives birth to countless streaming hits, restarts careers, cements the up and coming ones and sells out Hartwall Arena for a concert later in the year.  The artists are so already so many, and fit also the other given #umk2021 categories like past Eurovision stars and Emma award winners. Withoiut further a do, here the very unlikely big stars come: Jannika B - Kaksi jotka pelkää Petra - Miljoona syytä Mira Luoti - Plää plää plää Sani - Tulin tänne sua varten Reino Nordin - Antaudun Nikke Ankara - Rikkinäinen prinsessa Juha Tapio - Päiväni ilman sinua Mikael Gabriel - Oli aikoi Erin - Yhtenä sunnuntaina Ellinoora - Nartut Anna Puu -

  This is where things get tricky - they are just so many! Besides artists it also includes songwriters, producers and so on but I have picked a few and as with the other categories some these also fall into other categories, namely Vain elämää that both Samuli Edelmann and Samu Haber have done, too. Samu Haber - Emma winner 2006 for the New band, 2007 and 2019 for Export award Now that Sunrise Avenue is only waiting for the postponed farewell tour in 2021 Samu has been here and everywhere with his biography and singing also in Finnish and there's a clear public demand for his solo career. Could he surprise us all and launch it in UMK2021? More likely he could have written a song for someone else, something he planned already for Hanna Pakarinen in 2007 (Forever yours) LEO or Leo Stillman - Emma winner 2017 for the Newcomer of the year Leo, the Mikko Leppilampi lookalike who stole his girlfriend and had a baby with has been releasing singles ever since his explosive Emma winning

In this second part let's try to guess who could be aiming to breakthrough internationally in Eurovision song contest after already having had a minor success, or having had to put all plans on hold thanks to youknowwhat, or who is simply only starting now..... Or.... who has tasted already a minor notoriety abroad but has remained unnoticed at home.... Isac Elliot hit it big at 13 with his New way home , that hit #1 in Norway of all places. He's been around ever since with countless singles and three albums, yet waiting for the big major breakthrough at 19.... Tomi Saario, living now in Berlin after London, is an ex-footballer who wrote his first song at 17. Now, at 28 he has a string of videos , an EP unde rhis belt and ready for a major breakthrough. Robin Packalen exploded to stardom at 13 with Frontside Ollie . Four multiplatinum albums, several other releases, sold out tours, general hormonal teenage hysteria and 14 top-10 hits later he put a stop on his career, finished

When YLE's #UMK2021 jury announced it has selected the seven entries for the final they praised the quality and variety of the entries and even gave out clues of different kind of categories the submissions can be divided, one of them being old Eurovision participants, fans started speculating right away who could they be? This blogger included. But as they spoke about submissions we don't know if any of those were actually selected for the final.  On the other hand if one reads carefully one can note there are seven entries chosen, and they gave us six categories: Eurovision veteran, Emma award winning artist (or writer as they indeed didn't mention artists but submission by..... could be artists, writers, authors or producers), artists from hugely popular Vain elämää series, an export hope, energetic rock band and a hot name from the alternative music genre. Ok, one is missing and the extra slot could go to UMK2020 winner Aksel Kankaanranta after all?  Anyways, let'

The second episode gave us four solid songs and high scores for the in studio panel and this time all three juries including agreed with the top two. ( Read about the first episode here ) You can watch the show here The evening was opened by Rocco Hunt, the Newcomers winner 2014 when he beat Diodato to the second place. Thomas Cheval - Acqua minerale scored a total of 34 from the panel, including two 10s. He scored only less than 8% of the televote and finished last. I wasn't that impressed either and gave him only 6. Interesting voice and I expected more from him. Greta Zuccoli - Ogni cosa sa di te also scored 34 with variable points (10, 9, 8, 7) from the panel but got almost 55% of the televotes. Rather classic but very beautiful melody and voice that won me over, too, in the end and I gave a nine. Le Larve - Musicaeroplano won with the panel with a total of 38 (10 twice, 9 twice) but only third with televote. I didn't like this either - I seem to agree a lot with the telev

Senhit's #freakytriptoRotterdam continues also this month, this time with a homage to late Freddie Mercury in form of Conchita Wurst's winning entry in 2014, Rise like a Phoenix . Moustache and all.  Check out the previous ones below: Congratulations Ding-a-dong Everyway that I can Cheesecake