Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  A little series of those entries I liked i the national finals this season who didn't make it to Torino 2022 Eurovision song contest. In no particular order! SYRO - Ainda nos temos (Portugal - 9th) Omar Rydberg - Moving like that (Sweden - Out in Heat 1) Daria - Paranoia (Poland - 2nd) Marko Bošnjak - Moli za nas (Croatia - 2nd)

  Here it is. Not so sure about the running order as some choices seems rather surprising....... And Finland kicking off the second semi-fnal, didn't quite expect that at all!

  This week a heavy dose of Finnish humor pop and 80's beat with Portion Boys and Herrat who also drops a few dozens song titles. And a couple of other ones. Enjoy! Romu - Kaikki mun arvet Herrat - karaoke Eroma - Kahenlaisii kuvii Portion Boys - Elämän ABC

The last entry is finally out and the 40th song is Azerbaijan's Fade to black sung by Nadir Rustamli, who was internally chosen and revealed some time ago. And yes the song is again written by the usual mainly Swedish writers, yawn. That said and ignoring that, it isn't very good. I like his voice but the song... no. The video is also rather depressing and only makes me think of the war not so far away. Not a nice combination. 

  This week new releases of big stars Antti Tuisku, Mikael Gabriel with JVG along  with Nelli Matula and Ollie. Antti Tuisku - Koti Mikael Gabriel / JVG - Nallekarkit Nelli Matula - Kiltti tyttö Ollie - Kaksi sydäntä

Here it is finally, the second last to be revealed. Armenia chose internally Rosa Linn and her song is a lovely sing-a-long Snap . I do like this quite a lot. And the video is quite fab, too . This said it has nothing of Armenia in it though, which is always a shame. When you have a rich original musical culture it would always be nice to hear even a hint of it at Eurovision, even in the arrangement. ...

I may be wrong but it feels like this year there have been more Eurovision veterans in the national finals hoping for another go than ever before! And I'm talking only about the artists, not songwriters. Below is a list of all of 36 of them and their respective placements in respective national finals . Two won, two came second. Not a great track record is it? ITALY Fabrizio Moro (5th/2018) 12th Mahmood (2nd/2019) WINNER Iva Zanicchi (13th/1969)  18th Massimo Ranieri (5th/1971, 13th/1973)  8th Gianni Morandi (8th/1970)  3rd Emma (21st/2014)  6th ESTONIA Evelin Samuel (6th/1999) Out in semi-final Stig Rästa (7th/2015)  9th Elina Nechayeva (8th/2018)  8th Anna Sahlene (3rd/2002)  4th Ott Lepland (6th/2012)  7th Lauri Pihlap (1st/2001)  Out in quarter finals LITHUANIA Erika Jennings (13th/2001) 6th in semi-final 1 Ieva Zasimauskaité (12th/2018)  7th Monika Linkyté (18th/2015) withdrawn Vilija Matacinauté (NQ; 11th in sf 2014)  6th in semi-final 2 SWEDEN John Lundvik (5th/2019) 8

Helsinki Arena, as it was called for the Eurovision song contest 2007, is commonly known as Hartwall Arena due to its sponsor. Or it was as it is no longer sponsored by them nor the arena is in use anymore. Thanks to Russia's crazy war in Ukraine.  The arena has been owned by Russians Roman Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, both with close ties to Putin, since 2013. After the war started scheduled events started being removed or cancelled, the major ticket offices stopped selling tickets there one by one, and by March 2, 2022 the main sponsor Hartwall beverages cancelled their sponsorship and the same day took off their name off the building's walls. At the same time the Ice Hockey World championships games that were to be played there in May along with Tampere's new multi use Nokia Arena were moved out as well. Those games will be played now in Helsinki Ice Hall that has a capacity of 8200. Without Russia and Belarus as both were expelled for obvious reasons. The arena, bui

Ok, they did it.  I don't care it's allowed in the rules of Malta Eurovision and all that bla ba bla. It just feels unfair. if they are to choose the artist only they could as well do a karaoke show and then go buy the song from Sweden. On top of that I'm a bit sick and tired of these self esteem anthems and songs telling I'm good just as I am. Maybe I'm not in the target group and comfortable in my own skin and never cared what people think of me anyways? 

  This week Antti Ketonen's latest as well as Nopsajalka's with a couple of new names . Enjoy! Jari Uutela - Ikävällä ei oo siipii Antti Ketonen - Sytytä mut Lauri Haav - Tähti Nopsajalka / Ege Zulu - Suunnitelma A

All is good that ends well also in Portugal when MARO won Festival da Canção 2022 with her saudade.saudade. Now that was a perfect way to end this national final season and her win was very clear: full marks from both jury and televoters with 24 points, ten more than the runner up... as they seemed to disagree on most everyone else except FF but that wasn't enough, and Pepperoni Passion at the bottom. Syro deserved so much more though. Festival da Canção 2022 results: 1. MARO - saudade.saudade (jury 12 + televoters 12) 24 2. Os Quatro e Mela -  Amanhã (4 + 10) 14 3. FF - Como é bom esperar alguém (6 + 8) 14 4. Diana Castro - Ginger Ale (10 + 4) 14 5. Aurea - Why? (6 + 5) 11 6. Pongo & Tristany -  Dégrá.dê (7 + 3) 10 7. Milhanas - Corpo de mulher (8 + 2) 10 8. Inés Homem de Melo - Fome de viagem (2 + 7) 9 9. Syro - Áinda nos temos (3 + 6) 9 10. Pepperoni Passion - Código 30 (1 + 1) 2

All is good that ends well is the case for me in Iceland when Sigga, Beta og Elín beat Reykjavíkurdætur in the superfinal with their  Með hækkandi sól . And how cool it was most everyone had a change of heart and sung in Icelandic after all! Talking about Katla and Stefan of course.  They are three sisters and their parents are famous artists, too! They also go by name Sisý Ey. They have been releasing music for almost ten years now and until now in English! They have also done some featuring and performed in big festivals.  Söngvakeppni 2022 results: 1. Sigga, Beta og Elín - Með hækkandi sól 2. Reykjavíkurdætur - Turn this around Katla -  Þaðan af Amarosis - Don't you know Stefan Òli -  Ljósið

  Cornelia Jakobs has won Melodifestivalen 2022 with her Hold me closer. She won international juries and came  second in televotes won by Bagge, that juries placed only 7th. As Anders Bagge came 2nd  and Medina 3rd one say the pre-contest favorites did well. Liamoo was a surprise 4th while Anna Bergendahl dropped last. But even I have to say she wasn't good tonight, not even tonight. Sad but true. Melodifestivalen 2022 results 1. Cornelia jakobs - Hold me closer (jury 76 + televote 70) 146 2. Anders bagge - Bigger than the universe (31 + 90) 121 3. Medina - In i dimman (53 + 56) 109 4. Liamoo - Bluffin' (65 + 26) 91 5. Tone Sekelius - My way (31 + 53) 84 6. Klara Hammarström - Run to the hills (27 + 56) 83 7. Theoz - Som du vill (39 + 26) 65 8. John Lundvik - Änglavakt (43 + 17) 60 9. Cazzi Opeia - I can't get enough ( 26 + 29) 55 10. Faith Kakembo - Freedom (33 + 18) 51 11. Robin  Bengtsson - Innocent love (29 + 5) 34 12. Anna Bergendahl - Higher power (11 + 18) 29

Ok, I did this already. Portugal deserves the privilege of being the first ( here ) and the last review of the season. I did them all with the studio versions but now let's see how things have developed since when on stage and live. Of my favorites they all made it except Blacci  (but quite frankly she wasn't that greta live) and of those I didn't really care for Pepperoni Passion and Pongo e Tristany made it, also Diana Castro.  But now let's forget all that what I said the first time around and judge again based on the live performances in the semi-finals.  Pongo & Tristany – Dégrá.dê * I was quite harsh in the first hearing and I still dislike this with passion. This is noise, nothing else. Should Portugal send this they're nuts. Certain bit of fandom likes this sort of a thing but juries and televoters will award this a flat zero. Syro – Ainda Nos Temos **** I still think he's no Diogo Piçarra but as I can't have Diogo Syro will do. Who's idea

Last but not least also Armenia has partially revealed its cards for Eurovision 2022. Considering we know all the artists in the Swedish, Icelandic and Portuguese finals to take place tomorrow Rosa Linn is the last artist to be revealed. Her song however will be revealed only on March 19 for some reason.... Roza Konstandian (21) aka Rosa Linn was internally chosen singer-songwriter and one of the first Armenian female producers.

  Austria is next to reveal their song. LUM!X and Pia Maria are offering us 90's Eurodance with Halo . It's short, it's not going anywhere, it just is and .... well, hard to believe this would go anywhere in the scoreboard either but maybe this could become a minor radio hit. But at least it's different and therefor a welcome addition to the line up!

  Also Greece's Amanda Tenfjord has released her entry Die together today. If Cyprus went all Mediterranean and Greek this one's only connection is the music videos scenery. A quality song but not sure yet how high this one will be on my chart. Time will tell. 

The worst kept secret of Eurovision 2022 season is that Sam Ryder will represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision 2022 with Spaceman .  Sam Ryder (33) started his musical adventures in 2009 and worked with several bands before going solo during Covid-19 fist lockdown posting his cover videos on TikTok most of all. By the end of the year he was the most followed artist on that platform earning a record deal. One EP and six singles later he is also an Euroviison hopeful. And a huge fan who's not afraid of UK's faith in the contest.  Actually I do like this quite a lot!

Jérémie Makiese was the very first artist announced for Eurovision 2022 and today finally Belgium released his chosen entry Miss you . I do like his voice and the song's not bad at all. Not so sure about the video though, the initial look is great but not so keen on that gangsta rap scenery with red leather jacket and that awkward choreography. Hopefully we don't see that on stage in Turin!

  Georgia's Circus Mircus has also revealed their song for Eurovision 2022:  Lock me in . Apparently they had already a video ready but due to Russia's war in Ucraine it didn't feel anymore appropriate and they have released the audio only for now. 

Sweden's post-Christer Björkman Melodifestivalen is searching for its new identity and has been through four heats and one semi-final (aka andra chancen) hosted by Oscar Zia. Age group voting is ment to create suspence and excitement but I don't know, it feels kinda weird, especially as the votes have been announced in random order instead of really going from the youngest to oldest that would give a clearer idea for a watcher to see how and who voted for each artist.  As Finnish Yle was also broadcasting the shows (not live though) I have watched them all for a change this year. Generally the better ones got through or to the semi-final, except Omar Rydberg and Angelino that I would have sent through instead of Danne Stråhed and Lillasyster or Medina. Yes, Medina the big fan favorite. I would have preferred even Alvaro Estrella in final the line up. In the final there will be televoting and the international juries. The big fan favorite seems to be Cornelia with Medina and

Cyprus has announced today that Andromachi (or Andromache on eurovision.tv will represent the island with Ela in Eurovision 2022 and I think I fell in love a bit. Andromache Dimitropoulou (Ανδρομάχη Δημητροπούλου) is a 27-year-old Greek singer. She's been around since 2017 and has released a string of singles, Ela being her 8th. The song is full of Mediterranean warmth and yes, finally some Greek lyrics! 

Iceland's Söngvakeppnin 2022 comes to an end as well after two semi-finals and one wildcard. Out of 158 submissions ten songs were selected for the shows, and two of each reached the final. later added with a wildcard (Amarosis) to make it five. In semi-finals all song were performed in Icelandic but they could switch to English for the final and all did but Sigga, Beta & Elin. In the final there will be jury/televote.  Quick check on those who didn't make the final it seems we didn't miss much.... Stéfan Óli - All I know (Ljósið) ** Classic pop ballad. I'm usually for the native languages but this clearly works better in English, as it is so basic classic pop ballad as I said before. Pleasant but quite forgettable.  Sigga, Beta & Elin - Með hækkandi sól *** What's it with these country western songs this year popping up everywhere? Like most of them this one's very nice, too! And it seems there's no English version at all.... I'm not complainin

Switzerland has today revealed its entry for Eurovision song contest 2022 in Turin. Internally chosen Marius Bear will sing Boys do cry. Marius Bear (28) started his musical career late. In 2017 he released his first songs and in 2019 he won the award for newcomer in Swiss Music Awards and released his debut album after releasing an EP the year before. Now 16 singles later he is about to release his second album and represent Switzerland with Boys do cry.  I don't know why I'm thinking this is some random track from some random singers Christmas album? Or some cover of a 60's song... 

  This week's #Finpop features streaming hit by new talent Miri, yet another one from ANI, yet another one from Lili & Luna aka Norma John's Leena and her niece plus new ones for this blogger Lore & Jave. Miri - Vaarallinen kela Lore / Jave - Huomenna ANI - Tyttö sä oot tähti Lili & Luna - Mun dodge

Serbia's national final was won with full votes by both jury and televoters by Konstrakta and her In corpore sano. Certainly something else. Checking out the televotes she got 44.459 versus Sara Jo's 21.253. Zorja got 16.875. The jury votes had same order except the top-2 tied, in favor to Konstrakta as she got 3 times 12.  Pesma za Evroviziju 2022 results: 1. Konstrakta - In corpore sano (jury 12 + televote 12) 24 2. Sara Jo -  Muškarčina (10 + 10) 20 3. Zorja - Zorja (8 + 8) 16 4. Angellina - Origami (7 + 3) 10 5. Aca Lukas - Oskar (0 + 7) 7 6. Zoe Kida - Bejbi (5 + 2) 7 7. LIFT - Drama (0 + 6) 6 8.  Marija Mikić - Ljubav me inspiriše (2 + 4) 6 9.  Ana Stanić - Ljubav bez dodira (6 + 0) 6 10.  Chegi & Braća Bluz Band - Devojko sa plamenom u očima (0 + 5) 5 11.  Tijana Dapčević - Ljubi, ljubi doveka (4 + 0) 4 12. Ivona - Znam (3 + 0) 3 13. Gift - Haos (0 + 1) 1 14.  Zejna Murkić - Nema te (1 + 0) 1 15.  Naiva - Skidam (0 + 0) 0 15. Orkestar Aleksandra Sofronije

 The fan  favorite won in France and my favorite came 2nd, who would have thought?! The fandom got some compensation for Terra losing in Spain. I'm still not fan of neither.  C'est vous que decidez 2022 results: 1. Alvan & Ahez - Fulenn (jury 102 + televote 120) 222 2. Pauline Chagen - Nuit Pauline (71 + 100) 172 3. Soa - Seule (60 +80) 140 4. Marius - Les chansons d'amour (80 + 40) 120 5. Cyprien Zeni - Ma famille (74 + 20) 94 6. Elliot - La tempete (32 + 60) 92 The first round televoting only sent five songs to the superfinal, added by one (Cyprien Zeni) by the jury. In the super final there was 50/50 jury/televote. Joan - Madame Saam - Il est où? Elia - Téléphone Hélène in Paris - Paris mon amour Joanna - Navigateure Julia - Chut