Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

I already reviewed the first semi-final here , so let's move on to the second semi-final without further explanations. (Edit. I have made a tiny little mistake in the main photos - spot the wrong one!) Hurricane - Zumi zimi zami *** Hurricane is no more, long live the new Hurricane. Somehow this feels a bit Hurricane light compared to the original trio and their energy and voices. But this is fun anyways. I don't know how they are live so hard to say how this works on stage or will they make a mess of zumi zimi zami?.  Nadia -  Devojka tvog dečka  * This takes forever to get going and when it does it isn't anything special. A filler.  Filarri - Posle mene *** Balcan botox disco, quite pleasant one. I imagine myself driving with a car by the Adriatic seaside roof down this blasting out enjoying life. Zejna - Rumba **** Oh yes, love this one! I hope she delivers live and the staging works. This is silly enough yet catchy enough to stand out. Rumbanbumbum! Ram pam pam! ...

Serbia, one of my favorite Eurovision country usually what comes to the national selections will have its grand final on March 4 after two semi-finals on March 1 and 2. I'm quite sure I won't have time to do the review in between so I do it beforehand exceptionally in Sanremo style. Serbia is riding high again having dared to take a risk last year with Konstrakta and placing 5th in the final in Turin. That certainly wasn't a safe entry and paid off wonderfully. Biti zdrava, biti-biti-biti-biti zdrava! These 32 semi-final songs were selected among the about 200 submissions, among them Eurovision veteran Tijana Dapčević (North Macedonia 2014) and Hurricane  (Serbia 2021) but that doesn't count as all the members have changed. There will be 50/50 jury/televote. Half the songs will reach the final, the other half is eliminated. Mattia Zanatta & Angela Kassiani - Novi svet  * This has a lot going on from Serbian operatic singing to broken English in Italian accent and th...

Surprise! It's Blanka and her tropical pop Solo for Poland. The fandom may now have the meltdown I predicted in my previous post below. I'm feeling quite amused. Also because the jury ranked her first while what I could hear from the malfunctioning stream was that her vocals were equal to Benjamin's in UMK last night. But it's a fun addition to Liverpool line up instead of that fandom favorite - who would have stepped a bit on Käärijä's territory, too, so I have a double reason to be happy! Blanka Stajkow is 23-year-old Polish-Bulgarian model and singer.  Final results (jury + televote): 1. Blanka - Solo (12 + 10) 22 2. Jann - Gladiator (7 + 12) 19 3. Dominik Dudek - Be good (10 + 8) 18 4. Felivers - Never back down (8 + 6) 14 5. Yan Majeswki - Champion (4 + 7) 11 6. Alicja - New home (5 + 5) 10 7. Natasza - Lift u up (6 + 2) 8 8. Kuba - You do me (3 +  3) 6 9. Maja Hyzy - Never hide ( 2 + 4) 6 10. Ahlena (1 + 1) 2

Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję! Tonight it's Poland turn to choose their entry for Liverpool's Eurovision song contest 2023. The ten finalists are chosen among the around 300 submissions between September 2022 and February 2023, and TVP hold the right to invite a wildcard if they wished so. Interestingly, the artists submitting song were recommended to take part in the song writing. And yet, it seems only half of them actually have done so..... Among the artists Alicja, the third one from the 2020 cancelled edition trying to get to the main stage. Ulrikke (Norway) and Damir (Croatia) have failed already, how will she do? Jann and his Gladiator has already created a fuss in the fandom and seems to be the front runner at least in the Eurovision fan bubble. Get ready for (another) social media meltdown if he doesn't win..... Blanka seems to having the most streams though.  There will be also many guest stars from jury member and best Polish placing (2nd/1994)...

  Now that was a surprise! When Le Deva were announced as one of the top-3 acts I was sure they had it in pack but  no: Piqued Jacks won with Like an animal. Third was XGioce. Refreshing! Roy Paci, Lorenzo Licitra, le Deva and Alfie Arcuri picked up other awards proving the Big artists reigned. The award for emerging artist went to Mayu. Piqued Jacks is a foursome of Italian musicians from Buggiano (Pistoia), formed in 2006. They have released four albums, three EPS and a dozen singles so far. Despite this they were not among the Big artists but made it through the casting and auditions.  1. Piqued Jacks - Like an animal 2. Le Deva - Fiori su Marte 3. XGiove - Fuoco e benzina 4. Mayu - C'è qualcosa in me che non funziona 5. Eiffel 65 - Movie star 6. Edoardo Brogi - Due punti sull'equatore 7. Ellynora - mama told me 8. Tothem - Sacro e profano 9. E.E.F. - Something for you 10. Vina Rose - Obvilious Unplaced: Roy Paci - Tromba (My favorite!!) Deshedus - Non basterà Kida ...

  He did it. Oh boy did he do it: 539 points, runner up 152..... Cha cha cha! Käärijä or Jere Pöyhönen (29) from Vantaa next to Helsinki managed to holabaloo he caused with calm humorous way all the way to the winning performance on stage. Only after that we saw some beautiful tears in his eyes which made us like him even more. His funny, takes himself not too seriously but works hard. I haven't been this thrilled for our entry since Lordi and Blind Channel. And how did they end? 1. Käärijä - Cha cha cha (72 + 467(52,9%) 539 2. Portion Boys - Samaa taivasta katsellaan  (28 + 124/14,1%) 152 3. Keira - No business on the dance floor   (42 +91)/10,3% 133 4. Robin Packalen - Girls like you  (28 + 81/9,2% ) 109 5. Kuumaa - Ylivoimainen  (44 + 63/7,1%) 107 6. Lxandra - Something to lose  (46 + 24/2,7%) 70 7. Benjamin - Hoida mut  (34 +32/3,6%) 66 Bonus:

Finland's UMK has really turned itself around in just a couple of years from no hit machine disaster to a real chart topping delivering career launching hit machine. Two years in a row the Finnish Grammy aka Emma has gone to a song from UMK, all the songs hit the charts, it delivers several Top-10 hits, number ones and creates new stars. This year more than ever. In my personal opinion every song this year is good or great, and any of them would have been a winner just 3-4 years ago but things have changed now. How to pick up the one from the goodies? Easy if you think about it: there's one that caused an international stir right after it was released, it sticks out like a slap in the face and all I can say is WE MUST CHOOSE IT.  The running order caused some commotion in the social medias but I believe it has something to do with the stagings and props etc. On the other hand with only seven songs it's not so important if you go first, last or somewhere in between. Especial...

After 1100 submissions, auditions since October 2022, 106 semi-finalists and all week long selecting process here we are: The grand final of Una Voce per San Marino 2023 to find out who gets the ticket to Liverpool's Eurovision song contest for the tiniest of them all. Read more here .  Watching the semi-finals and 2nd chance broadcasts was quite an effort but to be honest it got better night after night but the sound quality and stream were very poor and certainly didn't make judging the performances - some of them challenging the ones in Moldovan auditions - easy. Every night the names of finalists and qualifiers for the 2nd chance raised some questions but let's not forget they just have to keep some of the big names in the show and certainly they can't make a total random newcomer nobody who hasn't got a backing of record label or a producer with a sack of money to win this show. Simple facts of life. Someone's got to pay the bills in the end of the day, rig...

Portugal and its Festival da Canção , one of my favorite national finals for doing their own thing and their own music is back again this year and with its already winning familiar formula: RTP invited a number of song writers (15) with free hands to create an entry for an artist of their choice added with entries (5) from the open submissions. Among them Eurovision veteran Cláudia Pascoal from home soil 2018 contest. Two semi-finals with ten songs each, six of them qualifying for the final: first five with 50/50 jury/televote, and one more from the rest with 100% televote.  Moyah - Too much sauce ** From open call. The verses are quite nice rap but the chorus is just nonsense. This is a prime example of streaming/tik tok era songs: just tad over 2 minutes. And in this case it's enough if not too much.  Bolha - Sonhos de liberdade ** Beautiful intro but then ... meh. Orchestration is better than singing or melodies. April Ivy - Modo voo **** As up tempo pop that Portugal ...

  Today's news is we have the hosts for the Eurovision song contest 2023 in Liverpool. And they are many! And even more for BBC itself. Graham Norton will host the grand final with Alesha Dixon, Ukrainian Julia Sanina (of Hardkiss fame) and Hannah Waddingham. The three ladies will host the semi-finals without Graham, but he will be also doing the commentary for BBC with Mel Giedroyc in the final while Scott Mills and Rylan will comment the semi-finals. On top of that Ukrainian Eurovision veteran Timur Miroshnychenko will be all over the place during the broadcasts and he will also host the Opening ceremony with Sam Quek. 

Australia has internally chosen progressive metal band Voyager to Liverpool's Eurovision song contest 2023 with Promise . They are no stranger to Eurovision having tried to get the ticket already in 2020 with Runaway (didn't qualify for the final) and in 2022 with Dreamer that placed second.  The band has been active since 1999 - but only lead singer Daniel Estrin is an original member - and have released seven studio albums. 

Switzerland has revealed their artist for Eurovision song contest 2023 in Liverpool and it's Remo Forrer. He's 21 and The Voice of Switzerland 2020. He's musician who has released four singles so far and his Eurovision entry will be revealed on March 7. Meanwhile enjoy some of his songs below:

It's the San Marino week in the Eurovision bubble. Over 1.100 submissions from 37 countries, about 380 of them invited for auditions in San Marino in the past months and finally we have the.... 106 semi-finalists. Every night this week we'll have semi-finals, four artists will qualify to the Saturday's final, added with two Sammarinese artists. On Friday will be a second chance round where those placed 5th to 8th will have an access, and the top-4 will qualify for the final as well. Unlike last year there will not be Big and Newcomers but everyone must go through the semi-finals (the Big only skipped the auditions) and they stressed the Big had to apply to take part and were not invited like last year. It seems everything is better organized and thought after. It also seems Una voce per San Marino is here to stay at least three more years. The rumor mill for the possible Big has been on fire already weeks and all sort of names has been thrown in the game from Elettra Lambor...

France's La Zarra has presented her song Evidemment for Eurovision song contest 2023 in Liverpool tonight. Read more here .

We have another returnee besides Marco Mengoni (Italy) in Liverpool's Eurovision song contest. Monika Linkyte won Pabandom iš naujo! 2023 with Stay. She placed 18th in 2015 with Vaidas Baumila, and has tried to come back several times since.  Monika is 30 years old and has released one studio album so far in 2015. That earned her local Grammys as best album, best song and best female artist. She has released about 20 singles/EPs. Results (jury + televote) 1. Monika Linkyte - Stay (12 + 10) 22 2. Rūta Mur - So low (10 + 12) 22 3. Beatrich - Like a movie (8 + 8) 16 4. Petunija - Love of my life (7 + 4) 11 5. Paulina Paukštaitytė - Let me think about me (6 + 5) 11 6. Gabrielius Vagelis - Šauksmas (4 + 6) 10 7. MoonBee - Rumor (1 + 7) 8 8. Justė Kraujelytė - Need more fun (5 + 1) 6 9. Mario Junes - Do what you do (3 + 2) 5 10. Il Senso - Sparnai (2 + 3) 5

Iskelmä Gala, that translates to Schlager Gala was just like Emma Gala (here) a success for UMK artist. the Gala is organized by Iskelmä radio station and the awards are voted by its listeners. BESS won the award as the Female artist of the year, while Portion Boys won The Band of the year, and The Entertainer of the Year awards. Olli Halonen (ex-Satin Circus) won the Newcomer of the Year award. Kuumaa left with empty hands this time as did Erika Vikman.  All UMK related nominees were: Song of the Year:  Portion Boys - Elämän ABC BESS - Ram pam pam Olli Halonen - Suomen kesä Kuumaa - Tulipalo Female Artist of the Year: Erika Vikman BESS (won) Male artist of the Year: Olli Halonen Breakthrough of the Year: Olli Halonen (won) Band of the Year: Kuumaa Portion Boys (won) Entertainer of the Year: Erika Vikman Portion Boys (won) The Song of the year is Vesterinen Yhtyeineen with Kohti sydänpeltoja:

Iceland's traditional Söngvakeppnin, the national selection for Euroviison song contest 2023 will be done the usual way: Ten songs all performed in Icelandic in two semi-finals where from two songs will be voted by the public alone to the grand final.An additional wildcard may be added by the organizers to the final line up. In the final the songs can be performed also in English if they so wish and intend to do so if they win and there will be two rounds: first one with 50/50 televote/international jury. The top-2 will go to a super final with 100% televote.  As there are only ten songs I will just review them all together - and usually get it all wrong in Iceland but never mind! Semi-final One  Bragi - Stundum snýst heimurinn gegn þér ***** Sometimes a song hits you hard when you hear it for the first time.  Sometimes the said song really isn't nothing extraordinary or special but still, without any particular reason. This is one of them. I just loved this from the...