Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

As there isn't much to blog when rehearsals are done with closed doors (and yes, I'm all for it!)  I will just do a feature with a couple of  photos from the rehearsals as published by Ebu. Today we moved on to semi-final two and were treated with more coned shoulders and masked faces - a real trend this year. I was most curious about Albania and Switzerland as their staging team is the same as UMK's and therefor also Windows95man's (and Käärijä's) last year.  Sadly the white and black outfit trend also continues with very few exceptions and after first semi-finals "nudity" we get Czechia's "nipple" dress. And if in the first semi-final I wished Luxemburg wore something else here it is Albania.... And it looks like the producers decided to open both semi-finals with a young girl with long dark hair in a pantsuit with dancers doing acrobatics ...  Should they both qualify (which I doubt) I hope they are put back to back. MALTA ALBANIA GREECE S

BBC chose internally Olly Alexander for United Kingdom at Eurovision song contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. Olly himself told the news on December 16, 2023 during the final of Strictly come dancing, and the song Dizzy was premiered on March 1, 2024. The music video was shot in mid February in Tbilisi, Georgia.  Oliver Alexander Thornton (33) is an actor, singer and LGBT+ activist. He was the singer of Years & Years before the band ended its journey by 2023 it being already more or less Olly's solo project since 2021. As Years & Years they released three studio albums (two #1s, one #3) and five Top-20 hits including #1 King . For this blogger the most familiar hit is Dreamland with Pet Shop Boys though. Other collaborations include Tove Lo , Elton John and Kylie Minogue (twice) Besides music Olly has a successful acting career going on since teenage years and has been nominated to various awards over the years. Besides movies (13 so far) he has done theater and musicals on s

As always, the Eurovision entries are being released in various versions; either being revamped for the contest or having a change of language or just simply an alternative version of genre or whatever. Here's a collection of season 2024 entries and their variations starting with Finland's Windows95man's No rules in its fabulous Enigmastic 90's Spa mix. Love it! (And yes, that's Sibelius in the background!) ... but that's not all! They also did a symphonic version with Espoo's Tapiola Sinfonietta orchestra!  No rules! We follow with France. Slimane delivers the perfect ballad Mon amour but in a Meya Rework mix with more beats and stuff. I may prefer the original as it's just perfection.  Azerbijan's Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov reworked their entry a bit Slimanesque way. It's quite wonderful.  Spain's Nebulossa has rercorded Zorra with Mexican superstar Gloria Trevi. They also performed it live together in New York's Radio City Hall.  Lit

As there isn't much to blog when rehearsals are done with closed doors (and yes, I'm all for it!)  I will just do a feature with a couple of  photos from the rehearsals as published by Ebu.  Today a couple of things caught my eye: Luxemburg's totally wrong outfit, Finland's and Slovenia's "nudity" and Moldova's lack of those violin girls. Not so sure of Azeri outfits either. As for the rest pretty much the same and expected.  Today we had the first 30 minutes technical rehearsals by these countries: ICELAND SLOVENIA FINLAND MOLDOVA   AZERBAIJAN AUSTRALIA PORTUGAL LUXEMBURG

  As usual Switzerland chose internally among the 420+ entries sent The Code by Nemo, as announced on February 29, 2024. And yes, it's something else for sure from opera to rap to hip pop and pop and even Bond-esque sounds.!  Nemo Mettler (24) is a Swiss non-binary rapper, singer and musician who plays violin, piano and drums. He has released four EPs since 2015 and over 20 singles as solo or featuring. Du in 2017 is his highest charting single yet as #4. In 2017 and 2018 he won several awards as Best Newcomer/talent/Best male act/Best breaking act/Best live act and Du was awarded the Best Hit award.  Here are some Nemo's videos, truly an interesting artist to discover more in the near future. So, what do I think? I must say the first hearing left me rather speechless and I just didn't re-listen it and continued with my life thinking The Code isn't much to think about. Then, slowly, I had an urge to listen it again. And again. And now it's one of my most anticipated

As every year many Eurovision artists tried a comeback, but for them this 2024 season has been very poor. Out of 24 only two succeeded in the task - and curiously both of them now in the very bottom of the betting odds - namely Iceland's true veteran Hera Björk who besides being the artist in 2010 with Je ne sais quoi placing 19th, has been backing singer many times already. Moldova's Natalia Barbu managed to win again after her Helsinki 2007 participation with Fight and Top-10 finish. The only winner trying a comeback this year didn't qualify from a wildcard voting.  Many artists saw their adventure finish in semifinals already: Lithuania's Andrius Pojavis and Vilija (both last in their semifinals), Norway's Benedikte Adrian, Latvia's Agnese Rakovska,  and Malta's Moira Stafrace. Some were close to making it again being the runner ups: KEiiNO in Norway, Basim in Denmark and Max Mutzke in Germany. Pretty close were also Let 3 in Croatia, The Roop in Lithuani