Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

It's the time again: Blogilkar's home jury of Eurovision fans, non-fans and common viewers from teenagers to nearly 60 years old have watched and listened giving points from 1 to 10 plus a special 12 points to be awarded to the one favorite. In case of a tie the ranking was done by highest points received by any juror(s). And yes, the result is somewhat surprising here and there. Last year our winner was NQ Czechia but the winner Switzerland was 2nd and runner up Croatia 3rd.  Biggest surprise in this block is Albania I guess considering the fan hype and odds. It was very divisive one, either you like it quite a lot of just don't get it at all... 22. IRELAND  52 Ireland scored one 10 and one 9 but the rest was less enthuastic 23. UKRAINE  52 Ukraine got one 9 and one 8 and a lot of 4s 24. ICELAND  51 Iceland scored nice medium set from 4s to 8s 25. ALBANIA  50 Very divisive; several 8s and several 1s-2s! Check out places 26.- 29. here

It's the time again: Blogilkar's home jury of Eurovision fans, non-fans and common viewers from teenagers to nearly 60 years old have watched and listened giving points from 1 to 10 plus a special 12 points to be awarded to the one favorite. In case of a tie the ranking was done by highest points received by any juror(s). And yes, the result is somewhat surprising here and there. Last year our winner was NQ Czechia but the winner Switzerland was 2nd and runner up Croatia 3rd.  26. MONTENEGRO  48 Montenegrro scored one 8, a couple of 7s and the rest below 27. LITHUANIA  47 Lithuania scored one 9 and the rest between 2 and 7 28. GERMANY  47 A couple of 8s but the rest between 3 and 5 29. POLAND  47 One 8, a couple of 7s and the rest between 2 and 5 Check out places 30. - 33. here

It's the time again: Blogilkar's home jury of Eurovision fans, non-fans and common viewers from teenagers to nearly 60 years old have watched and listened giving points from 1 to 10 plus a special 12 points to be awarded to the one favorite. In case of a tie the ranking was done by highest points received by any juror(s). And yes, the result is somewhat surprising here and there. Last year our winner was NQ Czechia but the winner Switzerland was 2nd and runner up Croatia 3rd.  The uptempo fan favorites didn't quite impress us.... 30. CYPRUS  43 Cyprus scored a solid string of 4s and 5s with one odd 8 in the mix 31. DENMARK 42 Same goes for Denmark. A lot of 4s and one odd 8 in the mix 32. BELGIUM 41 Belgium got one 7 and the rest is mix from 3 to 6 33. UNITED KINGDOM 38 A mix of votes from 1 to 7 Check out places 34. - 37. here

It's the time again: Blogilkar's home jury of Eurovision fans, non-fans and common viewers from teenagers to nearly 60 years old have watched and listened giving points from 1 to 10 plus a special 12 points to be awarded to the one favorite. In case of a tie the ranking was done by highest points received by any juror(s). And yes, the result is somewhat surprising here and there. Last year our winner was NQ Czechia but the winner Switzerland was 2nd and runner up Croatia 3rd.  Let's start with the bottom-4. Common to these four was no one really liked them that much for various reason be it monotony, poor vocals, annoying sound and lyrics or simply not feeling that resulted with many very low votes that left them in the bottom of the list this year.  34. CROATIA 36 Croatia's votes went from 1 to 7 with several 2s and 3s as well.  35. GEORGIA 35 Georgia scored between several 2s and one odd 7 as max. 36. LATVIA 35 Latvia scored between 2 and 6 with quite a few 3s.  37...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the last part! ESTONIA - Tommy Cash - Espresso macchiato Tommy's Eurovision adventure started thanks to Käärijä with whom he dueted in It's crazy it's party . They also share the same song writer and producer Johannes Naukkarinen. In Eesti laul he scored convincing full points in the first round w...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the ninth part! MALTA - Miriana Conte - Serving (Kant) Miriana caused quite a stir after her win in Malta due to "kant" on behalf of BBC apparently. And then BBC's own entry is titled What the HELL just happened. I'd say hell and cunt in i its variations are same level swear word in Finland,...

  It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the eight part! UNITED KINGDOM - Remember Monday - What the hell just happened? They can sing alright. The song is a mess. It sounds like a medley of hits from a musical or simply just some band's greatest hits medley. A bit annoying really. I wouldn't surprised if this end up in bottom 6 as usual. ...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the seventh part! ITALY - Lucio Corsi - Volevo essere un duro I predict another Top-5 for Italy against all fan bubble odds. Even a shock winner. The juries would like this and televoters as well. If he managed to charm Italians as a nobody in Sanremo finishing second only 0,45% behind the winner why wouldn...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the sixth part! SWITZERLAND -Zoë Më - Voyage This is one of those songs that haven't yet quite clicked with me. I have a feeling I should like this a lot more than I do right now. It's in theory just my cup of tea but something... I don't know. I get some Carla Bruni vibes (that are positive) but....

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the fifth part! CZECHIA - ADONXS - Kiss kiss goodbye He premiered the song as acoustic version in Malta of all places and the fandom melted and screamed winner. Indeed it was a stunning debut and might give Czechs their best finish come May. When the final version was released with its dance break it was qui...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the fourth part! DENMARK - Sissal - Hallucination I see this one's got some devoted fans out there but for me this does nothing much and have this at a borderline qualifier but more as NQ as Q but that's just me. Sissal deserves better song and most of all better staging and styling and if I have unde...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the third part! ARMENIA - Parg - Survivor To me this is a weird one: I have seen Parg's other videos and heard songs and he can sing. But his vocals are very forced giving impression he can't. Plus the whole chorus is sing back. I'm not sure the juries will appreciate that so much. Or the insane l...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful!  I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the second part. NETHERLANDS - Claude - C'est la vie I was very happy when Claude was announced, and I do like his song a lot. The mix of languages works very well, at least for someone who speaks both English and French so it all blends together without effort. All this said I am quite surprised this is...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that are diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit, but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. But here we go! ALBANIA - Shkodra Eletronike - Zjerm One of the big fan favorites. Original, well performed, great arrangement, intriguing stage presence. Could it be Albania's big year? Or will it be the shock non qualifier? I wasn't hooked up the first time I heard it nor the second and that might be it'...

If KAJ was real fresh air in Melodifestivalen so was Meira Omar but this time the Finnish sauna humor and sympathetic guys won over adorable Meira and her oriental ethno vibes. This is the only other song besides Bada bara bastu that survives on my Playlist still, out of about 4 that initially made it there btw. And it's the 15th song in this series of national selection songs from all over it's a perfect end for this series that started with Karnaval. 

There was no doubt Tommy Cash would win Eesti laul 2025 but there were also a couple of other songs I liked and that have stayed on my playlist. One of them is Janek's Frozen that just missed out the super final of top-3. I feel this is like a lost Madonna track from her Ray of light album. Can't be bad then! And yes I did liked his House of glass two years ago as well. Hopefully he returns and is third time lucky!

Malta offered some goodies this year. If the general fandom went for songs like Kant and Heaven sent I went for Għażliet and Qalb ma' Qalb instead. Where as the twins showed some lack of experience on stage good old Dario with his sparkle in the eye shone with Zeppi and did very well considering it was just a reserve song. And yes, I am very happy it made the line up, my favourite by far!

This is my maybe favourite song from Sanremo 2025. Brunori was a familiar name to be beforehand but I wasn't so familiar with his music but L'albero delle noci hit home with the first hearing. Great artist, beautiful melody and lyrics, no gimmicks. But I never believed he'd end up 3rd overall and I was even more surprised when he told he would do Eurovision without a moment of hesitation and actually wanted to win because of that! And along with Lucio Corsi a great new artist for me to discover and like! The video btw stars his family, wife and daughter.....

So it happened as I suspected: Nelli Matula scored the biggest radio hit from UMK2025 staying already at #1 for the 5th week when writing this. And no wonder, Hitaammin hautaan was also my favourite right away when released. As a song, not necessarily for Eurovision though even if I would be very happy if this was our entry as I am with Ich komme and would have been with Made of....

This little butterfly left a mark on me in the first Albanian semi-final. She didn't pass. But she was one of my favourites with this pretty little song. And I remember liking her entry last year, too, when she qualified for the final with  Pikturë . I hope she tries again!

David Afonso may have placed last in the first Benidorm Fest 2025 but he deserved so much more. Vocally perfect with a melody that has stuck into my mind. But he's just in the beginning of his recording career so please do come back in coming years and win it all!

Another goodie from Croatia. Marko Tolja offered a solid classic ballad, extremely well sung. A classic polished performance. Of course fandom doesn't get these songs but as an Eurovision old schooler I just loved it. One of the best songs of the season. Had it been in Croatian it would have been perfection!

Goldielocks entered UMK2025 as the least known artist and in a short while charmed most everyone and placed close second to pre designed winner Erika Vikman. And not only she has conquered the radips as well being the 2nd most played song in the Finnish radios last week - behind another UMK2025 artist Nelli Matula who sits firmly at the #1 spot for the 4th week already. Friday we know if Goldielocks claims that spot from her following her rise in the charts! If it wasn't for Erika this would have been such an amazing entry and maybe the best staging of the whole national selection season!

This is a song that made me the most impact when hearing the Serbian songs for the first time. In the end it wasn't my favourite to win it being rather un-Eurovision song but it is a good pop song with a good vibe. Something that made into my playlist. Even if it only received one point from the jury and none from the public in semi-final.....