Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Emma awards aka the Finnish Grammy nominations have been revealed. The gala takes place in Espoo's Metro Arena on March 7, 2026. Among the nominees both Finland's and Sweden's Eurovision entrants 2025 with several UMK finalists in 2025 or before. Check out the short list below. All nominees can be found here .  Song of the year: Ares - Menestys on paras tapa kostaa Emma & Matilda - Sisko Goldielocks - Made of KAJ - Bara bada bastu Nelli Matula - Hitaammin hautaan Erika Vikman - Ich komme Band of the year: Amorphis Emma & Matilda Joser & Zpoppa JVG KAJ Komiat People's Choice: Bess Eini Erika Vikman Goldielocks KAJ Nelli Matula Portion Boys  among others Pop of the year: ABreu Bess Ellinoora Isac Elliot JVG Olga Schlager of the year: Eini Komiat Mariska Portion Boys Rodeo Artist of the year: Ares Averagekidluke Isac Elliot Lauri Haav Olga Turisti

Montenegro is selecting its entry for Eurovision song contest tonight. 15 songs have made it this far and there will be a threesome voting: 50% jury, 25% Montenegrin televote and 25% international televote. The show airs from RTCG's Veliki studios in Podgorica. Among artists Eurovision veteran Andrea Demirović and Dolce Hara who for some mysterious reason has decided to sing in accented Italian or maybe just keep up with the "let's sing in Italian for no reason at all" in various national finals trend that regularly is dusted somewhere. And she's not even alone.... Tamara Is a singer and flutist, studies in University of Arts in Belgrade. Her breakthrough came last year in Montesong where she placed 9th with Poguban let . After that she has released another two songs:  Prošla godina and Bez kontrole .  Below are the results (jury + public - total, placement) Lara Baltić - Rhythm Boy   (6 + 12) 18 2nd Stefan - Nedekodirana/Недекодирана   (0 + 0) 0  14th Mila...

Festivali i Këngës 64 reaches its grand final tonight in Palace of Congresses in Tirana after two semi-finals and nostalgia night in previous nights this week. Out of 28 selected entries 23 made it this far as 5* out of the 10 "newcomers" qualified for the final and 5 had to leave the competition. No surprise as big fan (and not only) favorite Alis stormed to victory with Nân. For the translated lyrics go here . Alis Kallaçi (21) cemented his status as the next Big thing in Albania having won X Factor in 2024, placing third in FiK 63 and now winning and going to Eurovision song contest 2026 in Vienna for his country. Nân is his 4th release after  Se të dua , Mjegull and S'ta kam than .  The voting is by jury-televote 50-50. (jury/televote/total/placement) Below are the semi-final performances linked.  Gerta Mahmutaj - Në krahët e tu  (0 + 7) 7 16th Lynx - Nuk kthehem pas   (0 + 0) 0  20th Frensi - Tresh   (22 + 0 ) 22  11th Evi Reçi - Kodi...

Fandom tends to complain about the Eurovision song contest tickets but have a look at the Sanremo 2026 tickets and let them prices sink in. it would truly be a once in a lifetime experience. Maybe I should start saving already - if only it would be easy to get those tickets even with those prices: You must register for a sort of a lottery to get a right to buy those tickets if you are lucky, months ahead..... First to fourth night stalls tickets 240 euro x night Stalls tickets for the grand final 875 euro Stalls ticket carnet 1.835 euro for five nights First to fourth night Gallery tickets 132 euro x night Gallery tickets for the grand final 430 euro Gallery ticket carnet 958 euro for five nights Note there's no discount for the five nights carnet.  Teatro Ariston, the venue of Sanremo music festival was built between 1953 and 1963 and ultra modern venua at that time it has now became small and unfit for huge tv productions and endless torn in side between RAI and the town o...

ORF and EBU have have released the participating broadcasters list for Eurovision song contest 2026 and there will be 35 of them (unless more countries will pull out at later stage due public demand) which is the lowest since the introduction of two semifinals. Five broadcasters have withdrawn (from Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Ireland and Iceland) protesting Israel's inclusion while three broadcasters return all of sudden: from Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova. No sight of rumored Canada, Kosovo or Kazakhstan. Yet.  Participating broadcasters. RTSH (Albania), AMPTV (Armenia), SBS (Australia), ORF (Austria), ITV (Azerbaijan), RTBF (Belgium), BNT (Bulgaria), HRT (Croatia), CyBC (Cyprus), CT (Czechia), DR (Denmark), ERR (Estonia), Yle (Finland), France Télevisions (France), GPB (Georgia), SWR (Germany), ERT (Greece), IPBC (Israel), RAI (Italy), LSM (Latvia), LRT (Lithuania), RTL (Luxemburg), PBS (Malta), TRM (Moldova), RTCG (Montenegro), NRK (Norway), TVP (Poland), RTP (Portugal), ...

Sanremo giovani final is titled Sarà Sanremo (It will be Sanremo) will air tonight from Casinò di Sanremo  and six artists have made it this far after submissions (a total of 524), auditions, four weekly selections and a semi-final and two of them will win the ticket to Sanremo 2026 newcomers section tonight along with two artists from Area Sanremo selection picked out of 505 submissions. They were announced yesterday and are Mazzariello and Soniko, Blind & El Ma trio.  Angelica Bove made it already last year to the final but didn't make it to the top-4 losing the duel to eventual winner Settembre. Mazzariello on the other hand was eliminated by Angelica in a semi-final duel. She did also X Factor 2023. Antonia made the final of Amici earlier this year finishing 4th. Also Filippucci comes from the same  Amici 24 placing 6th. But before that he has done most every possible talent between 2022-24 in Italy, San Marino and elsewhere. Senza Cri tried her luck already in Sa...

  The year is nearing the end and so it #Finpop 2025. We started with Käärijä and Hooja and end up with another Swedish connection or KAJ, the Finnish trio that represented Sweden at Eurovision and their latest banger Karaoke. Enjoy and thank you for this year. #Finpop 2026 will be launched in due time! Stay tuned! Aliisa Syrjä - Sydän on rikki Lasse Havu - Tahdon Birgi - Oon sun lähellä KAJ - Karaoke

 Yet another dose #Finpop 2025 with four lesser known more or less indie female artists that re worth a listen. Enjoy! ellaella - Pilalla yaya - Huokauksii Ira - Meistä kertova satu emma - Elvytä mut

  Another dose of #Finpop 2025 with UMK and Eurovision twist. Kuunkuiskaajat (ESC 2010) are back together after nearly ten years apart while Aksel Kankaanranta who missed Eurovision due Covid-19 has released yet another new song as has home ground Eurovision 2007 star Hanna Pakarinen and finally UMK veteran Ilta belting out yet another beautiful ballad. Enjoy! Kuunkuiskaajat - Lemmenhuuto Aksel Kankaanranta - Mitä sanoisin Hanna Pakarinen - Rakenteet Ilta - Yksin et koskaan sä mee

This time a treat: UMK 2026 drops out - and one from UMK 2025! Usually artists keep quiet that they have applied for UMK but sometimes they just admit they did apply and were not taken. This is the case of Berta, Tina and Miki Ratsula with their entries below. Plus One Ghost that apparently applied for 2025 but wasn't taken. What do you think, did they deserve to be there? Berta - Kuu Tina - Kohoma Miki Ratsula - Supposed to be One Ghost - Legacy