Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Here it is! The incorruptible, infallible and most reliable Blogilkar's Home Jury made of people in their teens, 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's, mainly Finnish and mainly those who turn into Eurovision only on that one Saturday night, enjoy the show and that's it. Most everyone heard the songs for the first time so this was a true first impression judgement. And thus they had no idea about the fan polls, betting odds and trivial information and expectations. And boy did they turn those pools and odds around mostly, sinking some major favorites and enjoying some real underdogs. I will countdown the full ranking day by day until we have our winner out just before Liverpool is in full swing. This year I publish very few comments or opinions. Just the average score (we voted 1 to 10). In short this year is considered a bit poor by the jurors compared to for example last year and it may show in the somewhat low scores. Anyways: Enjoy! 4. ITALY - Marco Mengoni - Due vite  ...

Marco Mengoni will release his new album Materia (Prisma) on May 26, 2023, a third album of his Materia trilogia following Materia (Terra) 2021, Materia (Pelle) 2022, both selling multiple platinum already.  Mengoni is used to collecting platinum for his works, he has already 70 of them! In all Materia (Prisma) will be his 8th studio album. Due vite is his 38th single and he has scored 17 Top-10 singles so far. In his current European mini tour he has previewed a new song, Fiori d'orgoglio , possible his next single? Enjoy below the Materia singles so far:

Oh yes, he's done it again! A new sound that still sounds exactly like Mengoni and blends beautifully with his back catalogue. Not a single song on the album is a filler in my opinion and I'm just liking them all a lot. There are two featuring, both excellent choices that fit in like a glove. This Terra is the first part of series of three albums, and refers to his musical background, the foundation of his musical style and art.  As for the songs Luce is dedicated to his mom, and Proibito is about love between two men told in first person. He showcased the whole album in a secret private show last night to selected few with a nine member band that brought the soul and blues, r'n'b side of Mengoni alive. Next spring he will do stadiums in Italy for the first time.  Cambia un uomo Una canzone triste Il meno possibile (feat. Gazzelle) In due minuti Mi fiderò (feat. Madame) Ma stasera Proibito Luce Un fiore contro il diluvio

 What a relief! I was a bit worried Rai would fall to the usual Eurovision standards and choose the usual suspects for staging etc. But no!  Atelier Francesca Montinaro will create the scenography for the Eurovision Song Contest Torino 2022 stage! Hopefully that means they will do also the rest the Italian way. In a good Italian way I mean!  "It was a very demanding race in which we participated with enthusiasm and strong emotions. A race against time that kept us awake until the small hours. But it was worth it, because in the end  Rai chose us. We receive this assignment with honor and we will work to deliver to the whole of Italy a stage that shows the soul of the Italians to Europe and to the world. We would like to say a lot, tell more, but we cannot reveal any details. From now on, months of intense but beautiful work begin for us to reach the opening of this third Italian edition of Eurovision. See you in May!" Atelier Francesca Montinaro has previously desig...

Italy took its well deserved third victory - finally! - at the Eurovision song contest 2021. Over the years several other Italian entries would have been worthy winners. In this series I will go through all of them from the worst ranking to the winner s. Marco Mengoni (32) won Sanremo and went on to the Eurovision with his winning entry L'essenziale and finished sadly only 7th out of 39, but all considered that was just the beginning of something huge coming up. That year Sanremo tried the two song for each artist method and the faith had it L'essenziale was the first song to be performed, and also the last. The other one was Bellissimo , eliminated in favor of this one. He had been up and coming since winning X Factor and even already placing 3rd in Sanremo but that festival showed a new Mengoni and when he performed Luigi Tenco's Ciao amore ciao on the cover night it sealed his faith.  Since then he has become a real superstar with a very loyal fanbase, an endless str...

Marco Mengoni follows his summer megahit Ma stasera with something totally different, there's retro vibes with a heavy dose of gospel feeling in his new one, Cambia un uomo. 

Marco Mengoni continues his success story with a new release: a double album recorded live during his recent Atlantico Tour to promote the latest album with the same title. Atlantico On Tour includes the Atlantico album with three new songs: Duemila volte, Calci e pugni and Il destino davanti , and 19 songs recorded live during the show. Check out the track list below with clicks to singles/videos released over the years.  CD 1 1. Duemila volte 2. Calci e pugni 3. Il destino davanti 4. Voglio 5. Hola (I say) feat. Tom Walker 6. Buona vita 7. Muhammad ali 8. La casa azul 9. Mille lire 10. Intro della ragione 11. La ragione del mondo 12. Amalia fado feat. vanessa da mata, selton 13. Rivoluzione 14. Everest 15. I giorni di domani 16. Atlantico 17. Hola 18. Dialogo tra due pazzi CD 2 1. Intro Atlantico 2. Muhammad Ali 3. Voglio 4. Ti ho voluto bene veramente 5. In un giorno qualunque 6. Sai che 7. Proteggiti da me 8. Mille lire 9. Onde 10. Hola 11. Mondo ...

  Marco Mengoni has released the video for Duemila volte , his new single co-written by Mahmood off his worthcoming Atlantico/ On tour  double-cd. Ho bisogno di perderti Per venirti a cercare Altre duemila volte Anche se ora sei distante Ho bisogno di perdonarti per poterti toccare Anche una sola notte Anche se siamo soli come l'acqua su Marte

Mahmood already co-wrote several songs on Marco Mengoni's #1 and double platinum selling Atlantico album, and there's more: Mengoni is releasing a double-CD packaging of the album that includes three new songs and live recording from his #AtlanticoLive2019 tour, and a new single Duemila volte , co-written again by Mahmood. The other new songs are Calci e pugni and Il destino davanti .  The live CD includes 19 songs, a mix of his biggest hits like Ti ho voluto bene veramente , Guerriero and Io ti aspetto , and the songs of Atlantico. Among the songs also obviously L'Essenziale .  The single Duemila volte will be released October 4:

Marco Mengoni has released Muhammad Ali , the fourth single off his platinum selling #1 album Atlantico . The video is filmed in his hometown Ronciglione, north of Rome.  "We are all Muhammad Ali Here you win or lose in a moment"

Marry me , she sung to the whole of Europe back in 2013, when she and Janne Grönroos had been together already almost ten years. The year after Janne finally took the hint and proposed to her in Maledives but it would take another three years when they finally got married late 2017. Less than two years later the marriage is sadly over. Krista comments on her social medias: We got to grow up together with Janne. He has taught me a lot and made me a better person. We have experienced a lot together, downhill and uphill. Life changes people, as well as their needs and dreams.  We have decided together to continue the journey as friends. I am really grateful that we have shared all these years together. I will appreciate and love you forever Janne.❤ We hope that we will get the peace we need to recover from our divorce. We do not comment on this further. Janne shared pretty much the same text in his social media while both shared the same aphorism: Janne has been workin...

Serbia's national final Beovizija 2019 was won by 24-year-old Nevana Božović with self written Kruna (Crown).  She's no stranger to Eurovision having represented her country in Junior Eurovision 2007 ( Piši mi , 3rd) and as a member of Moje 3 in the real thing in 2013 ( Ljubav je svuja , 11th in semi-final). She's also The Voice 2012 runner up. She has released a dozen singles since 2007.  1. Nevena Božović - Kruna (televotes 8+jury 12) 20 2. Dženan Lončarević - Nema suza (10+7) 17 3. Saška Janks - Da li čuješ moj glas (6+10) 16 4. Nataša & Una - Samo bez straha (12+2) 14 5. Wonder Strings & Ivana Vladović - Moja bol (5+8) 13 6. Ivan Kurtić - Bella (7+4) 11 7. Majdan - Budim te (3+5) 8 8. Lord - Radnički sin (2+6) 8 9. Sofija Perić - Aritmija (4+1) 5 10. Jana Šušteršić - Viktorija (0+3) 3 11. Aleksandra Sekulić - Tugo (1+0) 1 12. Ana Popović - Lutaš (0+0) 0

Emmelie has been a bit lost ever since her win, and has released a sting of undisturbing singles and History isn't any exception. Nice but forgettable.... After dusting off I didn't know with Martha Wash Serhat does the same with Helena Paparizou for his oldie Total disguise , then in duet with Eurovision presenter Viktor Lazlo.... The question remains: why? The Azeri victory remains still a mystery (well... really?) and both winners haven't really been heard of ever since. This is one of Eldar's latest, dating 1,5 years ago. I miss you is his latest.  His partner in victory Nigar Jamal hasn't bothered the international charts since then either. Her latest (?) Sus is kinda nice ethnic pop. Worth a listen. 

Albin Fredy (or Swedish born Albin Ljungqvist came 3rd in the Danish national final for the Eurovision song contest 2018 with his country influenced Music for the road . He was my favorite there by far and surprise surprise I was a big fan of his Beautiful to me   back in 2013 as well.  Now waiting for him to become third time lucky!

Or depends how you want to count it. if we only count the top-10 placings then Sweden has 7 and Italy 6, and then we have Denmark, Norway, Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan with 5 so it makes it all very Nordics Vs. ex-Sovjets. And the odd one out: Italy. On the other hand if we look at the placements turned into Eurovision points (12, 10, 8....1) Sweden is still ruling with 56, but Azerbaijan is second with 43 (but we all know what happened, how all of sudden they were no longer in top-5 every year but where they belonged: vote rigging. Before that they managed to collect in five years one of each placements from one to five, with Swedish songs mind you). Russia follows with 38 with Italy close behind with 35. Ukraine completes the top-5 with the Nordics after: Denmark and Norway. Italy has been flirting with the victory already several times, it's time they take trophy home soon. All other countries in Top10 have won (except Turkey, abseent since 2013 but but strong with 3 to...

Lys Assia, the first ever Eurovision song contest winner took part in the first three editions representing her native Switzerland (just like Corry Brokken did for the Netherlands).  However Lys holds the record of four entries as she sung both songs in 1956.  Das alte Karussell wasn't a hit, but Refrain won the whole thing. The year after she was back with L'enfant que j'étais finishing 8th and finally in 1958, third year in a row and she took Giorgio to the second place losing closely to France's Andre Claveau 27-24. Those two were real runaway favorites, as third placed Italy's Domenico Modugno's Volare only got 13 points.... Giorgio became a hit also in Italy and is played still today in its various cover versions and ... other things . Had it won, it could have changed Eurovision already before 1965 for more uptempo songs..... Maybe... Lys started her career as a dancer but switched to singing in early 1940's. In 1950's and 1960...

Anne-Marie David started with Eurovision in 1972 when she participated in the French selection with Un peu romantique , after doing a succesful Maria Magdalena in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.  She didn't win but the year after Luxembourg chose her and Tu te reconnaitrais and she took a close second victory in the row for the Grand Dutchy beating pre-contest favorites UK's Cliff Richard and Spain's Mocedades; they are finished within six points when David scored 129 points and Richard placed third with 123. Anne-Marie Davis became international star and toured the world and participated in various festivals from Tokyo to Vina del Mar, and ended up in Turkey of all places where she released songs even in Turkish and enjoyed fame and popularity.  In 1979 she was back, this time for France and her Je suis l'enfant soleil placed third. Again the top-3 was way ahead of the others but in the end she was 19 points behind the Israeli winners, a second win in...

Sitting here on a rainy Saturday evening I was thinking about Krista Siegfrids and her singles.... and I realized she has already released 7 (seven) singles since her debut album and its three releases ( Marry me , Amen , Can you see me ). Seven singles and four years. Where's the album, hello snälla du? It's taking so long most likely some of these fabulous songs won't fit in that would be such a shame! On the other hand at this rate in 2018 she can release a greatest hits already.... ;-p 2014  Cinderella 2015  On & Off 2015  Better on my own 2016  Faller 2016  Be real 2017 Snurra min jord 2017 1995 and as a bonus a fantastic Krista cover of an Eva Dahlgren classic

It's here finally. Marco Mengoni's first ever international release, Onde (Sondr remix),  a sure hit for the summer! Enjoy!  "We are like waves in the sea......"

The secret is out. The June 2 international release by Marco Mengoni is a Sondr remix of Onde, from the EP of same name. The physical release date is June 16 while the lyrics video release date is June 9.  Onde is a track from his multiplatinum selling album Marco Mengoni Live and remixed by London based Sondr, who have previously worked with Lana Del Rey, Meghan Trainor and Ed Sheeran, just to name a few.  The Onde EP includes remixed by Sondr, Filatov&Karas, Tim Bell and Ndpc, plus the original track that you can hear below: