Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Rim Tim Tagi Dim and Cha cha cha everybody.  After this exhausting Eurovision season's end this blogger is off to holidays  and will be back eventually someday. Have a great summer!

Oh what a night! What a voice! Slimane came to Helsinki on his world tour that is sold out most everywhere he goes and Helsinki was no exception. I bought my tickets the first day they were on sale and to my great surprise it was already almost sold out already and all I got were seat too far for my cellphone for any decent photos so sorry for the bad quality! :-) Scroll down to a video recap - decent sound, poor picture.  The new world tour differs from the French arena tour he has been for a year or more that ended in early January. A new set list was prepared for this international adventure and smaller scale staging. There were only Slimane on stage with three excellent backing singers, a drummer and a keyboardist but it sounded great anyways, and after all with Slimane and those fantastic singers it was all about the voice anyways. Simple yet very clever lighting as icing on the cake that played with little tricks creating just right atmosphere. As he may not be as well known ...

As Mahmood has been announced as one of the co-hosts for the Sanremo 2025 fourth night this is as good as any excuse to have a some Friday night nostalgia and a closer look to his Sanremo participation history that is quite remarkable indeed. 2016 Placed 4th in Newcomer's with Dimentica  (behind certain Francesco Gabbani and Ermal Meta) 2018 Winner of Sanremo Giovani with Gioventú bruciata (won Critic's award) 2019 Winner of Sanremo with Soldi  (won awards for best performance and was voted the best by other artists) 2020 Author for Elodie's Andromeda (7th) 2021 Guest appearance           Author for Francesca Michielin & Fedez's Chiamami per nome (2nd)          Author for Noemi's Glicine (14th) 2022 Winner of Sanremo with Brividi together with Blanco          Author for Noemi's Ti amo non lo so dire (15th) 2023 Guest appearance 2024 Placed 6th with Tuta gold but had the biggest hit of the fe...

I already posted the Official singles chart #1's here , and it's time to check out the Radio play charts that often featured very different songs. And as the singles chart was all Finnish but the Wham's Christmas #1 the situation is not different here: Only one song, in the last week, too, made it to #1 and that was Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars! Only 12 songs made it to #1 as most of the year they kept going up and down and switching places at top. UMK Sara Siipola scored #1 here, as did UMK veterans BESS and Benjamin together, and BESS with Elastinen as well. Also another UMK veteran Robin Packalen scored his biggest hits in years. And if Mirella dominated the Singles chart being on top for 25 weeks here she did with two songs for six weeks. BESS was the Queen here with her 16 weeks on top! Elastinen feat BESS - Pimee (weeks 1-4, 7, 9) Jenni Vartiainen - Lanka (weeks 5, 10-12) Bee - Viimeisiä sanoja (weeks 6, 8) Mirella - Timanttei (weeks 13, 19, 21-22) Sara Siipola - Paska...

Another year has passed and sadly more Eurovision song contest veterans and winners have joined the heavenly band. Below are some of the artists, song writers, conductors of Eurovision that we lost this year.  Francois Hardy (1944-2024) - L'amour s'en va (Monaco 1963) Dickie Rock (1936-2024) - Come back to stay (Ireland 1966) Guy Bonnet (1945-2024) - Marie-Blanche (France 1970), Vivre (France 1983), writer for La Source (France 1968) Joe Cujatar (1941-2024) - L'imħabba (Malta 1972) Humbrey Campbell (1958-2024) - Wijs me de weg (Netherlands 1992) Marjorie (1965-2024) - participated in the Finnish national selection 1988 , 1989 , 1990 , 1994 Hans Blum (1928-2024) -writer of German entries 1967 , 1969 , 1986 Martin Lee of Brotherhood of Men (1946-2024) - Save your kisses for me (UK 1976) Colin Gibb (1953-2024) of Black Lace - Mary Ann  fame (UK 1979) Emre Tukur of Klips ve Onlar and Pan fame (Turkey 1986, 1989 ) Shmulik Bilu of Milk & Honey (1952-31.12.2023) - Hallel...

Tonight's the night for Sanremo giovani semi-final where the 12 become six for the final. ( Read more here ). The songs have been out in the platforms awhile now and the most streams so far has Settembre (1.865.600), followed by Alex Wyse, Tancredi, Mazzariello and Mew - all between 340.000 and 444.000. Then we have a significant drop to Angelica Bove's 85.000. Let's see how they correspond to the final verdict.  UPDATE 18.12.: The final duels: MEW Vs. Vale LP & Lil Jolie                                             Alex Wyse Vs. Selmi                                                Angelica Bove Vs. Settembre From AreaSanremo:              Maria Tomba Vs. Etra             Oh what? They w...

No surprise here, runner up Nina Žižić, Eurovision veteran from 2013, replaces Neonoen who withdraw ( read more here ) a few days after their Montesong win. Nna was the jury winnner before Neonoen, but placed only 4th in televote, thus finishing second, with her Dobrodošli. 

The past three years the most streamed song on Spotify in Finland has been an UMK entry but not anymore in 2024. Newcomers Mirella, Hugo and Ani took over but Kuumaa was still the second most listened act in general, Sexmane 5th. Their both latest albums made also the list of most listened albums: Pisara meressä (1.) and Hyvikset ja pahikset (6.) The most listened artist was however Turisti , followed by Kuumaa, Mirella, Gettomasa , Sexmane , Ibe , Costi , Taylor Swift, Isac Elliot and Lauri Haav .  1. Mirella - Timanttei 2. Ege Zulu & BEHM - Tunnista tuntiin 3. Mirella & Lauri Haav - Luotathan 4. Mirella - Uuteen eiliseen 5. AHTI & Hugo - Väärään aikaan 6. Kuumaa - Satama 7. Hugo & Costi - Taulut 8. Robin Packalen & Tupe - Häitä pidelly 9. Ani - Jos puhutaan totta 10. Mirella - Sua sattuu In 2021 Blind Channel's Dark side topped the list. Måneskin gave extra Eurovision flavour to the list placing three songs in the Top-10: I wanna be your slave (2.), Euroviis...

UPDATE 4.12.2024: Neonoen have withdrawn and will not go to Eurovision after all. They released the following statement in social medias and RTCG will decide on the new participant in coming days, most probably the runner up Nina Žižić. "“In the best public interest, with the desire to end the uncertainty and once again contribute to the music that we are here for in the first place, we inform you that we are voluntarily withdrawing from participating in Eurovision. RTCG, in accordance with the regulations, will choose another representative, and we will be the first to wish him luck and provide him with full support. “Winning at Montesong brought us publicity whose type and extent we did not choose, nor could we control. We note, and the facts confirm this, that performing the working version of the song live neither jeopardized the Montesong festival process itself, nor could it have influenced its final outcome and our placement. The fact is that there were many similar example...

Sanremo giovani will be a multi evening affair again and on top of that the separate Sanremo Giovani or newcomers final will be held in Sanremo 2025 festival giving us two winners again in 2025 rather than only one - as it should be if you ask me. Just think about some names that have won the newcomers before making it to the Big category: Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini, Andrea Bocelli and Francesco Gabbani. Just to name a few. There will be four heats on November 12, 19, 26 and December 3 presented by Eurovision host Alessandro Cattelan each with six participants, three making it further. The semi-final takes place on December 10 and the 12 will become six.  The final takes place on December 18. The six will become three, and also the two selected by AreaSanremo selection will battle out between them for the last spot. That makes four who will travel to Teatro Ariston in Sanremo in February and have the grand final with new songs.  The Sanremo Giovani selection had 564 submis...

  This week all the songs are a bit older but still #Finpop2024. All four artists are releasing new songs in steady flow and gain popularity, even if still missing The Hit. This season I have enjoyed these ones a bit more than their other efforts. Yet. Enjoy these efforts, there's more to come! ANI - Jos puhutaan totta Etta - Piilota sun sydän Rosi - Joutomaa Ollie - Jumalat

  Another dose of #Finpop2024. This time we start with the official Pride anthem 2024, that is based on a real Finnish evergreen tango Satumaa. Newcomer Safira followes before country pop by Lili & Luna who is no other than Eurovision veteran Norma John's Leena with her cousin, or was it a niece? Anyways, we close up with another newcomer James-J. Enjoy! Helena Routa / Tiia Karoliina - Aavan meren tuolla puolen Safira - Kommentti Lili & Luna - Sul ei ole hätää James-J - Miksi pyöräni varastit

Another week, another dosse of #Finpop2024 with some summery sounds even if here in Finland the summer's nearing the end. Two duets by already well known names Janna with Keko Salata and Finnish-Italian NOTO with UMK veteran Mikael Gabriel. ABREU continues to flirt with caliente Latin sounds and Tuuli goes rather dramatic, bang bang bang! ABREU - Caliente NOTO / Mikael Gabriel - Kolumbus Janna / Keko Salata - Muuttolintu Tuuli - Kevlar

  Here comes the special post vol.1 of #Finpop2024 not in Finnish. First ALMA, one of Finland's most selling artists abroad with a title song from her biopic movie followed by Samu Haber ex-Sunrise Avenue, another mega export artist who has released songs in English after he went Finnish when going solo at first. Then we have Miriam Bryant, that you all know as a Swede. But actually she's a Finn and finally for the first time ever sings in Finnish! Last but not least a groovy song by a trio that includes Axel Ehnström aka Paradise Oskar from Eurovision 2011. Da dam he has become one of the hit songwriters in Finland. he has co-written also that Samu Haber song btw. Enjoy! ALMA - Life must be beautiful ( movie trailer ) Samu Haber - Dancing with a broken heart Miriam Bryant - Mustelmilla ( Mi amor ) Lane Boy / Axel Ehnström / Surfin' Sam - What I hope

It's no news France Eurovision and Eiffel tour have a long lasting love affair but last night it was taken to another level in the 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony. We all remember poor Tom Leeb who was chosen to represent France in 2020 Eurovision, climbed to Eiffel tower to belt out his song only to see Eurovision being cancelled and even France Television cancelling him for 2021 later on. That has been perhaps the high light of France Eurovision loves Eiffel tower in fandom's collective memory until now. Last night Eurovision 1988 winner Celine Dion returned to the spotlight after four hard years trying to recover and survive her illness and showed she was in top form in her first live performance since 2020. Belting out Edith Piaf's L'Hymne á l'amour like there was no tomorrow she reconquered the world. Well, I must say I do enjoy Tom Leeb's entry quite a lot. After all. 

Slimane recovered from flu just in time to perform in front of Basilique Saint-DenisDenis in Paris just hours before the outstanding opening ceremony of 2024 Olympics. Accompanied by 50 piece symphonic orchestra, gospel choir and dancers and even another Eurovision veteran Lara Fabian (her Eurovision 1988 competitor would be icing on top in the opening ceremony later that night). He sung some of his hits, including a majestic version of Mon amour and his most recent release, Résister (What about peace). Enjoy the show below!

The Käärijä hype is going on in Finland for another year and while we still wait for his new album here comes another single: Trafik! This time with another Eurovision legend - for all the wrong reasons - Joost Klein from the Netherlands. 

After yesterday's chaos the television broadcast went by without too many hic ups. With booing to Martin Österdahl and Israel. A huge sign of relief when Ukraine passed Israel in the scoreboard. Overpowering jury support to Switzerland that made Croatia's Baby Lasagna even more a Käärijä, part 2. He even got a hero's welcome back party at home just like Käärijä. Meanwhile in Switzerland Geneva and Basel at least have already stepped up to host next year's contest. Apparently Swedish police has let Joost Klein go. But Eurovision song contest is in crisis after all this. It's everywhere, even in the Finnish tv-news as I just watched. Eurovision is broken and needs fixing. Fandom is asking Österdahl and all Reference group to step out and be replaced. Several artists have come out now afterwards that it's been a traumatic experience rather than the best time of their lives and fun.  So many questions open until everything can go on and start getting ready for the n...

All is good that ends good. Israel didn't manage to win the televote being second to Croatia with 323 vs 337. Ukraine was third with 307 and France 4th with 227 and Switzerland 5th with one point behind. But Switzerland totally dominated the jury vote scoring 21 times 12 points and 365 total. France was second with 218 and Croatia 3rd with 210. Only nine countries manages to score 12 from the jury. Besides the 21 by Switzerland France 4 times, Portugal 3 times, Ukraine and Croatia twice and Luxemburg (from Israel), Ireland, Sweden and Cyprus (from Greece) once.  And here is the jury result: Here are the televotes: Croatia  337 Israel  323 Ukraine  307 France  227 Switzerland  226 Ireland  136 Italy  104 Greece  85 Armenia  82 Lithuania  58 Sweden  49 Cyprus  44 Estonia  33 Serbia  32 Finland  31 Latvia  28 Luxemburg  20 Georgia  19 Germany  18 Portugal  13 Slovenia  12 Spain...