Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

The ridiculous Belarusian affair came to a closure today when EBU announced they failed to produce a new entry that wasn't just another propaganda nonsense. Always sad to see a country go, but this time all I can say is....da pabačennia!

Senhit was due to represent San Marino in 2020 Eurovision song contest for the second time but for reasons we all know very well it's going to happen only in 2021. But she's not lazily waiting for next spring but will keep herself busy with a series of Eurovision covers until May 2021. Each month a new video, worked together with Italian art director and choreographer Luca Tommassini that will be a real work of art with transformation of her style and look with a real artistic video clip. The first one's out and it's the Belarusian entry 2014 Cheesecake by TEO, that finished 15th in the final. The song gets a whole new meaning with the video imaginary that throws in role and gender play and recent #Blacklifesmatter movement with references to Grace Jones, Andy Warhol and Keith Haring among others. 

Switzerland - Gjon's Tears - Répondez-moi One of those songs I think I should like more but in the end, no I don't. A big plus for bringing something in French instead of English, and something original and different that isn't manufactured to fit the Eurovision formula  written in some random international songwriting camp (even if apparently it is....). Original, haunting, beautiful ... but for me there's something missing to make it a standout song and a winner like it was in the various  betting odds pre-cancellation. On the other hand the first hearing felt a lot better than it is after a few hearings and people who vote... Well, we will never know!   8/10 Belarus - VAL - Da vidna The national final performance in the preview video isn't the best I have seen. There's something about them and their song that I really like,and this plays often in my headradio. This could have been a surprise success in Rotterdam, maybe. I mean a finalist and ...

VAL is made of singer Valeria Gribusova (25) and Vlad Paschevich, the multi-instrumentalist sampler and producer. Valeria has experience of The Voice of Ukraine and has also done Slavianski Bazaar while Vlad has produced for example another Eurovision couple Navi Band's entry back in 2017. The two V's work together since 2016 and are also a couple. They have released one album (2017) and Da Vidna is their fifth single.  They have expressed their will to do Eurovision 2021 but haven't been confirmed yet by the national television ...

  Belarus joins the list of countries bringing a song in native language to the contest in 2020 (so far we have only Croatia, Ukraine, Serbia, Portugal, Italy and Spain with Slovenia in doubt) when duo VAL came second in both televotes and jury vote and secured a win. Below is the full chart of points. VAL is lead singer, songwriter and dancer Valerie Gribusova (25) and also performs as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Belarus, who has experience in The Voice of Ukraine and has won Slavensky Bazaar festival previously. Vlad Pashkevich is producer, multi instrumentalist and and owner a production studio who produced for example another dating Belarusian couple Navi Band in Eurovision 2017. VAL has been making music since 2016 and moves from one genre to another. They have released one album and two singles before Da vidna .  1. VAL - Da vidna (jury 10 + televoters 10) 20 2. Yan Yarosh - Fire (12 + 6) 18 3. CHAKRAS - La-ley-la (6 + 12) 18 4. K...

Belarus is next in line to have its national final for the Eurovision song contest 2020 in Rotterdam tonight. Twelve acts made it through the legendary live auditions and tonight a 50-50 jury-televote will determinate the outcome. Among the artists several familiar names like NAPOLI trying again for the who knows how many times but not as many as AURA, who reaches a total of 12. Anastasiya is back as well.  Glamozda and Pushnova shine above the others with their opposite mood songs with VAL's pop tune for me among these efforts. Zakharik's kinda fun and Yarosh sticks put being the only male with his piano ballad that sounds like off from some movie. Imagine some love scene in a park and again the closing titles running.... Or will AURA finally make it? I wouldn't mind. I guess. There will be 50-50 televote-jury this time.  NAPOLI — Don’t Let Me Down  * Sasha Zakharik — Rocky Road  *** Anastasiya Malashkevich — Invisible  ** CHAKRAS — La-ley-la ...

Belarus had its legendary auditions today for the Eurovision song contest and the rather surprising results are out. I have no idea what they are looking for this year but I can say already now I won't like it. These twelve made the cut: Анастасія Гламозда/Anastasiya Glamozda - Burning again Дар'я Хмяльніцкая/Darya Khmelnitskaya – On Fire AURA – Барані сваё  VAL – Да вiдна  Ангеліка Пушнова/Angelika Pushnova - True Love NAPOLI – Dоn’t let me down Саша Захарык/Sasha Zakharik - Rocky Road КейСи/KeyCi – Chili Pepper Ян Ярош/Yan Yaroche – Fire Анастасія Развадоўская/Anastasia Razvadovsky - Hello Chakras - La la ley Анастасія Малашкевіч/Anastasia Malashkevich - Invisible For further entertainment check out the auditions here  

Que Dieu me pardonne

Oh my, from a series You got one job. After Belarus jury was sacked when they leaked who voted and how in the semi-final someone messed the votes of aggregated votes EBU generated to replace the jury (the same way San Marino's televotes are being generated). Or in short: the votes were given backwards or the last one (in this case Israel) got 12 points, second to last 10 and so on.... And indeed, I remember wondering and laughing out for those votes in the live broadcast as they were simply rather insane and akward.  Now the votes have been corrected and even if there is no change in the top-4 after that it gets messy, and even The Netherlands lead to Italy is now only 26 points. The jury winner was North Macedonia instead of Sweden, but in combined results Sweden passes the televoting winner Norway and they change places; Sweden 5th and Norway 6th. Also North Macedonia climbs one spot passing Azerbaijan to 7th as they switch places. San Marino also climbs one place to 19th sw...

  Hungary - Joci Pápai - Az én apám **** Simple is beautiful. Barefooted Joci alone on stage that at times reminds me of Jamala's tree growing in the backdrop. Not visible in this video the faces that will appear in the backdrop as well, I must say I'm not so keen on them. This said this is stylish, fitting and Joci is an artist that can trasmit emotion on screen and I firmly believe this will qualify for that reason, and end up rather well in the end.   Belarus - ZENA - Like it * This feels like ZENA and her team said "I like it" to every idea proposed by whoever was in charge for the staging. Smoke, fire, every possible idea and image in the backdrop topped with all over the place choreography. Every little like it I had for this earlier on has pretty much vanished. Confusing and irritating with mediocre vocals.  Serbia - Nevena Božović - Kruna **** This could be a real surprise as people do love a strong Balcan ballad and that's what Ne...

Look away! Sebastian Rejman was sporting some jeans that were described in web in unison as just about the ugliest thing ever seen.... But hey, he managed to steal the spotlight from Tamta! Thumbs up for that! Tamta. A friend? Gotta love them! Keeping up the appearance. Hallelujah, praise the Lord! Autenthic class. Like it (?) She's gonna show who's got the Crown, dammit. Those pants again. Becaase they're worth it. Futuristic, Colorful. Photos eurovision.tv and various Twitter sources

More mid table entries in my own personal ranking Switzerland - Luca Hänni - She got me *** All the bros go Yo yo yo, All the girls go Yo yo yo Everyone go Yo yo yo, She got us dirty dancin' Luca Hänni (24) has been on Eurovision radar already years and here he is, as one of the main favorites. No wonder, She got me checks all the boxes of what is a succesful Eurovision entry on paper. The result is this year's male Eleni: a lot is happening in the video, and certainly on stage in Tel Aviv but not so much in music. My mind drifts away half song and I lose interest.... Long three minutes. Winner? Hardly.  Belarus - ZENA - Like it ** Yes, you gonna like it, Yes, you gonna like it Let me in your heart Alexandrovna Kupriyanovich or simply ZENA is this year's youngest, 16, but has already a lot of experince. As a kid star she has participated in various major contests like New Wave Junior and Slavinski Bazaar, and tried to get to Junior Eurovision twice...

Some more new sounds before we are all taken over by the 2019 Eurovision songs full time..... Naviband has released  ВДАЛЬ that translates to distance, far away. Nice little electronic tune with 80s vibe a bit different from the etnofolk I knew from them before.... Eurovision winner Helena Paparizou is back with  Άσκοπα Ξενύχτια (Needless nights). It's always nice to hear her in Greek instead of English. Tim Schou is another artist that keeps releasing new music all the time and Acapella is a little acoustic number. Highly enjoyable! As usual.  Nathan Trent has released Legacy ,  "The song 'Legacy' is about the realization of self-worth, self-belief and the decision to care less about other's opinions and expectations. Essentially, it's an ode to physical and emotional independence and the value of creation." Ok. 

Here are again some more or less new sounds from Eurovision stars Senhit sings in Italian for a change despite the song's title Dark room . For her love is a dark room, give her everything and right now! Westlife is returning after almost ten years with a new album and Hello my love is their comeback single.  Alekseev keeps dropping songs and videos and  Как ты там (How are you there) is his latest and sounds prtty much like any other song by him.... Zibbz is lost in Citylights this time in their pop-rock. It's another solid song with heavy beat yet missing it something to make it a real smash hit....

From 16 to 54, that's the (known*) age range of this year's Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv.  Zena from Belarus is the youngest turning 17 in September while San Marino's very own Turk Serhat will celebrate his 55th birthday in October. Malta's Michela, Belgium's Eliot and Croatia's Roko are also born in the 2000's. The oldest artists besides Serhat come from the north: Finland's Darude (43) and Sebastian Rejman (41) with Tom Hugo (39) of Norway's KEiiNO. They're also the only artists born in the 1970's (and  Serhat the only one in the 1960s). Nineteen artists were born in the 1990s - 1994 being the most common year (Ester, Luca, Nevena, Duncan, Srbuk and Sarah). Thirteen were born in the 1980's with 1989 having the most (Katerine, Oto, Lake Malawi's Albert, Paenda, Conan and Fred of KEiiNO).  One could say it's a very youthful edition. And a very masculine one, too. It's also a year of masks, crowns and und...

Like it, she said and the jurors did. Junior Eurovision star 3EHA aka Zinaida Kupriyanovich (16) has won the Belarusian national final for Tel Aviv 2019 Eurovision with Like it . ZENA - Like it 69 BLGN feat. Mirex - Champion 65 Sebastian Roos - Never getting close 62 Michael Soul - Humanize 59 Alyona Gorbachyova - Can we dream 59 KeyCi - No love lost 59 NAPOLI - Let it go 58 PROvokatsiya - Running away from the Sun 55 Aura - Čaravala 55 Eva Kogan - Run 54

Belarus is the second to last national final this season (Swedn being the last one as usual on Saturday). This time there will be only a jury vote, and in case of a tie another round of voting.... Let's see if they finally send NAPOLI, or if PROvokatsiya will make it? Alyona sounds like a standard entry for any eastern country though. This blogger kinda likes Aura, but the fan favorite is ZENA. But this is Belarus, anything can happen... Michael Soul - Humanize  ZENA - Like It Eva Kogan - Run BLGN & Mirex- Champion Sebastian Roos - Never Getting Close Alyona Gorbachova - Can We Dream PROvokatsiya - Running Away From The Sun Aura - Čaravala NAPOLI - Let It Go KeySi - No Love Lost

Belarus has had its already legendary live auditions and as they were open to anyone this year you got UK Eurovision veteran Daz Sampson, onmipresent MIHAI (even if he pulled out the last minute apparently) and many more creatures.... Some familiar names made the cut again: NAPOLI and PROvokatsiya, along with random Swedish Sebastian Roos, Here are the finalists Michael Soul - Humanize  PROvokatsiya - Running Away From The Sun Eva Kogan - Run Sebastian Roos - Never Getting Close ZENA - Like It Alyona Gorbachova - Can We Dream Aura - Čaravala Emmanuel Imagbe- Champion NAPOLI - Let It Go KeySi - No Love Lost

CZECH REPUBLIC - MIKOLAS JOSEF - LIE TO ME I know you 'bop-whop-a-lu bop' on his wood bamboo Vocals **** Staging **** Song ***** Overall ***** Qualifier LITHUANIA - IEVA ZASIMAUSKAITÈ - WHEN WE'RE OLD I’m not afraid to grow old if I have your hand to hold Vocals **** Staging **** Song ***** Overall **** Likely qualifier ISRAEL - NETTA - TOY You're stupid just like your smart phone Vocals ***** Staging *** Song ***** Overall **** Qualifier   BELARUS - ALEKSEEV - FOREVER Rain keeps on falling, and I know you’ll be mine forever... Vocals ** Staging ** Song ** Overall ** Borderline qualifier