Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Belarusian Ivan goes from Eurovision wolves to Aliens in his latest,  Чужая . A midtempo rock song with enough drama to keep you watching the video til the end...... Errr.... what was that? Russian Serebro  from Eurovision 2007 in Helsinki are unstoppable and have released  в космосе or In space, despite being in the middle of recruiting a new member. It's another pop tune in pure Serebro style. Love it. Sunstroke Project that took Moldova to the surprise podium at Eurovision 2017 is back with another saxxy hit, Sun gets down. Maybe they should have released this a month or two earlier to score late summer hit..... In rainy dark Finland this feels like a slap in the face instead...... Ola Salo , who sung for Sweden with The Ark in Helsinki 2007 has went solo ages ago and has released a new single, I call your name . I wonder if he's really calling for the safety word as he seems to be performing in a sexclub where all sort of things are going...

Gabbani teases us with a new single and video coming up Loreen got a beard... oh wait, it's Conchita! Emma looked divaish in Venice Film Festival while Claudia has some usual product placement photos and Amir is just being.... well, Amir Imri is all dressed up for a change. Summer must be over Hovig is teasing with some new music and Ivan is considering saying goodbye to the old,  and in with the new kind of music... Markus's got doggy love and Polina sent her son to school. Summer is over Sunstroke Project celebrated birthday and performed in Finland Someone's still got holidays. Tamara in Greece but I just can't sit still and wait for the new Gabbani!

Did you see it? Måns Zelmerlöw had apparently planned something to do on stage when Petra Mede was reading the rules of the contest (or something) and he was about to enter the stage when she said doing it naked is strictly forbidden. And off he goes....with his tail between his legs... All this of course to make fun of Belarusian Ivan who wanted to perform naked with live wolves.....   

IVAN is with you!

Five hours. That's all I had in the wonderful Eurovision bubble. Just enough time to meet some dear friends and fellow bloggers, delegation members and OGAE friends and enjoy the glittery sunlight in Stockholm. But now back at home and enjoying the event from home sofa......  Amir's J'ai cherche welcomed me to the Globen area on tha music bridge, there couldn't have been a better start for the day. Next two hours were spent next to Sanja, Frans, Amir, the guys from Minus One, Francesca Michielin, Gabriela Guncikova, Ivan, Månz Zelmerlöw, quite a few head of delegations and commentators, waiting two hours for Ira Losco who didn't show up, and all things Eurovision. Life's good. Next stop EuroClub/Fan cafe meeting Justs and Aminata.  The most famous Eurovision beard  Frans Justs Then I had just enoug time to check out Eurovision vilage, NK's lovely Eurovision windows  and their very, VERY sad "Eurovision shop"..... and wo...

Some minor changes with camera shot and the holograms for Belarus. A lot of technology like in Russia and Armenia but in the end Belarus does a great job. Eurovision fandom doesn't care for this but wait and see it qualify and do wonders in the final. I have always liked this song at some level and now seeing the full staging it works. No matter what. 

The big question was will Ivan be naked and will he have his wolves with him. The answer is yes and no. He was naked with a wolf in 3D images while in real life entered the stage in black hood. The staging moves from close ups to wide angles and plays a lot with camera shots. The hologram wolves become Ivan in various ways: drummer, guitarist whatever until a lightning strikes baby Ivan and we get to see him white his white striped face. or something. No one seems to be sure what happened. Some reports say it's a mess, some say it's a qualifier now. Apparently it all comes down to the fact if you liked the song at first place. I don't hate it, I kinda like it. I'm curious to see it in full later on.... but my guess is this is qualifying.  In the Meet & Greet Ivan says he's happy with the rehearsal but it's not ready yet. The Viktor guy who's behind the act is the same as Buranovskye babushki. So, from grannies to wolves, what's the difference? I...

Four of the rockiest entries in this post. BELARUS - IVAN - HELP YOU FLY (Victor Drobysh/Alexander Ivanov, Timofei Leontiev, Mary Susane Applegate) Alexander Ivanov aka Ivan won the Belarusian national final and has since launched the most succesful PR campaign with his promises of being naked and with live wolves on stage, something that has made it to all sort of medias all over the world.... Genious! Blogilkar: Ivan has the best PR stunt of the season; news about his tendency for nudism has reached the world press in a way nothing else this year. The song is a light rock number, rather anonymous and unmemorable so any stunt, be it nakedness or wolves - or even a mention of either of them will help it as I would like to know how many commentators will remind viewers of his plans! Anyways, this isn't bad and I kinda enjoy it when I hear it. And then forget it exists.  6 Jack:  When Ivan won Belarus's national final, I wasn't exactly thrilled. I thought the s...

Among many glamourous events in the Israel Calling Eurovision promo event in Israel this week also something more earthly happened: the artists planted an Eurovision forest in the Presidential Park in Tel Aviv. Now that's an idea to adopt to every host city from now one to leave a living mark of the event that took place.  On top you can see Finland's Sandhja and Austria's Zoe getting their hands dirty. Donny Montell, Ovidiu Anton, Ivan, Joe and Jake, Eneda Tarifa, Lidia Isac, Freddie, Poli Genova and Sergey Lazarev were also showcasing their gardening skills..... Let those trees grow and propser!

Moscow hosts again another Eurovision pre-party, for the 7th time already. This time in Izvestiya Hall. Apparently 13 acts will be present - even though there are mixed information on Albania's and San Marino's participation, let's see.... Albania - Eneda Tarifa Armenia - Iveta Mukuchyan Azerbaijan - Semra Rahimli Belarus - Ivan Cyprus - Minus One Israel - Hovi Star Macedonia - Kaliopi Malta - Ira Losco Moldova - Lidia Isac Russia - Sergey Lazarev San Marino - Serhat Spain - Barei Switzeland - Rykka

Latvia's Riga kicks off the major Eurovision promo events this year. Spikeri Concert hall in Riga has ten of this year's artists on stage with special guests from Sweden: the Eurovision 1984 winners The Herreys, and Schlagerfeber quartet made of four experienced Melodifestivalen and Eurovision backing singers belting out some hits.  This event is rapidly growing; two years ago when it was organized for the first time there were ony 3 artists, last year 8 and now 10.  This year's artists are: Belarus - Ivan Bosnia & Herzegovina - Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala Bulgaria - Poli Genova Estonia -Jüri Pootsmann Israel - Hovi Star Latvia - Justs Malta - Ira Losco Serbia - Sanja Vučić ZAA Spain - Barei Switzerland - Rykka

As predicted, Ivan (Aleksandr Ivanov) won the Belarusian Eurofest. he's Belarusian-Russian and last year already represented Russian in the INtervision song contest.  1. IVAN (Aleksandr Ivanov) - Help You Fly   23.167 2. NAPOLI - My Universe   22.399 3. Kirill Ermakov - Running To The Sun   13.555 4. NAVI - Гэта зямля (This Land)   5.423 5. Aleksey Gross - Flame   3.202 6. Anastasia Malashkevich - Pray For Love   2.680 7. THE EM - Turn Around   2.164 8. Valeria Sadovskaya - Not Alone   1.322 9. Radiovolna - Radiowave   805 10. Sasha Zakharik - Glory Night   727