Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Spain is not taking part in Eurovision song contest 2026 but their usual national selection took place anyways. After two semi-finals - each with 9 songs selected from 870 dsubmissions - earlier this week the final took place and was won by Tony Grox and Lucycalys and T amaré. Read more here  I have always loved Benidorm fest's graphics and finally the stagings were at the same level, thanks to some help from Finland :-)  Asha won expert jury's vote the winning couple being second before Izan llunas who won demoscopic jury before Rosalinda Galan  and Mikel Herzog Jr  the winners placing 4th but they won the televote before Rosalinda Galan and Miranda! and Bailamama. International fan favorite Kenneth was left last.... My favorites were Asha and Mikel Herzog Jr. Final results (experts+demoscopic+tele) : Mayo - Tócame (24 + 4 + 36) 64   11th Kitai - El amor te da miedo (51 + 20 + 32) 103    6th Asha - Turista  (92 + 28 + 24) 144   2...

 Now as Spain has withdrawn from Eurovision song contest at least in 2026, let's have a look of some Spanish favorites of mine over the year. Starting with totally undeserved null pointer.  Enjoy! 1983 Remedios Amaya - Quien maneja mi barca (last, zero points) 1991 Sergio Dalma - Bailar pegados (4th) 1990 Aucar Moreno - Bandido (5th) 1985 Paloma San Basilio - La fiesta termino (14th) 1980 Trigo Limpio - Quedate esta noche (12th) 2004 Ramón - Para llenarme de ti (10th) 2003 Beth - Dime (8th) 2012 Pastora Soler - Quédate conmigo (10th) 2022 Chanel - SloMo (3rd) There would have been quite a few to pick up as well but these sounded the ones at this time and space.  Special mentions go to: 1995 Anabel Conde - Vuelve conmigo (2nd) 1982 Lucia - El (10th) 1997 Marcos Llunas - Sin rencor (6th) 1973 Mocedades - Eres tu (2nd) 2024 Nebulossa - La zorra (22nd)

This year there's been quite a few orchestral versions of the Eurovision 2025 entries released, and that's always a nice bonus. If there was the big orchestra like the old days this may give a tiny little hint in which direction the live production might have gone. 

 And here come the second rehearsal clips from the Big5 and the host Switzerland. (Waiting for better ones to come up) To be updated

The Big5 + host had their first rehearsal Thursday night while the world was waiting for the new Pope that appeared from the white smoke between UK and France.  Germany has upped their game from the national final bringing curtains, huge 80's style boombox prop, LED electric cello and four dancers. Fandom hopes Tynna has also brought the voice as it's been missing most pre-contest season.  France premiered their song in a packed stadium hanging meters high in the air in front of tens of thousands of people and the video gave us completely different imaginary. And here they have yet another one: sand covered circle of  hour glass with time running out as the girl grows up to woman and then to mother herself. Sounds very pretty and promising I can say that much without seeing anything. United Kingdom bring along to their chaotic morning after a huge chandelier and a boudoir screen. And their vocal harmonies. And yes, it's the very first staging we have for it, taking a tiny...

It's the time again: Blogilkar's home jury of Eurovision fans, non-fans and common viewers from teenagers to nearly 60 years old have watched and listened giving points from 1 to 10 plus a special 12 points to be awarded to the one favorite. In case of a tie the ranking was done by highest points received by any juror(s). And yes, the result is somewhat surprising here and there. Last year our winner was NQ Czechia but the winner Switzerland was 2nd and runner up Croatia 3rd.  In this foursome we have some serious fan and odds favorites like France and Netherlands but also host country Switzerland did well, and Spain's Latin Mello Euro schlager was well received as well. 6. SPAIN  64 Spain scored one 10 and a long string of 8s with two 4s.... 7. NETHERLANDS  62 Netherlands scored everything between 4 and 9 8. SWITZERLAND  62 Switzerland got a solid set of c´votes between 5 and 8 9. FRANCE  61 France scored 7s and 8s mostly with one odd 3 and 5 in the mix Check o...

It's time to kick of the usual reviews. The opinions are all mine and if I don't like some song it's simply just not my cup of tea so to speak. If I like something you dislike or hate, it's fine, too. No stresso, no need to be depresso it's just music and tastes that re diverse and therefor beautiful! I also try to predict their success come May a little bit but as we know once the staging is out everything may change, remember Fuego and Rise like a phoenix for example? For this series I have grouped the songs in fours as usual as the songs may have similarities or something in common. Some fours came out beautifully, the others.... well not so well. Here comes the third part! ARMENIA - Parg - Survivor To me this is a weird one: I have seen Parg's other videos and heard songs and he can sing. But his vocals are very forced giving impression he can't. Plus the whole chorus is sing back. I'm not sure the juries will appreciate that so much. Or the insane l...

David Afonso may have placed last in the first Benidorm Fest 2025 but he deserved so much more. Vocally perfect with a melody that has stuck into my mind. But he's just in the beginning of his recording career so please do come back in coming years and win it all!

No surprise in Spain either as one of the biggest favorites melody with Esa diva won Benidorm fest 2025 beating the Temu versions Mahmood and Chanel in the end. The song is ageless indeed, meaning it could be from the 80's or 90's or 00's or ... 2025 but Melody's determination pushed it to victory in the end and it could do better in Basel as fandom thinks due to its Spanishness and nostalgia. I was saying myself Spain is heading to bottom-5 again this year but I may have changed my mind. Maybe. Melody aka Melodia Ruiz Gutiérrez maybe only 34 but she has already 25 years of career under he belt! Coming from a family of singers and musicians she was discovered at early age and she had her first #1 in the Spanish charts at the age of 10 with El baile del gorila and her debut album sold over half a million copies in Spain alone before hitting the charts in Latin America and in the US as well. She has Grammy and Billboard Latin music awards nominations in her CV.  After fou...

Benidorm fest returns for the fourth year as the relaunched Spanish national selection for the Eurovision song contest 2025. As usual it is three nights affair with two semi-finals and the grand final on January 28 and 30 and February 1, 2025. A threesome jury will send four out of eight semi-finalist to the grand final with 50% professional jury, demoscopic panel 25% and televote 25%. The 16 semi-finalist have been chosen among the almost 1000 submissions.  Below are my first time hearing ratings as usual. Sadly there isn't much to get very excited by. Spanish pop by numbers and their own style added with some Latin flavor but very little imagination or originality. Shame. Most fall into *** meaning harmless and listenable but nothing special I'd listen outside Eurovision national finals. This said I know further listening will surely change ratings for some but in the end it's the first impact that matters in Eurovision. The staging and live performance will be crucial to...

The individual rehearsals come to an end as The Big 5 + host country Sweden have their second 20 minutes rehearsals. Today also they draw their final slot. Unlike previous years there are three options: first half, second half or an empty ticket meaning the producers are free to place them anywhere they like to. United Kingdom and Germany draw first half, France second half and Spain and Italy an empty ticket. Host country Sweden was drawn to open the final already in the delegations meeting in March. It looks like Italy has changed their outfits. And not only but also the graphics?!  Tomorrow is the Turquoise Carpet day and from Monday we have the three dress rehearsals before the first semi-final on Tuesday evening.  UNITED KINGDOM GERMANY SWEDEN FRANCE SPAIN ITALY All photos as always from eurovision.tv

The Big 5 are in town and on stage for the first time today for their first 30 minute technical rehearsal. And there are boxes. United Kingdom has a dirty old boxing training hall's shower room where everything seems to go very dizzy indeed a la George Michael's toilet scenes. Germany has a house on fire instead and the box theme continues with Sweden.... France goes all intimate instead and does already the familiar step back from microphone a Capella thing that will go wild in the arena. Can't wait! UNITED KINGDOM GERMANY SWEDEN FRANCE SPAIN ITALY All photos as always from eurovision.tv