Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

We have 27 different countries that have won Eurovision at least once and still quite a few that haven't. Actually 17 (more about them later).  Seven additional countries have made it to runner up, Croatia joining the club this year. Let's have a look who they are. Two countries have been close twice: the tiny island nations Iceland and Malta. Another island Cyprus joined the club in 2018. Yet another "island" Australia in 2016. Poland did so with their first entry and then we have the odd one out: Bulgaria. Who will be the next one to better their placement to first? POLAND 1994 - Edyta Górniak - To nie ja! ICELAND 1999 - Selma - All out of luck MALTA 2002 - Ira Losco - 7th wonder MALTA 2005 - Chiara - Angel ICELAND 2009 - Yohanna - Is it true? AUSTRALIA 2016 - Dami Im - Sound of silence BULGARIA 2017 - Kristian Kostov - Beautiful mess CYPRUS 2018 - Eleni Foureira - Fuego CROATIA 2024 - Baby Lasagna - Rim tim tagi dim And there's and extra to add: Serbia-Monteneg...

New series start: Let's kill some time having a look at the last decade and see who were the Top-10 best scoring countries in the Eurovision song contest in the past ten years. The ways to calculate are many and here I have used the simple average placement method (and it's not all so serious). First out Serbia! 2010 Milan Stanković - Ovo je Balkan (Ово је Балкан) - 13th *** 2011 Nina - Čaroban (Чаробан) - 14th * 2012 Željko Joksimović - Nije ljubav stvar (Није љубав ствар) - 3rd ***** 2013 Moje 3 - Ljubav je svuda (Љубав је свуда) - NQ (11th in semi-final) *** 2015 Bojana Stamenov - Beauty never lies - 10th *** 2016 Sanja Vučić ZAA - Goodbye (Shelter) - 18th **** 2017 Tijana Bogićević - In too deep - NQ (11th in semi-final) ** 2018 Sanja Ilić & Balkanika - Nova deca (Нова деца) - 19th **** 2019 Nevena Božović - Kruna (Круна) - 18th **** As a remainder, Serbia would have been represented by Hurricane (incl...

Happy birthday to Amir! He was swimming in the sea of congratulations.... ... while Alma was looking cool in Aix-de-Provence.... Amber was in Venice..... Manel enjoyed some beach with his gang..... Slavko was getting ready for Madrid Pride..... Andras played football and sung in Moscow's Art Football festival... Imri had a GT morning at the gym.... Dima BIlan was prepairing for a string of concerts.... Kati cooked some strawberry jams for the winter... Naviband recorded some new songs in their countryside studio... Pasha Parfani got married (Congrats!) Zeljko enjoyed some jam.... Polina did her best MM imitation ahead of some tv-show... Zoe looked pretty as a flower at Pride... Tanel walked to the sunset.....

Pictured is the national flower of Motenegro, mimosa Montenegro is seeking for their third final place this year with something else. They internally chose Slavko Kalezić and his outrageous character and song Space , written by  Adis Eminić, Iva Boršić and Momčilo Zeković. This seems to be the most divisive entry of the year, but at least it won't go unnoticed.... Slavko Kalezić (31) is actor, singer and songwriter. He has studied in the Academy of Perfmorning arts and is part of the Montenegrin national theatre. He has appered both on stage and in film in various productions. His singing career started in 2011, and two years later he tried his luck in X Factor Adria . He made it all the way to the judge's house mentored by Eurovision veteran Željko Joksimović assisted by another veteran Toni Cetinski. This didn't stop him and the year after he released his debut album. A few singles has followed and now he's here. Clearly he has created a character in true L...

Željko Joksimović has released a new, self titled album, his first in six years and Zvezda (Star) is the latest single off it following a couple of other singles/videos released recently. It's once again a very catchy one, with beautiful melody and arrangement that grows to the climax. It looks like in 2016 he won't be involved in the Eurovision song contest..... maybe. 

No trace of yestaerday's party in Knez voice today. Being one of the most seasoned artists this year he did a great job with his entry. The staging is the same we saw already, with a long violin intro in a very Joksimovic style and quite a dark stage. His five ladies engage in a Balcan style dance/choreography behind him when the song progress and the backdrop changes from cold blue to hot red. During the instrumental break he also joins in with the dance and the backdrop mixes red and blue. Simple. Effective. Beautiful. Extra points for singing in native language. Joksimovic Balcan pathos has done always very well so far, has Europe grown tired of it? I don't think so. At least I haven't. Finalist and hopefully top-10 again.

Montenegro brings us some traditional dancing, stunning images of blue and red lit mountains and the sea while Knez and his five dancing backing vocalists belt out the Joksimovic tune. Beautiful. Convincing. Elegant. Black, green and beige are their outfit colors and the ladies will be wearing some local jewelry. Me likes. 

Knez has released English and French versions of his song Adio that will represent Montenegro in Vienna 2015 Eurovision. You can listen to them here . His backing group has also been revealed and Dunja Vujadinović, Jelena Pajić, Lena Kuzmanović, Ivana Vladović and  Ksenija Knežević will join him on stage. After promotional tour in Amsterdam, Moscow and London he is now prepairing for Vienna. 

Nenad Knežević or simply Knez was internally chosen to represent Montenegro in Vienna 2015 Eurovision. For the occasion he got Adio , written by Željko Joksimović, who needs no presentation. Knez has taken part in various local competitions in his early career and won Budva 2000 with Vjeruj . His latest hit is Donna . He did his first contest when he was six years old! After several experiences in bands he went solo in early 1990's. Since then his fame and music has spread all over ex-Yogoslavia. His most selling album is from 1997 but he has released 11 albums so far (including compilations) and a new one is coming this summer. Once again Balcan brings in the big guns!

And today also the very last entry has been revealed with audio only, the video should premiere this weekend. Knez for Montenegro was the very first artist announced for Eurovision 2015 and has the very last song to be heard.   Adio is written by Željko Joksimović and you can really hear it. In a good way. I'm a sucker for his style and obviously like this one a lot, too. This is his 5th Eurovision entry and his worst placing so far is 6th, the Serbian entry at home in Belgrade 2008 Eurovision. Will he keep his awesome track record with Knez?

Namely writing the song for Knez who has been announced the Montenegrin artist already last year. When he was asked to write the song for him Zeljko told it was an offer too good to turn down and so he returns to Eurovision for the 5th time as a composer or a singer. On top of that he of course was the host in Belgrad 2008 Eurovision. And we must remember he has scored on silver, wo bronzes and one sixth place with his entries. So I'm sure he feels no pressure at all to do well.... ;p Apparently this time we won't get a big Balcan ballad but something more uptempo. Let's remember Zeljko's Eurovision adventures so far: 2004 Serbia & Montenegro  - Lane moje (artist & composer) 2nd (2005 Serbia & Montenegro - Jutro (composer) - Jelena Tomasevic 2nd in national selection) 2006 Bosnia & Herzegovina - Lejla (composer) - Hari Mata Hari 3rd 2008 Serbia - Oro - (composer) - Jelena Tomasevic ft Bora Dugic 6th (2008 Eurovisison song contest host in ...

Daniel Kajmakoski (31) is the fresh winner of Skopje Fest and the Macedonian entrant for the Eurovision song contest 2015 in Vienna. His winning song is Lisja esenski , here's the studio version . There is a possibility the song will be changed before March 2015, but this blogger ctually likes it a lot so I hope they will stick with it.  He's also the winner of the first X Factor Adria where his mentor was none other than Zeljko Joksimovic, they also recorded a duet together Skopje-Beograd . Another Eurovision connection is he wrote to Karolina Goceva Vis ne se vrakas in 2010 that was a big hit. For him it's a return to Vienna as that's where he grew up after moving there when six year's old. He even participated in the Austrian talent show Starmania seasson two in 2003 where he reached the top-8. (The next season was won by Nadine Beiler and runner up being certain Tom Neuwirth aka Conchita Wurst! Even Eric Papilaya was in it). His career didn't quite g...

Let's stay in the region with another new video. Zabluda . Blunders. That's the title of the duet of two Eurovision veterans and local superstars. Zeljko Joksimovic has done it all in Eurovision for Serbia except winning: 2nd place ( Lane moje ), third place ( Nije ljubav stvar ) and even hosting (Belgrade 2008) and Toni Cetinski ( Nek'ti bude ljubav sva ) did the honors for Croatia already 20 years ago.  This video is clearly sponsored by bottled water but the song isn't watered down at all. It's Zeljko at his best: beautiful melody, slightly ethnic arrangement and a lot of Slavic pathos. I have no idea what they are singing about but when Toni enters I'm sold. Fabulous.

Montenegro is yet to reach the final. The five previous entries didn't do it and they surely have tried various genres. All but the classic Balcan ballad Moj svijet , that comes now, by a big name. All is set for the first qualification especially as the other countries that have brought in similar songs are missing; Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia. But that also means they are not voting.... Sergej has over 20 years of succeful career behind him and will surely do his best in Copenhagen. Robert: Montenegro is going for a traditional Balkan ballad this year and an internal choice so nothing to compare with if there was something else in the running. It's a beautiful song yes but i'm afraid it's not bringing anything new and we have heard it before. I cannot help comparing it with other Balkan ballads we had before from Zejlko in 2004 and 2012 and Hari Mata Hari in 2006 and then I can only conclude that the other songs were better and had more built...

What would the New year's even be without the Mother of all countdowns and Eurovision charts, the already legendary Top-250! Is there another way to countdown to a new year (on ESCRADIO ), the year of Copenhagen 2014? I don't think so! Start voting here and meanwhile you can check last year's countdown here . This will be the 6th edition and so far the winner has always been a different one, will Loreen be the first ever double winner?  Where will Emmelie finish? Will Mengoni rule here, too? It's all up to you, so vote vote vote! ESC Top-250 is a collaboration between 12points.tv, ESCRADIO, INFE International, OGAE International, EurovisionBelgium.blogspot.com, SongFestivalweblog.nl and yours truly.

This week have some goodies, too. Zeljko Joksimovic has released a new single and video, Ludak kao ja and no, it's not a Balcan ballad! Yet it's pretty fabulous! Loreen teams up with Kleerup in Requiem solution , a rather haunting song in Kate Bush style. Russian Elena Galitsin & Dmitry Dubinsky have made a catchy pop song with a stunningly beautifully shot video for their It wasn't me , Это не я . Last but not least from Sanremo Giovani Renzo Rubino with his Il postino (Amami uomo)

Serbia has also cut down their sogs to 15 for the semifinal and five of them will make the grand final of Beosong that returns after a break. Last year Željko Joksimović was internally selected. There was also a rumor he had a song for this year but if he did, it's not included in this final cut . Among the favorites Maja Nikolić and a trio of ladies, Mirna Radulović, Nevena Božović and Sara Jovanović .  Igor Terzija  - Moja svetlosti Dušan Zrnić - Što prolazim   Kristina Savić - Za tebe živim   Aleksandra Dabić - Savršen kraj   Kal - Usne kadifa   Žarko Stepanov – Tren   Ksenija Kočetova-   Svetla pale se za nas   Maja Nikolić – Blagoslov   Dušan Svilar – Spas   Nenad Milosavljević - Ruža od baruta   Maja Odžaklijevska - Anđeo s neba   Marija Mihajlović – Halo   Mirna Radulović, Nevena Božović & Sara Jovanović - Ljubav je svuda   SKY's – Magija   Saška Janković - Duga...

EFR12 radio will broadcast the interviews made by my flying reporter Robert in Baku 2012 this summer! Starting tonight at 9pm  with the interview of Zeljko Joksimovic! Make sure to tune in and listen! Here . The edited written interview is here . 

Here it is again, what's another year? In semifinals we have said good byes to Montenegro, Latvia, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, Israel, San Marino, Austria, the Netherlands, Belarus, Portugal, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Georgia and Slovakia - no big surprises there really. Tonight the grand final at 21 CET for the 57th time. The biggest favorite of them all to win this is Sweden followed by Russia and Italy, but we can't rule out United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Serbia either. And what about Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Romania? I guess we can't rule out Ukraine, Estonia and Iceland either... Can Sweden keep up with the hype and win it after all? Or will the Russian grannies melt the hearts of the juries as well? Or will Nina Zilli boom boom her way to the top and give RAI something to think about? Tonight we will know... 01. UNITED KINGDOM - Engelbert Humperdinck - Love will set you free 02. HUNGARY - Compact Disco - Sound of our hearts 03. ALBANIA - Rona Nis...

Serbia starts the rehearsals post-lunch and Zeljko is wearing a black jacket, most likely the one he will be wearing in the semifinal and the final. As it is certain this qualifies. One of the most beautiful songs this year and even if this does have similarity to Lane moje in many ways, the structure and the performance, I still think Nije ljubav stvar is different and equally beautiful. And I would buy from Zeljko anything he is selling.... Gret artist, great song. Will he win is another matter as you never know what happens in Eurovision but if he did I would be one happy man. I know I wasn't so convinced after the first rehearsal about the backdrop and all, but I hear it looks great on screen so that's all that matters. Robert did a great interview with Zejlko yesterday where he answers to many interesting questions like will he return again? Read it here . More here . I also have a new favorite Eurovision word after "tonteria". It's" brodolom...