Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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....

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

The last three to rehearse today include also two major favorites Estonia and Bulgaria, with Belarus sandwiched inbetween. In the strange twist of fate four of the major favorites are all in the first semi-final's first half.... Belarus - Alekseev - Forever Gone is his projector shirt or whatever it was in the national final and better so, as Elina is coming right after with her dress. Innstead we have some drama with roses and some apparently rather offputting imaginary in a form a blooded shirt. He's got a rising platform and a dancer, the said real rose and some more petals in augmented reality. And the vocals are still all over the place - or maybe they simply are like that? "Gothic romance", "Dramaric", "WTF", "Slightly offputting", "Extravagant", "Disgusting" Estonia - Elina Nechayeva - La forza In the end they got the money and the dreadful dress is here. But it's a good distractio...

  Iceland - Ari Ólafsson - Our choice Ari (19) is one of the youngest artists this year and his song is one of the oldest. Pure old school Eurovision and therefor a pearl to cherish. Even more so as he has proven to be a great vocalist live despite his age sounding good and looking so fresh and innocent. He has also proven himself in the social medias and pre-contest promotional events - is there anyone who doesn't like him as a person? This is anthemic, almost religious hymn with lyrics... well, let's forget the lyrics and just enjoy the melody and his convincing performance! The video makes me want to visit Reykjavik, even if it seems to be the size of one block .-) Sadly they didn't bring this Icelandic version though. This blogger would love to see this as shocker qualifier but the odds are heavily against it: starting number, semi one, betting odds... but hey, miracles do happen! And televoters decide. 7/10 Belarus - Alekseev - Forever Ukrainian Nik...

  All as scripted despite all the drama and threats of withdrawels by other artists Alekseev on the Belarusian final with his Forever. Maybe a smart choice to collect votes from ex-Sovjets him being Ukrainian but having success also in Russia despite all. He won both televote and the jury vote. Read more here

Belarus has its national final and it wouldn't be Belarusian final without some extra dtama and controversy. Seven out of 11 selected finalists threated to withdraw when it became known that Ukrainian Alekseev's song didn't quite respect the September 1, 2017 rule. In the end it seems only Sofi Lapina stood for her word and withdrawn while the others are here, despite the accusations the final is rigged to make Alekseev win. Later also accusations for Shuma's song's lyrics that include lines from a traditional Belarusian folk song.  The final songs were selected among 95 submissions and live auditions in January. Half the participants are regulars and have participated before. Let's see if anyone of them can beat Alekseev and stop participating every year..... The songs vary from Adagio's Il Volo-esque light pop opera to Alekseev's overproduced standard modern Eurovision pop and Shuma's pseudo etno, Napoli's and Gunesh's yet another ho...

Or rather, most of them seem to be the same old, same old as the list has the usual Napoli and Gunesh and a couple of other familiar names, too, like Lexy Weaver and Anastasiya. And Radiovolna. And throw in some pop opera. Some things never change. Eurofans are already talking about Ukrainian Alekseev. No wonder, it' such a typical Eurovision 2010's in all its good and bad. Call it also fan wank that propably won't set the televoters on fire.  1. ALEN HIT - I don’t сare 2. Adagio - Ты i я (You and Me) 3. Lexy - Ain’t you 4. Sofi Lapina  - Gravity 5. Napoli - Chasing rushes 6. Alekseev - Forever 7. Anastasiya Malashkevich - World On Fire 8. Gunesh - I won’t cry 9. Kirill Good - Deja Vu 10.Radiovolna - Subway lines 11. Shuma - Хмаркі