Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Anis Basim Moujahid (21) aka Basim is of Moroccon origin (like Loreen). He's a household name in Denmark and started his career already at the age of 15 in X Factor. Two albums and one EP later he emerged as the winner in the Danish national final and will fly the Danish flag in his hometown with Cliche love song .  Robert: Since the Danish final of March 8, I've been playing quite some songs from this years Danish preselection. Bryan Rice , Danni Elmo , Sonny and Emilie Moldow to mention the ones I prefer most. Basim won the final with the modern, Bruno Mars like, Cliche love song . For me, its an ok song, and maybe the song with the best chances to get a high ranking on the night of the final. So, I can live with the choice the Danes made. However, if the Danes would have chosen Emmelie de Forest again to defend her title like the Germans did with Lena a few years ago, I would have been very happy. Her latest song Rainmaker is really good and that one would have be...

The reigning Eurovision country Denmark has published snippets of its songs today and it's a pretty solid mix of contemporary sounds and bits and pieces taken from the world charts. None jumps out of the lot yet screaming winner but that's not because they are bad but the contrary. Sonny makes me think of Michael Jackson and other similar acts in the early 1980's, Rebekka some American country singers, Nadia plays the Celine Dion powerballad card it seems, Michael and Natascha fish from the pool of Romanian hit sounds, GlamboyP comes from the school of Eric Saade wannabes, Emilie sounds very Danish - or at least every hit from Denmark in Danish I have heard the past few years has sounded like that and no, it's not a bad thing! Is Basim aiming to be the Danish Bruno Mars? Danni Elmo wouldn't be out of place in Melodifestivalen either. Bryan Rice is... well, Bryan Rice. Love that guy's voice! Last but not least Anna David that sounds very nice, too. So.... oh w...

After Norway and Iceland yesterday, today the Danish Eurovision names and song titles are out. Denmark sticks to its good one off formula like the good old days: ten songs, one show and that's it. How I like that! Anyways, who is going to follow Emmelie's bare feet on the stage o B&W Hallerne? Nice to have Bryan Rice and Danni Elmo trying again. At first there were 872 songs, now ten and several writers got more than one song in.... The Danish final will take place March 8, 2014 in Odense. Sonny – Feeling The You Anna David – It Hurts Basim Cliche – Love Song Rebekah Thornbech – Your Lies GlamboyP – Right By Your Side Bryan Rice – I Choose You Nadia Malm – Before You Forget Me Michael Rune feat Natascha Bessez – Wanna be Loved Emilie Moldow – We find home Danni Elmo – She’s The One

Out of nowhere comes Spicy Geri Halliwell 's comeback with Half of me . Would BBC have a half of sense to consider her for Eurovision 2014? Isn't she after all taylor made for it? Hungarian hipster ByeAlex is back with Csóró itt minden han , another brilliant song that won't maybe open up with the first hearing but has some haunting qualities.... French Guéna LG features one of my favorite Danish voices, Bryan Rice in Stay awake . Quite fantastic club anthem with a nice retro vibe and of course, Bryan's vocals. Me likes! Cher is back with a new album and apparently it's filled with uptempo disco numbers but then there's also I hope you find it . A tender ballad, showcasing once again what a great singer she is. I wish she did this kind of stuff more, like the good old days of Dark Lady ....

This week we have first very popular Finnish Anna , namely Puu and her Säännör rakkaudelle . She's selling a lot and one of those artists that have managed to drop the Idols label. Anotherr Anna comes Italy, Tatangelo . Some Eurovision fans had hopes for her when she was in Sanremo but she's back now with Occhio x occhio . Next a third Anna , Swedish Bergendahl who is currently making career in the States. Live and let go is quite wonderful. Last but not least no more Annas but Danish Bryan Rice and his latest These arms .

I like Denmark. Or at least their way of selecting the song for Eurovision: the good old days one nighter! No endless selections and/or presentations and heats and eliminations and second chances. Ten songs, one night and that's it! Like it used to be. Denmark is supposed to be the next country to select their entry for the next-door contest in Malmö 2013 on January 26, 2013 (unless some odd country comes out of the blue and presents its song in the meantime) and today DR gave us a hint of the songs that you can hear here . As the Danish songs I like in Eurovision always fail while those I don't like end up in top-5 I will not add further comment about the songs as yet, even if a couple of them did get me interested. And yes, unfortunately there is a certain Thomas G:son among the songwriters.... but so is Bryan Rice, so there is hope! Oh, and Albin is Swedish, San Gray British. Here they are: Frederikke Vedel -  Jeg har hele tiden vidst det Brinck - Human Kate Hall -...

Timoteij with they folksy pop tune Kom won the 2010 Second Chance contest oranized by local OGAE clubs. Here are the winners over the year. Finland's Heli Kajo did rather well reaching the top-10. Finland has won this contest once with Anna Eriksson's Oot voimani mun in 2000.  1. Sweden - Timoteij - Kom (267 pts) 2. Denmark - Bryan Rice - Breathing (223 pts) 3. Portugal - Catarina Pereira - Canta Por Mim (203 pts) 4. Spain - Coral - En una vida (167 pts) 5. Israel - Harel Ska'at - Lean (161 pts) 6. Norway - A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (138 pts) 7. Germany - Jennifer Braun - I Care For You (105 pts) 8. Greece - Yiorgos Karadimos - Polemao (103 pts) 9. Finland - Heli Kajo - Annankadun kulmassa (87 pts) 10. Cyprus - Constantinos Christoforou - Angel (73 pts) 11. Serbia - Emina Jahović - Ti Kvariigro (64 pts) 12. Slovenia - Nina Pušlar - Dež (54 pts) 13. Poland - Anna Cyzon - Love me (24 pts) 14. Lithuania - Evelina Sasenko - For T...

Chanée & N'evergreen will release their album titled - you guessed it - In a moment like this on May 21. Twelve songs in total plus one remix of the title and Eurovision track for Denmark in Oslo 2010. In OGAE fan voting and in most betting odds Denmark is leading but I don't get it. I think this will be this year's Je t'adore , which I liked though... I still think the runner up Bryan Rice's Breathing would have been a much better song but what do I know?