Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Italy took its well deserved third victory - finally! - at the Eurovision song contest 2021. Over the years several other Italian entries would have been worthy winners. In this series I will go through all of them from the worst ranking to the winner s. Yet another duet! Fabrizio Moro and Ermal Meta joined forces and indeed did win Sanremo together with Non mi avete fatto niente . For once Italy was not among the top favorites but they reached a respectable 5th place out of 43.  Fabrizio Moro (46) started his career in mid 1990's and came to Sanremo's newcomers in 2007 that he won with two albums and one participation in Newcomers. The year after he's third among Big and has ever since collected awards here and there. he also writes for other artists, and 2012 he's behind the 3rd placed song sung by Noemi. Nine studio albums, almost 30 singles and a career that is still going very strong. Ermal Meta (40) was born in Albania, tried Sanremo newcomers twice with diffe...

Let's continue the series and 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). Next up is Italy at n.o 2. Italy made a comeback to Eurovision in 2011 with a bang and a 2nd place finish. And Mahmood secured yet another 2nd place for Italy last year. Add Il Volo's 3rd place and four other Top-10s and you're left with one 16th place and one 21st place. And that 21st being the only one not linked to Sanremo but an internal selection. Five entries were Sanremo winners. one a runner up and one a Newcomers winner. Three of the entries among the most watched Youtubes ever on Eurovision platform, and also breaking Italian streaming records. Each and every artist still present and succesful, as most every one was already back then! Other countries take exa...

Last few weeks have had some Eurovision related releases outside the national final bubble from previous winners and other well placed acts. Enjoy! Dima Bilan released last year his yet another addition to his endless string of hits at home soil.  Океан (Ocean) is an atmospheric ballad and comes with a nature filled beautiful video.... Fabrizio Moro has released today video for Ho bisogno di credere (I need to believe), first offering from his new and 10th studio album Figli di nessuno , out April 12. It's a melancholic ballad with some pseudo rapping (and no trademark screaming) and video that fits nicely with the overal mood. Very good! Last year's Eurovision 3rd placed César Sampson has finally released a follow up to his Nobody but you called Stone cold . Maybe not as catchy as his entry was but this has all the same ingredients from beats to gospely choirs and César's beautiful vocals.  Eurovision winner and all around man Måns Zelmerlöw is pr...

Tonight's the duets night and there are so many guest stars you don't know where to start but we have among them Eurovision veterans Ermal Meta, Fabrizio Moro and Enricco Ruggeri. And one wonders where is Francesco Gabbani, missing already two years?! The only non dueting star in competition is rocker Luciano Ligabue. All 24 songs will be performed again, as duets and propably different arrangement. Last night the festival finally found its rhythm and it was a lot more pleasant to watch despite many intervals, as they were better and rather entertaining. Mostly. Ornella Vanoni Vs. Virginia Raffaele is already a tv history. The tribute to Mia Martini was also very welcome and the other guests did a good job but the viewing figures are a bit down: 46,7% or 9,4 million.  Achille Lauro - Morgan *1/2 Anna Tatangelo - Syria ** Arisa - Tony Hadley and i Kataklò ** Boomdabash - Rocco Hunt and i Musici Cantori di Milano *** 1/2 Daniele Silvestri -...

The betting odds are hinting last year's Newcomrs winner Ultimo could do the trick managed only by Francesco Gabbani so far: to win the Big category only a year later. His name has been mentioned as the most possible winner since the artists were revealed - and even before that - and is now topping most every betting odds.  Almost as clear is Il Volo 's second place while the next ones are different depending on betting agencis including names like Federica Carta & Shade , Nek , Irama , Arisa and Francesco Renga in different order. All this may however change once the media is let to hear the songs and comment on them in their reviews and articles. We common mortals will hear them of course only when they will be performed on stage in Teatro Ariston for the first time come February 5.... Will Ultimo (translats to The Last) be first again? Will he be going to Tel Aviv 2019 Eurovision as well? Just in case let's get to know him a bit better: Born in Rome a...

Should Sanremo festival 2019 act also as the Italian national selection for Eurovision song contest next year ( and we have no reason to believe it wouldn't) there's a major change in rules coming up. Claudio Baglioni, man in charge for the second year in a row hoping to repeat his succesful 2018 edition aims to separate the newcomers and the Big artists totally. That means that the Newcomers, or Nuove proposte aka Giovani will be held already in December instead of along the festival in February. The winner gets a freebie for the Big category. Update: The dates for Sanremo Giovani are December 16-21, with four pre-shows before the two nights primetime shows on 20 and 21. The top-2 will join the cast of the Big in February festival (dates might yet change, btw). All this is also due to all these reality and talent shows; placing the winners and artists to Sanremo has become a very tricky task the past few years - who's big enough for a Big? There are some rules based ...

Italian Eurovision stars Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro have decided to give up the copyrights of their Sanremo winner and Eurovision 5th placed entry Non mi avete fatto niente to EMERGENCY thus giving its profits to charity joining Musica per Emergency project.  EMERGENCY is an independent and neutral Italian association founded in 1994 to offer free and high quality medical and surgical care to victims of wars, anti-personnel mines and poverty. EMERGENCY promotes a culture of peace, solidarity and respect for human rights. This blogger respects!

GERMANY - MICHAEL SCHULTE - YOU LET ME WALK ALONE I was born From one love of two hearts Vocals **** Staging **** Song **** Overall **** Left side of the scoreboard ITALY - ERMAL META & FABRIZIO MORO -  NON MI AVETE FATTO NIENTE Perché la nostra vita non è un punto di vista E non esiste bomba pacifista Vocals **** Staging **** Song ***** Overall ***** Left side of the scoreboard FRANCE - MADAME MONSIEUR - MERCY Je suis née ce matin Je m’appelle Mercy Vocals ***** Staging **** Song ***** Overall ***** Left side of the scoreboard

The Big5 first rehearsals continue with top-3 favorite France and very much underrated Italy.... Germany - Michael Schulte - You let me walk alone Germany seems to have scored well with it's improved staging; a lot of close ups of Michael, screen graphics and powerful delivery. Seems they are the second country with home brought LED wall for the projections in black and white and red, the photos were submitted by his fans earlier this spring apparently.  The duplicate image of Michael spreading his hands gets kinda psychedelic and disturbing but for the rest it looks pretty nice. At least they make the stage look very different from anyone else. Oh yes, you can't quite see it behind the LED wall, that's why... Casually dressed (for now?) and vocally strong. Did we witness some teary eyes, too? Some are putting Germany up there among winning candidates but let's not get over enthuastic here, maybe top-10 at best, right? And of course some opposite reactions: l...