Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Estonia has had the final of the 18th Eesti laul tonight, the national final for Eurovision song contest 2026. Vanilla Ninja was selected as the winner so they return to Eurovision after finishing 8th in 2005 for Switzerland with Cool vibes (that was actually cool). This Too epic to be true isn't very epic sadly. Neither the whol selection this year. My initial favorite was NOEP and indeed it may still be the best one for me. Vanilla Ninja these days is Lenna Kuurmaa, Piret Järvis and Kerli Kivilaan. They had their prime time in 2002-2008 when they had several hits in Central Europe ( Tough enough , When the Indians cry and Blue tattoo just to mention some) and reunited in 2020. They tried to win Euro laul also in 2003 with Club Kung-Fu (9th) and 2007 with Birds of peace (4th).  A total of 177 entries were submitted for the contest. A 34 member jury chose the 12 finalists and the songs were presented on October 30 and 31. Among the artists Eurovision veterans Getter Jaani (2011),...

Moomins, the Finnish cartoon that has conquered the world - well, Asia at least, gets a new cartoon animation and the story goes:  A warm-hearted, sincere, family animation with a great story that unfolds in a fantasy world - the Moominvalley. Moomintroll won’t hibernate. This year he wants to explore the winter and expects a very misterious guest called Christmas to visit the Moominvalley! This winter is extraordinary. Moomintroll decides to stay awake to explore the winter instead of having his winter slumber as usually. Winter is certainly totally different than he had imagined. Strangest creatures wander amidst the snowdrifts while midwinter darkness surrounds the Moominvalley. Moreover, an eccentric guest is soon to appear. It is said that this guest requires a very special welcome and is called Christmas. Moomintroll will have to learn a lot before the day of the visit comes... Krista Siegfrids sings the Swedish version of the song, that is released in 23 differen...

  Estonia is thinking big this time. First of all the national final has been moved to Saku Suurhall, the very venue of the Eurovision song contest 2002 and if we believe the rumours most every artist in Estonia is trying to be part of it - among them several previous participant and those who made it to runner up before. Time for a revenge!  There are so many top girls that if they all make it we can expect some serious cat fights: Getter Jaani, Grete Paia, Laura, Ines and Liis Lemsalu just to name a few. But the guys aren't any less: Daniel Levi, Ott Lepland, Robin Juhkental, Rolf Roosalu and Mikk Mäe, Rasmus Rändvee, Rauno Pella and Silver Sepp . Throw in accapella group Estonian Voices and some Estonia-Finnish EMD with Popidiot . And what would Eesti Laul be without somethng weird and odd like a song titled Can you tell the difference between a cock and a hen? by Odd Hugo . Well, Tuesday we will know who has made the cut of 20 semifinalists and if indeed all...

If Romania was difficult Estonia was extremely easy as there was and is only one favourite for me, Ithaka Maria's Hopa'pa-rei . This multi-intrumentalist singer-songwriter is so much better than plastic made winner that got what it deserved in Germany. Or actually I would have left it in semifinals really.... Anyways, this is a nice cocktail of things that have provided Eurovision classics; a bit of Wild dances, a bit of Rändajad to start with without being obvious. Still, not the greatest song on earth but very entertaining 3 minutes. Great stuff!

The morning after the Welcome Party is here and Slovenia 's Maja had the earliest call on stage. And it shows and sounds like it, too. Maja is not wearing her actual outfit nor the backing singers but the very high heals are there. The choreography is great and propably they used this rehearsals to master that and the camera angles instead of giving us a vocally perfect performance. This is kind of a "in your face" song and will feel very strong on TV and buzzled people will either go numb or vote for this in masses. Bordeline finalist at this point. More in that out though. Romania has still those annoying girls jumping around with their trumpets and this morning I'm very, very tired of this song that I never liked so much to start with.  I hope there is some common sense in Europe and Romania misses the final for once....  but I doubt it. They will vote this to the final as most of them hear this for the first time. This is a song that turns old at latest with the...

No, I don't like this. I say it first. And this annoying staging with hide and seek only underline the fact for me this is a song for kids and it looks like a school play on stage. I know Getter is the youngest this year but... This looks like any performance from the Junior Eurovision for me. And her vocals are shouty. But I guess I'm alone with this. But I can always hope this will be this year's Kate Ryan, can't I? Here are the videos: AKOE , Escdaily, Official

Keith Mills, the Eurovision guru from All kinds of everything predicts Finland a top-5 placing along with United Kingdom, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia and France! If you don't believe me watch yourself here .

Latvia - Musiqq - Angel in disguise **** This is one of my favourites. I like the melody, the guitar, his voice. It's uplifting, groovy pop song, easy to sing along but... yet it never really takes the flight. A quality entry that will most likely pass unnoticed. I hope I am wrong. I'm not usually a fan of the Latvian entries but for once they have something I like and I'm afraid they will bomb! Let's see. Qualifier: Unlikely . Portugal - Homens da luta - A luta é alegria * I have tried to find a reason to like this, any reason. And I have found none. The melody isn't anything interesting, the lyrics, the artists, totally annoying in a bad way. Totally uninteresting. The only positive thing I can think about it the Portuguese language I love. Otherwise the biggest disappointment this year. But every year we must have a stupid entry and let Portugal have it for once. Usually they are so serious.... Qualifier: I hope not. Estonia - Getter Jaani - Rockefeller Stree...

UKRAINE Mika Newton (25) won an bit surprisingly the Ukrainian final beating Pridhenko, Zlata and Jamala amongst others. She has been singing since she was 9 and released her first album back in 2005 with her band. Her song Angely has been translated into English for the occasion. This didn't convince we with the first impact but it's not bad. MOLDOVA Zdob si Zdub returns to Eurovision after 5 years. In 2005 they were the country's first represant and with a little help of their granny took the sixth place with Boonika bate toba . This time their song is So lucky and instead of a granny they have funny hats. They're together since 1994 and have released nine albums so far. In some wicked way I like this a little like I did like the granny songs, too. A little. SERBIA Nina Danica Radojicic won in Serbia with Čaroban which translates to Magic . She is fairly unknow 21-year-old lead singer of a group called Legal Sex Department. The song is written by Kristina Kov...

Getter Jaani wins the Estonian national final with 62% of the votes in the superfinal against Outloundz. Her song is Rockfeller Street .