Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Greta Salome is clearly in Halloween mood.... ... as is Svala Artsvik is only posing. Or is she? Isaiah has got the mood.... ... and surely Conchita.... ... as does Valentina and her girls..... Kurt definately is! As is Nathan. Michal is only being himself. Scary enough? Loreen... hard to tell..... Cleo... not. Sweet as ever. Vaclav.... nope.  Jowst. Just being Jowst.  Aram Mp3 and emoji friend Freddie's not afraid of black cats Ira and horror of a snake Sertab. Scary. HAPPY HALLOWEEN PEOPLE!!!!

There are always a lot of theme parties at Eurovison city and at EuroClub. Last night it was time for the Nordic Light one when the artists from Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Estonia got together and shared the spotlight with only Norwegian Agnete missing out for health problems.   Hera & Greta  Selfie time for Sandhja and Greta! Check out some videos after the jump .-)

Iceland seems to have sorted out the problems with their staging - didn't they drop the SVT version and went for their old one instead? All has been fixed to the better or original simplier form. I still don't get what the fans see and hear in this. It's pleasant but far from a winning candidate. Too may associations with previous stagings that worked well to make it really interesting and original.... Shame. I'd love to love Iceland. 

Not a good start for Greta, it seems. Problems with vocals and even more so with her projections; she was missing her cues and in a wrong places quite a few times. Also the LED screen she is using is apparently quite small, or at least when compared to the huge stage that is (just like Russia btw) and it is filmed in a way that the larger screen behind the stage are visible at times breaking the illusion and ruining the whole point. Is this a SVT sabotage by purpose? Lol. But there's time for fixing everything in the next rehearsal. Otherwise it's pretty much what we've seen already. Greta is using the stage a bit more perhaps and has a new outfit. A Måns rip off and fan wank. This could be a shocker (for some) non qualifier for all I know. In the Meet & Greet Great was happy and thought the rehearsal went well, but said there's a lot to work on still. She's more experienced than 2012, and back then she was just starting her pop career being known as a class...

Nordic four in this post. DENMARK - LIGHTHOUSE X - SOLDIERS OF LOVE (Søren Bregendel, Johannes Nymark, Martin Skriver, Sebastian Owens, Daniel Durn, Katrine Klith Andersen) Lighthouse X emerged as surprise winners in the Danish national final. Last two times when the contest has been in Sweden Denmark has won. This time the polls aren't backing this, but then - The Olsen Brothers never were taken into consideration either.... Blogilkar: For some reason I like this. It's very catchy and one of the most played songs in my ehad this season. It's nothing original, the lyrics are rather corny and cliché but everything works fine. Most likely Denmark won't do a triple, but then this could be a song no one hates and telelvoters like when hearing it the first time so it could end up scoring votes from everywhere. Who knows? 8 Jack:  Not the best, not the worst.. it's just kinda there. Nice, radio friendly but I don't think they'll set the scoreboard o...

In a funny twist of fate three of the returning artists this year all competed in the 2012 edition in Baku, and all of them also made the final. Do you think they can do better than four years ago?  Kaliopi for Macedonia did the best, finishing 13th with her Crno i belo .  And this year she is giving us Dona Just one point behind was Lithuania's Donny Montell finishing 14th with Love is blind .  This year he's singing I've been waiting for this night Iceland's Gréta Salóme dueted with Jónsi in Never forget finishing 20th.  This time she's solo with Hear them calling *We have three more returnees this year:  Ira Losco (Malta 2002), Deen (Bosnia & Herzegovina 2004) and Poli Genova (Bulgaria 2011)

Iceland's Söngvakeppni final takes place tonight after two semifinals where half the songs were eliminated. Usually there has been a wildcard added by a jury but not this time around - it seems all the ones that were ment to make the final did it. The rule is that in the semifinal the songs must be in Icelandic, but in the final they can sing in any language. So all but Elisabet have opted for English. Two rounds of televoting: first 5050 televote-jury to pick out the top-2. Those two will face another round of televoting only. It seems to be Eurovision veteran Greta Sálome Vs all the others, at least you ask the fans. At least her Måns Z inspored staging is very effective and so is the song. I also like Á ný and Now .  Icelanders are though known for making surprising choices wo who knows?  Listen to the English versions here Hear Them Calling – Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir  I Promised You Then – Hjörtur Traustason & Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir Eye of ...

Iceland's Söngvakeppni starts tonight with its first semifinal. All songs in Icelandic in semifinal. In final they can be performed in the language they are intended to be performed in Stockholm should they win. Eurovision veteran Greta Salóme shines in this semifinal but the good stuff is coming in the second semifinal next week. Three songs will qualify for the final. After second semi one more among the drops outs will be liften to the final line up by a special jury.  Hljómsveitin Eva - Ég sé þig Ingólfur Þórarinsson - Fátækur námsmaður Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir & Hjörtur Traustason - Hugur minn er Sigríður Eyrún Friðriksdóttir - Kreisí Karlotta Sigurðardóttir - Óstöðvandi Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir - Raddirnar

Rúv has published today their entries online and as usual there seem to be some great songs, maybe better than ever in true strange Icelandic way. This is the selection that got me the most curious so far this year. Can't wait to listen the songs better and review them! Anyways, three songs from each semifinal (February 6 and 13) goes to the final on February 20 Eva Hljómsveitin -  Ég sé þig Ingólfur Þórarinsson -  Fátækur námsmaður Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir & Hjörtur Traustason -  Hugur minn er Sigga Eyrún (Sigríður Eyrún Friðriksdóttir) -  Kreisí Karlotta Sigurðardóttir -  Óstöðvandi Greta Salome Stefánsdóttir –  Raddirnar Alda Dís Arnardóttir - Augnablik Elísabet Ormslev - Á ný Pálmi Gunnarsson - Ég leiði þig heim Erna Mist & Magnús Thorlacius – Ótöluð orð Helgi Valur Ásgeirsson – Óvær Þórdís Birna Borgarsdóttir & Guðmundur Snorri Sigurðarson – Spring yfir heiminn 

Tonight's the official red carpet opening ceremony but last night among the many parties was that of Norway together with Finland, Sweden and Iceland. The party was organized to celebrate also Norway's Independence Day. Alexander Rybak was present, too, and performed to the guests. Pernilla was there of course and was kissed by Tooji and had a long chat with Jónsi while her cellist Heikki had a lot to talk with Greta, who has earlier stated Finland is one of her favourite songs this year.  Pernilla and Loreen also met for the first time and managed to change a few words. In Swedish of course!  Surprisingly we learned from Tooji that he is working with Finnish writer and producer Teemu Brunila for his album and one song, Swan song is already out there. He knows well also Jenni Vartiainen and says he's a big fan of hers! But not only Tooji has a Finnish connection.  We know Loreen's choreographer is a Finno-Italian  Ambra Succi and her wardrobe is design...

The second round of rehearsals start today when 13 songs from the first semifinals take the stage again. We are supposed to see more polished performances in this round thus giving us a better impression on how they will look like in the end.  Montenegro kicks off the show again. Now they are wearing their stage wardrobe and Rambo himself starts off as a monk and reveals then a smoking. Many write this song off as a joke but that's too easy and narrow minded. I wonder if they have really listened it at all? The backdrop features now yacht, 500 euro notes and similar stuff. They have the wooden donkey (what does it symbolize? Read in the interview below!) and the dancers use the banners and in the end of them is wrapped in one and carried away.... Effective. Different. maybe the televoters won't get this but Montenegro falls with dignity then. At least we can say the first semifinal starts with a bang! More here .  Don't forget the interview did with Rambo Amadeus he...

My flying reporter Robert had a little chat with the Icelandic Eurovision veteran Jónsi. it nearly turned the other way round Jónsi interviewing Robert but in the end he talks about his song, 2004 experience, Zeljko Joksimovic and how difficult it is to get it all together on a stage like Eurovision. Here goes: When you heard the song written by Greta for the first time did you like it instantly? Yeap! I had the absolute emotion of saying Yes! In other words I loved the song at once. I wanted to do it and I asked my wife as we do things together and she liked it, too so.... this was more than a year ago. And then it was too late for last year's Eurovision then? I don't know if Greta was planning this song for Eurovision. She only asked me to sing a duet with her on her solo album. She's the new pretty young Icelandic artist and I'm the more established so I said yes.  And how come it then ended as a preselection song? When it was finished she...