Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Megara 11:11 From Benidormfest to Una voce per San Marino (and vice versa for Nebulossa) was the winning card for Megara, a Spanish alternative rock band who won last night ahead of Loredana Bertè and La Rua. I had a sneaky feeling La Rua was the pre-contest designed winner with a song co-written/produced by Dardust (who would then have had three entries in Malmö: Luxemburg, Italy and San Marino) until Loredana Bertè entered with the wildcard with her Sanremo song Pazza so she could "go to Sweden and annoy her ex-husband Björn Borg". Well, that's a reason like no other I guess. This said, I'm happy she didn't win. Mind you, I have nothing against her and I love some of her songs but I just think first of all the song wasn't good enough and secondly this La Bertè adoration in fandom has gotten a bit out of hand already. And most of all I think her winning  would have done nothing but harm to the credibility of UVPSM, the little it has managed to gain in the p...

Another night in Sanremo. Once again one act will get the free ticket to Sanremo festival among the Big - with a different song though - and could become also Italy's Eurovision entrant for Tel Aviv 2019. But that's not all, the top-3 will get as a bonus also a tour organized by Rai with the Ministry of Foreign Affars in Tunis, Tokyo, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Barcelona and Brussels! Last night was won by Einar to some people's surprise (he scored almost 25% of televotes against jury favorite Federica Abbate's about 8%...) and goes to the festival. Read more here .  La Rua seems the favorite tonight but I keep fingers crossed for Cordio and La Zero not forgetting Le Ore and Mahmood! Federico Angelucci – L’uomo che verrà (7th) Cannella – Nei miei ricordi (10th) Cordio – La nostra vita (4th) Francesca Miola – Amarsi non serve (9th) La Rua – Alla mia età si vola (2nd) La Zero – Nina è brava (8th) Le Ore – La mia felpa è come me (11th...

Luca Barbarossa presented the last six artists and entries for Sanremo Giovani with some more small talk and live performances. Tonight things get serious as the first final takes place and out of 12 artists one gets the ticket to Sanremo 2019. Some familiar names in tonight's hopefuls... Check out the previous posts here .  La Rua started with their Alla mia età si vola . Two years ago they didn't make it the festival among Newcomers creating a major holabaloo. That makes them frontrunners this time around but sadly their song isn't as strong as Tutta La Vita Questa Vita back then. They are however seasoned performers and have a fanbase so let's see how it goes this time. I'm not that impressed really. Cordio from Catania, Sicily is another pre-contest favorite and his La nostra vita is a solid, good song he sings with emotion and gives a very credible performance. One of the best of 24 for sure. But is it enough? Nyvinne , born in Luxemburg, ...

The new formula of Sanremo Giovani has been a success at least in submissions: a record 677.  The jury has now cut those to 69 (instead of planned 60) for the live auditions on November 12, where from the 24 finalists for the televised shows on December 20 and 21, 2018. Each night will have a winner and those two will enter the main festival in February among the Big artists. Among the hopefuls also familiar names like Mahmood (Sanremo Giovani 16, 4th after Francesco Gabbani, Chiara Dello Iacovo and Ermal Meta), Federica Abbate (co-writer of Nessun grado di separazione (ESC16), Andrea Vigentini (Italian backing singer in ESC18 and long collaborator of  Ermal Meta), Icaro aka Antonello Carozza (co-writer of two Italian Jesc entries), La Rua , Einar Ortiz (from Amici), Federico Angelucci (from Tale e quale show), Nyvinne (Sanremo Giovani 18)..... Other names from Amici are Federico Baroni, Zic, Michele Merlo aka Mike Bird. From X Factor Ros, Diego Conti, Andrea Biago...

Here are again some entries from the #SG 2017 that this blogger finds worth a mention. All are fighting for the 12 places in the December live final for the six places in the festival in February.  Jo M or Giovanni Mazzara from Catania presents L'Uragano non ci prende , a nice pop song from his debut album to be released shortly. He started as a drummer and is now ready to breakthrough, he has a very famous production team behind him. La Rua has done Castrocaro, Amici and has tried to get to Sanremo 2012, 2013, 2014... and now they are back with Tutta la vita questa vita . Will they make it this time? LaKurA or Laura Carpani is singer-songwriter with pop and r'n'b influences. Pagine di noi   sounds like a Swiss Eurovision entry. Not sure if that's a good thing really... Lele ( Esposito) is another ex-Amici, fron Naples. His Ora mai is a majestic pop tune with lovely arrangement. If he gets through he's going to be strong in televote at least..... at...