Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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 Norway at n.o 7. Norway has been sending a steady string of successes after a rocky start of the decade that started with a NQ and then a last place in the final.. Those who didn't qualify were fan favorites no matter what, and this blogger thinks Agnete's NQ was very much undeserved. Five top-10 finishes ending with a televoters winner in 2019  is a great result no matter how you look at it.  2011 Stella Mwangi - Haba haba - NQ (17th in semi-final) ** 2012 Tooji - Stay - 26th *** 2013 Margaret Berger - I feed you my love - 4th **** 2014 Carl Espen - Silent storm - 8th ***** 2015 Mørland & Debrah Scarlett - A monster like me - 8th ***...

Valentina Monetta will be joining the cast of Stockholm Pride that includes already likes of Gina G, Krista Siegfrids, Roberto Bellarossa, Margaret Berger, Sean Banan, Lys Assia, Ryan Dolan, Janet Leon, Anton Ewald and reigning Eurovision Queen Emmelie De Forest . Valentina will perform there on August 1, 2013. What a better way to return to Sweden and shower in the adoration of fans before doing it for the third time next May in Denmark? Besides, her album Crisalide - la storia di Valentina Monetta is now also available in physical CD form. Pre-listen and order here .

Weekly videos return after two weeks Eurovision break but tonight we go on with Eurovision artists. First Margaret Berger with Samantha . This is an old track from 2006 but it's still good. And with an interesting Eurovision twist: it's produced by Jukka Immonen, the man behind Roberto Bellarosa 's entry for Belgium this year. Talking of Roberto, he has released the London underground mix of Be heroes , one of his three national final songs. Krista Siegfrids story continues with Amen . Finally Loreen and her We got the power , the song premiered in the Eurovision 2013 final.

Finland's Krista Soegfrids is covering from her voice problems. She was ordered in silence for two days. She's not having a flu but her neck muscles are sore for too much talking ding dong! "She was very sorry she had to cancel interviews and performances" says YLE's HoP Aila. "But we have priorities and we don't want to risk the performance and her voice. But keeping her still and silent is so hard!" Her boyfriend Janne Grönroos, the very same who won't propose her, has arrived to Malmö to support her as well. Let's see if the proposal will come eventually.... Krista has also revealed that the dress for the semifinal is the same she used in UMK final, even if she has been changing her wedding dress daily in Malmö. It's designed by Joona Matias Huotari. And she thinks her worst competitor is Norway. "I like the song and the artist is awesome " she says. A lot of fuss has been about the kiss in the end of the performa...

Next set of songs, inlcuding one of the biggest favorites, Norway... ISRAEL - Moran Mazor - Rak Bishvilo Moran is on stage with her two backing singers and pianist, the same dress and simple staging mainly in blue. She seems to be really full og agony for that guy, the guy in the swimming pool ,  and it's all quite overwhelming really. I'm on edge of loving this, or just liking it a lot in the end. Don't know yet. But... Israeli seems to be heading for the final? ARMENIA - Dorians - Lonely planet Simple rockband presentation for Armenia with moving spotlights and pyros. Gor is a very good vocalist. The song is one's cup of tea, another's not. But I think there are enough rock lovers and Armenians voting to send this to the final. If Black Sabbath fans tune in as well, this will go very far, to the horror of more traditional Eurovision fans.  HUNGARY - ByeAlex - Kedvesem Alex is on stage with his guitarist and backing singer. It's very colorf...

... if you haven't noticed yet, tonight in Malmö 2013 it's the Nordic night!

Norwegian Margaret Berger and her team were all smiles after their rehearsal. The act sounds and looks pretty much as it did in Norwegian final, with minor changes to the backing group and her dress. But she still remains an ice queen, cold and distant. Will it appeal enough to the televoters to make her win? After this very cold and late spring in Europe I have some doubts. If Eurovision was held in August she'd win no doubt! But I still want her keep feeding me her luv....

OGAE's national clubs have been voting of years their favorites in the true Eurovision style. As the results show it's more like for fun than real prediction as more often the results are completely wrong. Since 2007 the fans have predicted the winner right three times (2007, 2009, 2012) and once the winner was in top-3 (2010). But then who wasn't sure Fairytale and Euphoria would win anyways, hands up!? Otherwise it's all wrong. In 2007 and 2008 fans placed the Swiss entries second. Both failed to make even the final. The number threes, Belarus and Serbia both finished 6th the big night so it was pretty good. However, the 2008 fan winner, Hero , only came 18th in the real thing. In 2009 fans again were for Sweden, placing it 3rd. They came home with 21st place. France was the fan runner up: 8th for real.  2010 was pretty good; fan favorite Denmark finished just outside the top-3, 4th, runner up Israel 14th and the actually winner Germany 3rd. Following that wa...

Norway - Margaret Berger - I feed you my love Margaret, who has been working with Jukka Immonen, the Finn behind Belgium's entry this year, is among the superfavorites this year. And it's easy to see why.  She came like an alien from the outer space, looked stunning like an ice queen and fed the viewers her love and will to vote for her. Less is more in staging. The song looses some when only hearing it though. Yet, Norway shouldn't be worried about qualifying this year but how far this will carry in the final is another matter.... as this is rather cold package filled with drama that may be lost to other than hardcore Eurovision fans.... And the intro alone may get some tender people change channel as they might think there's something wrong with the sound. But I like it. Finland - Krista Siegfrids - Marry me Krista is another creature and total opposite on stage; while Margaret is cool and distant, Krista is all over the place and certainly more is more ! S...

Excellent choices of tonight continued in Norway where Margaret Berger, the biggest favorite indeed won easily with her I feed you my love . Rather horrid Adelen came distant second followed by Sirkus Eliassen and Annsofi in superfinal.

The Norwegian MGP 2013 is coming to a conclusion tonight. After three semifinals we have nine songs plus one Wildcard was added (Lucky Lips) to mess things up a bit. My hopes are in no particular order: Gromth & Emil, Annsofi, Margaret Berger... and that's about it. I have a soft spot for Sirkus Eliassen but I don't necessarily want them for Malmö 2013.... I'll be back with results as soon as I'm done with UMK 2013 :-) Vidar Busk - Paid my way Gromth ft. Emil Solli-Tangen - Alone Datarock - The underground Annsofi - I'm with you Fjellfolk - Ulvetuva Margaret Berger - I feed you my love Adélen - Bombo Lucky Lips - Sweet and heavy Haute Ormåsen - Awake Sirkus Eliassen - I love you te quero

The second semifinal in Norway brought us three more finalists. As expected Annsofi went to the final with Alexander Rybak penned I'm with you . But only as third one, which means Norwegian are not so easily fooled by big name as the song is... well, how to put it? Not so extraordinary? Fjellfolk with Ulvetuva made it as well bringing some folk to the final line up. The surprise for this blogger is Margaret Berger with I feed you my love . Mind you I like it and its noisy arrangement I didn't quite believe it would get through. And win the semi! The Norwegians surely ate her love up and apparently a star was born tonight! It would be like fresh air in Malmö 2013 compared to these other two very traditional efforts. Martin Blomvik didn't make it with his dialect rap, that was rather enoyable in some weird way.