Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Norway had its national final for Eurovision song contest 2026. Jonas Lovvw on Melodi grand prix with Ya ya ya.  The final songs were selected among some 1.500 submissions shortlisted to 16; eight made the final directly, the other eight had to go through a radio competition in duels until one was left, that being Skrellex. Read more here . Among the competitors previous Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak and Eurovision veteran Marcus & Martinus little sister Emma, both being the favorites to win as well. Final (jury + tele) Skrellex - Into the wild (15 + 30) 45  7th Hedda Mae - Snap back (11 + 4) 15  8th Storm - Lullaby (14 + 36) 50  6th Mileo - Frankestein (54 + 35) 89  4th Silke - Forevermore (0 + 4) 4  9th Alexander Rybak - Rise  (66 + 126) 192  2nd Emma - Northern lights (28 + 99) 127  3rd Leonardo Amor - Prayer (60 + 13) 73  5th Jonas Lovv - Ya ya ya (96 + 196) 265  1st to be updated 

Tone Damli may have entered Norwegian MGP as sort of a pre-favorite but the reception by the fandom was very cold once the song was out, and the live performance the night didn't help her either. In the end she placed only 5th. But for me this is perfect pop with a lot of 80's/90's vibe to it aka the period I was young and love the music of the moment. Also this has been one of the most earwormy songs for me from the national selections. For that alone this deserves a spot in this series, despite the somewhat uninspired and awkward performance. 

Denmark is trusting its melodi Grand Prix once again to elect its entry for the Eurovision song contest 2025 in Basel. The show returns to Herning on March 1, 2025. The eight finalist were selected among open submissions and revealed on February 8, among them one Eurovision veteran Tim Schou of A Friend in London fame, Eurovision 2011. The voting will be open between February 24 and 28 and again during the final. The top-3 will reach the super-final, both rounds have a 50/50 jury/televote.  Among the songwriters the usual suspects Julie Aagaard, Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy Thörnfelt, Linnea Deb, Meladie Wehbe among others.  Belo is my usual first time hearing rank.... Mariya Apollonia - I belong to me   *** Tim Schou - Proud   *** Max Ulver - Supernova   ** Hervé Toure - Allez allez   **** Maria Mathea - Air   *** Adel the Second - The unluckiest boy alive   *** Sissal - Hallucination   ** Andreas Kruse - Hear my prayer   ****

NRK arranged once again Melodi grand prix, even if with a revamped system with three semi-finals. After 60-40 televote-jury Gåte beat KEiiNO after winning the televote with a margin. That came after a new lyrics between semifinal and the final as originally the lyrics were nothing but a medieval ballad already existing. KEiiNO's original Damdiggida lyrics needed no change though. Gåte is a Norwegian folk-metal-ethno-progressive rock band founded in 2000. These days the line up is Gunnhild Sundli, Magnus Børmark, Jon Even Schärer, Mats Paulsen and John Stenersen. They released their first EP in 2000 but it was the second one followed by an album in 2002 that breakthrough. They gained popularity not only in Norway but also in rest of Scandinavia and Germany. Another EP and second album were released before they announced a break. A live album was released in 2006. They toured and did live concerts until the farewell one in Oslo in 2010. They were back in 2017 with another EP and then...

Norway's Melodi Grand Prix 2023 came to and end Saturday night and the streaming queen and fan favorite indeed won with her Queen of kings. I may have been a bit harsh in my review but that's what reviews are for. I'm still not a big fan of the song but Alessandra's bubbly personality that came across so well during the voting and especially after winning won me over a bit. Then again, autotune was allowed in Norway and she still didn't sound so well live, so what about Liverpool? We'll see, or rather hear. Prepare yourself! And I'm not going to say anything about her winning repeat performance ..... I haven't seen such chaos for years. Nice touch though she sung some verses in Italian like a good Italian girl! Ulrikke didn't get her chance to do finally Eurovision and another streaming success Jone failed badly, as did Atle Pettersen, mainly in televotes that all went to Alessandra. 1. Alessandra - Queen of kings (jury 104 + televote 129) 233 2. Ulr...

Norway has had its three semi-finals, created two streaming magnets, lost a couple of fan favorites (mainly for poor live performances despite auto tune allowed) and here we are with the nine finalists.In the final there will be 50/50 international jury/televote, while the semi-finalists were chosen by 100% televote in the semi-finals. Jone - Ekko inni mig *** The big local favorite apparently. On a positive side this is in Norwegian. I kinda like this but it's not a big favorite of mine I doubt this will end up on any of my playlists. Should this win.... Well, I have no idea how this would do in Liverpool. Lower parts of the grand final perhaps? Eline Thorp - Not ment to be *** I really like the first 45 second, and the past chorus but not such a fan of the chorus itself. She looks a bit suffering in this live performance which troubles me a bit. Not bad though. Maybe a bit forgettable right after the song's over. Could be a song that plays in the closing credits of a movie......

Norway's Melodi Grand Prix 2022 went through four semi-finals where from only one act made it to the final. The we had two rounds of last chance before one more act was added to the line up. These five meet five internally chosen acts in the grand final before we finally find out the winner who gets the ticket to Turin 2022. Generally the standard has been very low, sadly low for Norway and the two favorites Subwoolfer and Elise Bay are very different. Noway has already proven during these semi-finals they often go for not the obvious so let's see what they come out with from this season.... Dance like a pink flamingo by Trollfest was the closest to the final before dropping out to Maria Mohn's Fly. My favorite to make it would have been Steffen Jacobsen's With me tonight  (Estonia is pleased!) Prior this I only partly saw and heard the first semi-final and listened the songs of the second semi-final until I lost my interest.  Oda Gondrosen - Hammer of Thor ** A musica...

Leonora (Colmor Jepsen, 20) has won the Danish Melodi Grand Prix 2019 and therefor represants her country in Tel Aviv Eurovision with Love is forever , a little happy tune that deeclares love is forever in several languages. She entered the super final after 50-50 televote-jury vote and scored 42% of the televotes in the second round. She's also is multiple Danish Junior Champion in ice skating. Is it only me or does she remind a lot of certain Emmelie? Leonora - Love is forever 42% Julie & Nina - League of light 35% Sigmund - Say my name 23%

Denmark is having its 49th Melodi Grand prix tonight in Herning. Ten songs that will be voted 50-50 by jury and televote and top-3 going for the second round of voting until the winner is out. A lot of familiar names among the songwriters from Tim Schou to Lise Cabble to John Ballard and Laurell Barker. Lise has co-written three of the songs... More info here . Should Julie & Nina win as well as Jon Henrik in Sweden and KEiiNO in Norway we would have a real Northern exotism in Israel. Greenland will be already watching live this Danish final anyways.... Simone Emilie - Anywhere   LIVE Jasmin Gabay - Kiss Like This   LIVE Rasmus Faartoft - Hold My Breath   LIVE Marie Isabell - Dancing With You In My Heart   LIVE Sigmund - Say My Name   LIVE Humørekspressen - Dronning af baren  LIVE Julie & Nina - League Of Light   LIVE Teit Samsø - Step It Up   LIVE Leonora - Love Is Forever   LIVE Leeloo - That Vibe  ...

  Norway has it's Melodi Grand prix final tonight and the songs are picked out of over 1200 submissions. Among them three previous Eurovision stars, Stella Mwangi, last year's Alexander Walmann this time solo and with his own name instead of credited only as JOWST,  and Alexander Rybak who won the while contest for Norway back in 2009. International jury and Norwegian televotrs will decide on the winner 50-50.  I have three favorites: Talk to the hand follows last year's Grab the moment nicely, and sounds like a song that wasn't written Eurovision in mind which is like a bit of a fresh air these days. Vidar Villa's urging for MILF is just a good feeling bomb I just love to hear it and then Rybak - not the best song in the world but cool idea, well written and constructed with a tongue on cheek and it works. Nicoline, Charla K and Tom Hugo all have decent songs but just missing something extra to make them really stand out. And then we have Tengo otra . Love...

The Norwegian entries are now and there to listen, or here . This time Norway has only one off final with 11 songs and a live orchestra, so it will be interesting to hear how these songs will turn out as most are rather modern sounding and not so Eurovisionesque midtempo numbers. There could have been also only ten if they had dropped that joke entry from the line up. The old veterans Elisabeth and Tor have nothing to be ashamed among this lot. To be honest I didn't get excited by any of these really...  Something is wrong in my books  if a classic schlager like Heaven sounds almost the best... What's wrong Norway?

Denmark has chosen Anti Social Media and I'm not amused at all. The way you are made no impression one me, I had other favorites as you can read here . You can watch all the live videos here .  Let's start with the winner . It never was among my favorites. It's like Beatles light with staging to match. Not bad, but... nothing special. They do perform well and propably will do fine in Vienna, it's just me. Anne Gadegaards's Suitcase is very catchy, well performed and with some originality. With her Denmark would have been one of my top favorites in Vienna. Did Emmelie's drums take away her victory? Julie Bjerre with Tæt På Mine Drømme did better than thought but it's ok as it was in my top-4. Very good staging and look, all fits perfectly and she looks her age. She totally deserved this. Then Cecilie and Hotel A , my number one favorite. Love the song, she did well but as I feared it's not so strong on stage, becoming a bit boring for some re...

DR was supposed to reveal the artists and songs only next Monday but they have leaked from a CD-release - just like in Finland #umk15 songs. Familiar names among the songwriters, like Thomas G:son, Marcos Ubeda and Lise Cabble. Among the artists we have two backing singers for Basim, Andy and Marcel, and Anne G from Junior Eurovision 2003. All this will be confirmed on Monday, with audios. I've heard them and there's some very interesting ones..... 1. Tina & René – Mi Amore 2. Anne Garegaard – Suitcase 3. Babou – Manjama 4. Cecilie Alexandra – Hotel A 5. Anti Social Media – The Way You Are 6. Julie Bjerre – Tæt På Mine Drømme 7. Andy Roda – Love Is Love 8. Sara Sukurani – Love Me Love Me 9. Marcel & Soulman Group – Når Veje Krydses 10. World Of Girls – Summer Without You

The reigning Eurovision country Denmark has published snippets of its songs today and it's a pretty solid mix of contemporary sounds and bits and pieces taken from the world charts. None jumps out of the lot yet screaming winner but that's not because they are bad but the contrary. Sonny makes me think of Michael Jackson and other similar acts in the early 1980's, Rebekka some American country singers, Nadia plays the Celine Dion powerballad card it seems, Michael and Natascha fish from the pool of Romanian hit sounds, GlamboyP comes from the school of Eric Saade wannabes, Emilie sounds very Danish - or at least every hit from Denmark in Danish I have heard the past few years has sounded like that and no, it's not a bad thing! Is Basim aiming to be the Danish Bruno Mars? Danni Elmo wouldn't be out of place in Melodifestivalen either. Bryan Rice is... well, Bryan Rice. Love that guy's voice! Last but not least Anna David that sounds very nice, too. So.... oh w...

We are heading to the busiest six months of the year in the Eurovision world outside the contest itself in May and today Norway has made public its 15 semifinalists and here they are: Semifinal 1 - March 7, 2014 Hilda & Thea Leora - Best friend's boyfriend Mo - Heal Dina Misund - Needs Linnea Fale - High hopes Timbre & Fikk Heide-Steen feat. Ida Stein - Frozen by your love Semifinal 2 - March 8, 2014 Cir.Cuz - Hele verden Martine Marbel - Right now Oda & Wulff - SIng Knut Kippersund Nesdal - Taste of you Charlie - Hit me up Semifinal 3 - March 9, 2014 Moi - Bensin El Cuero - Ain't no love in this city no more Ilebek - Who needs the universe? Elisabeth Carew - Sole survivor Carl Espen - Silent storm You can listen very short snippets of the songs here .  Three somgs from each semifinal will go to the final on March 15, 2014 in Oslo Spektrum. In the semifinals footage of their journey to the final from the moment their s...

It was big news when Emmelie De Forest claimed to be descendant of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and having family tree filled with Austrian princesses and British princes and only herself knows what. As you can read here by someone who knows the facts (Marlene Eilers Koenig, author of the book Queen Victoria's descendants , it's not true. In fact she has Swedish and Finnish (!!!) ancestry and her great-grandparents were Americans! And her family name was changed from Engström to Forest as late as the 1990's. So we can say all that is left of Emmelie's bubble of royal past is.... only teardrops ! But she can still dream of winning Eurovision next month.... let's see how that ends!

Should've known better. I had this song as a reserve, a kinda liked it but still it wasn't amongst my favourites. Until I say it live. I ranked it as a finalist while watching and once it made the superfinal I was all for it. And the unthinkable happened: my favourite won in Denmark! I hope it's not a bad omen for them. But anyways. A great show. Fantastic stage. Alexander Rybak rocked with his Eurovision winner medley but what was Howie D doing with A Friend in London? Especially when his microphone was closed... But let's start from the beginning. Jesper came, sung and went. The song still didn't go anywhere if you ask me. Aya was ok and the song got more life on stage but it still wasn't a contender. Kenneth was vocally good but did he forget to visit the loo before going on stage as he looked most of the time like he needed to take a leak desperately! Ditte Marie looked stunning and delivered. Still one of my favourites. Emilia and Philip didn't qui...

Besides the Icelandic and Norwegian semifinal tonight's the Danish final completing the Nordic Eurovision fever night. And Nordic the Danish final is, with Swedish Patrick isaksson and Finnish Emilia in the line up. You can read my review here , and watch the show live here from 20.00 CET. I'm pretty curious to see how it goes as I never get the Danish right, and the first polls give Jesper and beforementioned Patrik as favourites for the win and yes, they are not amongst my favourites.... Sigh. But what I like Denmark is that they do one off show like the good old days. One night affair with a great show and that's it. Aren't all these zillions semifinals and qualification rounds and such getting a bit tiresome already?

Everyone who reads this blog knows I haven't been the biggest of fan of the Danish recent entries that have done so well in the Eurovision final. :-) I wonder if this year will be an exception? Or rather will the Danish entry  that I don't care much about do well again, or will I like it and it will do bad? Jesper kicks of the show with a song that isn't bad. It just doesn't go anywhere. A bit of the same happens with Aya next, the song's just completely different. And even Kenneth next. Quite a nice song but just not getting right there. I guess it all comes down to the live performance if they can make their songs alive or not. Then enters Ditte Marie with a song that I can easily picture on music video channels and chart shows all over the world. A bit like these David Guetta efforts. Is this the Eurovision winner Denmark is so desperately seeking? I doubt but would surely do very well (and for once I would like the Danish entry, lol). Philip with Finnish Em...

Emilia will be singing with Philip Halloun in the Danish Eurovision national final Baby love me but who is she? The quick research turned into many discoveries. First of all her real name is Jonnaemilia Kärkkäinen and in Finland she is known to play Jemmica Laamanen, a caracter in a popular cartoon satire of Finnish politics Pasila , check her "hit" here . Then she used to be the voice of Kaksio that scored a couple of minor hits in 2004 and released one album, here's Tyttö tanssii . Next discovery is she is also Jo Angel, who released her debut album in 2010 and has gained name and fame in Helsinki's club circuit with songs like Still in live and All I ever need . Besides that she has been writing songs to Sunrise Avenue, Gimmel, Antti Tuisku and Kristiina Brask. And last summer she was hot on radio with Darude and a cover of a Katri Helena classic, Katson autiota hiekkarantaa . Multitalented and multifaced lady is ready to conquer Denmark now, and Europe next?