Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  And here are the music videos for the songs presented the second night. The first night is here . 

Italy took its well deserved third victory - finally! - at the Eurovision song contest 2021. Over the years several other Italian entries would have been worthy winners. In this series I will go through all of them from the worst ranking to the win ners Italy has had a real triumphant comeback to the contest since 2011 and they have only two two figure placements since, this one being the other. 21 out of 37. Oh my. It is also the only year they searched outside Sanremo for the entry. Big mistake! Sanremo 2014 was won by Arisa who is wel known to dream of Eurovision, and Controvento . Instead we got Emma Marrone (37) and somewhat medicore song in her catalogue, La mia cittá .  It was like a flashback to the 70's when the entries were not from Sanremo and finished mid table or lower... Emma however was the Sanremo 2012 winner with Non è l'inferno and even 2011 runner up with Arriverà (with Modà). In 2010 she won the talent show Amici and has been a top selling artist ever sin...

 

The look of the festival: the ape!  Finally some color! Well, sort of. Some white.... ... and red. Maria continued with her boring dark... Marika brought in some missed glamour.... ... and then we had these. 

The rather boring trend continues. Bright and pastel colors are supposed to be in but they haven't yet made their way to dresses it seems. The backdrop has them though. Except Gabbani of course. He's the trend setter here sporting another lovely pullover by Daniele Alessandrini. Rapers Clementino and Raige were rather casual and were both voted out. Pini and Sylvestre remained true to their particular fashion sense..... ... while other remained in their men in black style.... ... and some other had flops and hits. Nesli, Moro and MIKA looking sharp while Meta...  what was that? Maria De Filippi continued with her fashion disasters. And in black. The gliettery flower dress was already a step to the better but was that the promised "colorful" dress she said she would be wearing? Oh, then we had these four gentlemen: one smart, one casual and one in pyjamas. And the fourth one is actually a lovely lady called LP..... yup. The ladies didn't br...

  So, how did the second night look like? The men had some interesting details again.... ...while other were rather boring.... but Zarrillo has a little nice trick in his jacket at least. The ladies didn't have anything special either. Or colorful. But La Turci made a boring office look sexy.... The duets were more interesting and glamourous Giorgia struggled to keep her dress up but it didn't stop her giving a stellar performance..... Carlo was looking smart in his suit and Maria had two dresses, both black and rather grandmotherly. Special mention goes to Keanu Reeves for his ill fitting suit and comfortable shoes..... Who ever dress him should be sued! And to Gabbani for his monkey :-)

Not only music, Sanremo is also the place to get hint of what's in fashion this year.... For ladies at first glance it looks like patterns with some ethnic vibe perhaps. And trousers..... For men it's darl but with some interesting details that showcase your personality (or simply so dull that it's not even worth remembereing - if you can remember a thing - like Al Bano and Ron. Even though Ron did wear a velvet jacket that is apparently very in) Carlo Conti remained trye to his Ferragamo style and stayed in same outfit all night. Maria De Filippi sported two modest outfits; black and white. Oh originality! The guests delivered some old time Sanremo glamour, especially Rocio and Diletta

If the Italians really sucked in the annual most sold singles  chart they take a sweet revenge in albums, when only Coldplay makes the top10, and only David Bowie and Adele are featured in Top20. Marco Mengoni has three albums in the chart: 14th, 15th and 70th, only one of them released in 2016. Laura Pausini has two albums in Top20, the recently released Christmas album making it to 6th! Il Volo's classic album is at 22 and the previous pop album at 52. Also Vasco Rossi has two albums in Top20.  Top15 includes also Eurovision veterams Riccardo Fogli (with I Pooh) and Gianni Morandi (with Claudio Baglioni).  Emma's latest effort is at 23 and Francesca Michielin makes it to n.o 55 just ahead of Raphael Gualazzi's latest at 57.  Check out more videos from top selling albums after the jump....

Three Eurovision stars are nominated in the Italian MTV Music Awards to be held in Florence next month.  Marco Mengoni has got three nominations: Best male act, Best "tormentone" or rather an ear worm, and Best Fans. Emma and Francesca Michielin are battling it out in the Best female act category.  Here are the nominees in main categories: Male artist: Alessio Bernabei, Lorenzo Fragola, Marco Mengoni, Tiziano Ferro Female artist: Alessandra Amoroso, Annalisa, Emma, Francesca Michielin Band: Benji & Fede, Modà, The Kolors, Urban Strangers All nominees here . Vote!

Il Corriere della Sera newspaper seems to be sure it's indeed Emma Marrone and Arisa on stage in Sanremo 2015 next to Carlo Conti , as rumoured for some time now. Tomorrow there will be an press conference by Carlo Conti and the secret will be out officially. It seems Emma has already signed few days ago but Arisa only last Friday. A question of money, it seems. But now both girls are already happily going through the high fashion houses trying to find their dresses for the five nights. Italian fashion world has always welcomed the visibility Sanremo gives but now apparently some are saying they would have preferred the usual top model as hostess - for obvious reasons. Irina Shayk , Cristiano Ronaldo's Russian model girlfriend was rumoured - and would have been perfect addition to the long list of Sanremo vallettes who can't do much else but stroll down the stairs with grace in fabulous dress - but once again money offered by RAI wasn't enough. There's still ...

Emma Marrone seems to have made peace with Modà - or was it the other way round? - after the break up the night Emma won Sanremo with Modà's Kekko's song Non è inferno and forgot to thank him although she did remember to thank even her granny's cat.... Kekko waited til Sunday afternoon her call and once it didn't arrive declared she's a... well, you know what , and will have nothing to do with her ever again. Or some drama like that. But that was almost three years ago. Now she's dueting with them again in a remake of their song Come in un film , off their live CD/DVD released in September.  Here . Their previous joint effort was Sanremo 2011 runner up Arriverà .

What would an Italian entertainment show be without pretty girls in various stages of undress, so called "vallette"? Sanremo festival is a good example of such, often hiring international top models who can't speak Italian but three words per evening, seven changes of dresses and a big smile takes you a long way in Italy. Sometimes Sanremo goes the other way having comedians like Luciana Littizzetto, the total opposite of the previously mentioned (but so much better if you ask me), or sometimes real actresses or artists like Anna Oxa. And now, out of the blue the rumor is out Carlo Conti wants to have Emma Marrone co-hosting with him. Let's see if this will become reality and will Emma be the one to announce who will go to Vienna for Italy and better her placement...? This would be Emma's third Sanremo after placing second in 2011 with Modà with Arriverà  and winning the year after with Non è inferno . As for the juicy gossip Belen Rodriguez was hosting that ...

The Sanremo gossiping and rumoring is at full forse less than two months before the names will be out. This week, to the horror of most Italian Eurovision fans, rather reliable source TV Sorrisi e Canzoni magazine revealed a list of names, most of them from various reality shows and appealing to the youngters: Valerio Scanu , Marco Carta , Clementino , Dear Jack , Alessandra Amoroso , Kekko Silvestre (of Modà ) as a singer or writer for Dear Jack or/and Amoroso, Annalisa Scarrone .... but also old glories Marco Masini , Irene Grandi and most of all Dolcenera - that most seem to think very suitable for Eurovision, too, including this blogger. She won Sanremo newcomers back in 2003 with Siamo tutti lá fuori and has since matured a very strong and interesting artist.  We can't forget Marco Carta already won in 2009 with La forza mia fresh from Amici reality success, idem for Valerio Scanu and Per tutte le volte che the year after. All these youngsters have a very active fan...

Or rather, her manager Brando, who's been releasing all sort of one liners in Twitter, in Danish mostly, the past few weeks. Or what do you think of "Hej til alle" and "Her kommer vi" that would translate to "Hi to everyone" and "Here we come". Meanwhile RAI hasn't confirmed nor informed in any way if Sanremo will serve once again in the selection process for the Eurovision like the past three years. Emma Marrone was already asked to do the honors in 2012 but Nina Zilli went to Baku instead as she turned down the offer claiming she wanted to concentrate on domestic market. Now, after Marco Mengoni's success it seems she may have had a change of heart and got her wondering Why not? Late last year she confirmed she's aiming for the international market in 2014. Anyways, if Emma follows Mengoni's footsteps the other Italian artists would have two good example of very big names doing it, and it would totally turn the tables. I...

L'essenziale , the winning song of Sanremo 2013 by Marco Mengoni has shot to number one in both downloads and radio play in Italy. His other song Bellissimo is also in downloads at #17 when writing this but has practically zero radioplay. Meanwhile and English 3-minute cover version of the first one has emerged.... The runner ups Modà are #2 in both charts with their Se si potesse non morire . Their other song Come l'acqua dentro il mare is #20 in downloads and #19 in radioplay. Elio e le storie tese's La canzone mononota is #3 in downloads and #5 in radioplay. The other one, Dannati forever is #18 in radios and #45 in downloads. So, at least in downloads the top-3 is the same and in same order.  In downloads we have at #4 the Newcomers winner Antonio Maggio with his Mi servirebbe sapere and Malika Ayane at #5 with E se poi . In total 8 songs in top-10 are from Sanremo, and 16 in Top-20. In radio Chiara and Malika are played more than Elio. Marco Mengoni...

Not only does Sanremo festival take over the Italian media in every way and push aside the political and economical troubles and Berlusconi's latest comments for a week, it's also what Melodifestivalen is for Sweden, or even more. Whereas the Swedes publish singles the Italian artists go for albums. Out of the 22 artists in the festival this year between Big and Giovani 17 will release a new album now or shortly after. Four of them goes for repackaging of their latest album with the Sanremo song(s) included. Only Daniele Silvestri is not planning a new album or whatsoever, instead he will release an EP with 4 songs. Almamegretta, Elio e Le Storie Tese and Marco Mengoni are still working on their coming albums and they will be released a bit later. New albums: Annalisa - Non so ballare Simone Cristicchi - Album di famiglia Chiara galiazzo - Un posto nel mondo Max Gazzé - Sotto casa Raphael Gualazzi - happy mistake Marta sui tubi - Cinque - La luna e le spine ...

The names for Sanremo 2013 are out today and it's a very fresh and young cast. Well done, Fazio! Gone are the dinosaurs and the usual festival goers that in the end give nothing to the event except their xxth presence. And among the artists is also Raphael Gualazzi making his debut in the Big category and several artists that the fans consider very Eurovisionary: Modà, Marco Mengoni, Malika Ayane and the duo Simona Molinari & Peter Cincotti. So it's promising very well for the Italian Eurovision adventure 2013 if and when Sanremo is once again used for the selection somehow. Surprisingly the names given as certain like Gino Paoli and Nesli are out, as well as various Anna Oxas and co.  As we know each singer will perform two songs this year, and one of them will go to the final. So everybody gets to the final, too.  Almamegretta Mamma non lo sa and  Onda che vai Annalisa Non so ballare and  Scintille Chiara L'esperienza dell'amore and ...

It has been a couple of days with Sanremo 2013 news. The political situation and coming elections after Monti's goodbye to the sinking ship have caused the rumors about the possible change of dates for Sanremo festival that would take place during the final days of elections and who would care about the politics if the festival is going on? Or is it the other way around? Anyways, today RAI has put the videos of the eight newcomers online here . I still haven't really listened the songs so I won't say more. Tomorrow RAI will announce the names of the Big category singers but Twitter may have betrayed them when you can read some names in a photo published by Duccio Forzano, RAI's director for the festival: Almamegretta,  Anna Oxa, Max Gazzè, Nesli, Annalisa, Chiara Galiazzo, Modà, Antonella Ruggiero and Ornella Vanoni... that's 9 out of the 16 names.... Well, tomorrow we will know better!

UK took its third win in a row in this year's OGAE Song contest when Adele scored high most everywhere with Someone like you . Italy's run of runner up places continues here when Modà's La notte scores second place before Spain's Malu and Blanco y negro . France, Andorra, Finland and Germany secure the western European leadership on the scoreboard. I'm very pleased with Kaija Koo's good solid 6th place with Vapaa . Re sults: 1. Someone like you - Adele (United Kingdom) 189 2. La notte - Modà (Italy) 146 3. Blanco y negro - Malù (Spain) 127 4. Je veux - Zaz (France) 117 5. Males experiences - Rocio Rivas (Andorra) 107 6. Vapaa - Kaija Koo (Finland) 99 7. Nackt - Jay Khan (Germany) 87 8. Den' bez tebya - Nu Virgos (Russia) 77 9. Klista ta stomata - Antonis Remos (Greece) 72 10. You'll be mine -The Pierces (Rest of the world/USA) 70 11. Mistakes - Brian Mcfadden (Ireland) 61 12. Perje - Milan Stankovic (Serbia) 46 13. vVorbij - Udo (Belgium) ...