Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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  After hitting number one in every possible chart in Italy, breaking also a few all time records what comes to streaming (most streamed Italian song ever with 81 milion) and such, selling multiple platinum at home, platinum in Switzerland and gold in Spain, hitting number on in Israel and Greece and making the official singles charts in over 20 countries the success has no end: the live video from Eurovision song contest has become the most watched Italian entry ever on official Eurovision channel (over 12 milion), and the video itself has reached and passed 100 million mark becoming the fifth (and soon 4th) most watched Eurovision entry ever.  While the winner Duncan Laurence is appearing here and there while prepairing his fall/winter tour around Europe, Mahmood is touring Italy and making appearances in Sweden (also a first!) and Spain where he apparently right now recording a new single. Soon he will be also in Switzerland. Check below his tour dates that have regu...

It seems Israelis have dusted off the Turkish opening of the Eurovision final as Dana International will arrive "by plane" to the stage flown by Netta singing Tel Aviv ya habibi/Diva during the flag parade with all the finalists. Remember Istanbul when Sertab Erener arrived by helicopter to the stage singing amazing Leave ( Aşk ) after with her winning entry Everyway that I can? It seems it has also been confirmed Madonna will perform Like A Prayer  ( read more ) and a new yet unnamed song, but most likely I rise , not Medellin as speculated at first.  However it seems she has watched Eurovision lately and got some hologram ideas, as apparently for the American audience they are something new and exciting while for us Eurovision viewers nothing new anymore :-) Medellin gets its spotlight in Billboard Music awards on May 1, 2019 with a huge show featuring holograms and virtual reality so Eurovision is a good chance to premiere a new song with equally spectacula...

Eurovision song contst 2018 winner Netta has finally released a follow up to her victorious Toy , namely Bassa Sababa that is just about as hysterical as the name sounds. Her runner up Eleni Foureira is enjoying success already with her second post-ESC single Tómame after Caramela . Same story for Mikolas Josef who has just released Abu Dhabi , following Me gusta . And Ermal Meta has another duet (following solo effort Dall'alba al tramonto ), this tim with rapper J-Ax. 

As much as I would like the countries hosting Eurovision song contest showcase their own musical heritage and culture - best done in recent years by the underdogs Finland in 2007 and Portugal last year - the rumor of Madonna being in negotiations for performing in the Eurovision 2019 final is just too juicy to let go by. And wasn't she rumored also for Lisbon at some point, after all she lives there now and seems to be somewhat familiar with the event. If that becomes reality I hope it's done better than Justin Timberlake's somewhat out of the place performance in 2016 of Can't stop the feeling , did he even know where he was? After all the Kabbalah loving queen of pop already has done a very fitting performance on her Confessions Tour, including Im nin'alu and all.... Let's get unconscious honey, get into the groove and I'm gonna party (It's a celebration) etc. You know. And there's still plenty of room for Netta, Dana International and Idan ...

Sanremo winner and Italy's Eurovision song contest 2017 entry Occidentali's Karma by Francesco Gabbani has passed the 200 million views mark on Youtube. It could also become the most viewed Italian video on Youtube ever as the most viewed one Pulcino Pio has 234 million views and the second Roma-Bangkok 223 million and he has reached already 3rd place. And not only, it's also by far the most watched Eurovision entry on Youtube! PS. This year's winner Netta stands at 91 million, Måns Zelmerlöw's Heroes at 30 and Loreen's Euphoria at 38 while Salvador Sobral at 17 and Jamala even less....  Another Italian act is riding high as well: Il Volo's Grande amore at 130 (making it the second most watched Eurovision Youtube ever) while Mengoni stands at 55, Francesca Michielin at 31, this year's MetaMoro at 25 and the rest far far behind.... while Alexander Rybak's Fairytale completes the top-3 of Eurovision Youtubes with 97 million views. 

1978, 1979.... 1998... 2018! Israel has taken its 4th Eurovision win with Netta Barzilai's Toy. The voting was full of drama when jury favorites Austria and Sweden failed badly in televotes and in the end there were Italy, Cyprus and Israel left. The juries didn't like Italy so it was between Israel and Cyprus.... The show was good and had added drama with someone running on stage and taking Uk's SuRie's microphone, after a few seconds chaos she got it back and continued with even more girlpower. They were offered to re-perform the song but declined the offer.  Finland's Saara continued her string of second places... only this time its from the bottom..... Portugal did Austria, aka came last at home. The love affair with Aussies and Europeans seems to be definately over, the first signs were in the air already last year and now Jessica came last in televotes...  Below the jury votes Below are the televotes (and the jury vote) 1. Israel  317 (...

CZECH REPUBLIC - MIKOLAS JOSEF - LIE TO ME I know you 'bop-whop-a-lu bop' on his wood bamboo Vocals **** Staging **** Song ***** Overall ***** Qualifier LITHUANIA - IEVA ZASIMAUSKAITÈ - WHEN WE'RE OLD I’m not afraid to grow old if I have your hand to hold Vocals **** Staging **** Song ***** Overall **** Likely qualifier ISRAEL - NETTA - TOY You're stupid just like your smart phone Vocals ***** Staging *** Song ***** Overall **** Qualifier   BELARUS - ALEKSEEV - FOREVER Rain keeps on falling, and I know you’ll be mine forever... Vocals ** Staging ** Song ** Overall ** Borderline qualifier

The rehearsals continue after lucnh break with threee more countries, among them two top favorites Czech Republic and Israel, still #1 in the betting odds, and this blogger's favortire Lithuania... Czech Republic - Mikolas Josef - Lie to me It seems one of the favorites didn't quite deliver yet as Czech Republic's entry is described a mess pretty much in unison. The colors (pink/blue/purple) are there, the stairs are there, so are the breakdancers miming also as trumpet players and having their own props: light walls, and the choreography but it doesn't fill the stage the way it's ment to do, nor the camera angles are right there. If they only get the idea and concept work on screen.... Colorful and fun, vocally no problem. This blogger believes they'll sort it all out. Mikolas himself tried different acrobatics to add to the performance, such as front flip... Let's see what he'll do in the end...  Update: He has been taken to hospital fo...

Israel - Netta - Toy Netta Barzilai (25) is this year's Francesco Gabbani, the one given as a winner before we hit the stage in Lisbon, she has gathered record breaking Youtube views and Spotify streams and is the one everyone's talking about and also dividing opinions to heat up the discussions. I liked this when I heard it the fifrst time for it's craziness, then I put it aside a bit when everyone was screaming this is the Winner and eventually settled to like it a lot. It's refreshing, different, memorable with a gimmick everyone will note. It's fun! Yet I tend to think this is more like Dancing lasha tumbai , a great runner up rather than a winner. To be that it's maybe just a bit too weird and crazy for the great public who seeing/hearing this for the first time might take it as a joke. But who knows? 10/10 Belgium - Sennek - A matter of time Laura Groeseneken (27) aka Sennek continues the Belgian trend of quality entries and when this ...

Eurovision and remixes. Every year there are a few more or less interesting official ones, and many, many unofficial ones. Here you have some official ones out so far. And something else.... Ieva Zasimauskaité's When we're old has got a Jovani Remix. One of the most underrated entries this year if you ask this blogger works nicely even as a sort of dance mix,  Just like the Lithuanian language version Kol myliu it adds another dimension to this little pearl. The video itself follows her journey through the neverending selection process until her victory. Nice job! The favorite extraordinaire this year has got a remix, too, Sagi Kariv's remix of Netta's Toy doesn't bring much to the mix, just more and longer beats to make this work even better at the dance floor. For more adventurous remixes Youtube is full of unofficial ones.... SuRie's got Storm remixed by 7th Heaven making it sound like... err... any 7th Heaven remix since years but hey, if it...

It's Friday and what's better to get into the weekend mood but Netta's Toy remix? Enjoy!

Is Israel the entry we have been waiting for? This year's offering is a very solid back, many valid songs of different genres but still missing The Favorite like Italy was last year in the pre-rehearsal season. Israel's Toy leaked last night and can be heard here and there on the web even if they have tried their best to block and delete Youtubes etc. (Link below) Certainly it's interesting and will cause some stirr with its chicken choreography and Netta's personality and oh so current #metoo campaign. She's not your toy, you stupid boy! But is it that good? With the first impact maybe yes. Televoters might fall for it, if staged and performed well. Does it sound like an Eurovision winner? No. Actually only hearing it - for the second and third time - it's quite a long three minutes. That can be though hidden by the staging that will keep televoters interested.

  Netta Barzilai has won the HakokHav Haba l'Eurovizion and flies to Lisbon for Israel becoming the third Eurovision act confirmed today. Tonight she sung covers like all the other finalists, and the search for a song that fits her starts full time.  The first round was done in the usual selection way and sadly saw the exit of Chen Aharoni who only scored 72%, but Netta was close with 74%! as losers of their duels. The judges sent Chen home..... The clear winner was Mergui with 90% (vs. Chen) and Riki second with 81%. (vs. Netta) The top-3 continued the race singing a couple of songs each before the jury voted, and then finally the televotes. Netta won jury vote but Mergui beat her in the televotes barely and here are the final results: 1. Netta Barzilai (jury 104 + televote 106) 210 2. Jonathan Mergui (88 + 117) 205 3. Riki Ben Ari (78 + 47) 125 4. Chen Aharoni - PS. Didn't she try already last year or do I remember wrong? Or some other ...

  The journey started in October 2017 and 31 shows later we have only the four finalist left. Among them Chen Aharoni from the first episode, who should be the one anyways. Maybe they should have selected him internally and get over with it? Or who knows? Maybe we will have a surprise winner after all...?  Here they are: Chen Aharoni Netta Barzilai Riki Ben Ari Jonathan Mergui The open submission for the song has been opened, and once the winner is out they will search a suitable song for him/her among those and it will be made public in due time.....