Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Pastora Soler returns with Te despertaré , and it follows nicely the power ballad trend. The video features her hugging trees, escaping waves and having black and white dreams of her man. Or something. Pet Shop Boys are back! Their latest release has been getting only good critics and it has also charted higher than any their releases the past 20 years scoring top-5s in UK, Spain, Norway, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Czech Republic and even US in Dance/Electric albums. Well done guys! Vocal is the lead single from it. Also Vanessa Paradi s has made a comeback with a new album and single Love song . It seems though that it has not been a exactly as fortunate as PSB, but.... Finally Roberto Kel Torres won the New Wave 2013 and here's his Alle lieben Berlin with all its rolling r's. Enjoy!

Jūrmala in Latvia is the place to be if you are singer in ex-USSR countries and not only as the New Wave - the international contest of new pop voices is taking place again. Sixteen singers or groups have made it to the contest this year coming from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Germany, Armenia, Latvia, Cuba, Georgia and Vietnam. No Finnish or Italian singers made the cut this year. In the coming days the performers will do world-wide hits and local hits, while guest stars will perform as well. There will be also gala concerts, tennis, soccer.... a lot goijg on indeed. If the contestants are new and fresh the guest stars include a lot of familiar names: Valeria, Sergey Lazarev, Intars Busulis , Dima Bilan , Emin , Garou, Julio Iglesias , Il Divo, Natalia Podolskaya , Ani Lorak , Serebro , Lara Fabian , Timati, Verka Serduchka , Alsou , Alessandro Safina, Emma Shaplin.... and if that wasn't enough Toto Cutugno is one of the judges! You ...

In our exclusive interviews in Malmö 2013 interviews we asked the artists who would they like to see representing their country in Denmark 2014. Ukrainian Zlata Ognevich suggests Jamala. Yet this seems a bit unlikely as Jamala said in the interview she's not interested. Maybe due to her bitter ending attempt in 2011 when her Smile and Zlata's The Kukusha were beated by Mika Newton in rather dubious voting. Or did she actually withdraw stating the contest is rigged besides recount and new final? Anyways, Jamala is a talent with personality on the weird side that is always a plus and already a fan favorite at some level. Maybe if they sent her off to Denmark internally with a song like before mentioned Smile and we might me heading back to Kyiv in 2015? Her exotic looks come from the Tatar part of the family and her style is a mix of jazz, soul and r'n'b with some etno and gospel thrown in. Her career kickstarted big time in 2009 when she won the New Wave festiva...

Litesound may be the most international band in Belarus (as far as I know) and for a change they can even sing without sounding... err... Russian. 2011 marks their 5th attempt to win the Belarusian national final. In 2006 they tried with My faith (6th), 2007 with Summertrip (actually came 2nd in televoting but jury didn't include them in the superfinal), 2008 Do you believe (in top-4) and in 2009 with Carry on with Dakota (3rd). Now they are once again in the final with We are the heroes . Clearly their best effort so far if you ask me. The band is lead by brothers Dmitrij and Vladimir Karyakin and celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Last year was the year of twins in Eurovision, is this going to be the brothers year? They have also been present in Jurmala's New Wave 2010 (6th) and their other songs include Solo per te with Italian Jacopo Massa (who now seems to have joined the band), See you in Vegas that won the award for the best video in Belarus 2011...

Jayden Felder represanting the USA may have won the New Wave 2011 in Jurmala, Latvia but the Finns have a reason to celebrate, too. Koop Arponen's new band Flute of Shame did not only win the award by the city of Jurmala as the most sympatic band (doesn't this sound like Miss Universe or something...?) but also the matron and organizer of the contest, Eurovision veteran Alla Pugatsova awarded them the special Golden Star award of 50.000 euros! In the contest they only came 9th but were Alla's favourites. They will use the money to record an album, Koop says. "We lost our chances the first night when we had to do a cover" Koop says "but the second night we got almost full points and the third night with out own Pictures on my wall full votes from the jury. It was the first time ever! People really liked our own songs! In the end Alla gave us the award that is the same money the winner got" As we remember Koop Arponen is the Finnish Idols 2008. His band...

In Jurmala, Latvia the annual New Wave contest is being held culminating with the final concert on Sunday. The idea is to present the new comers from all over the world but the superstars steal the show as usual. Likes of Dima Bilan , Sergey Lazarev , Ani Lorak , Serebro , Alsou and that crazy Jamala from Ukraine. The cast includes also many familiar names like Aisha and Instars Busulis, the Latvian entrants 2010 and 2009. This event is getting bigger every year and surely gives the artists a visibly in the ex-Sovjet Union area like only Eurovision can do otherwise. Anyways, the new comers include some familiar names as well: Koop Arponen , the Finnish Idols winner is there with Flute of shame trio, and Donny Montell for Latvia. The others are Yusary (Belarus), Erik (Armenia), NAOMI  (Russia), Roger Ricco (Brazil), Jenna Hof (Togo), Jayden Felder (USA), Bishkek (Kyrgyzsan), A-Lau (Kazakhstan), Twins (Ukraine), Kolya Serga (Ukraine), Monika Wisnioswka & Michal Bober (...