Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Croatia's national final for Eurovision song contest 2026 has also come to and end after two semi-finals where out of 251 submissions 24 selected songs competed for the 16 places in the final line up, among them last year's fan favorite Lelek. If I should pick up some names I would go for Alen Duras, Sergej, Lana Demarin, Stela Bade and Lana Mandaric. Read more here .  Lelek is a Croatian folk pop all female band. They are Inka Večerina Perušić, Judita Štorga, Korina Olivia Rogić, Lara Brtan and Marina Ramljak. They were formed in 2024 and already last year treied to get to Eurovision with fan favorite The sould of my soul placing 4th. A handful of singles released so far they are yet to release an album.  Final results (jury + tele): Ananda - Dora  (13 +7) 20  15th Sergej - Scream   (33 + 9) 42  10th Noelle - Uninterrupted   (27 + 11) 38  13th Alen Đuras - From Ashes to Flame   (41 + 15) 56  6th Irma - Ni traga   (32 + 11) 43...

Spain is not taking part in Eurovision song contest 2026 but their usual national selection took place anyways. After two semi-finals - each with 9 songs selected from 870 dsubmissions - earlier this week the final took place and was won by Tony Grox and Lucycalys and T amaré. Read more here  I have always loved Benidorm fest's graphics and finally the stagings were at the same level, thanks to some help from Finland :-)  Asha won expert jury's vote the winning couple being second before Izan llunas who won demoscopic jury before Rosalinda Galan  and Mikel Herzog Jr  the winners placing 4th but they won the televote before Rosalinda Galan and Miranda! and Bailamama. International fan favorite Kenneth was left last.... My favorites were Asha and Mikel Herzog Jr. Final results (experts+demoscopic+tele) : Mayo - Tócame (24 + 4 + 36) 64   11th Kitai - El amor te da miedo (51 + 20 + 32) 103    6th Asha - Turista  (92 + 28 + 24) 144   2...

  Latvia's Supernova 2026, the national final to select Latvia's entry for Eurovision song contest came to conclusion tonight and the winner is Atvara.  Atvara or Liene Atvara (33) is Latvian singer-songwriter. She has studied music, English and  marketing in Denmark. Her first attempt in music was in 2017 in X Factor but without luck. Her first single Pie manis tveries came out in 2024 and was a Top-10 hit in Latvia.  Dzīve mūs mētā was a radio hit. She has released some more singles as solo or featuring, and her debut album came out in 2025.  Out of 124 submitted entries and a jury of Latvian and international professional selected 24 entries for the two semi-finals where from the ten finalists were voted by a professional jury and televoters. Among the acts Eurovision veteran Robert Ox (2022 as a member of Citi Zēni). The semi-final results were not made public beforehand to keep things exciting. Last year's runner up Emilija seemed to be the favorite ...

The Danish national selection for Eurovision song contest 2026 took place tonight and the winner is Søren Torpegaard Lund. It was his second time in DMGP after Lige her in 2023 when he didn't reach the top-3. Søren Torpegaard Lund (27)  is a Danish singer, songwriter and actor. At the age of 17 he cecame the youngest ever student to be accepted to Den Danske Scenekunstskole. He has done several musical roles from West Side Story to Kinky Boots and even won awards for them. Past three years he has released few singles and an Ep. beforementioned Lige her being his debut. Other singles include En dreng som mig , Stor kunst and De ting jeg hvisker . There was an open call for entries and DR also invited record companies to send in their best offering. After selection committee and several national and international focus groups eight songs made it to the final. The number of submitted entries has not been revealed I believe. Amng the acts last year's winner Sissal again along wi...

Estonia has had the final of the 18th Eesti laul tonight, the national final for Eurovision song contest 2026. Vanilla Ninja was selected as the winner so they return to Eurovision after finishing 8th in 2005 for Switzerland with Cool vibes (that was actually cool). This Too epic to be true isn't very epic sadly. Neither the whol selection this year. My initial favorite was NOEP and indeed it may still be the best one for me. Vanilla Ninja these days is Lenna Kuurmaa, Piret Järvis and Kerli Kivilaan. They had their prime time in 2002-2008 when they had several hits in Central Europe ( Tough enough , When the Indians cry and Blue tattoo just to mention some) and reunited in 2020. They tried to win Euro laul also in 2003 with Club Kung-Fu (9th) and 2007 with Birds of peace (4th).  A total of 177 entries were submitted for the contest. A 34 member jury chose the 12 finalists and the songs were presented on October 30 and 31. Among the artists Eurovision veterans Getter Jaani (2011),...

  Ukraine's national final for Eurovision song contest 2026, Vidbir, has had its final and was won by Ukraine is the only country that has managed to qualify every time they have participated plus they have won three times and been runner up twice in the past 20 participation. War or no war Ukraine is one of the Eurovision power houses no doubt. In 2026 the selection followed already familiar path: Out of submitted 451 entries  15 were announced and invited for an audition where from nine made it directly to the final. The rest were put on an online vote and the winner Khayat was added to the final. Other familiar names made the cut as like last year's runner up Molodi, and two Eurovision veterans: Jerry Heil (3rd in ESC 2024 with Alyona Alyona) and Monokate (5th with Go_A in ESC 2021). Ad Olena Usenko, a member of The Elliens (6th in JESC 2021). Read more here   My favorite in the end was Laud with Jerry Heil even if her song doesn't quite fit into Eurovision stage I sup...

Luxemburg had its national final for Eurovision song contest on January 24, 2026 and was won by Eva Marija.with Mother nature. Eva Marija Kavaš Puc (20) was born and raised in Luxemburg by Slovenian parents. She has studied singing (from jazz to pop, rock and classical), violin, bass and piano in Conservatoire de Luxemburg. Her music writing studies continue in London. She took a clear win by winning both jury and televotes. Mother nature is her fifth single after When 2 lovers meet , Toxic trait , Time to go and Sweet child in the past five years.  Out of 83 submission came through different ways to enter and 15 were invited for an audition and an international jury chose the 8 for the final. In final the top-3 entered the superfinal. The other placements haven't been revealed yet. (Full results published January 30 and added below) Luxemburg song contest (jury + televote) 1. Eva Marija - Mother nature (94 + 128)  222 2. Steve Castile - Sweet tooth (80 + 65)  136...

  Moldova had its national final Finala Națională for Eurovision song contest 2026 on January 17 and it was won by Satoshi and his Viva, Moldova! Satoshi (aka Vlad Sabajuc, 27) is a Moldovan singer, songwriter, rapper and composer. He's been involved in music as Satoshi since 2019 and has already released four albums and 40 singles since 2022! However so far only two have apparently charted: Noaptea pe la 3 (#16 in Moldova) and Diferente (#81 in Romania).  Satoshi won in the final both international and national jury and also the televote by huge margin: he got 13.084 votes versus CatalinaSolomac's 861! Originally 37 songs were submitted, 34 attended the auditions round in December and 16 acts reached the final. Both the national and international jury included several Eurovision artists who also performed during the show.  Finala Națională 2026 (nat jury + int jury + televote) 1. Satoshi - Viva, Moldova! (12 + 12 + 12) 36 2. Pavel Orlov - Can't say goodbye (10 + 8 + 8)...

It was third time lucky for Aidan (aka Aidan Cassar, 26) winning the ticket to Eurovision after placing 4th in 2018 with Dai laga and second in 2022 with Ritmu .  In 2023 was set to participate with Regina but was disqualified. He won the jury vote by far and placed second in the public vote after Matt Blxck those two being runaway favorites by public. Seasoned performer he has taken part also in Junior Eurovision selection in 2015 , X Factor Malta, Muzika Muzika festival in 2021 . He has released one album so far, an EP and over 20 singles since 2015. He has 13 #1 singles in Malta.  The semi-final was hold on January 15 and the final on January 17, 2026. The jury had ten members: five from Malta and one from Cyprus, UK, Germany, Turkey and Greece.  Malta Eurovision song contest 2026 (jury + televote) 1. Aidan - Bella   113 + 170 = 283 2. Matt Blxck -  Ejja lejja ħdejja 'l hawn (The Flute)   68 + 200 = 268 3. Mychael Bartolo Chircop - My sweet ...

While the acts in  semi-final two are having their dress rehearsals in Liverpool, which I am not really following in any way let's sit back and have a look at the Big 5  performances by France, Germany and Italy in the first semi-final. Or actually in its Monday evening's second dress rehearsal. How come this is so high in odds? I mean I like the song, and she's fabulous but here it's all very dark really, she does look dramatic rather than looking like she's enjoying the staging that much. Is it that her wonderful personality has enchanted the fandom? I don't quite see the European wide audiences voting for this more than barely Top-10 if lucky. I hope I am wrong. From Lordi via AWS to Hatari and Blind Channel and now Lord of the Lost. Songs in this genre (loosely) have had mixed fortunes but I have a feeling this one is going to end up with the happier finishes. I think fandom is pretty much sleeping on this. Friends and people I know, non fans who only watch ...

  He did it. Oh boy did he do it: 539 points, runner up 152..... Cha cha cha! Käärijä or Jere Pöyhönen (29) from Vantaa next to Helsinki managed to holabaloo he caused with calm humorous way all the way to the winning performance on stage. Only after that we saw some beautiful tears in his eyes which made us like him even more. His funny, takes himself not too seriously but works hard. I haven't been this thrilled for our entry since Lordi and Blind Channel. And how did they end? 1. Käärijä - Cha cha cha (72 + 467(52,9%) 539 2. Portion Boys - Samaa taivasta katsellaan  (28 + 124/14,1%) 152 3. Keira - No business on the dance floor   (42 +91)/10,3% 133 4. Robin Packalen - Girls like you  (28 + 81/9,2% ) 109 5. Kuumaa - Ylivoimainen  (44 + 63/7,1%) 107 6. Lxandra - Something to lose  (46 + 24/2,7%) 70 7. Benjamin - Hoida mut  (34 +32/3,6%) 66 Bonus:

Who will it be? Will it be Ukraine after all or despite all will they not win? Is it Sweden? Italy doing a double? Spain? My bet is United Kingdom if it's not Ukraine. I would like to believe it's not Ukraine but if it is it's all fine, I like the song and performance and it would be anyways one of my favorites this year. Then again I would hand over the trophy to Italy and be super happy, it is after my favorite song this year. Sweden's win would be a huge let down for me, and Spain just isn't strong enough song wise even if Chanel herself is a real star and a winner.  Norway was a joint winner with UK in my own Home Poll but I don't think it's a winner come Sunday early hours. I had a strong feeling about the Netherlands when it was released but somehow it hasn't convinced me on stage after all which is a shame. Fan favorites Poland and Serbia won't have the European wide appeal to win either I think so I suppose it really is between those who hav...

Last night the dreams and hopes were crushed for additional eight acts and most notably for Achille Lauro under Sammarinese flag. It will be interesting to see if he was 11th or lower, and if so can we just think he would have qualified if Italy could have voted in this semi? This said let's have a look at their social media comments and how they took it, and their performances. Enjoy! After making a bit of a fool of himself during the show when joining the hosts he has set his mind already to other things: Like proposing his boyfriend who said Yes! See you on tour! Brooke published a teary video but no worries, she's moving on to bigger things!

  I spare everyone from further useless comments so sit back and just enjoy today's videos provided by eurovision.tv. Finally more than TikToks! Annoying Colorful Starry Black Amateurish Awesome Rock Haunting Chaotic Saudade Pleasure Girl power La la la Echo

Serbia's national final was won with full votes by both jury and televoters by Konstrakta and her In corpore sano. Certainly something else. Checking out the televotes she got 44.459 versus Sara Jo's 21.253. Zorja got 16.875. The jury votes had same order except the top-2 tied, in favor to Konstrakta as she got 3 times 12.  Pesma za Evroviziju 2022 results: 1. Konstrakta - In corpore sano (jury 12 + televote 12) 24 2. Sara Jo -  Muškarčina (10 + 10) 20 3. Zorja - Zorja (8 + 8) 16 4. Angellina - Origami (7 + 3) 10 5. Aca Lukas - Oskar (0 + 7) 7 6. Zoe Kida - Bejbi (5 + 2) 7 7. LIFT - Drama (0 + 6) 6 8.  Marija Mikić - Ljubav me inspiriše (2 + 4) 6 9.  Ana Stanić - Ljubav bez dodira (6 + 0) 6 10.  Chegi & Braća Bluz Band - Devojko sa plamenom u očima (0 + 5) 5 11.  Tijana Dapčević - Ljubi, ljubi doveka (4 + 0) 4 12. Ivona - Znam (3 + 0) 3 13. Gift - Haos (0 + 1) 1 14.  Zejna Murkić - Nema te (1 + 0) 1 15.  Naiva - Skidam (0 + 0) 0 15...

Serbia has always been a favorite of mine, and I fondly recall 2007 when I listened through the Serbian entries and when Molitva came on I said to myself "If this wins in Serbia it will win the whole thing" and that's exactly what happened in Helsinki 2007. Let's see how it gores with this review. Once again I have not listened the songs beforehand nor watched the semi-finals.  The Serbian Pesma za Evroviziju is a three night affair with two semi-finals with 18 songs each and half of them made to third night's grand final. There has been 50/50 jury/televote all nights. Lift - Drama * Ok, they've got the look. Sadly it doesn't go at the all with the song that is simply .... Well. Nothing.  Zorja - Zorja *** This seems to have a lot of support in Twitter, at least in my Twitter bubble and I can hear why. This has all the typical Serbian Euroviison elements in one. But is this a new Molitva? No. Too much shouting and wailing.  Aca Lukas - Oskar *** 100% Balc...