Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Croatia's Dora 2022 will have one night only final with fourteen entries. The voting will be 50/50 with ten regional juries and televote. In case of a tie public's vote will win. To me this seems like quite an open field and live performances and staging will play a big role in the outcome, unless here are some big favorite artists with fan base to rule the televote I'm not aware of. So I'm not even trying to guess who wins but I do have my favorites, quite many of them actually. Mila Elegović - Ljubav ** The verses are quite interesting but it all falls flat on the chorus. When the strings enter it gets better but all in all rather underwhelming.  Mia Negovetić - Forgive Me (Oprosti) *** Why this sounds so familiar? Throwing in oprosti is nice and the highlight of the song.Otherwise there isn't much to tell. Pleasant. Nice.  Marko Bošnjak - Moli za nas **** I really like the backing track, that choir and thunder waiting to explode at any point. Nice atmosphere and...

Another internally chosen artist joins the class of Turin 2022: Nadir Rüstəmli (22) for Azerbaijan.  Nadir is the winner of The Voice of Azerbaijan season two, where he competed in the team of Euroviison winner Eldar Gasimov. He even sung in the final his winning entry Running scared . His song for Turin will be revealed in March and is to be picked among the 300 submissions received.  Below are some of his covers:

Slovenia had again its very long new talent Ema Freš selection prior to announcing the Big names for Ema itself. A total of 24 under 30 Freš artists battled it out in endless duels in November-December, and out of January final four of them got an access to the main thing: Stela Sofia, Leya Leanne, LPS and Luma. Next step was two semi-finals where six acts from each made it t the final, and all the youngsters are in! In the final six thematic juries (OGAE members, songwriters, international artists etc) along with the televoting public will choose the winner.  BQL is back for the third time ( 2017 , 2018 ) after being the runner up and televoting winner in both occasions overruled by the jury. Will they have their revenge finally? Luma has generated certain buzz in the fandom though. Anabel - Tendency *** Very middle of the road perfect pop song, and therefor rather unoriginal and forgettable. Anabel maybe isn't the strongest link in this affair. Somehow very American? Stela Sofia ...

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...

"Instead of meat I eat veggies and pussy, I like them both fresh, like them both juicy...."   The award for most memorable opening line of any Eurovision entry goes to Supernova 2022 winners Citi Zēni aka Other boys and their Eat your salad . Citi Zēni was formed two years ago in a songwriting camp in Riga. They are Jānis Pētersons, Dagnis Roziņš, Reinis Višķeris, Krišjānis Ozols, Roberts Memmēns and Toms Kagainis. Their debut album Dogs take to the streets was released last year. Further listening  Limuzīns Uz Krīta  and  Vienmēr Kavēju Supernova 2022 results: 1. Citi Zēni - Eat your salad (jury 1. - televote 1.) 2. Aminata - I'm letting you go  (2. - 3.) 3. Bujāns - He, she, you & me  (8. - 2.) 4. Miks Galvanovskis - I'm just a sinner  (4. - 6.) 5. Elina Gluzunova -  Es pabiju tur  (3. - 8.) 6. Mēs Jūs Mīlam - Rich itch  (10. - 4.) 7. Bermudu Divstūris - Bad   (9. - 5.) 8. Inspo - A happy place ...

Monika Liu kept her perfect score - full points in Heat 3, in semi-final 2 and in the grand final with her Sentimentai! And for the first time since 1999 we will be hearing Lithuanian language in the Eurovision song contest! Monika Liubinauté (34) studied jazz in University of Klaipéda, her birth town before continuing studies in Berklee Collage of Music in Boston and lived also in London awhile before moving back to Lithuania and Vilnius. Recently she has made herself known as a judge in The Voice of Lithuania and a panelist in Masked Singer. She has released three albums so far and almost a dozen singles. Sentimentai is already #1 in Lithuania, her first Top-30 single. Her other songs include Troškimas &  Vaikinai trumpais šortais ,  Pabandom iš naujo! 2022 results: 1. Monika Liu - Sentimentai (jury 12 + televote 12) 24 2. Augusté Vedrickaité - Before you're 6 ft under (10 + 8) 18 3. Lolita Zero - Not your mother (8 + 10) 18 4. Rūta Loop - Call me from the cold...

UPDATE 16.2.2022:  Alina Pash withdraws - or is forced to. The same old Crimea/Russia/Ukraine affair. Let's see if Ukraine sends someone else or withdraws completely..... :-( Ukraine has its national final Vidbir 2022 this weekend and chose Alina Pash with  Тіні забутих предків aka Shadows of forgotten ancestors , a song heavy with Ukrainian flavor. This one of the better ones this year for sure. And Vidbir 2022 was such a feast for eyes and ears, with a lot of local flavor indeed that it shot among the best national finals this season for sure.  Alina Ivanivna Pash (28) is an Ukrainian singer/rapper, writer and actress. Her career started already 2010 when she took part in Karaoke na majdani, but her major fame arrived with X Factor where she placed third. Various nominations and awards followed after 2019. Three albums, two EPs and a dozen singles later she's ready to take on the international stage with her Eurovision entry, unless the political situation once again m...

Stefan finally did it with Hope . He was a third time lucky, or really fourth time lucky to win Eesti laul and get a ticket to Eurovision. His Hope was my favorite to win, and enters my Top-3 so far with Italy and Spain when thinking of the chosen songs so far.  Stefan Airapetjan (24) is of Armenian descent as his surname clearly tells. He's been doing music from young age and first came to spotlight with Vajè and Laura (Walk with me) that placed third in Eesti laul 2018. The year after he was back as solo with Without you and placed third again. Third year in a row in 2020 he took By my side to 7th place. At the same time he won Masked Singer Estonia. Further singles followed like collaborations with Liis Lemsalu ( Doomino ) and Wateva ( Headlights ) and now finally he won Eesti laul and will make Estonians proud in Italy! In Eesti laul 2022 final he went to the super final as jury's second favorite behind Minimal Wind feat Elisabeth Tiffany but won the super final's te...

  Another week, another songs. BEHM returns with the first new song from her second album and I suspect Ylander's song was sent to UMK and not accepted.....  BEHM - Ethän tarkoittanut sitä Katri Ylander - Täydellinen mulle Ville Veikka - Tyhmät muuttaa pois ESME - Ei voi omistaa

Along with the three Baltic states also Ukraine is to have its national final for the Eurovision song contest tonight. No semi-finals but a straight up final in Kyiv eight finalists. Before the announcement of those a short list of 27 acts in consideration was published, and right after Laud had made it he was disqualified as his song Head under water was proved to have been published already in 2018. Barleben got his place in the final line up. There will be a jury/televote 50/50. So what to think about these? Most everyone needs a revamp to stand out. Alina Pash, Kalush orchestra and Roxolana are for me the three possible ones, all needing a major revamp before Turin though.  Barleben - Hear my words ** I listened and this went by without a trace. I like the piano though. Cloudless - All be alright ** Quite standers pop rock. You wait forever to this take off and it never does really. Verses are pretty nice but chorus a yawn.  Michael Soul - Demons * Very uninteresting three...

Estonia's Eesti laul 2022 has reached the grand final after quarter finals and semi-finals and the 40 songs (out of 202 submissions) have become only ten. These are voted by televote and jury (50-50) and the top-3 will make the super-final where only televoting reigns. All Eurovision veterans except the winning one Lauri Pihlap, who was eliminated already in quarter finals, made it this far.  I guess my hopes are on Stefan. He has been already in top-3 in 2018 with Laura (Walk with me) , 2019 Without you and placed 7th in 2020 with  By my side  and I have more or less liked all those songs and I think Hope tops even Laura , so.... Go Stefan! Elena Nechayeva - Remedy *** I was never a big fan of La Forza , but I kind alike this but the performance is so over produced with every movement and that odd and tired flying and falling sequence that it kinda distracts from the song itself...  Andrei Zevakin feat. Grete Paia - Mis nüüd saab * I take it Zevakin is rather...

After three heats and two semi-final also Lithuanian national final  Pabandom iš naujo! 2022 has arrived to its final. Along the way we lost one by one all the Eurovision veterans but Ieva Zasimauskaité. In the final there will be the same jury/televote voting 50/50.  Monika Liu has scored a full pot in both her heat and the semi-final she was in, can she keep it up? My favorites are Ieva and Auguste, and Lolita's win would be hilarious. After a lot of crap they pulled together rather good selection for the final with several songs that would be worthy winners and competing with Estonia for the best national final this season, as Supernova is totally tasteless.  Auguste Vedrickaitè - Before you're 6 ft under **** She's convincing and in-your-face like Maruv was, the song's an American 80's country pop with hint of hard rock. Pretty good really! Or rather she makes the song and she's The Thing that sells it.  Gebrasy - Into your arms *** The chorus sounds like a...

Latvia's Supernova 2022 started with 16 chosen songs, and one more was added from ten additional songs based on online vote. We lost Eurovision veteran Katrina Dimanta in that round. Ten songs qualified for the final from semi-final with jury/televote 50-50 voting and this round we lost Markus Riva, who never stops trying. Eurovision veterans Aminata and Intars Busulis (in  BUJĀNS) made it. Half the songs seem to be joke entries, most of them horrid but two of them actually rise above the horrible being actually rather good. But in general the standard is very low..... The worst of all Baltics this year. Aminata is the designed winner but I kinda hope it's either Bad or He, she, you & me, or even better Es pabiju tur , simply because it's in Latvian.  Citi Zēni - Eat your salad * Ok, the opening lyrics got your attention for sure. And there's nothing else for me to get my attention. Groovy energetic performance of a song heard a million times in some adverts and ...

OMG San Marino I love you! You just keep surprising us year after year and this time the surprise is you really did what I think you should have done already years ago: Bring into contest some major Italian acts. And boy did you deliver! Starting with Achille Lauro that hardly has time to move from Sanremo to San Marino, Sanremo winner Valerio Scanu and a real Sanremo veteran and global hit maker Ivana Spagna. And that's just a start. Let's start with Ivana Spagna , my Eurovision dream of yesteryears. She scored a worldwide hit with Call me in 1987 and a string of hits followed like Easy lady , I wanna be your wife and so on until she made her Sanremo debut 1995 placing third with Gente come noi . She's been singing in both languages on and off ever since. Five Sanremos in competition, twice more as guest. Countless festivals and awards. 12 albums, six EPs, 15 compilations and over 50 singles later she's finally giving Eurovision a chance. Love it! Valerio Scanu , run...

Half Italian DJ LUM!X aka Luca Miichlmayer (29) returns to his ex-hometown Turin as Austria's Eurovision 2022 entrant. He has over 700 million streams for his songs, the biggest being done with Italian legend  Gabry Ponte, Monsters . His other hits include The Passanger (LaLaLa) and Thunder that have charted also in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France. Poland and Denmark. He will be joined o stage for vocals by Pia Maria (18). Their joint effort Halo will be released next month.  The Austrian selection happened internally and behind closed doors but some information has been revealed, like that DJ LUM!X was the last one remaining with electronic duo Anger. The other ones who submitted entries and were considered were apparently Benny König, Candlelight Ficus, Christl, DelaDap, Der traurige Gärtner, Diego Federico, Fred Owusu, Freude, Gary Lux, Matthias Nebel, Max the Sax, Miblu, Popmaché, Poxrucker Sisters, Rian, Rydell, Selina Maria (Sålina), Serenity, Sladek, Slomo, ...

The Israeli X Factor marathon also came to an end last weekend and in the end I have very mixed feelings: As much as I wanted Michael Ben David to win but not with a song like this.... I.M is a show number rather than a song.... Check out all the final songs here . It was a close run though and he won with one point only thanks to public vote that overrun the professional juries where Eli Huli was the favorite: 1. Michael Ben David - I.M (jury 50 + professional committee 46 + public vote 118) 214 2. Eli Huli - Blinded dreamers (58 + 60 + 95) 213 3. Inbal Bibi - Marionette (42 + 44 + 87) 173 Michael Ben David (26) is of Russian-Ukrainian and Georgian origin, singer-dancer and has studied also acting. He was bullied at school and came out publicly at the age of 16.  Here are some of his songs I enjoyed maybe more than the winning entry:

Also Ireland has its national final staged at Late late show last Friday while we all were in Sanremo instead. Brooke won with That's rich . Brooke Scullion (22) has gained fame so far by taking part in The Voice UK where she eventually made it to the final placing third. There she sung Nothing breaks like a heart . Check out the other songs and results here

Last Friday North Macedonia had its Za Evrosong 2022 to choose their entry for Turin Eurovision song contest. Andrea Koevska (21) won with Circles .  Andrea comes from an academic family and fell in love with music as a kid when they lived for awhile in Harlem, New York and discovered gospel, jazz, soul and r'n'b. Fast forward to the 2020's when she started posting cover versions on Instagram, was spotted by producer Alexander Masevski and the rest is history. Her debut single I know late 2020 that gained international radio play and millions of Tiktoks. I don't know your name and Talk to me followed before her bid at Za Evrosong. Check out Za Evrosong songs and results here

  Survived Sanremo and will check on all other Eurovision related events in coming days. Here's for a change some #Finpop for this week, too. Emjoy! Jannika B - Mania Mira Luoti / Aki Tykki - Täydellinen puolikas Lauri Tähkä - Nukkuvat aamut Evelina - Kyynelii

Eurovision veteran Mahmood with Blanco will be flying the Italian flag at home soil in Turin 2022 Eurovision song contest after taking a very convincing win at Sanremo festival 2022. It feels incredible it was only three years ago Mahmood won by surprise and caused quite a racistic stir in social medias and beyong, while his Soldi became a huge success all over Europe and not only and eventually finished second in Tel Aviv not so many points behind the winner Duncan Laurence. This time he or they won thanks to the public vote clear and pure unlike in 2019 when the haters blamed the media jury of dirty game pushing him up there. If Mahmood has provided us already years with facial memes now Blanco will provide us even more, and not only facial memes from now on. As many have noted Mahmood has to babysit his crazy friend all the way to Turin and maybe beyond. These guys are fun! Let's see in detail. The first night they won by the web jury and radio jury, while the printed media had ...