Loreen has been busy! She's teamed up Kleerup and released Requiem Solution worldwide - it's absolutely beautiful, like all her work...
She's also released In My Head - which is a revamped version of the original, it was due to be on her debut album however shefavouredCrying Out Your Name instead - it's only been released in Sweden as of yet, so international fans will have to wait longer! Requiem Solution is likely to be on her new album, which she plans to release in the autumn, I love it!
Loreen performed at the Norwegian and German national finals where she was criticised for being a "one trick pony" after performing the same routine on both occasions - some people are never happy with anything! I love Loreen and I always will do! Oh, and she is performing in Sydney on 2nd March too!
The Montenegrin representatives, Who See?, are currently filming their ESC song - Igranka! Filming started today...
Around 150 people will feature in the video and it's going to be one of the biggest music videos ever recorded in Montenegro. Igranka (The Dance) will be released in March, through a special press conference - the song has been recorded in Belgrade and it's described as a happy, uptempo number! Who See? will be joined on stage in Malmo with Nina Zicic! The majorty of fans are not optimistic (including moi) about this but the duo have informed the song will not disappoint and I hope they're right! One of their biggest hits, I wouldn't mid seeing them with this kind of song...
The poor woman who received 0 points from the public in Baku is now a judge on X-Factor Indonesia!
Let's remember she is actually Indonesian and not French, she just represented them with Echo (You and I) last year. The first episode in Indonesia was watched by a 30.3% off all the Indonesians watching TV at that time when aired, which is a massive increase from last year's ratings. RCTI speaks of "Anggun's effect" to the show and hopes the singer will help the show become one of the most watched ever in Indonesia after a really popular show in 2009, which boasted a local share of 44%!
Anggun is joined on the X Factor panel with Ahmad Dhani, Rossa and Bebi Romeo, who are all regarded as "local stars"! In my opinion, Echo (You and I) was the wrong song for her but no way did she deserve 22nd... She plans a huge comeback towards the end of the year, but for now see her live in Belgium!
Viva Anggun... <3
A few months ago Anggun gave an exclusive interview to the BBC about her childhood, music inspirations and of course ESC!
The beautiful L'essenziale is topping the Italian download charts and is getting maximum airplay after winning Sanremo last week! However, something else caught my attention too...
An English version has been released, and it's been trimmed to only three minutes - is this a sign? It would be great to see L'essenziale in Malmo as this year's contest is lacking class. We should know the Italian entry in March and it's possibly going to be this one, Marco will do a fine job with any song so I'm not worried.
Other stars from Sanremo 2013 have also entered the charts, including Chiara and Moda! Something else interesting... His album will be released March 18th, which is the same day all songs must be sent to the EBU and when the delegations meet in Malmo! The Italian song released that day?
L'essenziale has already gathered over one million views on Vevo...
The Swedish broadcaster, SVT, has decided to film the postcards in each and every country participating! This is a wonderful idea - normally the postcards are very "touristy" but this year they will include artists in their home country introducing themselves to the viewers!
The reason behind it is so viewers can see "their" artists portrayed in their own country, according to Sven Stojanovic! It's so viewers feel they know, or at least have a better idea, of who the artist is performing before they take to the stage! The Creative Director and co-producer, Mr Stojanovic, off Eurovision 2013 also stated...
"We will welcome all countries viewers and make them feel involved with the programs. In a way, we extend a hand to Europe – where viewers get to see “their” artist portrayed in their own country. We want the programs to constantly move back and forth, from Malmö to Europe, and back to Malmö"
Filming is completed in Iceland and the production team will soon be moving on to Italy and France! I hope this concept will continue, it will be more interesting than seeing the same thing over and over again like in previous editions. Each country will get their own "butterfly" which will come alive during the show! Great work Sweden! This is what postcards are normally like...
Dina Garipova has been chosen internally to represent Russia in Malmo! She won The Voice Russia where one million Russians voted for her - so she has support in her home country...
The 22 year old will sing What If in Malmo which has been composed by Swedish Gabriel Alares and Joakim Björnberg along with a Russian musician Leonid Gutkin! She is an amazing singer and I hope the song will show that, I'm sure it will - it sounds like What If going to be a ballad but who knows? Yurij Aksyuta, from the Russian broadcaster commented...
"The singer’s choice was obvious and quite logical. We have chosen Dina internally but actually it was a public choice. The Russian TV viewers voted for the winner of The Voice and Dina alone got nearly one million of votes!"
The entry should be released soon, likely to be next week! But for now, check out some of Dina's covers including Qele-Qele...
Koza Mostra ft. Agathonas Iakovidis will fly the Greek flag in Malmo, I'm satisfied with this! I wanted Aggeliki Iliadi but apparently she is really unpopular in Greece so it's not a shock she didn't win...
I can see this doing very well in Malmo, it could be seen as a novelty act but it's in Greek and traditional - which is not a joke at all, it's pure awesomeness!Koza's masterpiece certainly divides opinion, just like the German entry but who cares? - I didn't like it when released but it has grown on me and now I class it as one of my favourites! Alex Leon ft. Giorgina certainly put on a show, she had problems with her ear piece and therefore sounded really shaky - Angel is a weird song but it so works, it has an impact. Thomai was nice, bland but nice!
I would've been happy with any of these winning and I think the Greeks have chosen well, again! The show was wonderful, the standard was really high (unlike previous Greek NF's...).
The real highlight of tonight was Rulsana - she was utterly amazing! Oh, and when Alexander Rybak was speaking Greek he said he wants to play with Greek children, an innocent statement but you can image how everyone took that! LOL! I can see this reaching Top 10 for Greece, it's catchy and unique!
Koza Mostra feat. Agathonas Iakovidis - Alcohol is free
In a few days, HRT will present their entry through a special press conference! The Balkan country will be represented by Super Klapa in Malmo, as they want a more traditional approach to the contest so will send the ever so popular Klapa.
We should know the date of the official presentation tomorrow (well, that's what I heard), but it is likely will hear it this weekend! I'm waiting for an amazing traditional Croatian piece, a snippet has previously been released and it sounds wonderful! Mizeerjais all recorded and Super Klapa are looking forward to releasing it! Many fans are not very optimistic about Croatia this year so I hope they'll be proved wrong, tradition is great for ESC! Nina Badric also wanted Klapa, look here!
Here is the snippet, which was released on Croatian news last week...
The full results of Dziesma have been released by the Latvian broadcaster and they illustrate PeR had a runaway victory! PeR won over the Latvian audience, with 6289 votes, and achieved full points from the "professional" jury!
It was a great show, but I hoped Samanta's I Need A Hero was going to win, unfortuantly not! The winner isn't bad but Latvia had so many great songs - PeR had 2 songs in the selection, they won with Here We Go and came 10th (out of twelve) with Sad Trumpet! I'm shocked Fox Lima came 11th in the first semi, even if she did butcher it live, she didn't deserve that. Bring back Anmary! View the full results here!
Yesterday the Romanain broadcaster held auditions where all the competing acts performed live! I was really impressed with these and my favourite is Natalia Barbu, without a doubt! She gave an outstanding performance, exactly like she did in 2007...
I also liked Luminița Anghel's Unique, I didn't at first but it's really grown on me - I think it will be the one to beat! Andrei Leonte and Electric Fence were also pretty good, it's a real strong selection! And all the performances were live too, no pre-recorded vocals. The Romanian semi finals will be held on Friday and Saturday, this week where the best will make the final - which is set for March 3rd! You can view all the performances here! Here are all the participants...
All my favourites are in the first semi it seems! She rocked it!
Tonight we will know the Greek representation for Malmo, as it's their national final - A MAD Show! The Greek broadcaster promises it to be a wonderful show as many international superstars are due to perform including Dima Bilan, Alexander Rybak and Rulsana.
I am personally hoping Aggeliki Iliadi will win but I think Koza Mostra feat. Agathonas have it in the bag, they seem to be topping all polls on the Internet and it's something the Greeks would normally go for, remember Opa?! I'm looking forward to seeing this and I will do a live-stream, maybe! Who's competing to fly the Greek flag in May?
Thomaï Apergi - One Last Kiss
Alex Leon feat. Georgina - Angel
Koza Mostra feat. Agathonas - Alcohol is Free
Aggeliki Iliadi - Χίλιες & Μία Νύχτες
Greece held their national final in a shopping mall last year so this year's combination will be of a much better standard because ERT and MAD TV are working round the clock to hold the best show possible! You can watch the show on eurovision.tv at 20:00 CET! Oh, and many Greek and international stars will perform including...
Ivi Adamou (Cyprus 2012)
Eleftheria Eleftheriou (Greece 2012)
Despina Olympiou (Cyprus 2013)
Alexander Rybak (Norway 2009)
Ruslana (Ukraine 2004)
Dima Bilan (Russia 2008)
Marija Serifovic (Serbia 2007)
Helena Paparizou (Greece 2005)
Vicky Lenadros (Luxembourg 1972)
Melisses
The best, she is beautiful and it would be the best decision for Malmo, in my opinion of course...
Cascada became victorious a few days ago with Glorious but will they keep that title? Will they make Malmo?TheGerman newspaper, Spiegel, claims Glorious is almost identical to Loreen's Euphoria and is therefore jeopardising Cascada's position in the contest!
If the EBU sees this as plagiarism, then Cascada will not fly the German flag in Malmo! It pretty unlikely to happen but after the German press caused a stir, could the EBU really take this seriously? I hope not as LaBrassBanda came second and thus would go to Eurovision, which would not be good but at least the German radio stations would be happy!
Both songs are quite similar, yes, in, but it's not plagiarism in my opinion - Cascada is a dance act and Loreen is a newcomer. Tina John said...
"'Glorious' is like a copy of 'Euphoria' with small, subtle stylistic changes". Construction of the beats, vocals and dynamic break reduction agreed in large parts. "At the beginning of the song is absolutely identical, the chorus uses the same accent, the final culminating in an identical combination"
The Georgian entry is going to be made public in the next views days but before that, Sopho and Nodiko are working on the official music video for Waterfall and have released many photographs on theirFacebookpage...
It looks very classy indeed - they are shooting it at Aleksandre Chavchavadze House-Museum in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital! They used a helicopter to shoot some parts of it and it does look awesome, the song is described as a warm ballad! Waterfallhas been written by Thomas G; son, the guy behind the several ESC entries success including Euphoria and Quédate Conmigo! It's set to be released next week, I am really looking forward to hearing this one! Here is a snippet of the song, which was released last week...
Three wonderful and unique tracks have been presented by Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov earlier this afternoon. These are all very similar to their normal material, which is great!
These songs are all very good, but my favourite is Samo Shampioni - it's pure brilliance! The grand final will take 3rd March and the winner will be decided bu the Bulgarian televoters and a professional jury! Whatever song the send, Bulgaria will for sure be one of my favourites in Malmo! Elitsa and Stoyan were announced as the Bulgarians representatives last week, much to many fan's delight!
What song do you want the Bulgarians to send? Take a listen... <3
Sanremo is one of the classiest shows! I loved it and this year's edition was among one of the very best! Marco Mengonia won Sanremo last night with L'essenziale - I pray they will send it to Malmo keep it and sing in Italian!
For me, singing in English ruined Nina Zilli's chances last year so I hope RAI don't make the same mistake. Now L'essenziale is not necessarily his ESC song, unfortunately, it's likely to be a new track from his album which is set to be released in March - perfect timing, eh?
His Eurovision song is set to be an "album filler", he has a wonderful voice and is a perfect choice for Eurovision! The announcement last night was very short, and they didn't "go to town" like they did with Nina last year...Here is his winning Sanremo song, which is awesome!
Eesti Laul kicked off last night with an amazing show! Five acts made the final, which is set to take place 2nd March...
My favourite is Winny Puhh, a rock band which I can only describe as unique! I haven't laughed so much in ages and they did qualify, it looks quite possible they will win the whole selection. I didn't see the show but I think I'm going to watch next week now - it's one of the better selections for sure!
Here are last night qualifiers...
Winny Puhh – Meiecundimees üks Korsakov läks eile Lätti
