Albania: Festivali i Këngës participants announced!

Albania will select their representative n 22nd December and now we know who will fight to represent the country in Copenhagen.

Some familiar names here:

• Besiana Mehmeti & Shkodran Tolaj
• Blerina Braka
• Etmond Mancaku & Saviana Vierdha
• Frederik Ndoci
• Hersi Matmuja
• Klodian Kaçani
• Luiz Ejlli
• Lynx
• Marjeta Billo
• Orges Toçe
• Renis Gjoka
• Rezarta Smaja
• Sajmir Braho
• Venera Lumani & Lindi Islami
• Xhejn & Enxhi Kumrija
• Xhejsi Jorgaqi

Both Frederik Ndoci and Luiz Ejlli have both been to Eurovision before, in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Rezarta Smaja also participated in the Albanian national selection before, with this song...

NuVidz: Magdalena Tul, Soraya, Carrousel, Birgit!

The wonderful Magda Tul releases a new track entitled I am who I am. I feel this would've done much better than Jestem in Eurovision - she's got a cracking voice and it really suits this song. Soraya's new song is Plastic! She'll release a new album this month and Plastic is the first single from that album. Muy bueno indeed! Carrousel are a fantastic duo. They totally deserved to represent Switzerland last year - and almost did coming 2nd, now they're back with a new track. It's entitled Les quatre saisons. With any luck, they'll enter the Swiss selection this year too. Remember y'all, the Swiss French broadcaster (RTS) will announce their acts on 18th November. My fingers are crossed! haha! Finally, Birgit releases a sweet ballad called Olen loodud rändama. Lovely song! <3

Malta: Claudia Faniello will not enter the Maltese selection!

escflashmalta.com has exclusively reported that Claudia Faniello won't submit a song into the Maltese selection next year. She has entered the Maltese national final every year since 2006 - although the island have never decided to send her...

The reason behind her decision is to concentrate on other music projects. Claudia has an awesome voice and would've been a prefect Maltese representation in Eurosion, I've even included her in my wishlist series. This blogger wishes Claudia the best and I hope to hear more music from her really soon.

Ireland: National final set for 28th February!

The Irish broadcaster, RTE, have confirmed that they'll hold a national final to select their next Eurovision representative. The date has also been confirmed too - it's 28th February. 5 acts will participate.

Billy McGuinness, Hazel Kaneswaran, Cormac Battle, Valerie Roe and Mark Murphy have been announced as the mentors. Each act will be mentored - like previous years. We'll find out who will enter the Irish selection at the end of the year. Ryan Dolan came last in Malmo, which was totally undeserved
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Switzerland: RSI ditches regional final!

 It's been announced that the Swiss Italian broadcaster will select their acts internally. There was going to a regional final although this idea has been scrapped. RSI have received around twenty entries and a jury will select the best three.

The lucky acts will be announced on 13th November. These acts will have to then sing in front of an expert jury, which will take place at the end of the month! In total, there will be 18 acts which will face the "expert check" with three acts from SRF, two acts from RTS and only one act  from RSI making the grand finale - that makes six acts in total.

Meanwhile, the Swiss French broadcaster will announce their acts on 18th November.

Switzerland: Recap on what's been submitted - PART 3!

Let's look into some of the entries which have been sent into La Suisse!

• Daria Kinzer wants to return to Eurovision - yep, the 2011 Croatian representative aims to fly the Swiss flag with Somebody Like You. It's a typical ESC song but it's not cheesy, well I don't think it's cheesy, I really like it. A strong mid-tempo ballad which should make the final with any luck. Bravo Daria!
• A lovely lady called Rebecca enters Let's try again. Great song! It's written by Rafael De Alba (the guy who wrote The Point Of No Return by Melissa, who came 4th in Switzerland last year).  
• In 2010, Diva Fever were contestants on The X Factor UK, however they were knocked out early and nothing was heard from them after that... until now! The duo have entered Dancefloor Lover. 
• Max And The Ducks feat. Anna-Kaisa are trying their luck once again with Misery. The song has charm, but it won't get anywhere. 
• Annet Artani, the 2006 Cypriot representative, enters You Got What I Need. Nice track although we've heard it 100 times before. Will this get anywhere? Maybe...

Part 4 will continue sometime this week...

Copenhagen 2014: DR announce stage plans!

The Danish broadcaster has announced what they're planning for next years contest! One idea they have is an "island stage" which will be located in the centre of the arena. But is this going to work? Time will tell!

Claus Zier will design the stage, and has big plans for Eurovision 2014 - he wants to create something which has never been done (or seen) before. He's designed DMGP stages before as well as X Factor stages in Denmark. This is what he said:

"The stage has to be strong enough visually that no one is in any doubt that it is the same show, even though each country has a different expression. We have a fantastic anoubnt of height that we want to take advantage of, and we want to make magic in this space. We're going to do this!

They want to keep some rustic charms the arena has too - which will be wonderful. Next years contest will be among the be very best. That's DR's plan anyway. ^^

Switzerland: Around 150 songs sent into SRF!

Wow, this is impressive! SRF has revived around 150 entries and if you want, you can watch them all here.There's some familiar names too - including Daria Kinzer (Croatia 2011) and Annet Arteni (Cyprus 2006). I'll review the songs more in a few days when I've listened to them more - so part three of my little series will continue then.

It's worth mentioning that voting will open 4th November... Switzerland's other two broadcasters, RTS and RSI, will choose their songs more internally. 18 participants will battle it out in-front of a jury, and then the best 6 will make the live final. SRF has received songs from the UK, Netherlands, Cyprus, Germany, Italy, Finland, France, Poland... and more too probably which I'm yet to discover. Unfortunately Lys Assia won't enter this year, as she couldn't find the "right song".

NuVidz: Cezar, Andrea Begley, Alexander Rybak, Laura Mvula!

Cezar's performance was one of the most memorable in Malmo, and now he returns with a new track - entitled Painful Love. I like it. It also has a slight oriental feeling about it... shame about the high pitched sections though. The Voice 2013 winner, Andrea Begley, is Dancing In The Dark - a beautiful song. She's great and I plan to buy her album when it becomes available. Alexander Rybak's new track is called 5 To 7 Years and it's a pretty decent song. The incredible Laura Mvula performed Sing To The Moon on "The Johnathan Ross Show" last night and that's how I discovered this fantastic artist... She's just wonderful! <3 I could listen to her all day! 

Switzerland: Recap on what's been submitted - PART 2!

Let's look at what else has been submitted into Switzerland!

• Patric Scott is no stranger to the Swiss selection, and this year he returns with Alive. A really modern track which could do really well with a good performance. I think this one will go far...
• Another song I like is Another Day Alone - sung by the lovely Tanita. I don't think this will progress any further in the competition but I still like it very much.
• Crystal Ball enter External Flame. I love it so much - I really hope it does well. Such an AMAZING song! <3
• C'est fini is a funky French song - it's sung by Sand Lato. I've got a feeling this will make the national final and that wouldn't be a bad thing either.
• Finally, I have to share this. Iris Moné, Gisel de Marco and Ricardo Sanz aka 3 For All (they were finalists on The Voice Switzerland) have released Together Forever. This has a really cool summer vibe about it... My gusta! 

Part three will come within the next couple of days! ^^

Copenhagen 2014: Official participants list to be released in January!

It's been announced that the official list of participants for 2014 be will known in early January. There's still time for Cyprus to change their mind then! :D

...and there's also time for Bosnia, Poland and Portugal to decide what they want to do. Meanwhile, what''s happening in Greece? Good question! The EBU is doing all the can to get them on-board for ESC 2014. However a Greek newspaper reports there's a 99% chance of withdrawal. Mainly due to the economic crisis and that NERIT, a new national broadcaster, won't be fully ready to apply for EBU membership hence unable to participate in Eurovision. This could go either way.

I also wonder what Slovenia will do - as they were close to withdrawing last year and they did come last in their semi. Hmmm... It's just a waiting game now to see what happens!

Ukraine: National final to take place on 21st December!

NTU, the Ukrainian broadcaster, have confirmed Ukraine will select on 21st December. Therefore the Ukrainians will be the first to hold their national final. Albania will choose their representative the following day...

Submissions have opened today and will close on 6th December. A casting will take place on 7th December where a jury will review all applicants and whittle it down to 20 participants - they will be the lucky ones to make the final! Ukraine rarely disappoint me and I look forward to seeing what they have to offer this year.

Latvia: National final moved to 22nd February!

The Latvian broadcaster have decided to change the dates of their selection - with the grand final taking place on 22nd February, while they'll be two semi finals on 1st and 2nd February. The final was originally going to be held on 1st February, with the semis being held a couple of weeks beforehand...

Sergejs Nesterovs, from LTV, states:

"The change of the dates will the Latvian audience an opportunity to enjoy and receive a better broadcast of their  Eurovision national selection, hence giving the broadcaster the chance more time to prepare and organize a better show, which will require great technical work. Latvia is geared up for many changes next year. On the 1st of January 2014  Latvians will have a brand new currency the Euro, which is followed by the grand event in our capital, Riga"

The deadline for interested artists/composers is 20th November.

Switzerland: Recap on what's been submitted - PART 1!

SRF opened submissions a few weeks ago so I thought it's time to look into what has been sent in. Anyone can enter and therefore many international artists have submitted offerings hoping to fly the Swiss flag. This is the first part - and the songs here are only songs that have been sent into SFR, not the other two broadcasters. There are some pretty decent songs. Some pretty crap ones too though...

• Firstly, I have to share this. Männerchor Steili Kressä entered a song about IKEA last year and they return with Coupe Danmark. They're dressed up as vikings. It's quite a catchy little tune - well the flute sections are catchy.
• Ilary also enters the Swiss selection for the second year in a row. Her song is great. Could April Il Tuo Cuore make Kreuzlingen? This blogger would be delighted if she did... 
• Michael James enters a catchy dance song entitled It's Not Impossible! He wrote a few NF songs last year including "I Need A Hero". I wish him the best of luck. 
• Jerome Mevis will try and fly the Swiss flag with All We Can Do. A beautiful acoustic ballad - one of my favourites in this years Swiss selection, so far... 
• Gosia, from Poland, is trying her luck with I'm not afraid - it's clocked almost 100,000 views on YouTube. Pretty impressive, huh!

Part 2 will come in a few days... ;) 

NuVidz: Celine Dion, Nathalie, Witloof Bay, Sinplus!

The Canadian star, Celine Dion, releases a new uptempo number entitled Somebody Loves Somebody. This isn't her usual style but she still does an awesome job. Meanwhile in Italy, Nathaie is back on the music scene with an enchanting song - Anima di vento. The video-clip is so weird but I do like it very much. She was one of the favourites to represent Italy in 2011 although the special jury at Sanremo didn't pick her. You'll ever love or hate this next one - Witloof Bay release Elle S'en Va. I think it's great and the 2011 Belgian representatives will release a new album too. I might pop over to Belgium just to buy it ;) Sinplus release Phoenix from the Ashes and their new album will come out in January!

Switzerland: Lys Assia won't enter the Swiss selection!

Lys Assia has announced through her Facebook page that she won't be entering the Swiss selection for 2014. This is because she hasn't found the right song for it. Fair enough I guess but I would've loved to have seen Lys on the Eurovision stage once again!

She tried to represent Switzerland in 2012 with C'était ma vie - a sweet nostalgic ballad. Then things went a little crazy the following year! She teamed up with a rap group and Siegel once again and they came up with All in your head. It didn't even make the live final and thankfully so. It was terrible - I'm sorry Lys :'(

So, what's been sent into the Swiss selection so far? Many bad and boring songs although I do like this one from Ilary. I bet we will start being some great songs soon though as the deadline is fast approaching.