Did Spain shoot themselves in the foot or save themselves from disaster?

Oh Spain, really? Ok, so after this performance an awful thought went through my head, 'I think this might win!' In the event Daniel Diges got 4 out of the 5 top marks from the juries and topped the televote, beating the favourite Coral. To give him credit he did pull off a good performance but the song doesn't stand a chance in Oslo.

I'd been pretty sure of a Coral win. The only question was whether she'd pull off a live performance of such a difficult song. In the end her vocals were a little too shouty, the backing singers were dreadful and the backing track was far too quiet. With a bit of work I think the song would have been a real contender to win in Oslo!



I am however always mindful that I said the same thing about Paolo Meneguzzi and his song 'Era Stupendo' in 2008. The live performance was a disaster and Switzerland failed to qualify for the final, so maybe Spain actually saved themselves from complete disaster by choosing a mildly disastrous song instead.



N.B. As one of the 'big 4' Spain qualifies automatically for the final and doesn't have to compete in the semi finals.

Melodifestivalen Deltävling 3

Timoteij and Darin qualified for the final while Crucified Barbara and Alcazar qualified for Andra Chansen. These ones didn't make it:

Elin Lanto - Doctor Doctor




Erik Linder - Hur kan jag tro på kärlek




Getty Domein - Yeba



Johannes Bah Kuhnke - Tonight



All videos from official Melodifestivalen site (in Swedish)

Malta choose 'Thea Garrett - My Dream' for Oslo 2010

It's really turning out to be a year for ballads! It's a nice song but I really wanted 'Samsara' to win. It was a crazy song!

Dima Bilan - Nah Nah Nah (White nights)

Here's the demo for Dima Bilan's entry for the Russian national final, 'White Nights'. They obviously hadn't worked out the lyrics when they recorded this demo as most of it is sung as 'nah, nah, nah', and it doesn't feature Dima's vocals.

130 filip by moskom

It's hard to tell from this demo what the final version of the song will be like but with Dima Bilan's involvement it's more than likely to become Russia's 2010 Eurovision Song Contest entry and finish in the top five of the final.

Lyrics - White Nights

You can like it – You can hate it – I’m addictive
Every piece of me is gonna get to - your heart
I’m the sunset – I’m the moonlight – I’m your
Heaven
I’m the one who’s gonna – light up – your night
OR
I’m the one to colour – your nights – in white

Got a plan to make you my midnight lover
Got a plan to give you all that you need now
Do you feel you wanna try out all the magic?
I can show you the new city of wonders

{Chorus} Got a mission and I’m gonna win all your lovin’
Spending with you - endless white nights
Got a feeling that you’re ready to fly with me
Light my fire ….My desire…. These white nights

Just tell me we are meant to be forever, baby
I’m givin’…givin…. all of me now
I’m burning in the flames of this love and glory
Reaching higher…Reaching deeper…. Into these white nights

7 minutes – 7 seconds – time is ticking
Catch my heart before you’re gonna run out – of time
In the darkness – I’m the sunshine – I’m the Lovelight
I’m a dream that you can – dream out – tonight

Got a plan to make you my midnight lover
Got a plan to give you all that you need now
Do you feel you wanna try out all the magic?
I can show you the new city of wonders


* full article (in Russian) at http://www.mk.ru/culture/article/2010/02/17/432836-bilan-uvyaz-v-kirkorovschine.html

France to use their Eurovision 2010 entry to promote the World Cup

Esctoday.com reports that Jessy Matador will represent France in Oslo. He will not be singing this song but a similar song with a World Cup theme.

Melodifestivalen Deltävling 2 - the losers

All the songs that from Deltävling 2 that didn't make it to Globen or Andra Chansen are now available to watch on SVTPlay.

Andra Generationen & Dogge Doggelito - Hippare hoppare



Anna-Maria Espinosa - Innan alla ljusen brunnit ut



MiSt & Highlights - Come and get me now



Hanna Lindblad - Manipulated



Next Saturday's Deltävling 3 takes place in Gothenburg. The 8 songs that will be performed are:

1. Alcazar - Headlines
2. Johannes Bah Kuhnke - Tonight
3. Elin Lanto - Doctor Doctor
4. Erik Linder - Hur kan jag tro på kärlek
5. Getty Domein - Yeba
6. Timoteij - Kom
7. Darin - You're Out Of My Life
8. Crucified Barbara - Heaven Or Hell

Eric Saade och Andreas Johnson till Globen

Any self-respecting Eurovision fan should learn at least the basics of the Swedish language. No other country has developed a national final format with such potential to provide year-on-year winners as Melodifestivalen. That said, Sweden hasn't won the Eurovision Song Contest since 1999! I find it very ironic that Agnes sang 'Love, Love, Love' at Melodifestivalen 2009 and yet went on to have world-wide success with 'Release Me'. Sweden would have had their best chance yet with that song, so don't go laughing at Sweden saying they take it too seriously - even their artists don't send their best songs to MF.

Right, anwyay, in case you can't work out the title of this post Eric Saade and Andreas Johnson went straight through to the MF final at the Globe Arena in Stockholm. Pauline and Kalle Moraeus & Orsa Spelmän went through to the second chance round 'Andra Chansen', which will decide another song to send to the final a week before the final itelf.

To be fair to the finalists SVT viciously pursue anyone who uploads a video of the songs sent to Globen or Andra Chansen, so if you missed them this time you'll have to wait for the respective shows to hear them again. Any London residents can see Melodifestivalen live at the Harcourt Arms (advance purchase tickets only) and SVT offer a live webcast for the world. Love Eurovision will be at the Harcourt Arms next Saturday for the next Melodifestivalen show featuring Alcazar!

Here's some more Swedish you probably can't understand




...and here's Alcazar talking in Swedish!

Bad choice Poland! Poland choose 'Marcin Mroziński - Legenda' for Oslo

The esctoday.com readers and the Polish televoters may have agreed (33.61%) but I think Anna Cyzon (15.13%) was Poland's best chance in years and although she was a complete Lady Gaga rip-off it would have moved Eurovision up a whole level.

Good choice Armenia! Armenia chooses 'Eva Rivas - Apricot Stone' for Oslo

What is going on with the UK selection?

Since Pete Waterman was selected as the writer/producer (delete as applicable) of the 2010 UK Eurovision Song Contest entry on 29th January nothing has been heard from the BBC. The BBC Eurovision site still has last year's content (Plaistow Punch anyone?).

Rumours have been circulating about some involvement by John and Edward from X Factor but apart from that nothing much else is known.

The format is similar to last year but it seems it will be a one night show on the 12th March (thanks to Alexander Rybak for inadvertently giving the date away - he'll be performing). Jayne Collins Casting is again in charge of the auditions. She seems to have a bit of a Twitter addiction!

Auditions have already taken place. One of the auditionees was a group called Dollie Mix who have been promoting themselves hard though their Twitter @DollyMixLive I think they would be a better bet than Jedward! However it seems from their recent tweets that no one has heard back from the BBC/Jayne Collins Casting yet. In a tweet on 11th Feb to one of the members of Dollie Mix Jayne said, 'still in discussion so hold on a little longer!'

Here's a video of Dollie Mix rehearsing in the studio:

Armenia 2010 - national final on Sunday 14th Feb

Ooh this is catchy isn't it! Has to have one of the most bizarre song titles this year. There are 10 songs in the national final on Sunday:

1. Another Story - Ays dzmer (This winter)
   
2. Eva Rivas - Apricot stone
   
3. Nick Egibyan - Countdown
   
4. Emmy & Mihran - Hey (Let me hear you say)
   
5. David Ashotyan - Infected dreams
   
6. Maria Kizirian - Little Red Riding Hood
   
7. Razmik Amyan - My love
   
8. Sonya - Never
   
9. Ani Arzumanyan - The Mermaid song
   
10. Meline Beglaryan - We must believe

Youtube playlist here or watch below.

Melodifestivalen Deltävling 1 - the losers

Ok SVT, I forgive you. All the songs that from Deltävling 1 that didn't make it to Globen or Andra Chansen are now available to watch on SVTPlay and now it's also possible to embed SVT's videos in blogs!


Anders Ekborg - The Saviour



Frispråkarn - Singel



Jenny Silver - A Place To Stay



Linda Pritchard - You're Making Me Hot-Hot-Hot

Spain 2010 - los 10 candidatos definitivos

Unfortunately this song came 2nd in the online voting, garnering nearly as much support as the wonderful Coral Segovia. Overall a total of 5,722,596 online votes were cast and these are the top 10 who will compete to represent Spain in Oslo:

Coral Segovia - "En una vida" - 292.522 votos
John Cobra - "Carol" - 269.919 votos
Lorena - "Amor Mágico" - 188.778 votos
Samuel y Patricia - "Recuérdame" - 188.470 votos
Daniel Diges - "Algo pequeñito" - 187.391 votos
Fran Dieli - "Cuando se trata de ti" - 187.213 votos
Venus - "Perfecta" - 183.753 votos
Anabel Conde - "Sin Miedos" - 182.528 votos
José Galisteo - "Beautiful Life" - 180.145 votos
Ainhoa Cantalapiedra - "Volveré" - 176.912 votos

http://www.rtve.es/television/eurovision/

Here is a Youtube playlist of all 10 finalists. Alternatively click here to view on the Youtube website.

If you missed Melodifestivalen, tough!

It seems the first Melodifestivalen show won't be repeated :-( SVT have ruined all our fun and pulled down any videos that made it to Youtube and the show isn't available to watch again on SVTPlay. At least they left us this little morsel of delight, the opening number 'Hero' by Charlotte Perrelli, Nanne Grönwall and Sonja Aldén :-)

Eurovision 2010: The 7 entries so far

After a glut of national finals this week there are now 7 confirmed entries for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest:

1. Norway: Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours
2. Denmark: Chanée & N'evergreen - In A Moment Like This
3. Iceland: Hera Björk - Je ne sais quoi
4. Albania: Juliana Pasha - Nuk Mundem Pa Ty
5. Netherlands: Sieneke - Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)
6. Cyprus: Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders - Life Looks Better In Springtime
7. Switzerland: Michael von der Heide - Il pleut de l'or

In my opinion only the first four songs have any chance of qualifying and Iceland only with the help of their Scandinavian neighbours. Norway and Denmark are real contenders to win at the moment. Below is a playlist of all 7 songs.

Netherlands 2010 - Sieneke - Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)

Really?! Seriously?! This?! The Netherlands really don't want to qualify this year, let alone win!

Sweden 2010 - Linda Pritchard out of Melodifestivalen

Ola and Salem Al Fakir qualified direct to the final. Pain of Salvation and Jessica Andersson scraped through to the Andra Chansen round. Unfortunately Linda Pritchard is going nowhere but home, which is a shame as I quite liked this one.

As per usual SVT are being quite strict about the videos they allow on the Youtube etc. so you probably won't see or hear Ola and Salem again until the final!

Iceland choose Hera Björk 'Je ne sais quoi' for Oslo

Hera Björk will finally get her moment in the Eurovision spotlight as Iceland's representative at the 2010 Eurovision Song contest in Oslo. The runner up was Jógvan Hansen with 'One more day'.

Youtube playlist of all 6 final performances here. Big thanks to Youtube user ESC2010Norway for uploading them so fast.

Denmark choose Chanée & Tomas N'evergreen for Oslo

Bryan Rice gave a great performance in the final duel with his song 'Breathing' but ultimately the Danish public decided Chanée & Tomas N'evergreen should go to Oslo with their song 'In A Moment Like This'.

Youtube playlist of all the final performances here [opens in new window]

Norway choose Didrik Solli-Tangen for Eurovision 2010

After a great show Didrik Solli-Tangen was chosen as Norway's representative for this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

In contrast to last year the jury votes differed widely with Keep of Kalessin pulling ahead at one stage. However, once the televotes starting coming in it became clear Didrik had won by a landslide. The final results were:

1st: Didrik Solli-Tangen 488 675
2nd: A1 278 882
3rd: Keep Of Kalessin 241 164
4th: Bjørn Johan Muri 169 174

*Maria Haukaas Storeng, Venke Knutson, Maria Arredondo and Alexander Stenerud were eliminated after the first round of the final.

You can watch the full show again on the NRK website here.

On second thoughts Albania could be amazing

Rearranged and sung in English this song is a lot more impressive. This is not the final version yet so there's still room for improvement (and also a chance they could make it worse!).

Violina feat. Rolf Junior - Maagiline Päev (Estonia 2010)

I think I was also a bit hard on Estonia. This isn't bad. WHERE did they film this though? Looks like a cinema entrance or something.

Azerbaijan - Land of Fire 2010 SF1

The following 3 acts qualified last night:

Milk & Kisses - I'm On Fire
Safura Alizadeh - Soz ver
Maryam Shabanova - I've had enough

Expectations are high for Azerbaijan following their high placing last year in Moscow

Something from Slovakia

I like this!

Germany 2010 - Unser Star für Oslo - 1st show

Here's a re-cap of all the 10 performers in last night's first show. The five that qualified for the next round were Lena Meyer-Landrut, Kerstin Freking, Meri Voskanian, Cyril Krueger and Katrin Walter.

Playlist of all 10 on Youtube here

See a profile of the 'Kandidaten' on the official site here. The site is in German but I might try and translate some of it for you at some point.

A1 to open Norway MGP on Saturday - final running order revealed

A1 will open the show on Saturday with favourite Didrik Solli-Tangen performing in a very comfortable position of second to last. This is the running order for Saturday's final:

1. A1 - Don't wanna lose you again
2. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make My Day
3. Venke Knutson - Jealous 'cause I love you
4. Bjørn Johan Muri - Yes man
5. Maria Arredondo - The touch
6. Alexander Stenerud - Give it to me
7. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My heart is yours
8. Keep of Kalessin - The dragontower

Youtube playlist here

What music style or artist should Sweden send to Eurovision 2010?

Video by http://www.youtube.com/user/mieroth

Melodifestivalen at The Harcourt Arms, London

This Swedish pub is the only pub in London you can watch the Melodifestivalen shows on the big screen. It's always a great atmosphere and the £6 entry fee is very reasonable as it includes a free drink! If you're in London head on down there to see how a national final should be done.

• Eurovision Heat 1 Sat 6th Feb
• Eurovision Heat 2 Sat 13th Feb
• Eurovision Heat 3 Sat 20th Feb
• Eurovision Heat 4 Sat 27th Feb
• Eurovision Second Chance Sat 6th March
• Eurovision Final Sweden Sat 13th March
  

Ticket price for standing in the Mainbar is £6 / Heat with one drink included.
There will be 20 tickets for seating in the Topbar (ONLY AVAILABLE ONLINE) for £10 each which will include two drinks and reserved seating.

BBQ will be available from 6.00-9.00 pm

www.theharcourt.com
To go direct to ticket booking click here

2010 Romania - Selecţia Naţională

Sorry to disappoint you, Mihai isn't back this year but there are 16 acts hoping to equal or better Mihai Traistariu's 4th place position for Romania back in 2006.

Thirteen of them have made it to Youtube so far:

1. Luminiţa Anghel, Tony Tomas & Adrian Piper - Save Their Lives
2. Alexa Niculae - Baby
3. Paula Seling & Ovi - Playing With Fire
4. Paula Seling & Kamara Ghedi - It's Not Too Late
5. Zero - Lay Me Down
6. Tina Geru - Love Is War
7. Alexandra Ungureanu - Crazy
8. Anda Adam & Connect-R - Surrender
9. Cătălin Josan - Around Around
10. Răzvan Krivach - Jackpot
11. Trupa Pasager - Running Out Of Time
12. Lora & Sony Flame - Come Along
13. Dalma - I'm Running

Youtube playlist of the songs here

The other 3 songs are:

Hotel FM - Come As One
Laurentiu Niculescu - Searching for Perfect Emotion
Lucia Dumitrescu - See You in Heaven Michael

The Romanian national final takes place 6th March 2010.

Estonia - eesti laul 2010

Oh dear, after all the great Nordic national final songs these come as a bit of a shock to the ears. Thank god there are only 10 to get through, Lithuania has 36 songs!

The 10 eesti laul finalists are:

1. Iiris Vesik - Astronaut
2. Disko 4000 - Ei usu
3. Violina feat Rolf Junior - Maagiline päev
4. Robin Juhkental (Malcolm Lincoln) - Siren
5. Mimicry - New
6. Marten Kuningas & Mahavok - Oota mind veel
7. Lenna Kuurmaa - Rapunzel
8. Groundhog Day - Teiste seest kõigile
9. Tiiu Kiik - The one and only - Love

*10. 3 Pead - Poolel teel [no video yet available]

Youtube playlist here

eesti laul 2010 will take place at the Nokia Concert Hall, Tallinn on 12th March.

2010 Iceland - Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins Final

Saturday 6th February is turning out to be a Nordic 'Super Saturday' as Norway, Denmark and Iceland hold their national finals and the first Melodifestivalen show takes place in Sweden.

These are the 6 finalists in Iceland:

1. Íris Hólm - The one
2. Matthias Matthiasson - Out of sight
3. Jógvan Hansen - One more day
4. Hvanndalsbræður - Gleði og glens
5. Hera Björk - Je ne sais quoi
6. Sjonni Brink - Waterslide

Many fans will welcome the return of Hera Björk who competed in Danish MGP last year with 'Someday' and ultimately appeared in the Eurovision final anyway as a backing singer for Iceland's entry 'Is It True'.

As ever a Youtube playlist of the six finalists can be found here.

Didrik Solli-Tangen favourite to win MGP Norway on Saturday

This song is really growing on me. I think it would do very well with the juries. It's currently favourite with the bookies to win MGP on Saturday. Here are the full odds from Ladbrokes.com:

Didrik Solli-Tangen 11/20

A1 5/1

Keep of Kalessin 8/1

Bjorn Johan Muri 12/1

Maria Arredondo 21/1

Maria Haukaas Storeng 18/1

Venke Knutson 20/1

Alexander Stenerud 33/1

melodi grand prix 2010 - Denmark

These are the 10 finalists who will compete in the Danish melodi grand prix final on Saturday 6th February (popular day for national finals). 'All About A Girl' is from the same writing team as last year's Danish entry and again includes Ronan Keating.

Joakim Transberg - All About A Girl
Chanee & N'evergreen - In A Moment Like This
Bryan Rice - Breathing
Sukkerchock - Kæmper For Kærlighed
Silas & Kat - Come Come Run Away
Kaya Brüel - Only Tonight
MariaMatilde Band - Panik!
Simone - How Will I Know
Thomas Barsøe - Just Like Rain
Jens Marni - Gloria

Re-cap video uploaded by PolskaEurovision

DR melodi grand prix 2010 official website (in Danish)

Melodifestivalen is nearly here!

Sweden hasn't done very well at Eurovision in recent years, which is ironic because they have one of the best national final formats. Regardless of how they fare in Oslo, Melodifestivalen is guaranteed to be a spectacle in its own right.

Melodifestivalen 2010 begins this Saturday 6th February with Deltävling 1 at the Fjällräven Center, Örnsköldsvik. These are the artists and the songs they will be performing:

Ola Svensson - Unstoppable

Jenny Silver - A Place To Stay

Linda Pritchard - You're Making Me Hot-Hot-Hot

Pain of Salvation - Road Salt

Anders Ekborg - The Saviour

Jessica Andersson - I Did It For Love

Frispråkarn - Singel

Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking

Clips of the songs will be made available later in the week on the SVT website but for now you can see a Youtube playlist of the artists performing previous hits here (opens in new window).

Official Melodifestivalen site (in Swedish) http://svt.se/melodifestivalen