Cyprus: It’s official!Sandro Nicolas will fly to Rotterdam

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An official announcement was made minutes ago by the Cyprus Radio Fondation (RIK) that the next representative of the country in the Eurovision song contest is none other than Sandro Nicolas.

The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation is pleased to present Sandro, the representative of Cyprus in the upcoming 2020…

Posted by CYBC: Eurovision Cyprus on Friday, November 29, 2019

As we first informed you,  23-year-old Greek-German Sandro Nicolas will wear the Cypriot colors at the Eurovision contest after direct assignment.  The song, which will be performed by the talented artist, will be released later.

The chronicle of the choice

Sandro Nicolas was to take part in the selection of artist and songwriter to represent Germany at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam.  Following a proposal from the well-known Dream Team Project Manager Elias Kokotos, RIK chose the young artist as the most appropriate to represent Cyprus (you can read more HERE).

The songs that RIK is looking at at this point in time, as well as the artist’s team as likely to represent Cyprus at Eurovision 2020 are:

-My getaway

-Falling to pieces

-Never Let You Down

The song with which Cyprus will travel and claim the coveted prize will be announced at a later stage and it is not excluded that it will be another one, as RIK is working feverishly for the best possible representation in the competition!

On Saturday 30/11, Sandro Nicolas arrives in Cyprus for his first television appearances there.

Who is Sandro Nicolas?

Sandro Nicolas was born and raised in Germany by an American father and a Greek mother.  He is now 23 years old, and in 2018 he participated in the German version of « The Voice » reaching the semifinals.  His enchanting voice made it all the way to Sochi, Russia last August to compete in the New Wave 2019, taking the highly honored 6th place among 13 entries.

Hungary: Government denies reason for withdrawal is ‘gay element’ of contest

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Around the world today, news reports from major news agencies (Independent, BBC, The Guardian, etc.) indicate that the real reason for Hungary’s withdrawal from the contest is its excessive gay element, according to the country’s government.

Turn to traditional values ​​for Hungary

Orban’s xenophobic government has already announced that its main priority is to support the traditional family, with the aim of increasing birth rates. At the beginning of the year an impression was made by a speech by a member of the ruling party, describing adoption by same-sex couples as pedophilia.

Although no official explanation has yet been given for the country’s withdrawal from Eurovision 2020, there are few who argue that it was because of the overbearing Orban government. Indeed, a channel journalist familiar to government said a few days ago that Hungary’s abstention from the competition would contribute to the nation’s mental health!

The government denies the charges

But the sheer scale of the issue prompted both the prime minister’s spokesman for foreign policy and Hungary’s public broadcaster to take an official position and deny the reports.

Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesman for the prime minister for foreign policy, described the reports as fake news, and made it clear that no member of the government has ever described the Eurovision song contest as described in:

Shortly afterwards the Hungarian public television itself accused the media of reproducing these inexpressible news for them and once again stressed that the reason Hungary decided to abstain from Eurovision 2020 is that it preferred to support the emerging talents from A Dal (the music contest he used as a national choice for Eurovision) and to allocate the expenses it would have incurred for the purpose to this.

This is the fourth time Hungary has withdrawn from the Eurovision competition. The first time was in 1999, for six years. It returned in 2005, abstained in 2006 in Athens and returned the following year. Its last absence was in 2010, when for financial reasons the country preferred to stay away.

The best place in the history of the competition is the 4th, when in 1994, it was represented by Friderika Bayer and the song “Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet ;”.

 

Sweden: The first bets on Melodifestivalen | Felix Sandman the big favorite

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It may have been just three days since the announcement of the candidates at Melodifestivalen 2020, but already the first bets for the winner have made their appearance, though we’ll have two more months to hear the first semifinal songs!

The favorite for the win is Felix Sandman, whose media articles want to sing a song to Soldi’s standards. In second place is Hanna Ferm, who is also the great hope of those who want Sweden to be represented at Eurovision with a woman after five full years. The trinity is complemented by this year’s Estonian representative in the competition, Victor Crone. His song, “Storm”, had a big airplay on Swedish radios in the past.

Following are: Robin Bengtsson who represented Sweden at Eurovision 2017, always dangerous Mariette with a song by Thomas G: Son, Mohombi who tried this year and Anna Bergendahl who represented Sweden at Eurovision 2010.

The Melodifestivalen final will take place on March 7 at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, where Sweden’s representative at Eurovision 2020 will come up. Until then we can remember once again the winner of Melodifestivalen 2019 and Sweden’s representative at Eurovision 2019, John Lundvik. With “Too Late For Love” he took fifth place in Tel Aviv.

 

Finland: 426 entries for UMK 2020|Six finalists

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Finnish public broadcaster is returning to open selection after two years of direct artist assignments. As we informed earlier, 426 entries have been submitted and the six finalists have already been selected to compete on Saturday 7 March in the UMK 2020 final for the Finnish representation in Rotterdam.

Despite Finland’s exclusion from this year’s Eurovision final, interest in the contest remains high. 426 entries were made on the country’s public television, well in excess of the 300 songs submitted at the last open national final.

The six finalists will be announced at a special event on Tuesday, January 21. The winner of UMK 2020 will be determined by the vote of the television audience and the jury. The UMK 2020 will consist of one night only and no tickets will be sold. For the first time, UMK will not take place in Helsinki, but in Finland’s second largest city, Tampere.

The last time Finland selected its representative with an open selection was in 2017, with Norma John singing “Blackbird”, which,though favorite, were limited to 12th place in the First Semifinal with 92 points.

Eurovision 2020: Contest logo revealed

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The logo of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest was unveiled. The Clever Franke Design Office created a logo that combines the flag and the year each of the 41 participating countries participated in the competition for the first time.

The logo includes a series of brightly colored vectors emitting from the center point of a circle, such as a sun.

It will be used during Eurovision 2020, which will take place in Rotterdam next May, as well as the advertising and commemorative goods that will be released.

The drawing is a visual representation of the flags of the 41 countries participating in Eurovision in 2020.

Clever Franke took the colors of each country’s flag and used the editing and illustrator software to clock them in a chronological order in order to create a colorful abstract symbol.

“Using software we have developed, along with historical data, we have been able to design a virtual identity that brings to life the story of the Eurovision Song Contest in a truly unique way. The Eurovision Song Contest is a celebration of dominant mindsets”

Thomas Clever, co-founder of Clever Franke for the Eurovision 2020 logo

The design was hand-crafted to make its design more authentic, as the use of all colors by flags did not immediately create a holistic identity.

The years when no other country debuted Eurovision have left gaps, creating a gap in the colorful logo.

For example, there is a gap in the planning of the cycle from 1974, when Greece joined – appeared as a blue, white and blue section to represent the country’s flag – until 1981, when Cyprus joined.

Between 2008 and next year’s event, only Australia has joined the competition, so their blue, white and red flag is the only part of this section of the circle.

Although often considered a kitsch celebration, Clever Franke believes this is often confused with how people perceive this event, which basically promotes joy:

“In the Eurovision song contest we have seen some very exciting identities, design applications and spectacular decorations. I think a lot of people tend to focus on kitsch and lose everything else. It’s easy to fall into the trap of cynicism, but once you get to the original culture of positivity and playfulness, the expression of joy comes automatically”

Clever Franke is a data-driven design agency with offices in Chicago, Dubai and Utrecht that combines data with technology to create design solutions.

Netherlands: Proposal to Edsilia Rombley to present Eurovision 2020

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Following “Game Of Thrones” star Michiel Huisman, Dutch media claim that the country’s representative at Eurovision 1998 and 2007, Edsilia Rombley, has accepted a proposal to present the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place May 12,14 and 16 in Rotterdam. .

In 1998 Edsilia Rombley took fourth place in the competition then held in Birmingham, with the song “Hemel en aarde”. In 2007, she represented the country for the second time, with the song “On Top Of The World”, but failed to qualify for the final of the event.

The news was broadcast by RTL television. Edsilia Rombley will also be one of the presenters of Eurovision In Concert, the biggest annual promo event, held before the contest.

Cyprus: Changes to Candidate Songs for Sandro Nicolas! EXCLUSIVE

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Cyprus is still consulting on the song that Sandro Nicolas will be asked to perform at Eurovision 2020 in May.

Change to the three candidate songs by Sandro Nicolas

RIK is in constant contact with the artist and his team to come up with the song that will represent Cyprus in Rotterdam. The aim is, of course, to continue the good presence of Cyprus in the contest, with a good artistic appearance. RIK’s  people are working feverishly for this.

So the three songs that were considered as likely were:

-Mucho Calor (dance track)
-Can’t Look Away (mid tempo)
-Never Let You Down (pop modern track)

Some artistic disagreements between the two songwriters and the artist’s team led to their withdrawal.

Two new songs to the nomination list

Of course, this didn’t bother RIK, as two new songs have already been added to the nomination list, without adding another one.

Thus, the songs that are now candidates to represent Cyprus at Eurovision 2020 are:

-My getaway
-Falling to pieces
-Never Let You Down

CyBC has not officially announced Sandro yet, though it is not expected to be delayed, after the latest details of the deal have been settled. So far the overall response from fans is more than positive!

Estonia: The distribution of songs in the two semifinals of Eesti Laul 2020

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While we all considered that the two-day announcement of the 24 entries of Eesti Laul 2020 essentially showed their distribution to the two Estonian National Semifinals, shortly before the country’s public broadcaster, announced in which semi-finalist each contestant would compete in.

We remind you that the semifinals will take place on February 13 and 15 in Tartu, while the grand final will be traditionally held at Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, where Eurovision 2002 took place. Six contestants will qualify from each semifinal. Tickets are already on sale. Eesti Laul 2020 will be presented by Karl-Erik Taukar and Tõnis Niinemets.

First Semifinal, February 13:

Anett x Fredi – Write About Me
Egert Milder – Georgia (On My Mind)
INGA – Right Time
Jennifer Cohen – Ping Pong
Kruuv – Leelo
Laura – Break Me
Little Mess – Without a Reason
Rasmus Rändvee – Young
Renate – Videomäng
Revals – Kirjutan romaani
STEFAN – By My Side
Synne feat. Väliharf – Majakad

Second Semifinal, February 15:

German & Violina – Heart Winder
INGER – Only Dream
Jaagup Tuisk – Beautiful Lie
Janet – Hingelind
Mariliis Jõgeva – Unistustes
Merilin Mälk – Miljon sammu
SHIRA – Out In Space
Traffic – Üks cord veel
Uku Suviste – What Love Is
Uudo Sepp – Sorry Sorry. I Messed Up
Viinerid – Kapa Kohi-LA
Ziggy Wild – Lean On Me

On 30/11 and 1/12 the 24 songs will be released, one day on the first semifinal and the other on the second. The exact order of appearance will be announced before each semifinal.

Eesti Laul, the Estonian selection method, has been in use since 2009. The winners of this institution have awarded some of its most successful entries in the country – including: Urban Symphony (2009), Kuula (2012), La Forza (2018).

Victor Crone was the winner of Eesti Laul 2019 and Estonia’s representative at Eurovision 2019. He performed “Storm” on Tel Aviv stage and took 20th place.

 

Sweden: These are the candidates for Melodifestivalen 2020

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This afternoon, Swedish public broadcaster, SVT, unveiled the remaining 27 Melodifestivalen 2020 contestants! We’ve known that Amanda Aas is one of them, since she was selected by the P4 nästa radio competition.

More than 2,500 songs were submitted for the 14 venues from SVT’s open invitation, with the remaining 13 being artists invited directly from Swedish public television.

Sweden’s biggest music festival  will be hosted by David Sundin, Linnea Henriksson and Lina Hedlund, who will also be presenting all six nights of the show.

Melodifestivalen begins its musical journey on February 1 in Linkoping with its first semifinal and concludes in Stockholm on March 7 with the Grand Final.

2020 is the penultimate year that finds Christer Bjorkman at the wheel of Melodifestivalen. He would very much like to win Sweden’s seventh victory and equalize Queen Ireland over his days.

The lineup as you will see below includes a number of comebacks as well as fresh suggestions that the modern Swedish music scene has to offer through Melodifestivalen. 12 of the 28 songs are in Swedish lyrics!

Linkoping – First Semifinal – 1 February

Malou Prytz – Ballerina
Felix Sandman – Boys with Emotions
OVÖ – Inga problem
The Mamas – Move
Suzi P – Moves
Sonja Aldén – Sluta aldrig gå
Robin Bengtsson – Take a Chance

Return here for Robin Bengtsson who represented Sweden at Eurovision 2017, but also for The Mamas who were in Tel Aviv this year. Felix Sandman in an effort, like Sonja Aldén.

Gothenburg – Second Semifinal – 8 February

Linda Bengtzing – Alla mina sorger
Dotter – Bulletproof
Anna Bergendahl – Kingdom Come
Thorsten Flinck – Miraklernas tid
Klara Hammarström – Nobody
Paul Rey – Talking in my Sleep
Mendez – Vamos amigos

Seventh entry for Linda Bengtzing, but also a return for Méndez who in 2018 had conquered the charts. Anna Bergendahl will try her luck again this year, hoping to win again ten years later.

Lulea – Third Semifinal – February 15

Faith Kekembo – Crying Rivers
Amanda Aasa – Late
Albin Johnsén – Livet börjar nu
Drängerna – Piga och dräng
Mariette – Shout It Out
Anis Don Demina – Vem är som oss
Mohombi – Winners

Lots of returns in this semifinal too. Mariette and Mohombi seem to be the strongest names here, though theoretically this semifinal in terms of names looks more lucrative than the others.

Malmo – Fourth Semifinal – February 22

Hanna Ferm – Brave
Nanne Grönvall – Carpool Karaoke
William Strid – Molnljus
Jakob Karlberg – Om du tror att jag saknar dig
Ellen Benediktson & Simon Peyron – Surface
Victor Crone – Troubled Waters
Frida Öhrn – We Are One

Nanne represented Sweden in 1996 with “One More Time”, and has since been considered one of the most important representatives of schlager music. Victor Crone has represented Estonia at this year’s competition and hopes to be on the scene for the second consecutive year with his home country this time.

Aftonblatet in its previous articles, which we informed you, guessed successfully 23 of the 24 names it had given as confirmed artists. It basically just lost Renaida!

The Second Chance procession will take place on February 29, 2020, in Eskilston, with the Grand Final taking place once again at the Friends Arena in Stockholm on March 7, 2020.

So we’re looking forward to the rehearsals to get a little taste of Melodifestivalen 2020’s songs. Until then we can once again remember the Melodifestivalen 2019 winner and Sweden’s representative in Tel Aviv, John Lundvik, who took fifth place in Tel Aviv with “Too Late For Love”.

Eurostars: Maruv: “I received a proposal from BBC to represent the United Kingdom at Eurovision 2020”

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In a recent interview, Maruv, winner of this year’s Ukrainian national final Vidbir, but ultimately did not represent her country at the contest, revealed that she had accepted a BBC proposal to represent the United Kingdom at Eurovision 2020.

The time of withdrawal

Many of you may remember that Maruv with “Siren Song” won the national selection, Vidbir 2019, but did not travel to Tel Aviv as she did not agree to cancel her appearances in Russia, but to accept a number of other conditions set by the public Ukrainian broadcaster. Subsequently, the country’s public television began reaching out to the other Vidbir 2019 candidates in order to find the country’s representative, but without success.

Finally, Ukraine announced its withdrawal from Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv. UA CEO: PBC Zurab Alasania officially announced Ukraine’s withdrawal from Eurovision 2019 through its official Facebook account on February 27.

Is the UK calling on Maruv?

For Eurovision 2020, BBC has announced that BMG will select both the artist and the song to represent the UK, hoping to finally get out of the final standings.

According to what Maruv said in an interview on November 22, the United Kingdom has proposed her to represent the country at Eurovision 2020 either by hertself or simply by sending her own song to another performer.

In the following video after 13:20 (in Russian):

She herself, of course, at the MTV Awards, had rejected any possible new entry into the Eurovision competition. As she typically stated, she would only appear again in the competition as a guest!

“I wanted it too, but that is life. Now I have other desires and other dreams, and I wish one day to go to Eurovision, but only as a guest. I would love this. But not of the time”

Ukraine for 2020 has decided to include in its Vidbir regulations that artists who have performed in Russia or Crimea after the dramatic events of 2014 are banned.

Let’s remember Maruv’s performance at Vidbir 2019: