Sweden: Marcus & Martinus are reportedly ready for Melodifestivalen 2023!

We previously wrote about the first rumored names for Melodifestivalen 2023, as reported by Swedish Newspaper Aftonbladet. Moments ago, the newspaper revealed the fourth act to compete, and its a very popular duo!

Marcus & Martinus, the duo from Norway who became known after winning Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2012, became popular not only across Scandinavia but around the world as well. They have reportedly agreed to participate in Melodifestivalen 2023, making their debut to the popular show. The winner of Melodifestivalen will represent Sweden in the Eurovision 2023.

Artists that are so far confirmed for Melodifestivalen 2023:

  1. Nordman
  2. Loulou Lamotte
  3. Wiktoria Johansson
  4. Marcus & Martinus

The dates of the shows are:

  • Heat 1: Gothenburg – Saturday 4 February 2023 (Scandinavium)
  • Heat 2: Linköping – Saturday 11 February 2023 (Saab Arena)
  • Heat 3: Lidköping – Saturday 18 February 2023 (Sparbanken Arena)
  • Heat 4: Malmö – Saturday 25 February 2023 (Malmö Arena)
  • Semi-final: Örnsköldsvik – Saturday 4 March 2023 (Hägglunds Arena)
  • Final: Stockholm – Satuday 11 March 2023 (Friends Arena)

 

Are you excited to see Marcus & Martinus competing in Melodifestivalen 2023? Tell us in the comments!

Source: Aftonbladet

Eurovision 2023: BBC has launched a tender for the contest’s postcards

BBC has launched a tender for the production company that is going to produce the postcards for Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

The British national broadcaster is looking for an independent production company to create the concept for the contest’s postcards. The concept has not yet been selected, that’s why BBC is checking various ideas. The production company should film 37 40-seconds-long postcards. The submission deadline is until November 3rd and a short list with the companies that will progress to the next phase will be made, while the selected company will be announced over time.

The postcards are shown before the song of each country in the contest, with each country having a different postcard. It’s important to point out that traditionally, the postcard is used to promote the country that holds the year’s contest or to present the artist that is going onstage.

According to the last details, the production company that will shoot and produce the postcards for Eurovision 2023 will be chosen until December 13th. The shootings will be done in March and April 2023. The production companies’ applications will be reviewed by Rachel Ashdown Lead Commissioner Eurovision Song Contest), Siobhan Mulholland (Genre Executive Factual, Arts and Classical Music) and Rianna Enahoro (Marketing Co-ordinator BBC One Marketing and Audiences team).

Eurovision 2023

After the inability of the last winning country, Ukraine, to host the contest, Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, specifically in M&S Bank Arena in May 9th, 11th and 13th 2023.

Source: Eurovoix

Portugal: 667 songs were submitted for Festival da Canção 2023!

Some time ago RTP, Portugal’s public broadcaster, revealed through the official Instagram account of Festival da Canção, that 667 songs have been submitted to take part in the national  final.

The song submission window opened in September 2 and closed on October 21, while the four songs and artists that will claim the ticket for Liverpool and Portugal’s representation in Eurovision 2023 will be revealed in the coming days.

Like last year, Festival da Canção will host 20 acts, 16 songs of those being written from songwriters of different genres invited by RTP. The remaining 4 will be selected by the open submission process.

The national final will feature two semi-finals, with five songs from each, qualifying for the final. The Grand Final will take place with 10 songs, and the winner will be decided by a combination of 50% public vote and 50% jury vote.

The previous winner of Festival da Canção and Portugal’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was Maro with the song “saudade, saudade“ that ended up in 9th place of the Grand Final, keeping Portugal’s qualification streak for the second year in a row:

https://youtu.be/mZtbD47u6yI

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Portuguese participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Albania: The public will decide the country’s representative for Eurovision 2023!

The Albanian public broadcaster, RTSH, made a considerable change in the selection process for their entry in Eurovision.

In a previous announcement, RTSH stated that Festivali i Këngës will include public vote once again, after many years. However, no one imagined how much the public vote will affect the final resutl. Today’s announcement states that Albania’s representative  in Eurovision 2023 will be chosen, for the first time only by public vote! On the same time, the jury will decide on the results for Festivali i Këngës.

This way, all the previous voting systems of Festivali i Këngës, where the jury or the jury along with public determined the final result, are negated. One more difference in this year’s festival is that the jury will give out three awards:

  • First, Second and Third in the jury vote
  • First for young artists and alternative groups
  • First for established artists

Below is a full list of participants and songs in Festivali i Këngës 61:

  • 2 Farm – “Atomike” (Atomic)
  • Alban Kondi & Lorela Karoshi – “Melodi” (Melody)
  • Albina Kelmendi – “Duje” (Prayer)
  • Anduel Kovaçi – “Malli” (Merchandise)
  • Aris Bako – “Sonte dua të jem me ty” (Tonight I want to be with you)
  • Melodajna Mancaku – “Gjysma e zemrës sime” (Half of my heart)
  • Elisa Lila – “Evita”
  • Enxhi Nasufi – “Burrë” (Man)
  • Erma Mici – “Kozmosi i dashurisë” (The cosmos of love)
  • Evi Reçi – “Ma kthe” (Give me back)
  • Fabian Basha – “Një gotë” (A glass)
  • Fifi (Filloreta Raçi) – “Stop”
  • Franc Koruni – “Në pritje” (Pending)
  • Genti Hoxha – “Ajër” (Air)
  • Gjergj Kaçinari – “Dje” (Yesterday)
  • Luna Causholli – “Jetën ta fal” (I forgive life)
  • LYNX – “Nëse ke besim” (If you have faith)
  • Manjola Nallbani – “Dua” (Love)
  • Permit of Stay – “Fobia” (Phobias)
  • Petrit Çarkaxhiu – “Emri yt mirësi” (Your name is good)
  • Rezearta Smaja – “N’Eden” (In Eden)
  • Rovena Dilo – “Motit” (Weather)
  • Sara Kapo – “Para teje” (Before you)
  • Serxhio Hajdini – “Vështirë” (Tough)
  • Urban Band – “Në çdo hap” (At every step)
  • Vanesa Soni – “Aroma jonë” (Our fragrence)

As of now, RTSH has not revealed the dates for Festivali i Këngës 61 will be held. Traditionally the contest takes plce in mid-December.

The previous winner of Festivali i Këngës and Albania’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was Ronela Hajati with the song “Sekret“ but despite the big hype for her song by the fans, she didn’t manage to qualify for the Grand Final, ending up in 12th place in the first semi-final:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Albanian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: rtsh.al

Ukraine: The 36 candidates to take part in Vidbir!

Earlier today, the Ukrainian public broadcaster, UA:PBC, published a list of the 36 candidates that continue on the selection process to take part in Vidbir, Ukraine’s national final for Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool.

The list contains the following names:

  1. 2TONE
  2. Angelina
  3. DAYTON
  4. DEMCHUK
  5. Drevo
  6. Elysees
  7. FIINKA
  8. Havkа
  9. Jerry Heil
  10. Iana Kovaleva
  11. Kozak Siromaha
  12. KRUTЬ 
  13. Lue Bason
  14. Moisei
  15. Olivan
  16. OOHLA
  17. Oy Sound System
  18. SASHA
  19. Seréen
  20. sexnesc
  21. Shy
  22. SKYLERR
  23. SOWA
  24. Tember Blanche
  25. Tery
  26. TVORCHI
  27. Victoria Niro
  28. Vynohradova
  29. Zetetics
  30. Лилу45 (Lilu45)
  31. Макс Пташник (Max Ptashnik)
  32. Мія Рамарі (Mia Ramari)
  33. Роялькіт (Royalkit)
  34. Саша Фадєєва (Sasha Fadeeva)
  35. ТÓНКА (Tonka)
  36. Циферблат (Chiferblat)

This list does not contain the final names that are going to compete in Vidbir, as the auditions of the songs will go on, with the names of the final participants being announced until November 17.

Pianoboy (Dmitro Shurov), the official music producer of Vidbir, said:

“I am personally interested in ensuring that Ukrainian music does not freeze and develops in all directions, so that we have our heroes in all possible musical niches and styles. In my opinion, now, during the war, and with complete uncertainty in the lives of musicians, this selection takes on a special significance: we not only choose those worthy to represent Ukraine at the competition, but also have the opportunity to hear a wide range of Ukrainian music that is being created here and now, no matter what.”

The final of Vidbir will take place live from Kyiv  on December 17.

Many Ukrainian artists were interested in competing in the national final, with the broadcaster receiving nearly 400 song from 299 participants. All hope to continue Ukraine’s success in the contest after Kalush Orchestra’s win, with their song “Stefania”.

Despite coming second in Vidbir and Ukraine’s repreentatives, Kalush Orchestra were also the winners of Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with their song “Stefania”:

https://youtu.be/F1fl60ypdLs

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Ukrainian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: eurovision.tv

Albania: The participants of Festivali i Këngës 61 are announced!

A few moments ago, the Albanian broadcaster announced through their website, the twenty-six participants who will participate in Festivali i Këngës 61. 22 soloists and 4 groups have been selected by the jury to compete in the competition, from which the winner will represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

Albania’s radio broadcaster, RTSH, has not yet announced when Festivali i Këngës 61 will take place. The competition is traditionally held in mid-December.

The participants of Festivali i Këngës 61 and the titles of their songs are as follows:

  1. 2 Farm (Bandë muzikore) – “Atomike”
  2. Alban Kondi & Lorela Karoshi – “Melodi”
  3. Albina Kelmendi – “Duje”
  4. Anduel Kovaçi – “Malli”
  5. Aris Bako – “Sonte dua të jem me ty”
  6. Melodajna Mancaku – “Gjysma e zemrës sime”
  7. Elisa Lila – “Evita”
  8. Enxhi Nasufi – “Burrë”
  9. Erma Mici – “Kozmosi i dashurisë”
  10. Evi Reçi – “Ma kthe”
  11. Fabian Basha – “Një gotë”
  12. Fifi (Filloreta Raçi) – “Stop”
  13. Franc Koruni – “Në pritje”
  14. Genti Hoxha – “Ajër”
  15. Gjergj Kaçinari – “Dje”
  16. Luna Causholli – “Jetën ta fal”
  17. LYNX – “Nëse ke besim”
  18. Manjola Nallbani – “Dua”
  19. Permit of Stay – “Fobia”
  20. Petrit Çarkaxhiu – “Emri yt mirësi”
  21. Rezearta Smaja – “N’Eden”
  22. Rovena Dilo – “Motit”
  23. Sara Kapo – “Para teje”
  24. Serxhio Hajdini – “Vështirë”
  25. Urban Band – “Në çdo hap”
  26. Vanesa Soni – “Aroma jonë”

Last year’s winner was Ronela Hajati with “Sekret“, who did not make it past the semi-final as she finished 12th with 58 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jWXmo0-ZjI&feature=emb_title

Stay tuned to Eurovision Fun for all the news regarding Albania’s participation in Eurovision 2023.

Sourcertsh.al

Romania: Selecția Națională 2023 will take place only with televote!

Earlier today, Romania’s public broadcaster, TVR, announced that they are going to make some changes regarding they way they face the Eurovision Song Contest, after some controversies in 2022.

The channel’s Board of Directors signed the 2023 budget a few hours ago, and the money for Eurovision 2023 and the national final, was also included in it.

Based on TVR’s announcement on the Eurovision 2023 project, the Project Manager Mihai Predescu said:

“We are a new team and we propose a different Eurovision contest, based on transparency, professionalism and digitization. We changed the voting system: only the public will choose the piece that will represent Romania. And one more thing: this Eurovision will be on air on TVR and much more present than in the past online, on social media networks”

It’s worth saying that this is quite a difference, as in last year’s national final, the public vote only determined 17% of the final result, while the remaining 83% was determined by the jury.

The next days, TVR will finalise the remaing details of the selection process and will make an open call for songs, as soon as possible.

The previous winner of Selecția Națională and Romania’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was WRS with the song “Llámame“ and ended up in 18th place in the Grand Final, while also bringing his country back to the final after three consequtive non-qualifications.

https://youtu.be/nPpuwy79sHs

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Romanian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: tvr.ro

Spain: Benidorm Fest 2023 participants announced!

Just a few minutes ago, through RTVE’s ten-minute special, the names of the shortlisted artists who will be part of Benidorm Fest 2023 and will compete to represent Spain in Liverpool next May were made public.

As we had informed you, the scheduled date for the announcement of the artists would take place, unless something unexpected happened, on Saturday 29 October. However, Spanish TV has decided – and after a storm of reactions on Twitter earlier today – to present the shortlist tonight in order to avoid any unwanted leaks.

The surprises, of course, do not stop here as the announcement concerned 18 names and not 16 as RTVE had stated earlier! According to them, this was because “the quality and level of the tracks submitted exceeded all expectations” and so they wanted to give the opportunity to two more compositions to compete.

Thus, the 18 names announced tonight that will fight for the Eurovision 2023 ticket are the following:

  1. AGONEY Agoney - YouTube
  2. E’FEMME
  3. FUSA NOCTADesde Abajo - Single by Fusa Nocta, Arkade Kidd | Spotify
  4. BLANCA PALOMA Blanca Paloma | Spotify
  5. ARITZ ARENAritz Aren - YouTube
  6. RAKKY                                                                               Rakky Ripper Albums: songs, discography, biography, and listening guide -  Rate Your Music
  7. ALFRED GARCIA Alfred García: "Deberían rebautizar Eurovisión como el festival del 'show  business" | El HuffPost Life
  8. SOFIA MARTIN Sofía Martín - YouTube
  9. ALICE WONDER Entrevista a Alice Wonder
  10. FAMOUS Famous Oberogo: "Lola Indigo es una gran artista y estoy encantado de que  me comparen con ella"
  11. MEGARA Entrevistamos a la banda madrileña de metal Megara (2018)
  12. VICCO VICCO - YouTube
  13. TWIN MELODY Descubre a Twin Melody: las gemelas que están revolucionando las redes  sociales
  14. JOSE OTERO May be a closeup of 1 person
  15. KARMENTO Karmento | Spotify
  16. SHARONNE Sharonne: Ser la mejor drag queen en tiempos de ley trans | Famosos
  17. MELER Entrevistamos a los chicos de Meler - Bemol Magazine
  18. SIDERLAND Siderland - YouTube

This Saturday, at 22:05 (CET), a special show will be broadcast on the RTVE network where the above artists will discuss with Julia Varela and Rodrigo Vázquez about their artistic profile, their motivation for coming to Benidorm Fest, their music careers and some details about the projects they have submitted and will release in the months to come!

Guía para no perderse en el Eurodrama del Benidorm Fest

Is there a name that stands out to you? Is there anyone on the list who can continue what Chanel started last year? Feel free to let us know in the comments!

Source: RTVE

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the latest news regarding Eurovision 2023!

Spain: Participants for Benidorm Fest 2023 will be announced on October 29!

RTVE has announced that the participants of Benidorm Fest 2023 will be revealed on October 29 .

Having already announced the reveal of Benidorm Fest 2023 contestants for October 27, RTVE has announced new plans. The participants for the country’s national selection will be revealed live on La 1 in a prime-time show on October 29.

The presentation of the artists will be undertaken by Julia Varela , who comments on Eurovision, and Rodrigo Vázquez . The show will include the profile of all the artists as well as details about their songs in the competition. RTVE will also hold a press conference on November 2.

Eight songs will compete in the  first Semi-Final on January 31 and the other eight will compete in the  second on February 2. The top four from each semi-final will advance to the  Grand Final on February 4, where eight songs will battle to win the second edition of the Benidorm Festival and the golden ticket to represent Spain in  Liverpool.

Chanel Terrero represented Spain at Eurovision 2022 and took third place with the song ” SloMo “, achieving the country’s best result since 1995 , after a long streak of poor results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSQYTt4xg3I

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news about Benidorm Fest 2023!

Source: Eurovoix

Croatia: Dora 2023 will have two semi-finals!

Croatia’s public broadcaster, HRT, revealed that Dora 2023 will have some changes in its whole concept. In detail, Tomislav Štengl, the head of the Croatian delegation, explained the plans on Dora’s changes, in an interview in HR2.

The first big change is that the songs will be available relatively earlier in contrast with previous years, and all artists will be demanded to have a music or lyric video for their songs.

The other major change is that the song selection will once again take place through a national final, but this year Dora is going to have two semi-finals. By adding more competitive shows in the national final, HRT wants to attract as many artists as possible.

What is more, HRT plans on creating a special show that will showcase each artist and their songs for Dora 2023,

The Croatian national final will take place in February in Opatija. The submission window is already open and will remain this way until November 20.

The previous winner of Dora and Croatia’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was Mia Dimšić with the song “Guilty Pleasure“, but she didn’t manage to qualify for the grand final, ending up in 11th place of the first semi-final for the second year in a row.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Croatian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!