Poland: TVP announces national selection to be held on February 26th!

Moments ago, the Polish Public Broadcaster TVP announced through Facebook, details on the selection of representative for Eurovision 2023.

Poland will select its entry again through the national final called Krajowe Eliminacje, which is set to take place on 26 February 2023. No more than 10 acts will compete to represent Poland in Eurovision 2023 which will be held in United Kingdom.

Song submissions are open from today until 15 January 2023, 22:00 CET while the selected songs to compete, will be revealed the latest a month before the show.

Poland was represented in Eurovision 2022 by Ochman and the song “River”, coming 12th with 151 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRVDZ6446eM

Source: Eurowizja TVP

 

 

Greece: More than 20 songs have already been submitted | EXCLUSIVE

While there are still three weeks before the expiration of the deadline (set out by ERT) for record labels and production companies to submit their proposals for Eurovision 2023, the songs submitted so far amount to more than 20!

We can exclusively reveal that submitted entries have exceeded 20, while not a single song had been received at the same time last year! As we pointed out before, the 43 songs that took part in last year’s selection procedure is going to be easily surpassed. This highlights the impact of ERT’s good choices in recent years.

What is also surprising is that we now have artists, representing various music genres; this involves genres that the public is not used to see representing Greece in ESC.

The ERT’s shift to more western-style entries has aroused the interest of several artists who, until a few years ago, did not even consider Eurovision as an option.

The names that have, in one way or another, expressed their intention to submit a proposal to ERT for Eurovision 2023 are the following:

  • Antonia Kaouri
  • Aretha
  • Artemis Matafia
  • Cynthia Verazie
  • Evangelia
  • Joanne
  • Klavdia
  • Leon of Athens
  • Melissa Mantzoukis
  • Operatical
  • Vasilis Kourtis

Of course, as we move towards the end of the deadline on October 9, others will be added to list above. Eurovisionfun will follow the developments closely, and inform you of everything that comes up.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments!

María Eizaguirre: Junior Eurovision, BenidormFest 2023 and Hispavision

RTVe‘s communications director, María Eizaguirre, attended the Spanish TV awards ceremony a few hours earlier where she gave a short interview in which, among other things, she mentioned Spain’s participation in this year’s Junior Eurovision, the preparations for Benidorm Fest 2023 and Hispavision.

BenidormFest 2023

When asked by the journalist about the festival, she answers:

“Artists are still registering their participation. There are people who are very interested, I think there are people who will try their best. I think this year Benidorm Fest is very promising. We are very ambitious.”

In addition, it is also asked whether this year’s entries are more than last year’s

“I don’t have the data in my hands at the moment so I can’t answer for sure, but it’s true that there are a lot of questions and a lot of hype around the festival this year.”

Ισπανία: Όλα τα νεότερα για το Benidorm Fest 2023! - Eurovision News | Music | Fun

Junior Eurovision

Since María Eizaguirre underlines that she cannot reveal anything more about Benidorm Fest, she suggests talking about Eurovision Junior which, as she says, is coming sooner.

“We’ll finish casting very soon and I think there’s material for great things.”

She also answers whether the song that will represent the country in this year’s contest is ready

“No, we are still working on it.”

https://youtu.be/2_2cMyuGn6A

Hispavision

The journalist does not fail to mention the issue of Hispavision, which has been on RTVe‘s mind for months, and may have run into problems with the announcement of Eurovision Latin America by the EBU. The only answer that Eizaguirre gives to this question is the following

“There will be announcements soon. We are working on it. Almost everything remains fluid, but we are working on it and we will have news to share soon.”

You can watch the full interview below:

Source: FormulaTV

What do you think about the Spanish policy? Which of these three projects are you most excited about? Tell us in the comments below!

Everything we know so far about the candidates interested in representing Greece at Eurovision 2023!

Three weeks are left for those interested in representing Greece at Eurovision 2023. During this period more names will be published, in order for the candidate puzzle regarding ERT‘s internal selection process for the song and artist that will represent Greece in the upcoming contest to be complete.

The process followed by ERT

The deadline that ERT gave to artists, production companies and record labels in order to submit their proposals for a chance to claim the Greek representation at the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, is closing at October 9th.

Subsequently, the members from an artistic committee, headed by songwriter and board of directors member  Dimitris Papadimitriou, will be individually called for listening to the submitted songs and reviewing them. A small number of songs that has gained the committee members’ approval will progress to the second and final phase (last year it was five songs).

The performing artists of these songs will be called to ERT’s headquarters at Agia Paraskevi along with their teams, in order to present their plans for the contest (staging, promotion plan) in front of ERT’s management and the committee members and to answer any possible questions.

Subsequently, if the artists have progressed to the second phase of the process and have appeared at ERT’s broadcasts, the lucky one that will wave the Greek flag at the United Kingdom in May will be announced.

The candidates

Plenty of artists have confirmed their participation in the internal selection process, either publicly or through information that arrived at Eurovisionfun.

Antonia Kaouri

The talented performer from MINOS EMI that last year was a Greek jury member for Eurovision 2022, is intensively prepearing for the proposal she is about to submit at ERT. Her striking appearance and her unique voice tone are her greatest weapons. Antonia Kaouri will enter the studio very soon and we will reveal to you more information regarding her proposal.

Vasilis Kourtis

The announcement of his candidacy through Eurovisionfun since the summer, received an especially positive feedback. It will be the first time that Greece will be represented by a tenor, of course if he gets selected by ERT for Eurovision 2023. Having done some incredible collaborations and theatrical and musical studies that a very select few have in our country, Vasilis Kourtis looks like the perfect representative to many, and not unfairly. Vasilis has already recorded the song he is going to submit to ERT. His song bears Dimitris Kontopoulos’s signature, something that makes his candidacy a whole lotta interesting.

Areti Kosmidou (Aretha)

The runner-up from the first season of The Voice of Greece returned to Greece after years of living abroad. In a television interview Areti Kosmidou has revealed that one of the reasons she returned, is a proposal’s sumbission to ERT for Eurovision 2023. She revealed that she has already completed two songs. It’s about one electro pop song more mainstream than the indie pop style she was following at the dawn of her career.

Evangelia

One more candidacy that became known since early on was the one from Evangelia. The young artist that has recently released a duet with our last representative Amanda, since the end of the previous contest has announced that is going to submit songs to ERT for Eurovision 2023. She was among the last year’s candidates too, but she couldn’t manage to be in the top five. Evangelia hasn’t submitted her proposal yet, but according to what she revealed recently, she is at the last phase of her preperation.

Artemis Matafia

One more artist that was among the candidates for Eurovision 2022. She will submit two songs to ERT, just like she did last year.

Joanne

The winner of The Voice of Greece, Joanne, as we were informed during the summer by her recording label MINOS EMI, will attempt claiming the Greek representation in Eurovision 2023 for a second year in a row. Like Evangelia, Joanne also couldn’t manage to be in the top five, something that she thinks she will overturn this year. More information about the personnel of her proposal have not been published yet.

Klavdia

Klavdia is well known through The Voice of Greece, too. Exclusively collaborating with ARCADE, Klavdia is more than possible going to submit a song of theirs to ERT. A very promising collaboration, that creates great anticipation for the result.

Melissa Mantzoukis

19-year-old Melissa Mantzoukis, some months ago, achieved finishing at the third place of German Idol, having won over both the juries and the TV viewers. In the summer, as you have been informed through Eurovisionfun, she was in Greece to record two songs that is about to submit to ERT within the next period. We will reveal to you more information regarding Melissa’s proposal just as it gets submitted to ERT. One more candidacy that is being prepared for months and deserves our attention.

Leon of Athens

Leon of Athens is one of the creators of our 2019 participation. Towards the end of summer, he was at England recording the song he and his record label COBALT are about to submit to ERT. In his proposal Dream Team is also going to be involved, something practically meaning that the dreamy team will be in more than one proposals from the selection process.

Cynthia Verazie

Supported by Mike Connaris that represented Cyprus twice in the contest, Cynthia Verazie of polish decent that became known to our country through Rising Star and has been living in Norway for the last few years, making a career there, has already submitted her proposal to ERT.

To the aforementioned names, of course, as we move on to the end of the deadline, more will be added, with the number surpassing the 43 that were submitted last year. As you may have guessed, Eurovisionfun is tracking the news very closely and is informing you for any news available.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news!

 

Slovenia: RTVSLO considered withdrawing from ESC 2023!

RTVSLO, the national broadcaster of Slovenia, considered withdrawing from the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

The Slovenia site Evrovizija.com reported that RTVSLO was considering not to take part in the upcoming 2023 contest in the United Kingdom, before they eventually confirmed participation earlier this week.  The 2007 representative and member of the RTVSLO Programme Council Alenka Gotar posted on her social media that:

Great news! In the spring, RTV’s management and consultants were thinking about not participating in Eurovision anymore! I am glad that this time they took into account the opinion of the Music Commission of the RTV Program Council, of which I am the president, that it is important for Slovenian music and musicians to create new music that is also shown abroad. Thank you also to the entire program board of RTV, left and right councilors who supported us/me! No vote against! Long live the music!

This wasn’t the first time that the broadcaster considered to step out of the contest. Both in 2013 and 2014 there was a debate regarding the withdrawal given the financial difficulties.

Stay tuned on Eurovision Fun for all the updates and new around the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

Source: Eurovoix

Sweden: 2824 songs submitted to Melodifestivalen 2023!

Today 16/9 was the last day of application for Melodifestivalen 2023. Through the contest’s official Instagram account, SVT confirmed that Melodifestivalen had accepted 2824 applications to participate in the show. Of the proposals submitted, only 14 will be selected through a professional jury, while another 14 will be selected by SVT and will directy participate at the semifinals.

Last year, around 2500 applications were submitted to the competition, which is about 300 fewer than this year. The list of participants will be published in November or December.

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 (Venue TBC)

Source: SVT

Greece: Areti Kosmidou is on the list of possible representatives for Eurovision 2023!

After returning to Greece, Areti Kosmidou was invited in the Greek morning TV show Breakfast@Star.

Now known as Aretha, Areti was introduced to us back in 2014 through The Voice, ending up second. When she was only sixteen years old, she was the girl that made a great impression in the famous talent show in Mihalis Kouinelis’ team.

Since then, she has been in America to study and worked on her music style and making music.

 The performer and now young mother of a little girl, said in the TV show that one of the main reasons of her return in Greece was to submit her proposal to ERT, aiming for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in the United Kingdom.
As she stated, representing Greece in the contest is one of her dreams, whether it happens in 2023 or one of the next years.

Speaking of 2023, she said that her song is ready, in its final version and the only thing left is submitting it to the Greek broadcaster.

It is an electro pop song and seems more like a maistream song rather than the indie pop style that she was used to when she started singing

Aretha is now the latest addition in the list of artists that are going to claim the Greek representation in Eurovision 2023. She is for sure moved by Greece’s latest entry, as Aretha and Amanda are singing in a similar musical style.

These are some of Areti’s songs you can listen to:

You can watch her interview in the Greek TV show HERE.

What do you think about a possible representation by Areti Kosmidou?

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Greek participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in the United Kingdom!

Greece: Leon of Athens’ proposal for Eurovision 2023 in collaboration with Dream Team | EXCLUSIVE

You were already informed – for months now – through Eurovsionfun that Leon of Athens is about to sumbit a proposal to ERT for Eurovision 2023. However, today we are going to reveal one more hint that will bring his candidacy at the center of attention even more.

According to our exclusive information, both the artist and people from the recording label COBALT, have come into contact with the very well known and successful team in the contest – Dream Team (Fokas Evangelinos, Ilias Kokotos, Dimitris Kontopoulos) – in order to take over the project together, if the proposal they submit to ERT gets selected.

This practically means that Fokas Evangelinos will take over the direction, Ilias Kokotos will be in charge of general management for the project and Dimitris Kontopoulos will most probably be involved in the final production of the song and be resposible for the sound engineering during rehearsals, just as it happened with Amanda earlier this year.

We remind you that the song Leon of Athens is going to submit has already been written during his stay in London at the end of August. It is expected to be at Leon’s usual style. So far, he hasn’t sumbitted his proposal to ERT, but this is going to happen in the following days until October 9th, the deadline for song submissions.

Dream Team has collaborated with COBALT last year too, because they would have taken over Good Job Nicky if he was selected by ERT. Last year, both MINOS and PANIK had adressed a similar suggestion to Dream Team for taking over their artists.

It remains to be seen how many proposals Dream Team is involved into in this year’s greek participation selection process.

Stay tuned in Eurovisionfun for all the latest news!

Spain: All the latest news about Benidorm Fest 2023!

RTVE, Spain’s public broadcaster, has taken up the Eurovision challenge seriously! Intending to capitalise on the success of last year’s edition of Benidorm Fest, and Chanel’s excellent run in Eurovision 2022, RTVE is going all out to present an even more complete and impressive TV show.

The presenters of the show

RTVE confirmed yesterday the names of the two presenters of Benidorm Fest 2023, with Mónica Naranja taking on co-presenting duties, alongside Inés Hernand (last year’s hostess of Benidorm Fest).

According to Formula TV , Mónica Naranjo will be the main presenter of the two semi-finals and the final, which will be broadcast in prime time on La 1, while Inés Hernand will be in the Green Room of the Palau d’Esports L’Illa in Benidorm, where the Benidorm Fest will take place.

Related TV programs

Máximo Huerta, co-presenter of last year’s edition of Benidorm Fest, will be involved again this year in a different capacity. According to the VerTele website, he will present a daily tv program, showcasing all the details and developments of this year’s Benidorm Fest.

Alaska, another co-presenter of last year’s Benidorm, will also be involved, as she is to present a Christmas show that will be broadcast at the end of the year on La 1. In this show, some of the participants of the first edition of Benidorm Fest will also be present, with Chanel Terrero, of course, expected to be (literally) on the spotlight.

Chanel won the first edition of the Benidorm Fest with the song ” SloMo”, and represented Spain in Turin, achieving a 3rd place in the grand final.

Stay tuned for all the developments regarding Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2023!

Eurovision 2023: National broadcaster participation window closing today!

The national broadcasters from the countries having an active EBU membership, have a deadline until today (15/9), in order to confirm their participation in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

We might not know the city at United Kingdom that we are going to travel to for Eurovision 2023 yet, but today is the deadline for the national broadcasters-EBU members to confirm their participation in the contest.

Until October 11th, according to the rules, the possibility of withdrawal is provided without the imposition of a fine. From this date on, the broadcasters that applied for participating and are willing to withdraw, are going to face the imposition of a fine, which is varying, depending on the time of withdrawal (before or after the semi-finals draw etc.).

31 countries, with one way or another, have announced their will to participate in Eurovision 2023. Among them there’s Greece, and Cyprus too. Those countries are:

  • Albania
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Malta
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • The Netherlands
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

The number from the countries above is expected to grow, because nine countries that participated in this year’s contest, haven’t clarified their intentions yet. Those are:

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Moldova
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Slovenia

There’s always a chance, although slight, for a country to return or for another one to debut. The participating countries and their exact number will be confirmed through EBU’s official announcement. The respective announcement for Eurovision 2022 was made on October 20th.