Alessandra Mele: “My song was written especially for Eurovision”| Exclusive interview |

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One of the big favorites of the Melodi Grand Prix 2023, Alessandra Mele, gave an exclusive interview to Eurovisionfun and Apostolos Boiannos and Stella Gialetzi. Her song “Queen of Kings” competed in the first semi-final of the MGP and managed to win the ticket to the grand final!

The song has already won the audience, as we see it counting thousands of views on YouTube, being used on the tiktok platform, and also being on the 18th position of the Norwegian Spotify (highest song position since this year’s MGP), with upward trends!

When asked what the song “Queen of Kings” means to her, she answered:

“This song shows the power of women, but also the power of all people, about how important it is to feel yourself. I am bisexual and when I lived in Italy I had to hide who I was because some of my friends and relatives would not approve it. So I think it’s important to accept who we are, without caring about the opinion of others, as well as to accept that there are also bad moments in life from which we become stronger!”

Was the song written especially for Eurovision?

“I was invited to the Norwegian camp where songs are written for MGP, on the very second day, together with Linda Dale, Henning Olerud and Stanley Ferdinandez wrote “Queen of Kings”. We loved it so it ended up at MGP!”

About the success of her song, she told us that she try not to look at charts and numbers only because she tries to focus on her performance and do her best! In closing, she revealed to us that there was going to be a meeting with her team these days to discuss if and what will change in her stage appearance for the MGP Grand Final. While to the question with whom Eurostar would like to collaborate, she answered Alexander Rybak, whose entry “Fairytale” is also her favorite Norwegian entry!

Watch the full exclusive interview of Alessandra Mele below

Watch the live performance of “Queen of Kings”:

Would you like Alessandra Mele to represent Norway in Eurovision 2023? Stay tuned for more exclusive interviews from your favourites Eurovision artists!

Moldova: Disqualification for two entries in Etapa Naţională 2023!

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Moldova’s public television, TRM, has already announced that they will choose their representative and song for Eurovision 2023 through the Etapa Naţională 2023 national final!

However, a while ago, the country’s public television announced that two songs have been excluded from Moldova’s selection for Eurovision 2023, in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

“Squeeze Paradise” by NÖRDIKA has been excluded from the national final as the song was published online on 8 February 2012, more than ten years before the deadline allowed by the selection rules.

Massimo Sinceri and DA-MUSE have been disqualified after the duo was found to be in breach of rules regarding the nationality of participants, as Etapa Naţională rules state that at least 50% of the singers in a group must have Moldovan nationality.

Therefore, after the exclusion of these two entries, 31 instead of 33 entries will compete in the national final of the country:

  1. Formaţia Vele – “Jocul neamului moldovenesc” (The game of the Moldovan nation)
  2. Corina Ivanov – “When Love’s Real”
  3. Nihilist & Lisa Nicky – “Final Destination”
  4. NÖRDIKA – “Damn and Down”
  5. Victor Gulick – “Let’s Dance”
  6. Donia – “Red Zone”
  7. Surorile Osoianu – “Bade, bădişor, bădiţă” (Bathe, little boy, little girl)
  8. OL – “Why You Play It Cool”
  9. Adelina Iordachi – “Deja Vu”
  10. Nikko T. – “Destiny”
  11. Y-Limit – “Live in Harmony”
  12. Crista – “Pădure verde pădure” (Green green forest)
  13. Sunstroke Project – “Yummy Mommy”
  14. NR 11 – “Adio”
  15. VERA – “Vremea ta” (Your time)
  16. Sasha Bognibov – “My Favourite Schoolgirl”
  17. Rise – “Don’t Trumble”
  18. Lisa Volk – “Scrisoare către ţară” (Letter to the country)
  19. ADA DEEA – “Mystic Rose”
  20. COSMINA – “Indestructible”
  21. Angel Kiss – “Now I Know”
  22. Gesica Sîrbu – “I’m in Love”
  23. Aliona Moon – “Du-mă” (Go)
  24. Tania Pituşcan – “Mioriţa” (Ewe)
  25. Pasha Parfeni – “Soarele şi luna” (The sun and the moon)
  26. Ricky Ardezianu – “Una rosa rossa” (A pink rose)
  27. Harmony Scuffle – “Favourite One”
  28. Valeria Condrea – “We’re Now Different”
  29. LOLA – “Temperatura” (Temperature)
  30. Diana Elmas – “Miracle”
  31. Nino – “It Would Be Nice”

You can listen to the entries from the Moldovan national final HERE.

Live auditions will begin on January 28th at noon, in the public television studios. The auditions will be broadcast live on the Moldova 2 channel and on its website, as well as on www.eurovision.md.

The score will be given exclusively by a jury. The composition of the jury will be known only on the day of the hearing. The panel will consist of an odd number of judges (three or five) and will be different from the national final panel.

On January 28, Moldova 1 channel will host a special show for the live auditions and announce the finalists who will take part in the national final. According to the rules, the ten artists with the highest scores in the live auditions will compete in the national final.

But until we find out who will represent Moldova at Eurovision 2023, let’s remember the country’s participation in last year’s contest. Last year, Moldova was represented for the third time by Zdob şi Zdub and the Advahov Brothers with the song “Trenuleţul” which finished in seventh place in the grand final and at the same time in second place in the public vote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUqf_zO2QaI&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Feurovisionfun.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

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

Source: TRM

 

Malta: Aidan disqualified from MESC 2023!

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Sad news for Aidan, one of the favourites to win MESC 2023!

As it seems, the singer disqualified from Maltese National Final with his song “Regina” and he will no longer take part in MESC. According to TVMNews, the site has contacted with the producers of the national final and has been informed that Aidan broke the rules of the festival. Specifically, Aidan has been disqualified after breaching rules 5.3 and 5.6 of the competition regarding posting to social media.

Rule 5.6 exactly states:

“The engagement of marketing personnel, marketing officials, marketing companies or the engagement into some sort of marketing or promotional campaign or activity by the artists to promote themselves, the song, their participation, or in some way to influence the public vote is strictly prohibited. The publication of any social media post, promotion material, interviews or media presence/exposure from the announcement of the quarter finalist’s onwards is also strictly prohibited. Any breach of this clause will lead to automatic disqualification”

Aidan came second in MESC 2022 with this song “Ritmu” which was very loved from many Eurofans.

Stay tuned in EurovisionFun for all the latest news of Eurovision Song Contest 2023!

Source: TVMNEWS

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023: Reiley at risk from disqualification!

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Danish hopeful representative Reiley is risking disqualification after he allegedly admitted to have broken the rules!

Reiley is competing at the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 with the song “”Breaking My Heart”.  The singer stated on Instagram that he had performed his song live during the Slow Life Slow Live festival in Seoul, South Korea last autumn.  This could be potentially violated the rules of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and Eurovision.

We must highlight that according to the participation rules for Eurovision, only songs which have not been published before September 2022 can compete at the next Eurovision Song Contest.  Further, the rules of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix states that songs must not have been performed or released publicly prior to the contest without DR’s permission.

Now the fate of Reiley lies on public broadcaster DR.  According to Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, DR is reviewing a potential violation of their rules.

However, it is still possible that Reiley can participate.  DR will deem if Reiley’s performance gave him a competitive advantage over other competing entries.  There is a precedent that can favour Reiley: Duncan Laurence performed his winning song in 2017 but the viewers were not big enough to give him a competitive advantage and it was not a commercial release.  Therefore it did not violate any Eurovision rules.

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023

The Danish national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix will take place on February 11, 2023.  Eight acts are competing to represent Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest.  The acts in competition are:

  • maia maia – “Beautiful Bullshit”
  • Reiley – “Breaking My Heart”
  • Nicklas Sonne – “Freedom”
  • Micky Skeel – “Glansbillede” (Picture perfect)
  • Mariyah LeBerg – “Human”
  • EYJAA – “I Was Gonna Marry Him”
  • Søren Torpegaard Lund – “Lige her” (Right here)
  • Frederik Leopold – “Stuck on You”

REDDI represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.  They finished in 13th place in the First Semi-Final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVg6MpVR2Pw

Source: Ekstra Bladet

 

Czech Republic: ESCZ running order announced!

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We are just one week away from the Czech national final and now we know the running order for ESCZ 2023!

Head of Delegation Kryštof Šámal was in charge of drawing the order of the ESCZ 2023 acts.  The Czech national final will take place next January 30 at 21:00 CET.  According to the rules a 70% international online voting and 30% Czech public voting will make the final result.

However, we will only get to know the winner on February 6.

The running order is:

  1. Maella
  2. Pam Rabbit
  3. Markéta Irglová
  4. Vesna
  5. RODAN

‘We Are Domi’ represented the Czech Republic at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song Lights Off.  They ended up in 22nd place in the Grand Final with 38 points.

Source: Ceska Televize

Norway: Listen to the songs of the third semi-final of Melodi Grand Prix 2023!

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Norway’s public television, NRK, is once again organizing the national final Melodi Grand Prix for the selection of its Eurovision entry in Liverpool this May. A few minutes ago, the songs of the artists of the third semi-final were released!

There will be nine finalists this year. The 21 total artists were divided into three semi-finals of seven with the top three from each semi-final receiving the ticket to the grand final of MGP 2023!

Timetable

  • Saturday, 14 January: First Semi-Final (Song Announcement on Monday, 9 January)
  • Saturday, 21 January: Second Semi-Final (Song Announcement on Monday, 16 January)
  • Saturday, 28 January: Third Semi-Final (Song Announcement on Monday, 23 January)
  • Saturday, 4 February: Grand Final

You can check out the results of the first and second semi-final here and here respectively.

The participants of the second semi-final

The last three tickets for the MGP grand final will be claimed by:

Skrellex – “Love Again”

Tiril Beisland – “Break It”

Akuvi – “Triumph”

Atle Pettersen – “Masterpiece”

Eline Thorp – “Not Meant to Be”

Maria Celin – “Freya”

Stig van Eijk – “Someday”

We remind you that this year’s Melodi Gran Prix is quite different from the previous ones, as there are no duels or second chance round. In each semi-final, only the Norwegian television audience is able to vote, while in the final, for the first time since 2019, there will also be an international jury that will determine 50% of the result.

The songs are published every Monday before the semi-final in which they are competing. Melodi Grand Prix 2023 is taking place at the Spectrum in Trondheim and is hosted by Arian Engebø and Stian Thorbjørnsen.

What do you think of the third set of MGP 2023 songs? Do you think the winner might be amongst them? Tell us in the comments!

Greece: ”Shout Out” of Antonia Kaouri & Maria Maragou leaked!

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One of the three candidate songs that are in ERT’s shortlist for the Greek representation for Eurovision 2023, leaked on Twitter a few hours earlier.

The song by Antonia Kaouri and Maria Maragou was initially leaked on Twitter and is now also available on YouTube. Many of the members of the audience committee who have heard the songs have confirmed that this is one of the songs that they heard during the voting.

The user who leaked it on Twitter claims to be from Sweden and has contacts with the song’s composers. We remind you that the song is signed by creators from Sweden.

We await with interest whether this leak will affect the participation of the two women in the final selection phase of the Greek participation.

What do you think of Shout Out? Tell us in the comments below!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Greek entry!

Italy: Måneskin will sing on the third night of San Remo!

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Recently Amadeus and RAI announced that Måneskin will perform on the third night of San Remo on February 9th. A few days ago they announced that Mahmood and Blanco, who represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022, will open the festival on February 7. A huge surprise was the announcement that on the second night of San Remo, on February 8, the Black Eyed Peas band, a world-renowned band, will perform!

See below the relevant announcement of San Remo on twitter:

About San Remo 2023:

Italy for one more year will select their entry through the San Remo festival! 25 artists will compete in order to win the festival, and have the right to represent their country at Eurovision! The contest will be held from February 7 to 11, with the fourth night inviting artists to cover Italian and world hits released between January 1960 and December 1999. In addition to everything, the final night on February 11 will reveal the final winner, and probably the representative of Italy at this year’s Eurovision!

Måneskin’s new album:

The favorite, in Italy but also throughout Europe, Måneskin, released on January 20, 2023 their third album which is called ‘Rush’! In the previous months some of the songs of the album such as “Supermodel” had already been released and it was a huge success. So we are waiting for the third night of San Remo to hear their new hits!

Source: eurovoix

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the further developments regarding ESC 2023!

 

Lithuania: The results of Heat 1 of “Pabandom iš naujo! 2023”!

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Lithuania has started seeking its representative and participation for Eurovision 2023. “Pabandom iš Naujo! 2023”, as the Lithuanian public television process is now called, consists of two qualifying rounds (Heats), two semi-finals and a final. A few minutes ago, Heat 1 was completed, with ten contestants qualifying for the next phase of the semi-finals.

The presenters of the evening were Giedraus Masalskis and Augustė Nombeko. In the Green Room the presenter was Richard Jonaitis.

The jury is composed of:
  • Ramūnas Zilnys (Music Critic)
  • Ieva Narkutė (Singer)
  • Jievaras Jasinskis (Composer and Musician)
  • Leonas Somovas (Producer and Composer)
  • Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (Soloist, former member of an electronic band called Pieno lazeriai).

The 15 songs that claimed the ten tickets for the semi-final were:

Results:

With the jury already having voted, tonight the Lithuanian audience had the chance to see the live performances for the first time and vote for their favourites. The result was determined 50% by the jury and 50% by the TV audience.

The ten artists who qualified for the semi-finals are:

Rūta Mur with the song “So Low” was crowned as the winner of Heat 1 by both the jury and the TV audience.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding Lithuania’s participation in Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool!

Source: LRT

Norway: The results of the 2nd Semi Final of Melodi Grand Prix!

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The second Semi-Final of the 2023 Melodi Grand Prix took place tonight, the selection show that is going to determine the representative of Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. 7 artists again fought for the three tickets that lead to the Grand Final on the 4th of February.

The hosts of the show were Arian Engebø and Stian Thorbjørnsen

The 7 contestants of the second semi-final were:

  1. JONE — “Ekko inni meg” (Echo in me)
  2. Sandra Lyng — “Drøm d bort” (Dream it away)
  3. Alejandro Fuentes — “Fuego” 
  4. Swing’it — “Prohibition”
  5. Elsie Bay — “Love you in a dream”
  6. Ella — “Waist”
  7. Bjørn Olav Edvardsen — “Turn Off My Heart”

The voting lines opened after all the aforementioned artists had performed. The outcome of every show is solely in the hands of the televoters.

The Norwegian public decided that the three best performances of the second semi final were:

   Swing’it — “Prohibition”

   JONE — “Ekko inni meg” (Echo in me)

   Elsie Bay — “Love you in a dream”

The next heat will take place next Saturday at 19:50 CET! You can watch MGP 2023 by clicking HERE.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun, for all the news regarding the Norway’s participation at Eurovision Song Contest 2023!