Norway: The results of the 1st Semi Final of Melodi Grand Prix!

Tonight took place the first semi-final of the 2023 Melodi Grand Prix, the show that determines the representative of the the Kingdom of Scandinavia, Norway, to the Eurovision Song Contest. 7 artists competed with then aim to win 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 first semi-final were:

  1. Alessandra Mele – “Queen of Kings“
  2. Erik Næss – “Wave“
  3. Rasmus Thall – “TRESKO“
  4. Kate Gullbrandsen – “Tårer i paradis“
  5. Umami Tsunami featuring Kyle Alessandro, Kristian Haugstøyl & Magnus Winjum – “Geronimo“
  6. Ulrikke Brandstorp – “Honestly“
  7. Byron Williams Jr & Jowst – “Freaky For The Weekend“

After the performances of all the artists, the voting lines opened. The outcome was solely in the hands of the televoters.

The Norwegian public decided that the three best performances of the night were:

Umami Tsunami featuring Kyle Alessandro, Kristian Haugstøyl & Magnus Winjum – “Geronimo“

     Ulrikke Brandstorp –“Honestly“

Alessandra Mele – “Queen of Kings“

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!

Estonia: The results of the second semi-final of Eesti Laul 2023!

The second and last semi-final of Eesti Laul 2023, the selection process for the next Estonian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, has just finished. In today’s second semi-final, ten songs competed for the remaining five tickets leading to the grand final.

The presenters of the evening were, yet again, Grete Kuld and Tõnis Niinemets while the show took place at Viimsi Artium in Viimsi.

The Participants:

The artists that participated in the second semi-final of Eesti Laul 2023 were as follows:

  1. Inger – Awaiting You
  2. Linalakk & Bonzo – Aeg
  3. Meelik- Tuju
  4. Elysa – Bad Philosophy
  5. Robin Juhkental – Kurbuse matused” 
  6. m els – So Good At What You Do
  7. Wiiralt – Salalik
  8. Sissi – Lighthouse”’
  9. Carlos Ukareda – “Whiskey Won’t Forget
  10. Alika – Bridges

The Show:

1. Inger – Awaiting You

Inger is opening the second semi-final. His performance starts with him being on a round platform, sitting on a chair. Although he is very present and playful during his performance, he has trouble with his vocals.

2.Linalakk & Bonzo – Aeg

The first Estonian ballad of the night. An atmospheric setting yet an uneventful performance.

3. Meelik  Tuju

Meelik are using a black and white effect for their performance until the third chorus. They were very professional and had a well thought-out performance.

4. Elysa – Bad Philosophy

The second runner-up of Eesti Laul 2022 performs an 80s influenced pop song. She is accompanied by three dancers that were stylized as David Bowie. A pretty wooden performance from her behalf.

5. Robin Juhkental – Kurbuse matused

Robin is accompanied by a pianist, a drummer and a dancer. It’s a nice performance but it fails to generate any emotion.

6. m els – So Good At What You Do

The red colour prevails in m els’ performance. She performs while standing on a high platform. She’s a present performer and a good vocalist.

7. Wiiralt – Salalik

Another black and white performance on tonight’s semi-final. It’s a good performance but very reminiscent of Meelik’s performance.

8.Sissi – Lighthouse”’

Sissi is dressed in white for her Eesti Laul performance. Manages to stand out and make a statement while being on her own.

9.Carlos Ukareda – “Whiskey Won’t Forget

Carlos is alone with a guitar on the stage. He’s dressed in black. A flawless performance.

10.Alika – Bridges

Alika is accompanied by a piano that has the illusion of playing on it’s own. She’s dressed in white. A charismatic performer.

The results

The five artists who qualified for the final of Eesti Laul 2023 were determined after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, four qualifiers were determined by a 50% jury and 50% televoting system. In the second round of voting, a new vote was held and one more qualifier was chosen solely by the televoting.

Before announcing the results, the presenters announced the jury’s top four favourites in random order with them being Alika, Meelik, Sissi and Wiiralt!

In the first round, the following four songs qualified:

Among the six remaining songs, this is the last song to qualify to the final:

After the announcement of the televote qualifier of the second semi-final, the presenters announced that two more artists who did not make it directly from the semi-finals to the finals will also qualify for the final of Eesti Laul through phone votes only. Voting closes on 16 January at 18:30 CET. Voting will be based on the same numbers as the semi-finalists.

These are the artists who didn’t qualify from the Eesti Laul semi-finals:

  1. Ellip – “Pretty Girl
  2. Kaw – “Valik
  3. Merlyn – “Unicorn Vibes
  4. Mia – “Üks samm korraga
  5. Neon Letters and Maiko – “Tokimeki
  6. Linalakk and Bonzo – “Aeg
  7. Elysa – “Bad Philosophy
  8. Robin Juhkental – “Kurbuse matused
  9. Wiiralt – “Salalik
  10. Carlos Ukareda – “Whiskey Won’t Forget

These are the finalists of Eesti Laul 2023 so far:

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news regarding the Estonian participation in Eurovision 2023.

Israel: Noa Kirel reveals more details on her Eurovision 2023 song!

Despite the rumours about Israel’s withdrawal from Eurovision 2023, Noa Kirel doesn’t flinch and feverishly continues the preparations on her performance on the stage of Liverpool, in May! Just some time ago, she announced that the final decision for Eurovision 2023, will be made between two songs. Noa went on and made some revelations regarding the selection process, earlier today.

Noa Kirel was invited in the TV show “Friday morning with Galit and Yoav”, and went on to make two important announcements:

  1. She has already selected the song with which she is going to compete in Eurovision 2023
  2. SHe is going to release a small teaser alongside the title of her song, while the track will be released in full at a later time

In a TV show in Channel 12, she confirmed that she has recorded two songs:

“The first song is about love, while the second is about empowerment. Both songs are in English with sone phrases in Hebrew, but both songs have some Mediterranean influence.”

We remind you that Israel had already confirmed its taking part in Eurovision 2023 back in March 2022 and has selcted Noa Kirel internally as their representative.

Until we listen to Israel’s song for Eurovision 2023, lets remember their song for last year’s contest. Michael Ben David was the representative of Israel with the song “I.M.”. In the end, he didn’t manage to qualify for the Grand Final ending up in 13th place of the Second Semi-final:

https://youtu.be/XgXjPUsjx4Y

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

Source: euromix.co.il

Belgium: Eurosong 2023 Final tonight!

The big moment for Belgium has arrived as the Western European country chooses its Eurovision 2023 representative tonight.

Seven years after their last national final in 2016, Belgium returns to this format again in order to get back on track after mediocre results in recent years.

Seven artists are competing in tonight’s Eurosong 2023 final, vying to represent Belgium at the 67th Eurovision Song Contest in May in Liverpool.

Finalists

Τhis is the running order of the artists that will take part in the Belgian national final tonight:

  1. Hunter Falls –  Ooh La La 
  2. Cherine – Ca m’ennuie pas 
  3. The Starlings – Rollercoaster
  4. Ameerah – The Carnival 
  5. Gustaph – Because Of You & The Nail
  6. Gala Aliaj Dragot – T’lnquiete 
  7. Loredana De Amicis – You Lift Me Up 

Eurosong 2023

A total of 14 songs were selected for Eurosng 2023 after selection by the relevant VRT jury, with two songs belonging to each artist. Then the artists themselves were asked to choose one of the two to compete in the national final.

  • The outcome of tonight’s final will be decided by a combination of public voting and a panel of judges. The weight of the vote of both is 50%.
  • 1560 points will be shared among the seven artists, with 780 going to the audience and 780 to the panel respectively.
  • The 780 jury points will be determined by fifteen members selected by the Belgian state broadcaster. Each member will give 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 points to each of the seven songs.
  • Regarding the public vote, which also counts for 780 votes, if a song gets 20% of the votes, that means it will receive 156 points in the final score.
  • In case of a tie, the jury’s vote prevails. If there is a tie in this criterion as well, then the song with the most 12 or 10 points prevails.

The Eurosong 2023 final will take place tonight at 20:20 CET and will last just under two hours. You can watch it through the official website of VRT, by clicking HERE.

The presenter of Eurosong 2023 will be the well-known radio producer from Flanders, Peter van de Veire, who in recent years has also been the Eurovision commentator for the Dutch-language broadcast in Belgium.

So today we will learn the third song ahead of Eurovision 2023, as well as Jérémie Makiese‘s successor to represent Belgium. The young singer took 19th place in Turin with the song “Miss You“.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB09advfF6E

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments regarding Belgium’s participation in Eurovision 2023, in Liverpool!

Estonia: Eesti Laul 2023 Second Semi-Final Tonight!

The nationa final season of Eurovision 2023, continues tonight with the second semi-final of Eesti Laul 2023!

ERR, Estonia’s public broadcaster, decided to remove the qualifying rounds after a year of use, back in the 2022 edition. So this year’s Eesti Laul will begin right from the two semi-finals and then the Grand Final, where the representative of Estonia will be decided.

Τhe hosts for this year’s edition will be Grete Kuld and Tõnis Niinemets who are going to host the show once again, two years later, after successfully hosting Eesti Laul 2021.

The second semi-final of Eesti Laul 2023 will be broadcasted this evening at 18:30 CET and will last about three hours. You can the show through the official website of ERR, by clicking HERE.

The Participants of the second Semi-Final of Eesti Laul 2023:

In the list below, you can see the ten artists and the songs, competing in the second semi-final Eesti Laul 2023 (You can listen to each song by clicking on their title):

  1. Inger – “Awaiting You”
  2. Linalakk & Bonzo – “Aeg” (Time)
  3. Meelik- “Tuju”
  4. Elysa – “Bad Philosophy”
  5. Robin Juhkental – “Kurbuse matused” (Funeral of sorrow)
  6. m els – “So Good At What You Do”
  7. Wiiralt – “Salalik“
  8. Sissi – “Lighthouse”’
  9. Carlos Ukareda – Whiskey Won’t Forget”
  10. Alika – “Bridges”

Eesti Laul 2023

In total, 20 songs are going to take part in Eesti Laul 2023, after being selected by ERR’s competent jury. Ten song will compete in each of the two semi-finals, with the five best songs advancing for the Final.

Each semi-final has two rounds of voting. In the first voting round, four songs will be selected by the jury vote combined with the public vote, while in the second round, one song will qualify for the final solely based on the televote.

In the Grand Final the show will have two rounds of voting. The first round will determine the entries that will advance to the Super Final, 50% by the jury and 50% by the TV audience. There the Estonian representative is selected by 100% televoting .

The program of Eesti Laul 2023

  • First Semi-Final – Thursday January 12
  • Second Semi-final – Saturday  January 14
  • Grand Final – Saturday February 11

Until we learn who is going to represent Estonia in Eurovision 2023, lets remember their song for last year’s contest. The previous winner of Eesti Laul and Estonia’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was Stefan with the song “Hope“,  who ended up in 13th place in the Grand Final, while on the same time he brough his country back to the final after a non-qualification in 2021:

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

Norway: Melodi Grand Prix 2023 First Heat tonight!

The selection process for the Norwegian participation in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest is finally starting tonigh. Melodi Grand Prix 2023 will take place in Trondheim and will be broadcasted every Saturday for the next four weeks, with the winner artist getting the ticket to Liverpool!

Melodi Grand Prix’s hosts for this year is the TV host Arian Engebø and the singer Stian Thorbjørnsen who has also participated in MGP himself, back in 2015 and 2021.

The first Heat of Melodi Grand Prix 2023 will be broadcasted tonight in 19:50 CET and will last for about one and a half hour. You can watch it through NRK’s official website, by clicking HERE.

The Participants of the first Heat of Melodi Grand Prix 2023:

In the list below, you can see the seven artists and the songs, competing in the first heat of Melodi Grand Prix 2023 (You can listen to each song by clicking on their title):

  1. Alessandra Mele – “Queen of Kings“
  2. Erik Næss – “Wave“
  3. Rasmus Thall – “TRESKO“
  4. Kate Gullbrandsen – “Tårer i paradis“
  5. Umami Tsunami featuring Kyle Alessandro, Kristian Haugstøyl & Magnus Winjum – “Geronimo“
  6. Ulrikke Brandstorp – “Honestly“
  7. Byron Williams Jr & Jowst – “Freaky For The Weekend“

Melodi Grand Prix 2023

In total, 21 songs are going to take part in Melodi Grand Prix 2023, after being selected by NRK’s competent jury. Seven song will compete in each of the three heats, with the three best songs advancing for the Final.

In the three heats, the three best songs will qualify for the final solely based on the vote of the Norwegian public.

For the first time since 2019, an international jury that will determine 50% of the result will be featured in the final, while the rest 50% will be determined by the public vote.

One more thing we couldn’t let unmentioned, is that NRK decided to give the contestants the opportunity to use Auto-Tune in their performances, in order to be vocally in the best way possible.

The program of Melodi Grand Prix 2023

  • First Heat: January 14th
  • Second Heat: January 21st
  • Third Heat: January 28th
  • Grand Final: February 4th

Until we learn who is going to represent Norway in Eurovision 2023, lets remember their song for last year’s contest. Previous MGP winners and Norway’s representatives at Eurovision 2022 were Subwoolfer with their song “Give That Wolf a Banana” and finished 10th in the Grand Final, continuing the country’s qualification streak for the fifth year.

https://youtu.be/adCU2rQyDeY

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

Belgium: Listen to the songs of Eurosong 2023!

We now know all the songs that are going to compete in the Belgian national final, while the seven competing songs are now available on Spotify in their full versions!

 

The songs of Eurosong 2023

You can listen to the competing songs of Eurosong 2023 by clicking each song’s title:

How is the winner going to be revealed?

  • There are 1560 points in total, that are going to be divided in half; 780 for the public and 780 for the jury
  • The jury will be consisted of 15 members where each member will award 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 (52 points in total)
  • The public vote will also give 780 points to the contestants. If, for example, a song gets 10% of the televote, it will receive 78 points.
  • In case of a tie, the jury vote will be the one to be counted. In case there is also a tie, the winner will be the one with the most 12 points, 10 points etc.
  • Each voter can make a free vote through the website of VRT and only one vote per phone number with the cost of 0,75€

The Grand Final of Eurosong 2023 will take pace in Paleis 12 / Palais 12 in Brussels on January 14.

You can also watch our interviews with two of Eurosong 2023 contestants, Ameerah and Gala Dragot:

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

JONE – I can’t wait to show the world our entry! | Exclusive interview

After the announcement of his participation in this year’s national final of Norway, MGP 2023, JONE gave an exclusive interview to EurovisionFun‘s Paschalis.

JONE is participating in the second semi final of this year’s MGP and he will try to represent his country at Eurovision 2023 with his song “Ekko inni meg“.

Some things about JONE

My real name is Jonas, I’m 27 years old and I live near Oslo. I’ve been working with music since I was 7 years old, started by playing the guitar. Then I learnt how to produce to music. From 2018 to 2021 I did a bachelor’s degree in producing and songwriting.

How he decided to participate in MGP

We figured out that we wanted to participate in MGP last year, we produced some demos, but didn’t manage to finish them and decided to participate next year. A producer contacted me. He participated in one of the songwriting camps and wanted to find the right vocalist for the song. He contacted me and asked me if I could try to record vocals. Stig Karlsen then called me and told me he loved the vocals.

What’s the song like

The song is like a heartbreak song, combined with norwegian folk music and edm party music. It’s a song that runs all over the place. It’s a high energy song, it’s what I normally like to produce. I fell in love with it since I listened to it for the first time.

What we’ll see on stage

Four dancers will be with me and the choreography is amazing. The rest is a secret! We’ve been working a lot with it and I can’t wait to show the world what it’s like.

Other MGP entries that he liked

There are two songs I like, Ulrikke’s Honestly and Alessandra’s Queen of Kings. Alessandra’s song is similar to mine and Ulrikke has an amazing voice and her song is really appealing. These are the two big competitors.

His favorite Norwegian Eurovision entry

Of course Alexander Rybak, I love Fairytale. That was the first time that I watched from MGP to the Eurovision Finals. TIX with Fallen Angel is one of my biggest idols. I take a lot of inspiration from him. He is an awesome guy and I’m so happy he participated in MGP and Eurovision.

My favorite Eurovision act of all time is Maneskin. I come from a rock background and I fell in love with that song. That was the highlight of Eurovision for me.

His message to the viewers and readers of Eurovisionfun

I really hope to come to Liverpool and participate in the biggest song contest that exists. I send my love to all of you and I hope everyone has a great time. I thank all of you who are rooting for me.

Watch the interview with JONE here:

Listen to Ekko inni meg:

We would like to thank JONE and wish him luck in his Eurovision Journey that has just begun!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more interviews and news about Eurovision 2023! 

Malta: MESC 2023 First Qualifying Round Tonight!

The time to learn Malta’s song for Eurovision 2023 is here! For the second year in a row, the island country is using the format of a national final and is organizing MESC 2023, through which they are going to select their representative for the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

40 artists are going to take part in Malta’s selection process for Eurovision 2023. Five shows in total, three qualifying rounds, one semi-final and the Grand Final, will select the artist and the song that is going to represent Malta in Liverpool.

The hosts of the three qualifying rounds of MESC 2023 will be Ryan and Josmar.

The first qualifying round of MESC 2023 will be broadcasted at 21:00 CET. You can watch it through the live broadcast of TVM’s official website, by clicking HERE.

Participants

Today, we are going to see 13 artists, out of the 40 competing in MESC 2023, in tonight’s first qualifying round.

The artists that will compete in tonight’s show are:

  1. Haley – “Tik Tok”
  2. Stefan Xuereb – “What Do You Want?”
  3. Clintess – “Lura qatt”
  4. Fabrizio Faniello – “Try to Be Better”
  5. Eliana Gomez Blanco – “Guess What”
  6. Christian Arding – “Eku ċar”
  7. Jason Scerri – “Anything Can Happen”
  8. Maria Debono – “X’allegrija”
  9. Geo Debono – “The Mirror”
  10. Mikhail – “Leħen fiċ-ċpar”
  11. Aidan – “Reġina”
  12. Nathan – “Creeping Walls”
  13. Klinsmann – “Piranha”

It’s worth mentioning that the Maltese public television hasn’t announced the full running order, but instead, they have revealed only the first song of the nigh and that is “Tik Tok” by Haley.

The Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023 (MESC 2023)

MESC 2023 will take place in five competitive rounds: three qualifying rounds, one semi-final and the Grand Final.

13 song will compete in the first two qualifying rounds, while 14 will take part in the third one. Eight songs will advance to the semi-final from each of the three qualifying rounds.

The 24 songs that will qualify to the Semi-Final will be determined through the voting of both the jury and the public. Through the semi-final, the 16 artists that will compete in the Grand Final, will be decided.

The program of MESC 2023

  • Quarter-Final 1 – January 13th
  • Quarter-Final 2 – January 20th
  • Quarter-Final 3 – January 27th
  • Semi-Final – February 9th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

Until we learn who is going to represent Malta in Eurovision 2023, lets remember their song for last year’s contest. Emma Muscat was the winner of MESC 2022 with the song “Out of Sight”. In the end she represented Malta in Eurovision 2022 with the song “I Am what I Am” but she didn’t manage to qualify for the Grand Final ending up in 16th place of the Second Semi-final:

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

Finland: Listen to the second song of UMK 2023!

The finnish broadcaster YLE has released the second song competing in UMK 2023, the finnish national final for Eurovision 2023.

The song is titled “Hoida mut” by Benjamin and you can listen to it below:

The official Eurovision site presents Benjamin as follows:

The bold, charismatic Benjamin was born for Eurovision. Making a name for himself through social media in 2012, Benjamin has an extraordinary career tale to tell. Benjamin’s international music career was launched in 2014, when his English-language debut single Underdogs climbed to the top of the single and radio charts in, for example, Spain.

In 2018, Benjamin changed his singing language to Finnish, and his debut single Naarmuja shot straight to the top of the Finnish single chart. Looking back on Benjamin’s Instagram celebrity in his younger days, his debut album Someveteraani was released in 2020.

Benjamin tells of his long search for himself as an artist, eventually figuring out that the best version is, after all, just being himself. Everything culminated in the song GAY, which is based on Finnish pop icon Maija Vilkkumaa’s classic song EiGAY became the Pride anthem for the summer of 2022. Last autumn Benjamin demonstrated his ambition and creativity by winning the Finnish Dancing With The Stars competition.

For Benjamin, who grew up with Eurovision, Hoida Mut is an important song, as it deals with an important moment in one’s life and also bends conventional notions regarding gender. A man doesn’t always have to be the alpha – even a big, strong man can sing about surrendering to someone.

The UMK jury had the following to say about Benjamin and his song: 

“Fast-riser Benjamin’s UMK song entry Hoida Mut brings an explosive energy, a contemporary sound that draws from 80s pop, not to mention a truly hit-making chorus. The production brings to mind the driving 80s-style beat used by Ava Max, The Weeknd and Dua Lipa in recent years. The song has a hot and sexy feel from start to finish, and we’re really looking forward to seeing how Benjamin, with his charisma and stunning dance moves, will bring it to life in the music video and stage performance.”

We remind you that the competing artists/songs of UMK 2023 are being revealed in different dates in the following order:

  • Thu, 12 January Keira – No Business On The Dancefloor
  • Fri, 13 January Benjamin – Hoida mut
  • Mon, 16 January Robin Packalen – Girls Like You
  • Tue, 17 January Lxandra – Something To Lose
  • Wed, 18 January Käärijä – Cha Cha Cha
  • Thu, 19 January KUUMAA – Ylivoimainen
  • Fri, 20 January Portion Boys – Samaa taivasta katsotaan

The UMK grand final will take place on Saturday, 25 February, 20:00 CET and will be broadcast on Yle TV1, Yle Areena and Yle radio channels.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding UMK and the finnish representative for Eurovision 2023!