Albania: The potential dates of Festivali i Këngës 62!

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The submission window for the 62nd edition of Festivali i Këngës, the popular Albanian festival, which has also been used as the country’s national selection for Eurovision, closed on October 10.

According to an announcement made by RTSH, more than 80 songs have been submitted, signed by composers not only of Albanian origin, but also from countries such as Kosovo, North Macedonia, Germany, Sweden, Italy and the United States.

When will Festivali i Këngës 62 take place?

According to the OGAE Albania, FiK 62 will be held in four nights, at the Pallati i Kongreseve in Tirana, from Tuesday, December 19, until Friday, December 22, 2023, when we will find out who will represent Albania in Malmö.

 

Artists selection

The festival will include 27 artists, 14 in the “big” category and 13 newcomers. In fact, we may see the return of a FiK star, Elsa Lila. Elsa Lila has won FiK three times, in 1996, 1997 and 2022 and according to Vip Magazine, she’s planning a return after her success with “Evita” last year.

Changes in voting

Festivali i Këngës will see another change in its voting format in 2023. In last year’s edition, Festivali i Këngës had two separate winners. The winner of the jury voting was crowned as the winner of the festival and the winner of the public vote was the chosen one for the Albanian representation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Indicatively,

  • Elsa Lila with her song “Evita” won the jury voting and was crowned as the winner of Festivali i Këngës 61
  • Albina & Familja Kelmendi with “Duje” won the public vote, being the jury runner-up and won the ticket to Liverpool

This year and according to Bojken Lako, the artistic director of Festivali i Këngës 62, the winner and consecutively the Eurovision 2024 Albanian representative will be chosen accordingly through a combination of jury and public vote. Hence, a Eurovision-style 50/50 format will be used in order to select the next Albanian act.

Festivali i Këngës has now started to implement the public opinion more, especially when it comes to Eurovision. For many years it was accused of corruption and the country’s inability to respond to the modern-day Eurovision standards.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news about Albania’s participation in Eurovision 2024!

Iceland: Söngvakeppnin 2024 Final on March 2!

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Iceland has already confirmed its participation in Eurovision 2024 and will select its representative on 2 March with the grand final of Söngvakeppnin 2024.

RÚV, Iceland’s national broadcaster, has announced the timetable of the national final. The competition will consist of three shows: the first semi-final on 17 February, the second semi-final on 24 February and the final on 2 March. The winner of the competition will receive the golden ticket to represent the Land of Fire and Ice at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden.

Each semi-final will consist of five entries competing live. The two songs from each show with the most votes from the TV audience will qualify for the grand final. The show’s producers also have the option of adding a fifth finalist as a wildcard from the other contestants. The show will again be presented by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir, Sigurður Þorri Gunnarsson and Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson.

RÚV received 118 entries for Söngvakeppnin 2024. The final list of participants will be announced on 27 January in RÚV’s Lögin i Söngvakeppninni.

Artistic direction for Söngvakeppnin 2024 will be provided by Högni Egilsson, Selma Björnsdóttir, Samúel Bjarki Pétursson and Gunnar Páll Ólafsson. Selma is the well-known Eurostar, former Eurovision representative of Iceland, taking second place in 1999 in Jerusalem with the song “All Out of Luck“, but failing to qualify in 2005 in Kiev with the song “If I Had Your Love“.

Diljá represented Iceland in this year’s competition with the song “Power“, finishing 11th in the second semi-final with 44 points, failing to advance to the final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzlTcA0OC5s

Source: ruv.is

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news about Eurovision!

Albania: Applications for this year’s national final are now closed!

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The most important event in Albanian pop music, the 62nd Song Festival organized by RTSH, has closed its applications for aspiring participants who wish to represent their country in the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden and,with the midnight of October 10th being he deadline for the submission of the entries. This year, there are over 80 high-quality music pieces written by Albanian composers, lyricists, and artists not only from Albania but also from other regions like Kosovo, North Macedonia, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and the United States.

A novelty of this year’s application process was the opportunity to receive an automated real-time response via email. After the song’s author submitted the polished material, including the complete song, orchestration, backing vocals, instrumental version of the song, lyrics, and the names of the authors, they received a response indicating whether the material was accepted or not, accompanied by the corresponding arguments.

Within this week, all the songs will undergo a selection phase by a designated admission committee appointed by the festival’s board. After this screening, the participating songs for the 62nd RTSH Song Festival will be announced.

The full list of artists who will be part of this festival, as well as the latest updates on this music event, can be found on the social media accounts of Fest 62 and RTSH.

Albania in this year’s Eurovision

Albania was represented by Albina and Familja Kelmendi  and their song “Duje” in this year’s song contest,which earned them the 22nd place in the Grand Final in Liverpool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI9rSDhXwyc

source:RTSH

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for further news about your favortie contest!

Monaco: The reasons behind Eurovision 2024 non-participation

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After a few years, Monaco’s right to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest was restored following the official debut of TVMonaco, the microstate’s new public broadcaster.

This has given rise to several speculations regarding Monaco’s potential comeback to the competition. However, these rumors were refuted, when it was revealed last month that Monaco will not be competing in Eurovision 2024.

Frédéric Cauderlier, the head editor of TVMonaco, explained the reasons behind Monaco’s non-participation in an interview with L’Observateur.

“The deadlines are too tight for registrations. Additionally, at this point in time, the channel’s launch prevents us from immediately focusing on this project”.

Monaco last participated in Eurovision in 2006, and has one win, in 1981, with Séverine’s “Un banc, un arbre, une rue”. Would you like to see Monaco return to the competition?

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun to stay up to date on all the latest news about the world’s largest music competition!

Source: eurovoix

Spain: Artists who have expressed their interest for Benidorm Fest 2024!

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The call for Benidorm Fest 2024 submissions has ended yesterday. 825 entries in total were submitted to RTVE and will therefore be reviewed and sorted down to the best 16. Those 16 will participate in the televised semifinals of the competition in late January 2024.

Spain: 825 entries were submitted to RTVE for Benidorm Fest 2024!

The submitted proposals included both emerging and qualified artists. Benidorm Fest, having established itself as one of the most interesting music festivals in Spain, as well as the winning prize of representing the nation in Eurovision, have drawn the attention of many ex-Benidorm and other Spanish music stars.

Indicatively,

Megara

This rock band sees performing at Eurovision as a major career milestone. In the first Benidorm Fest, they were unable to advance to the galas, but in the second, their song “Arcadia” placed in the respectable fourth place, earning much praise for their ground-breaking performance and superb live show. They are already planning their next participation, aiming to win and represent their country to Malmö, being the first time in Eurovision history that Spain has sent a rock sound. The group has released a message about their song.

https://twitter.com/weareMEGARA/status/1683550956074442755?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1683550956074442755%7Ctwgr%5E6ea6e3575a842982602f6220bb6373437ad7a11e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.escplus.es%2Fbenidorm-fest%2F2023%2Festos-son-los-artistas-que-han-mostrado-su-interes-en-presentarse-al-benidorm-fest-2024%2F

Bombai

They first came to our attention with the hugely successful hit “Solo si es contigo” in Spain, and ever since then they haven’t stopped creating music, touring the entire Iberian peninsula, or even contributing to a film’s soundtrack. Their music blends pop, reggae, and rock, and they have a distinct motto: “Music is joy.”

Javi (the vocalist), Vicente (electric guitar), and Ramón (acoustic guitar) are the three members of the band; they are all well-known to the Spanish public and have been playing music for many years.

https://twitter.com/bombaioficial/status/1711821096415031748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1711821096415031748%7Ctwgr%5E6ea6e3575a842982602f6220bb6373437ad7a11e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.escplus.es%2Fbenidorm-fest%2F2023%2Festos-son-los-artistas-que-han-mostrado-su-interes-en-presentarse-al-benidorm-fest-2024%2F

K!ngdom

This is an electronic pop music trio formed in 2018 by Ane, the vocalist, and music producers Iván Ramrez and Jorge Gomis. For the most part, they will go unnoticed, but the commercial theme of the musical talent show La Voz sounds familiar, and most all, they are behind several of the songs included in the popular Netflix series “Valeria.”

It will be their third attempt to compete in Benidorm Fest.

GOMZ

When Ral Gómez won the musical talent competition “El numero 1,” he earned fame in Spain. His voice, stage presence, and expertise with a variety of musical instruments dazzled the entire nation, and as a result, many Eurofans recommended him for Eurovision. This ambition was partially fulfilled when he wrote “Tu Canción” the song that Amaia and Alfred Garca sang to represent Spain at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. He has a long list of achievements, including writing songs for modern artists such as Lola Indigo and Dana Paola.

His desire to perform began the night before the Eurovision 2023 final, when he firmly stated that he was interested in performing after watching Blanca Paloma. Since then, he has left several hints, commenting on the Benidorm Fest rules announcement or announcing that he has already produced the first demo of his song.

https://twitter.com/soygomz/status/1710303849938903485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710303849938903485%7Ctwgr%5E6ea6e3575a842982602f6220bb6373437ad7a11e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.escplus.es%2Fbenidorm-fest%2F2023%2Festos-son-los-artistas-que-han-mostrado-su-interes-en-presentarse-al-benidorm-fest-2024%2F

Noelia Franco

Noelia has tried her luck in many talent shows, such as “The Voice” or “X Factor”. Her Eurovision link has been her participation in “Operación Triunfo” that had been used as the Spanish selection format in 2018. Noelia even took place in the OT Eurovision Gala with the song “Today I return to laugh again”, finishing 4th.

https://twitter.com/soynoeliafranco/status/1688658219416092672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1688658219416092672%7Ctwgr%5E6ea6e3575a842982602f6220bb6373437ad7a11e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.escplus.es%2Fbenidorm-fest%2F2023%2Festos-son-los-artistas-que-han-mostrado-su-interes-en-presentarse-al-benidorm-fest-2024%2F

The list of artists having expressed their interest of participating in Benidorm Fest 2024 is extensive and includes:

  • Jesus Martí
  • Tatiana Delalvz
  • Javy Ramirez
  • Victor Arbelo
  • Salva Ortega
  • Angy Fernandez
  • Julia Medina
  • Trovadorum
  • Escalona Borja
  • New Fantasy
  • Mario Jefersson
  • Vicente Navarro
  • Deteresa
  • Hydn and Girl’s Gang
  • Huntsman

and many more…

Benidorm Fest 2024 will take place on January 30, February 1 and 3. More information regarding the semi-final line-up as well as the presenters of the show will be revealed at a later stage, probably around November.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!

Source: ESCPLUS

Spain: 825 entries were submitted to RTVE for Benidorm Fest 2024!

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The submission window for Benidorm Fest 2024, the Spanish national selection for Eurovision 2024, closed yesterday after remaining open for nearly 5 months.

It is officially revealed that RTVE has received 825 entries. A slight decrease is noted in comparison with the 876 entries received in 2023 and the 886 received in 2022.

Statistics

  • All of the 825 entries were submitted via a web form, in comparison with the 455 entries submitted the same way last year.
  • Almost 200 songs were submitted in the last 24 hours!
  • All of this edition’s submissions include both a singer and a song. Meanwhile last year, more than 300 songs were not submitted with a performer.
  • 23 out of the 825 songs submitted are the outcome of a song camp that was held this year by RTVE. This song camp took place during the third week of September with the goal of enriching the festival’s selection.

More diversity than ever

In order to select the greatest entry possible, Benidorm Fest is now more open to any music style. This openness is depicted on the submissions. Reggaeton, trap, urban and electronic music will be present, making Benidorm’s Fest 2024 call the most diverse in festival’s history. Furthermore, many entries were submitted in co-official languages of Spain.

Along with the music genre, the artists’ profiles and backgrounds are also diverse. Benidorm Fest 2024 will include in its line-up both established and emerging artists.

What’s next?

Since the submission window is closed, RTVE’s committee will review all of the submitted entries. The 825 submissions will be filtered down to the best 16 acts, which will therefore compete in the semifinals of Benidorm Fest. The 16 participants of Benidorm Fest 2024 will be revealed on November 11 during a press conference in Seville.

Then, the selected artists will commence their preparations for the main event of Benidorm Fest, its two semifinals as well as the Grand Final. The two semifinals, will include 8 artists each and will take place on January 30 and February 1 accordingly. Benidorm’s Fest Grand Final is scheduled for the 3rd of February, when the 8 qualified artists will compete for a ticket to Malmö.

The winner of Benidorm Fest 2023 and therefore the Spanish representative in Eurovision 2023 was Blanca Paloma with her song “Eaea”, which although being a favorite, finished in 17th place.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!

Source: RTVE

Sweden: The first names of Melodifestivalen 2024! | Four acts are reportedly coming back to the contest!

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Aftonbladet’s Torbjörn Ek, revealed a couple of minutes ago the first 4 potential Melodifestivalen 2024 acts! 

Usually, they manage to guess most of the artists that compete each year in the national selection procedure of Sweden for Eurovision Song Contest. 

After this year, when Aftonbladet revealed 24 out of the 28 acts of Melodifestivalen 2023, last year around this period of time, even before SVT announced the line-up officially, the first contestant names for Melodifestivalen 2024 just started to spring up. These artists are adding to the potential lineup that will compete in the hopes of getting selected to represent Sweden next year, at the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Malmö, Sweden.  

The following artists are, more or less known to the fanbase, each of them having competed more than once at Melfest in the past. 

The rock band “Smash into pieces” 

The experienced rock band “Smash into pieces”, formed in 2008 and since then they have released seven studio albums, are making their comeback at Melodifestivalen, after their massive success this year with the song “Six Feet Under“! Apart from their participation at Melodifestivalen 2023, the band’s guitarist Benjamin Jennebo, had participated as a writer back in 2020, as he co-wrote the song “Troubled waters” which was performed by Victor Crone and made it directly to the final. 

Dotter

Dotter , or Johanna Jansson , 36, as her real name is, competed in 2018 with “Cry” which went out in her heat, in 2020 she came second with “Bulletproof” and in 2021 she finished fourth with “Little tot“. Since then, she has had time to both become a mother and release music in Swedish, but according to information to Aftonbladet, the competition song next year will involve English lyrics once more.

Liamoo

Liamoo , or Liam Cacatian Thomassen , 26, will also appear for the fourth time next year. Liamoo won “Idol” in 2016 and debuted in Mello in 2018 with “Last breath” which finished sixth, in 2019 he competed in a duet with Hanna Ferm and came third with “Hold you” and in 2022 he finished fourth with “Bluffin“. According to information to Aftonbladet, he was also in the final discussions before last year’s competition.

Lasse Stefanz

Lasse Stefanz, with frontman Jönsson, aged 67, has competed once before in the Melodifestivalen, in 2011 with “En blick och nänting händer“, which went out in the second chance.

According to sources, it seems that some record companies and music publishers have received word of mouth about songs and artists, but that SVT has not yet sent out that many official confirmations. As it is still quite early, things can change until the confirmation emails go out to the artists.

We remind you that Melodifestivalen 2023 is scheduled to take place between February 3rd to March 9th, while SVT has received 2624 songs. The final list of Melodifestivalen participants will be published later this year, between end of November and beginning of December. 

The list of artist that are reportedly participating at Melodifestivalen 2024 are:

  1. Lasse Stefanz
  2. Smash into pieces
  3. Dotter
  4. Liamoo

This is the schedule of the six shows of the Melodifestivalen 2024 tour:

  • Heat 1: Saturday 3 February 2023, Malmö Arena, Malmö
  • Heat 2: Saturday 10 February 2023, Scandinavium, Göteborg
  • Heat 3: Saturday 17 February 2023, Vida Arena, Växjö
  • Heat 4: Saturday 24 February 2023, Stiga Sports Arena, Eskiltuna
  • Heat 5: Saturday 2 March 2023, Löfbergs Arena, Karlstad
  • Final: Saturday 9 March 2023, Friends Arena, Stockholm – Solna

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden in 7, 9 and 11th of May 2024, after the second win of Loreen in Liverpool, with her song “Tattoo”: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2Fj0W4jP4&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the most loved Eurovision national final! 

Source: Aftonbladet 

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San Marino: The Grand Final of “Una Voce per San Marino” will take place on March 2!

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San Marino has confirmed since August that “Una Voce per San Marino” will remain as the country’s selection format for Eurovision 2024.

The return of “Una Voce per San Marino” marks the fourth time in San Marino’s Eurovision history that a national selection is being used and the third time that this specific format is chosen.

A press release by the Sanmarinese national broadcaster gave us more details about the 2024 national selection.

The selection of UVPSM 2024 participants

The 2024 edition will include both “emerging” and “big” artists, as in 2022.

  • The applications for the “emerging artists” category have now opened and will remain open until the 10th of January 2024. Those who are interested can register on the “Una Voce per San Marino” registration website. The “Academy and Casting” phase will start on November 10th and will finish ten days after the deadline, on January 20. The casting sessions can be held online for those not living near Italy. After this procedure, 80 artists will proceed to the semifinals.
  • Regarding the “big artists” category, invitations will be sent by the Sanmarinese broadcaster.

In the Grand Final, 16 participants will compete, 8 from each category. Both “big” and “emerging” artists will be able to sing only one of their songs in the Grand Final.

There are no other specific rules regarding the submitted acts. There is a freedom of language, music style and territoriality.

The Grand Final of Una Voce per San Marino is scheduled for March 2 2024. It will be held in Teatro Nuovo di Dogana, the same venue that hosted the selection in 2022 and 2023. The winner will be decided by a qualified jury.

Despite this marathon session of a national selection, Piqued Jacks, UVPSM 2023 winners, did not manage to qualify to the Grand Final, finishing dead least with nul points.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!

Source: RTV San Marino

Ukraine: Over 65 songs have been submitted for Eurovision 2024!

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The deadline for applications to Vidbir 2024, the national competition wherein Ukraine’s representative for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest will be chosen, is approaching in less than two weeks.

More specifically, interested artists are asked to submit proposals to the country’s public television by October 22.

According to a Facebook post by the Ukrainian broadcaster, 65 songs have already been submitted:

The guidelines for taking part in Vidbir 2024 are covered in detail in our article.

With a score of 243, Tvorchi, who represented Ukraine the previous year, came in sixth with the song “Heart of Steel”. Will Ukraine enter the top ten for a third consecutive year?

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun to stay up to date on all the latest news about the world’s largest music competition!

Albania: A 50/50 combination of jury and public vote will decide the winner of Festivali i Këngës 62!

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Albania will choose its Eurovision 2024 act, as usual, via Festivali i Këngës. Festivali i Këngës has been used as the Albania’s selection format since its inaugural participation in 2004, being a music festival of great significance for the country’s music scene with a history of more than five decades.

The submission window for Festivali i Këngës 62 remains open till tomorrow, October 10th and the artists interested in participating can still submit their entries to the national broadcaster.

Changes in voting format

While the submissions are still open, it was confirmed that Festivali i Këngës will see another change in its voting format in 2023. In last year’s edition, Festivali i Këngës had two separate winners. The winner of the jury voting was crowned as the winner of the festival and the winner of the public vote was the chosen one for the Albanian representation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Indicatively,

  • Elsa Lila with her song “Evita” won the jury voting and was crowned as the winner of Festivali i Këngës 61
  • Albina & Familja Kelmendi with “Duje” won the public vote, being the jury runner-up and won the ticket to Liverpool

This year and according to Bojken Lako, the artistic director of Festivali i Këngës 62, the winner and consecutively the Eurovision 2024 Albanian representative will be chosen accordingly through a combination of jury and public vote. Hence, a Eurovision-style 50/50 format will be used in order to select the next Albanian act.

 

This is another change that Festivali i Këngës sees in its voting format. Festivali i Këngës has now started to implement the public opinion more, especially when it comes to Eurovision. For many years it was accused of corruption and the country’s inability to respond to the modern-day Eurovision standards.

Festivali i Këngës 62 is expected to be hosted in late December and will include 27 artists, 14 in the category of “big” and 13 newcomers.

What do you think about the public’s involvement in Festivali i Këngës? Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!