United Kingdom: BBC eyeing Sophie Ellis-Bextor as their Eurovision 2024 representative?

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Just a bit more than a week after the Eurovision 2023 final, BBC is gearing up for Eurovision 2024 having begun the search for their next representative. After the strong criticism of the selection of 25-year-old Mae Muller as the UK’s representative at Eurovision 2023 and her 25th placement in the Grand Final, BBC seems to be moving towards choosing a more well-known and established performer for next year’s contest.

Information so far suggests that the BBC wants Sophie Ellis-Bextor to be the UK’s next representative at Eurovision 2024.

Who is Sophie Ellis-Bextor?

44-year-old Sophie Ellis-Bextor is an accomplished British singer with hits such as “Murder On The Dancefloor”. Sophie came back to the limelight during the pandemic with a series of Kitchen Disco videos that she shared with her Instagram followers, the success of which also earned her a Radio 2 show under the same name. She is also a mother of five children.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor, in fact, appears to be the only BBC-shortlisted name for Eurovision 2024 so far. As a source from the British music industry reported to “The Mail”:

So far she is the only person on the BBC shortlist for Eurovision 2024, to which there are no plans to add more.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor seems like the ideal choice for the competition – she is an excellent singer and performer, already largely known to both straight and gay audience, across Europe and worldwide. The criticism the BBC received this year for the selection of Mae Muller has been quite harsh.

We remind you that in order to put the bad results in the past and after James Newman ‘s last place with 0 points in 2021, the BBC last year and this year outsourced the selection of UK representatives to an external agent, TaP Music .

Last year’s outstanding second place finish by Sam Ryder in 2022 was not repeated this year and the UK again found themselves at the bottom of the standings.

The disbelief surrounding the good result that Mae Muller could bring started as early as the pre-parties, where her weak vocals were harshly commented on, and continued unabated during the technical rehearsals.

Her old posts on Twitter , politically colored against the Conservative government in Great Britain and Boris Johnson, also caused a stir .

UK: Mae Muller criticized over political tweets

After the harsh criticism and the poor result, the BBC wants to turn to a more tried and tested recipe, to a more widely accepted artist and certainly more experienced and with his own audience. The race to represent the UK at Eurovision 2024 is just beginning!

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Source: dailymail.co.uk

India: Is Eurovision India in the making?

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The entertaining company of Voxovation, who owns the rights of the global broadcasting of the Eurovision Song Contest, is pushing for the creation of the Eurovision India concept!

India is a big federal country consisting of 28 states and 8 union territories and each of these states/territories has its discrete culture. This datum enhances the possibility of a Eurovision-style song contest in India, in which all the states and the territories will compete for the best song.

Voxovation on this topic commented:

“India is like a continent all by itself”.

” (Eurovision India) Will bring more diversity, genres of music, passion and spectacle than a competition between countries in most regions of the world.”

This concept would also allow smaller cultures of India to be exposed on larger audiences. India’s massive music industry is one of the most well-known and internationally popular industries, which progressively evolves and becomes even bigger. There isn’t a stone un-turned in the Indian music scene, with genres expanding from classical folk and traditional serenading ballads to new folk-infused pop and hip-hop styles. The opportunity for new audiences to discover new styles of music is pretty huge.

Voxovation also added that:

“Eurovision India will become one of the cornerstones of that music scene. In the Eurovision Universe it is hard to imagine something more exciting than the passion and drama of the Eurovision Song Contest expressed in the imaginative and excessively flamboyant way that only India and Bollywood presents its entertainment.”

Source: Eurovoix

Could we see the concept of Eurovision India in the coming future? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.

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Loreen: Our favourite moments with the two-times-Eurovision-winner! | Watch the video!

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Not only once! Not just twice! Not even three times! It was four times that Eurovisionfun got the chance to meet Loreen in-person, interview her, discuss and most of all have much fun!

You can imagine, Loreen was very busy, gave lots of interviews to many big media around Europe and the rest of the world. Many large (an also some smaller ones) Eurovision fansites approached the Swedish delegation and Loreen’s team to request a short interview with her. But Loreen chose and trusted Eurovisionfun, giving four interviews to our reporters. You can have a look on all four comprehensive interviews by following the links below:

There are many moments that still remain unseen, but you can see many of our backstage moments and bloopers from all the times we’ve met Loreen in the video below:

Special thanks to SVT, Universal Sweden, the Swedish Delegation and Loreen’s team for allowing us to spend so much time with the queen of Eurovision and first woman ever to win Eurovision Song Contest for two times and to Loreen herself for being such a wonderful human being and making our moments with her so much fun!

“Until we meet again, cause this is not the end..” We will definitely meet again… This is not the end!

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Stay tuned at EurovisionFun for all news about Eurovision 2024, which will be hosted in Sweden next May!

Sweden: Calls on Jönköping to bid to host Eurovision 2024!

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Local groups and authorities are calling on Jönköping to bid to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.

Jönköping could be in the running to host Eurovision 2024 if local groups can convince the city to submit a bid. The call for the southern Swedish city to bid for the Eurovision 2024 Song Contest is being promoted by Småland Tourism, which believes the contest could provide an incredible boost to the city and the wider region.

Jönköping has 150,000 inhabitants and is the most populated city in Småland. Jönköping has strong ties to Eurovision, as it is the birthplace of Agnetha Fältskog, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 as a member of ABBA.

The venue that Jönköping will claim is the Husqvarna Garden, a purpose-built arena that opened in 2000. The arena however does not meet the capacity requirements for the competition, having a capacity of 7,000 people, it is the tenth largest indoor arena in Sweden.

Sweden with Loreen won the first place in this year’s competition with the song “Tattoo” bringing the competition back to Sweden after 2016.

https://youtu.be/Vul5zgC5Yvg

Do you think Jönköping could take over the hosting of the competition?

Source: eurovoix.com

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United Kingdom: Numerous Eurovision 2023 Songs Dominate the UK Charts!

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Now that this year’s Eurovision is over,the Eurovision contestant are able to reap the benefits of their participation in the world’s biggest song contest.The Eurovision Songs that are taking over the European charts are growing at an impressive rate,with an array of them entering the Official UK Charts,which is quite a notable milestone.

In particular,four of this year’s Eurovision Songs have entered the top 10 of this week’s UK chart: “Tattoo” at #2,“Cha Cha Cha” at #6,“I Wrote A Song” at #9 and “Queen of Kings” at #10.Loreen’s entry “Tattoo” is now the second-highest non-domestic Eurovision entry to enter the chart (after Johny Logan’s “Hold me Now”,which charted atop the Official 100),making this her highest charting entry after “Euphoria” charting at #3.

Finland’s Käärijä achieved another important breakthrough with his entry “Cha Cha Cha” being the first Finnish song ever to enter the charts.

The country’s representative Mae Muller charted at #9,achieving her highest entry in the chart ever,with the top 10 being completed by Norway’s Alessandra and her song “Queen of Kings”

You can check all the songs that entered this week’s chart here:

  • #2 Loreen (Sweden)
  • #6 Kaarija (Finland)
  • #9 Mae Muller (United Kingdom)
  • #10 Alessandra Mele (Norway)
  • #45 Noa Kirel (Israel)
  • #48 Salena & Teya (Austria)
  • #56 Blanka (Poland)
  • #63 Gustaph (Belgium)
  • #79 Voyager (Australia)
  • #92 Alex Lambrou (Cyprus)
  • #94 La Zarra (France)
  • #95 Tvorchi (Ukraine)

This year’s Eurovision featured 37 participants with the winner country being Sweden,represented by Loreen and her song “Tattoo”,which won her 583 points.This marks the seventh win for the Scandinavian Nation,tying on the top with Ireland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2Fj0W4jP4

 

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Source:BBC

Slovakia: RTVS confirms the reason for the country’s absence from Eurovision!

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Slovakia’s National Broadcaster, RTVS, has confirmed the reason behind the country’s repeated absence from Eurovision Song Contest.

RTVS is the responsible broadcaster for the country’s participation in the contest, based on the latest information, the channel has confirmed the main reason for its absence from the contest, which is financial.

The head of the public relations department of RTVS, Filip Púchovský, reported that:

“Eurovision is a singing competition of public broadcasters. In the past, RTVS was the official broadcaster of the event and at the same time the organizer of the national competition round. RTVS carefully approaches the creation of the broadcasting structure of its television and radio circuits and in the past period decided not to include this international competition in its broadcasting based on the evaluation of several input factors, primarily the funds spent and viewership… The participation of Slovak artists is also associated with high financial costs, for which RTVS does not have the resources.”

Slovak musician and radio producer Juraj Čurný commented that:

“As television is underfunded, if RTVS were to return to Eurovision the participant would likely need to fund themselves as opposed to relying on the broadcaster… If Slovakia ever return to Eurovision, it would provide an “interesting opportunity to promote Slovakia within the European context”.

The above happened to the last representative of the country in 2012, when Max Jason Mai represented the country in the competition, in Baku, with Don’t Close Your Eyes”. You can watch the participation down bellow:

Slovakia has participated in the competition in total seven times, with the first time participated being in 1993. However, the country has not yet confirmed whether or not it will participate in the contest in 2024.

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Source: aktuality.sk

 

Romania: Over 380,000 euros spent for Eurovision 2023!

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Libertatea reports that the Romanian broadcaster spent a total of €382,500 for its participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The total amount is made up of the cost of the National Final, the entry fee and the costs related to the Liverpool performance.

The biggest expense for TVR was the €180,000 entry fee to the EBU, which contributes to the funding of the Contest. Then €63,000 was spent on the Romanian National Final, from which Theodor Andrei was selected for Liverpool. The full breakdown of costs is as follows:

  • €180,000 – Participation fee
  • €80,000 – Staging and associated costs for the performance in Liverpool
  • €63,000 – National Final
  • €25,000 – Broadcasting costs in Romania
  • €23,500 – Accommodation in Liverpool
  • €11,000 – Transport and other costs

Theodor Andrei represented Romania in Liverpool with “D.G.T. (Off and on)”. In the semi-final he scored 0 points in both televote and jury and became the first entry in Romania’s Eurovision history failing to score any points.

Source: Libertatea 

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Eurovision 2024: Stockholm planning to host the Contest!

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Preparations have already started ahead of the Eurovision 2024 Contest,with the city of Stockholm stating that they have already set in train the preparations to host the 2024 contest since March,when Loreen won Melodifestivalen with her eventual Eurovision winning entry “Tattoo”.

This marks the seventh time that Sweden is set to host the Eurovision Song Contest,with the first one dating back in 1975.

The Swedish capital is one of the strongest candidates of hosting the Eurovision 2024 Contest and has already hosted the contest in 1975,2000 and 2016.

Speaking to The Euro Trip, Tobbe Ek, journalist for Sweden’s biggest daily newspaper Aftonbladet, said: “Stockholm is extremely eager to host it.

“The City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce in Stockholm started having meetings in March when they realised Sweden might actually win this year.

When Stockholm hosted in 2016, the Avicii Arena – then known as the Globe Arena – was the chosen venue and could be a possible hosting venue for 2024 as well.

Other possible venues in the capital include the Tele2 Arena, the home ground of top-flight football clubs Djurgårdens and Hammarby, and the Friends Arena which plays host to the Melfest final every year.

Other Swedish cities that are lined up for bidding for the Eurovision 2024 contest include Malmö,which hosted the contest in 1992 and 2013,Örnsköldsvik and Gothenburg,which hosted the Eurovision 1985 contest.

Gothenburg boosts with a huge arena,the Scandinavium,whose building structure however is too obsolete to host a modern contest,due to the fact that it was built over half a century ago.Therefore,a new venue would have to be built within a year in order to host the Eurovision 2024 contest,something which seems very unlikely to happen.

Sweden earned its 7th victory in this year’s contest with Loreen and her song “Tattoo”,a song that made her the first woman to ever win the song contest twice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2Fj0W4jP4

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source:eurotrippodscast

 

 

 

Eurovision 2023 Estonia: Thousands of Estonians watched the show!

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This year’s Eurovision Song Contest has been highly embraced by the Estonian audience,with almost 500,000 viewers tuning in to watch the three-night show.

A high of 66% of Estonians chose to watch the Grand Final,that is,166,000 people,a number that reached a peak of 207,000 people at some point during the course of the show.

It is also worth-mentioning that the Estonian Sign Language broadcast on ETV2 reached a new high of 15,000 viewers,peaking at 21,000.

The Eurovision shows were preceded by a handful of domestic TV programs related to the contest. ‘How to Prepare for Eurovision in Liverpool’ was watched by an average of 151,000 people. ‘Alika: a Powerful Ringing Voice’ which was broadcast one week before the contest, was watched by an average of 108,000.

Both of the Semi Finals and the Grand Final were all additionally broadcast via the ERR.ee portal and by Jupiter respectively, with more than 10,000 visitors watching the Eurovision Song Contest online.

Estonia was represented by Alika and her song “Bridges”,a song that won her the 8th place in the Grand Final,marking the 11th time that the Baltic country reaches the top 10,the last one being in 2018.

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source:eurovoix

 

Sweden: Loreen received a heroic welcome upon her return from Liverpool!

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The Swedish star of Eurovision, Loreen, received a heroic welcome upon her return from Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

SVT, organised an open concert for Loreen’s return, in Kungstradgarden. The concert was broadcasted in SVT2 and SVT Play. Loreen thanked the crowd for their love and support and offered them a special performance of her winning song, “Tattoo”. In the meantime the crowd shouted “Queen, Queen”.

After winning twice, Loreen broke a number of records:

  • She is the only woman to win the competition twice
  • She now equals Ireland’s Johnny Logan who has won the competition twice
  • She has given Sweden its 7th Eurovision victory thus equaling Ireland which has seven victories

The City Councilor of Stockholm, Karin Wanngard, was also present at the concert which was hosted by Per Sinding-Larsen.

Loreen then took the time to speak to her fans:

“With everything that the number stands for, humanity, hope, love. That’s what we Sweden stand for. I am so happy about it and proud of us.”

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