Malta: MESC 2023 semi-finalists will be announced tonight!

Malta is one step closer to naming its representative in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, as the names of the 24 semi-finalists who will compete in the semi-final on 9 February will be announced today.

As is well known, the three MESC 2023 qualifiers took place over the past three weeks, through which the island nation will choose the artist to represent it in Liverpool. However, based on the decision of the Maltese Public Television, the results are to be announced today.

Today’s show will essentially include a recap of the 39 songs that competed in the three qualifiers of MESC 2023. Afterwards, the names of the 24 semi-finalists will be announced. We remind you that eight songs from each qualifier are going to qualify for next Thursday’s semi-final, claiming a place in Saturday’s grand final.

The results to be announced during tonight’s show are based on audience and jury voting. Public voting opens tonight. The same process is to be chosen for both the semi-final and the grand final which will determine the Maltese representative in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

Participants

The 39 artists who competed in the three qualifiers of MESC 2023 and will find out tonight if they will continue their presence in the process are:

  1. Andre’ – “Broken Hill”
  2. Bradley Debono – “Blackout”
  3. Brooke – “Checkmate”
  4. Cheryl Balzan – “La La Land”
  5. Chris Grech – “Indescribable”
  6. Christian Arding “Eku ċar”
  7. Clintess – “Lura qatt”
  8. Dan – “It’ll Be OK”
  9. Dario – “Pawn in a Game”
  10. Dario Bezzina – “Bridle Road”
  11. Dominic and Anna – “Whatever Wind May Blow”
  12. Eliana Gomez Blanco – “Guess What”
  13. Fabrizio Faniello “Try to Be Better”
  14. Francesca Sciberras – “Masquerade”
  15. Geo Debono – “The Mirror”
  16. Giada – “I Depend on You”
  17. Greta Tude – “Sound of My Stilettos”
  18. Haley – “Tik Tok”
  19. Ian“On My Own”
  20. Jake – “Love You Like That”
  21. James Louis – “Dream”
  22. Jason ScerriAnything Can Happen”
  23. Jessika – “Unapologetic”
  24. John Galea – “Trailblazer”
  25. Kirstie – “Girls Get Down”
  26. Klinsmann – “Piranha”
  27. Lyndsay – “Haunted”
  28. Maria Christina – “Our Flame”
  29. Maria Debono – “X’allegrija”
  30. Marie Claire – “Thankful”
  31. Mark Anthony Bartolo – “Tears”
  32. Matt Blxck – “Up”
  33. Maxine Pace – “Alone”
  34. Mikhail – “Leħen fiċ-ċpar”
  35. Nathan – “Creeping Walls”
  36. Ryan Hili – “In the Silence”
  37. Stefan – “Heartbreaker”
  38. Stefan Xuereb“What Do You Want?”
  39. The Busker – “Dance (Our Own Party)”

MESC 2023 tonight’s show starts at 21:00 CET. You can watch it through the TVM channel by clicking HERE.

Until we know who will represent Malta at Eurovision 2023, let’s remember the country’s participation in last year’s competition. Last year’s MESC winner was Emma Muscat with “Out of Sight”. She finally represented Malta at Eurovision 2022 with the song “I Am what I Am” without being able to qualify for the Grand Final finishing in 16th place in the second semi-final with 47 points:

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

Ireland: Eurovisionfun reacts to Eurosong 2023 Songs!

The six songs of Ireland‘s national selection have been released a few days ago and will compete for a ticket to Liverpool and Eurovision 2023 via The Late Late Show Eurosong 2023 Special which will air today, February 3rd!

The Eurovisionfun team couldn’t help but watch and comment on Ireland’s national final nominations for the upcoming Eurovision contest! Enjoy Mitika Katerina, Zevteridis George and Argyropoulos Dimitris in a reaction video with detailed commentary on this year’s entries for The Late Late Show Eurosong 2023 Special!

The Late Late Show Eurosong 2023 Special will air today at 22:25 CET and will last approximately two hours. You can watch it via the official RTÉ website.

The six artists competing for a ticket to Liverpool are:

  1. Adgy – “Too Good for Your Love”
  2. Connolly – “Midnight Summer Night”
  3. Wild Youth – “We Are One”
  4. Leila Jane – “Wild”
  5. K Muni & ND – “Down in the Rain”
  6. Public Image Limited – “Hawaii”

Unlike last year, there will be no internal jury. Instead, an international jury and the vote of the TV audience will be used to determine the winning song. The presenter will be Ryan Tubridy, who is the host of The Late Late Show.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to enjoy interviews, reaction videos and live streams for our favorite competition!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the latest news on Ireland’s participation in Eurovision 2023, in Liverpool!

Ireland: Eurosong 2023 Final tonight!

As February has begun, the national finals are multiplying. Thus, tonight one more country will choose its representative for Eurovision 2023. The reason, of course, for the multiple victory of the competition, Ireland, which wants to change its luck in recent years in the contest.

RTÉ has settled on a national final for the second year in a row, with six artists vying tonight to be “anointed” to represent Ireland at the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

Participants

In the list below you will see the six artists and their nominated songs, in the order they will appear at Eurosong 2023:

  1. ADGY – “Too Good For Your Love”
  2. CONNOLLY – Midnight Summer Night
  3. Wild Youth – “We Are One”
  4. Leila Jane – Wild
  5. K Muni x ND – Down in the Rain
  6. Public Image Limited – “Hawaii

Format

Eurosong 2023 will be held on February 3. As last year, there will be an internal committee together with an international jury and the vote of the television audience, which together will be used to select the winning song. Six songs will take part in the selection, which will be performed through the Late Late Show.

The presenter of Eurosong 2023 will be Ryan Tubridy, presenter of “The Late Late Show“.

The Eurosong 2023 final will take place tonight at 22:35 CET and will last just over two hours. You can watch it on RTÉ’s official website by clicking HERE.

Until we find out who will represent Ireland at Eurovision 2023, let’s remember the country’s participation in last year’s contest. The previous winner of Eurosong 2022 and Ireland’s representative at Eurovision 2022 was Brooke Scullion with the song “That’s Rich” who did not qualify for the grand final, as she was limited to 15th place in the second semi-final with 47 points:

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

Tone Sekelius: “After competing with ‘My Way’ people see me more as an artist rather than an influencer” | Exclusive interview!

Tone Sekelius debuted last year at Melodifestivalen 2022 by placing fifth , also earned a spot in the hearts of die-hard Melodifestivalen fans.

For a second year in a row she hopes to be selected to represent Sweden , with the song ” Rhythm of my Show ” which is one of the favorites to qualify to the final, out of all seven competing numbers of the Swedish national selection procedure.

Eurovisionfun is in Gothenburg and Tone spoke exclusively to Andreas Papagiannakis, just a few hours before competing in the first heat. She commented on her appearance this year, the impact that her participation last year has had on her life and about the Swedish representative of 2022, Cornelia Jakobs!

She started by commenting on her first rehearsal experience this year and jokes about the rehearsal being so early in the morning that she just woke up and had to immediately start singing:

“This year’s number has a lot of singing and dancing and I have to stay focused, because the moment I start overanalyzing what’s going on, that’s when I forget what I need to do next. I have to keep in mind that I know what to do, I know the choreography, I know my song and I just have to have fun on stage!”

When asked how much of an impact her participation at Melodifestivalen 2022 has had on her life, she commented:

“It was an unforgettable experience. Since then I have done much music and the people have already started to see me more as an artist rather than an influencer who just makes music! Last year I was afraid that people wouldn’t see me as an artist, but that didn’t happen and that makes me very happy!”

She also commented on her getting awarded as the LGBT person of the year at the QX Gaygala 2022 , stating:

“I am excited, I felt very honored! I have left my mark on the community and the things I do move the community forward. This was my goal from the very first moment I was on the internet, not just to exist, but to have an impact on others!”

About her song she co-wrote among others with Anderz Wrethov she said:

“This year I wanted to make an uptempo song with party vibes, with attitude but at the same time be still approachabe make people want to party with me. Textwise, it’s about confidence, loving yourself and dancing to the ‘rhythm of your show’!”

Regarding her staging, she told us that regarding the rehearsals there will be some minor changes and improvements until her televised appearance, this Saturday:

“Today at my first rehearsal, it was the first time I actually saw how my number would look like on TV. We figured out it’s maybe a bit too dark. So we’ll make some changes and improvements by adding more light to it. From the beginning we aimed to give viewers the feeling of clubbing, we are very close to what we initially had in mind with the creative team!”

She is very happy that Melodifestivalen is back on tour and that she will perform in Gothenburg :

“Last year I was supposed to be competing in Gothenburg, but as you said, all the shows had to take place in Stockholm. This year is a different experience, last year I was in my hometown, this year we are all together hanging out in a Mellobubble . I am very happy to sing for the people in Gothenburg, I have been told many good comments about them!”

Last year’s representative of Sweden Cornelia Jakobs is gonna appear as a guest in the first heat, Tone jokingly told us:

“There is no rivalry! (laughs) I love her as an artist, she’s an icon, I love her song and I’m glad she’s back. Her year was great, it was great that I got to see all of her performance backstage and then I saw it all happen on the Eurovision stage!”

Regarding this year’s contestants of the first heat, she commented:

“I haven’t listened to all of the songs. I got to see the performances of Loulou Lamotte and Rejhan which I liked a lot. But I still haven’t listened to them all and at Melodifestivalen, you know, you can’t predict who’s going to win, who’s going to qualify just by ones name!”

Watch our full exlcusive interview with Tone Sekelius below:

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to enjoy interviews, reaction videos and Live streams for our favorite contest!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all Eurovision related news!

Sweden: Watch clips from the rehearsals of the first Melodifestivalen 2023 heat!

As usual, a few hours before each Melodifestivalen heat, SVT published the rehearsal clips of all seven competing artists of the first heat of February the 4th, taking place in Gothenburg.

A while ago, the first 30 second rehearsal clips of the upcoming heat got published! You can watch the published clips, by clicking on the song title links below:

  1. Tone Sekelius – Rhythm Of My Show 
  2. Loulou LaMotte – Inga sorger
  3. Rejhan – Haunted
  4. Elov & Beny – Raggen går
  5. Victor Crone – Diamonds
  6. Eva Rydberg & Ewa Roos – Länge leve livet
  7. Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods – Where You Are (Sávežan) 
The lyrics of the songs are already published and you can have a look in more detail, in our corresponding article.

The process

Two songs will directly qualify to the grand final of Melodifestivalen 2023, which will take place on the 11th of March. The songs that will place third and fourth will have to compete again, at the fifth semi-final, held on the 4th of March. There will be four heats in total.

As we have already informed you, the voting system of Melodifestivalen has changed following the announced changes by EBU regarding the voting format in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool!

The broadcaster now scraps the group division at the fifth show, known as the semi-final and all eight contestants will now have to face each other. Points will be awarded from the viewing groups and the four entries with the highest points will advance to the final!

The dates of Melodifestivalen 2023

  • Heat 1: Göteborg – 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 (Friends Arena)

We remind you that Melodifestivalen 2023 is scheduled to take place between February 4th to March 11th and will be hosted by Jesper Rönndahl and Farah Abadi.

Which two of the above artists do you think will be the direct qualifiers to the finals, on the 12th of March?

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun, for all the latest developments regarding Melodifestivalen 2023 and the Swedish entry for Eurovision 2023!

Source/Photo: SVT/Alma Bengtsson

Spain: the results of Benidorm Fest 2023 second semi-final!

The Benidorm Fest‘s second semi-final has just come to end.

A total of nine candidates competed in this semi-final, trying to get one of the four tickets for the Saturday’s Grand Final.

The show was hosted by Inés Hernández, Mónica Naranjo and Rodrigo Vázquez.

The candidates

Tonight’s nine candidates performed as following:

  1. Famous – “La Lola”
  2. José Otero – “Inviernos en Marte”
  3. Karmento – “Quiero y duelo”
  4. Rakky Ripper – “Tracción”
  5. Blanca Paloma – “EaEa”
  6. E’femme – “Uff!”
  7. Siderland – “Que esclati tot”
  8. Alfred García – “Desde que tú estás”
  9. Vicco – “Nochentera”

The voting

50% of the result in all three shows (two semi-finals and a final) comes from the jury, while the other 50% comes from the audience. The jury is divided into Spanish and international, while 50% of the audience is divided between the televoting and a sample of the Spanish population selected on the basis of statistical and demographic data (the demographic jury). This is a criterion used in both the Sanremo Festival (Italy) and the Melodifestivalen (Sweden).

The Benidorm Fest jury, which determines 50% of the voting, consists of:

  • Nina (Spanish singer, representative of Spain in 1989)
  • Christer Bjorkman (Swedish singer and producer, former manager of Melodifestivalen)
  • Tali Eshkoli (Israeli television producer and Israel’s Head od Delegation)
  • Nicola Caligiore (Italian, former Italy’s Head od Delegation)
  • Katrina Leskanich (American singer, representative of the United Kingdom in 1997)
  • William Lee Adams (Founder of the wiwibloggs website)
  • Irene Valiente (Spanish presenter and producer)
  • Juan Jose Santana (Spanish, president of OGAE Spain and composer of previous Spanish entries)

The results

Thus, the results of the first semi-final of Benidorm 2022 were as follows:

Juries (50%)

  1. Blanca Paloma (92 votes)
  2. Vicco (67 votes)
  3. José Otero (63 votes)
  4. Alfred García (52 votes)
  5. Siderland (48 votes)
  6. Karmento (47 votes)
  7. Famous (46 votes)
  8. Rakky Ripper (24 votes)
  9. E’femme (17 votes)

Demographic jury (25%)

  1. Vicco (40 votes)
  2. Blanca Paloma (35 votes)
  3. Karmento (30 votes)
  4. Famous (28 votes)
  5. E’femme (25 votes)
  6. José Otero (22 votes)
  7. Alfred García (20 votes)
  8. Siderland (15 votes)
  9. Rakky Ripper (13 votes)

Televoting (25%)

  1. Blanca Paloma (40 votes)
  2. Karmento (35 votes)
  3. Alfred García (30 votes)
  4. Vicco (28 votes)
  5. Siderland (25 votes)
  6. E’femme (22 votes)
  7. José Otero (20 votes)
  8. Rakky Ripper (15 votes)
  9. Famous (13 votes)

Overall ranking

  1. Blanca Paloma (167 votes)
  2. Vicco (135 votes)
  3. Karmento (112 votes)
  4. José Otero (105 votes)
  5. Alfred García (102 votes)
  6. Siderland (88 votes)
  7. Famous (87 votes)
  8. E’femme (64 votes)
  9. Rakky Ripper (52 votes)

The finalists of the second semi-final in Benidorm are therefore:

  1. Blanca Paloma 
  2. Vicco
  3. Karmento 
  4. José Otero 

You can watch the performance of the winner of the second semi-final, Blanca Paloma, below:

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the latest news about Benidorm Fest and Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2023!

Georgia: With Iru Khechanovi in Eurovision 2023!

The final of The Voice of Georgia was completed, with the public deciding that the winner of the talent show and representative of the country in Eurovision 2023 will be Iru Khechanovi.

Iru Khechanovi emerged as the winner of today’s final among eight candidates.

The eight contestants who made it to today’s The Voice of Georgia finale were:

  1. Tako Kakalashvili – “Stand up”
  2. Lika Siradze – “Heroes”
  3. Giorgi Datiashvili – “Gethsemane”
  4. Likuna Tutisani – “A song for you”
  5. Tina Datikashvili – “I didn’t know my own strength”
  6. Kakha Aslamazishvili – “Love you to death”
  7. Anka Tatarashvili – Pov | 7 rings | thank you, next
  8. Iru Khechanovi – “Euphoria”

The song that Iru Khechanovi will perform in May in Liverpool will be announced later on. 

About Iru Khechanovi:

Iru Khechanovi was born in Tbilisi, Georgia and she is 23 years old. Known for her participation in Junior Eurovision 2011 with the band Candy and the song “Candy Music” where they won with 108 points.

Watch one of her most impressive performances during The Voice of Georgia:

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news about Georgia’s participation in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in May in the UK.

Croatia: Dora 2023 running order released!

HRT has announced the running order of the songs competing at Dora 2023.  The Croatian national final will take place on February 11, 2023 at the Marino Cvetković Sports Hall.

The running order for Dora is as follows:

1. Top of The Pop ft, Mario 5reković – Putovanje
2. Yogi – Love at First Sight
3. Boris Štok – Grijeh
4. Tajana Belina – Dom
5. Krešo I kisele kiše – Kme kme
6. Maja Grgić – I Still Live
7. Barbara Munjas – Putem snova
8. Đana – Free Falin’
9. Patricia Gasparini – I Will Wait
10. The Splitters – Lost And Found
11. Hana Mašić – Nesreća
12. Damir Kedžo – Angels And Demons
13. Martha May – Distance
14. Detour – Master Blaster
15. Meri Andraković – Bye Bye Blonde
16. Let 3 – Mama ŠČ!
17. Eni Jurišić – Kreni dalje
18. Harmonija disonance – Nevera (Lei, lei)

 

Duško Ćurlić, Mario Lipovšek Battifiaca and Marko Tolja will host Dora 2023.

 

Source: HRT

Azerbaijan: The five finalists of the internal selection for Eurovision 2023!

The Azeri public television, Ictimai TV, recently announced the five artists who managed to reach the final phase of the internal selection, through which they will choose the artist and song that will represent the country in Liverpool.

The five artists are:

  • Azer Nasibov
  • Humay Aslanova & Amrah Musayev
  • Leyla Izzatova
  • Mamagama
  • Turan & Tural Bağmanovlar

All of them performed their submissions live in the same studio and these performances were videotaped. A focus group will evaluate the five performances and determine the artist and song with which Azerbaijan will be represented at Eurovision 2023.

Nadir Rustamli represented Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin with the song “Fade to Black”. In the Grand Final, he finished in the 16th place with 106 points, but it is the first entry to qualify for the final with zero points from the public vote in the semi-final.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news!

Serbia: Listen to the songs of Pesma za Evroviziju ’23!

A while ago, the Serbian national broadcaster, RTS, released the songs that will compete in Pesma za Evroviziju ’23.

About 200 songs that meet the conditions of the contest reached the Serbian national broadcaster RTS, from which the 32 entries were selected that will compete for the country’s entry at the Eurovision Song Contest.

You can listen to the nominated songs in the list by clicking on the song titles:

The order of appearance of the songs in the Semi-Finals is as follows:

First Semi-Final

  1. Mattia Zanatta i Angela Kassiani – “Novi svet”
  2. Adem Mehmedović – “Osmeh”
  3. Nađa – “Moj prvi ožiljak na duši”
  4. Tijana Dapčević – “Mamim”
  5. Princ – “Cvet sa Istoka”
  6. Filip Baloš – “Novi plan drugi san”
  7. Filip Žmaher – “Čujemo se sutra”
  8. Luke Black – “Samo mi se spava”
  9. Angellina – “Lanac”
  10. Empathy Soul Project – “Indigo”
  11. Stefan Shy – “Od jastuka do jastuka”
  12. Hercenšlus – “Vremenska zona”
  13. Savo Perović – Presidente”
  14. Igor Stanojević – “Iza duge”
  15. Boris Subotić – “Nedostupan”
  16. CHEGI & Braća Bluz Bend – “Svadba ili kavga”

Second Semi-Final

  1. Hurricane – Zumi zimi zami”
  2. Nadia – “Devojka tvog dečka”
  3. Filarri – “Posle mene”
  4. Zejna – “Rumba”
  5. Frajle – “Neka Neka”
  6. Igor Vince i Bane Lalić – “Zato što volim”
  7. Egret – “Ako shvatim kasno”
  8. Dzipsii – “Greh”
  9. Eegor – Starac dana”
  10. Jelena Vlahović – “Kao grom iz vedra neba”
  11. Ivona – “U noćima”
  12. Gift – “Liberta”
  13. Milan Bujaković – Fenomen”
  14. Duo Grand – “Viva la Vida”
  15. Andjela – Loše procene”
  16. Doris Milošević – “Tišina”

We remind you that the Serbian national final will take place on March 1, 2 and 4 in order to find the successor of Konstrakta who finished 5th in the standings in Torino, Italy!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news!