Finland: Yle reveals clues for UMK 2022 second artist!

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Yle continues teasing the audience with some clues about the contestants for their national final.  Now is time to speculate about the identity of the second participant.  According to Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) Instagram account, the second contestant is:

  • A super popular party banger
  • Bold and effervescent
  • S/he has been featured in songs with front-row artists

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by UMK22 (@uudenmusiikinkilpailu)

One of the artist that meets these three conditions is fan favourite Erika Vikman.  Erika Vikman ended in second place in UMK 2020.  She also performed in last UMK where she sung her Eurovision song Cicciolina and her single Syntisten Pöytä together with Antti Tuisku.  Pop singer Bess is another suggested artist that meets the three criteria.  Nevertheless, the artist may not necessarily be a pop star.  Rap singer Cledos is another artist that checks the “party banger” box and who has been featured with other artists.

Yle will reveal the line-up for UMK 2022 on January 12.  After that each song in the competition will be released one every day starting on January 13.

Blind Channel ended in 6th position in Eurovision.  This makes Finland’s best result in the contest since their 2006 victory in Athens with Lordi’s Hard Rock Hallelujah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOPGxQ4fgVw&ab_channel=EurovisionSongContest

 

Latvia: The final version of her song is not ready, says Aminata!

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Yesterday the 16 songs competing in Supernova 2022,  Latvia’s national final, got published. Among the candidates, the one that made a difference was Aminata Savadogo, who took part in Eurovision 2015 with “Love Injected” and gave Latvia the 2nd place from the juries and 6th place in total.

This year, she is competing in her country’s national final with the ballad “I’m Letting You Go”. However, according to a recent post on the Latvian singer’s social media, the version of the song that the public was able to listen to yesterday, is nothing but a demo, while the final version is going to be released soon.

 

Δείτε αυτή τη δημοσίευση στο Instagram.

 

Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη AMINATA (@aminata_savadogo)

Aminata’s competing song, “I’m Letting You Go” :

Listen to the rest of the competing songs of Supernova 2022 here.

It’s worth saying that, according to an announcement made by Latvia’s public television, among the 16 competing songs, an additional song will be added, raising the total number of competing songs to 17. The additional song will be selected through an online voting which will take place between 10 and 14 of January.

Do you think that Aminata will win again or do you  prefer another song from Supernova 2022? Write in the comments down below!

Stay tuned in Eurovision Fun for everything new regarding Latvia’s representation in Eurovision 2022!

Jon Ola Sand: “We don’t need to broaden our scope of participating countries in the Eurovision Song Contest.”

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On the last episode of Euro Trip, Jon Ola Sand, the ex-Executive Supervisor of Eurovision, talked about the possibility to see a debut of Kossovo or Kazakhstan but also for a returning country to come back any time soon.

At first, in his interview with the host of the show, he mentioned Kazakhstan and if the have chances to debut in Eurovision:

“There is a really keen interest from the broadcaster in Kazakhstan to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. There has never been any serious discussion to bring them in.They are not a member of the EBU, and we really don’t need to broaden our scope of participating countries in the Eurovision Song Contest.”

After that he talked about Kossovo and their chances of a debut, when he mentioned:

“There has been no attempt from the EBU to bring Kosovo into the Eurovision Song Contest. There have been discussions as a broadcaster, but they  lack the status to allow them to compete.“

Australia have been an exception because the country’s public broadcaster SBS has competed in every edition of the competition since owing to its associate EBU membership.

Last but not least, he talked about the possibility to see Luxembourg, Andorra, Slovakia, Monaco or Turkey returning in Eurovision Song Contest:

“We had talks with all the broadcasters you mentioned . It hasn’t been a priority for us to bring them in. There isn’t a need to grow the number of participants. But Turkey would have a higher priority than say, Monaco for instance”

Jon Ola Sand served as Executive Supervisor between 2011 and 2020. Prior to this role he was Executive Producer for Eurovision when the contest was held in Oslo, Norway in 2010.

Stay tuned in Eurovisionfun for all the latest news of Eurovision!

Spain: How are the songs of Benidorm Fest doing on Spotify?

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Two weeks after the release of the 14 competing song in Spain’s national selection, some front runners have already emerged. According to Spotify Streams, this is their current placing:

Ay Mama by Rigoberta Bandini, with its feminist message, seems to have won over fans in Spain. The European fan favorites, Tanxugueiras, are at the second place in this listing, with a big differene in streams, and at the third place comes Rayden. The veterans Azucar Moreno are only at the ninth place and most of their streams come from european listeners.

Why do we look on streams though? Well streams correctly predicted the winner of the Czech televoting in the Czech national selection! Will the same happen this time around with Spain?

Benidorm Fest: How will it work?

Benidorm Fest will take place somewhere within January (the exact date is yet to be released) and it will consist of two semi finals, each including seven performances, four of which will eventually advance to the Grand Final!

The winner will be chosen by a 50% public vote and a 50% jury vote. Two sets of juries will vote, both consisting of music professionals. However, one jury team will be Spanish (30& of the jury voting) and the other one will be of international descent (20% of the jury voting). On the contrary, as far as the public vote in concerned, 25% of it will come from televoting and 25% will come from a sample of spanish population, chosen by demographics and statistics, a criterfia used in both Sanremo and Melodifestivalen.

RTVE has chosen this process wanting to ensure that the final result will showcase in the best way the likings of the Spanish majority.

Stay tuned in Eurovision Fun for the latest news and updates on Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2022!

Image Source: Martin Fjellanger

 

Finland teases UMK 2022 first artist

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Yle revealed the first clues for the first artist participating in their national final.  The official Instagram account for Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) revealed three clues for the first contestant:

  • The artist has over 10 million streams on Spotify
  • The artist got nominations at the Emma Gaala (the Finnish version of the Grammys)
  • Peto On Irti (The monster has been revealed)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by UMK22 (@uudenmusiikinkilpailu)

The first clues for the “Peto On Irti” artist lead toAntti Tuisku.  Antti Tuisku performed as the interval act for UMK 2021.  Another speculation leads to singer and songwriter Kalle Lindroth who also meet the three clues.  Moreover, we can expect more rock bands after the successful performance of Blind Channel.  For instance, bands such as Battle Beast or Beast In Black could follow Blind Channel’s path.

Yle will reveal the line-up for UMK 2022 on January 12.  After that each song in the competition will be released one every day starting on January 13.

Blind Channel ended in 6th position in Eurovision.  This makes Finland’s best result in the contest since their 2006 victory in Athens with Lordi’s Hard Rock Hallelujah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOPGxQ4fgVw&ab_channel=EurovisionSongContest

 

Lithuania: The disappointment of The Roop for having to go through the national final!

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On an interview at the Euro Trip Podcast last month, the members of the Roop Band, Vaidotas Valiukevičius, Mantas Banišauskas and Robertas Baranauskas, who represented the Baltic nation in Rotterdam last year, revealed their disappointment for having to compete again at the national final of Lithuania Pabandom iš Naujo! 

The Roop Band had also won the national final in 2020, but due to the cancelation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, the national public broadcaster, LRT, invited them to compete again at the following national final of 2021.

The lead singer of the band, Vaidotas Valiukevičius, commented :

“As I remember national television [LRT] said ‘give us three weeks and we’ll decide what we’re going to do’. It was very strange for us.”

“I was mad, I remember I was mad. I thought ‘f*** off’. Then I remembered it’s a new situation for everyone, and we just have to get on with it.”

Additionally, the band’s guitarist, Mantas Banišauskas, mentioned:

“We thought that a better decision could have been made [about the selection process].”

“When we went through the selection… we didn’t think we would win that easily, so that was a stressful period; that whole selection thing.”

Eventually the Roop didn’t only achieved a landslide victory at the national final, but also the best result for Lithuania, 8th place in the Grand Final, the second best placing after the 6th place of LT United back in Athens in 2006.

As far as a Eurovision comeback is concerned, Banišauskas, said:

“We still have unfinished business I guess, we still have to win.”

“The last two times we went to Eurovision [it was about whether we had the right song] so maybe if the time is right.”

Below you can listen again to the two Eurovision entries of the Roop Band for 2020 and 2021.

https://youtu.be/1EAUxuuu1w8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNweec5olYw

Would you like to see the Roop returning on the Eurovision stage in the coming years? Let us know on the comments below.

Source: Eurotrippodcast.com

 

Montenegro: Vladana’s song ‘Breathe’ is expected to premiere at the end of February!

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As it was announced yesterday by the Montenegrin public television, RTCG, Vladana Vučinić will represent Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. She revealed in an Instagram story that the famous Balkan songwriter Darko Dimitrov is the composer of her entry.

Darko Dimitrov

This morning it was also publicly announced during the press conference held by RTCG that the song’s title is “Breathe“. The entry is entirely in English and is a dynamic ballad with a clear message, dedicated to Vladana’s mother, who passed away a few months ago. Her song will also have a ‘cinematic piano moment’.

The song is expected to premiere at the end of February and there is also an intention to release the Italian version of the song. She also described her song as emotional, strong and melancholy, while revealing that she will be alone on the Eurovision stage in Turin.

The budget for the participation in Turin will be relatively smaller than in previous years. She also announced at the RTCG conference that the country paid 28.000 euros for its participation, the lowest of all participating countries.

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Lithuania: The running order of the first heat

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The running order for the first quorter final of Pabandom iš naujo! (Let’s Try Again!) was announced today by Lithuania’s public broadcaster (LRT)!

Here are the 11 artists who will compete in this quorter final:

  1. Elonas Pokanevič – “Someday”
  2. Joseph June – “Deadly”
  3. Urtė Šilagalytė – “Running Chords”
  4. Gabrielė Goštautaitė – “Over”
  5. Mary Mo – “Get Up”
  6. Augustė Vedrickaitė ft. Under – “Before You’re 6”
  7. Sun Francisco – “Dream Again”
  8. Voldemars Petersons & the Break Hearters – “Up”
  9. Aldegunda – “Holiday”
  10. Viktorija Faith – “Walk Through the Water”
  11. Erica Jennings – “Back To Myself” 

The first quarter final will take place on Saturday, January 8th (20.00 CET)!

Pabandom iš naujo 2022 will consist of six shows. Three quarter finals, two semi finals and eventually the big final! The winner will be decided by a 50% jury vote and a 50% public vote. For the first time the jury members will not be revealed and their results will be shown at the end of the show, so that the audience won’t be influenced in any way!

Last year Lithuania chose for the second consecutive time the pop-rock group, The Roop as their representative in the 2021 contest, which got them the 8th place in the Grand Final!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNweec5olYw

Stay tuned in Eurovision Fun for all the latest news and information about Lithuania in Eurovision 2022!

Source: LRT

 

Latvia: Listen to the 16 songs competing in Supernova 2022

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Latvia proceeds with the selection process to pick its representative for 2022, and presented the songs that are going to compete at Supernova 2022!

As said before, at the 7th of December the deadline for submissions for the Latvian national final TV  “Supernova 2022” expired. Breaking every previous record of participations, this time no less than 130 songs, that are competing to be Latvia’s next representative at the Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place in May 2022 in Turin, Italy.

From the 130, 16 songs and 16 artists managed to qualify, among them some very well known names.

Specifically, the 16 songs are as follows:

  • Bermudu Divstūris – “Triangle Bad”
  • Markus Riva – “If You’re Gonna Love Me”
  • Aminata – “I’m Letting You Go”
  • BUJĀNS – “He, She, You & Me”
  • Citi Zēni – “Eat Your Salad”
  • Inspo – “A Happy Place”
  • Miks Dukurs – “First Love”
  • Beatrise Heislere – “On the way home”
  • the COCO’NUTS – “In and out of the dark”
  • KATŌ – “Promises”
  • Elīna Gluzunova – “Es pabiju tur”
  • Mēs Jūs Mīlam – “Rich Itch”
  • Linda Rušeniece – “Pay My Own Bills”
  • RAUM – “Plans”
  • Zelma – “How”
  • Patriks Peterson – “Can’t Get You Outta My Head”

You can listen to the songs here!

The process

The decision for the artists that are going to participate at “Supernova 2022” will be taken by juries who are chosen by LTV and the selection process will be finished until the end of 2021.

The juries are going to decide based on the structure of the song based on its originality, adaptation, message, compliance with the recent trends in international music, the vocal ability of the contestants, their personality, their history in the music industry, as well as their ability for new music awards

The songs will be available to the public in January, while the tv shows for the “Supernova” competition are expected from the Latvian TV in February 2022.

LTV has yet to confirm publicly the format of Supernova 2022, having stated that there will be a relevant announcement in January.

The schedule for Supernova 2022 is as follows:

  • Semi-Final – 5 February
  • Final – 12 February

 

In 2021 at Rotterdam, Latvia Participated with Samanta Tīna and the song The Moon is Rising, getting 14 points in the second Semi-Final

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

 

Stay tuned in Eurovisionfun for all the latest news and information about the Song Contest.

Armenia: One of these 4 artists is likely to represent the country in Turin!

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Armenia is quiet as per usual and will probably reveal its entry at the last moment. However, according to the speculations and rumours, one of these 4 artists/bands is likely to represent Armenia in the 2022 Contest which will be held in Turin, Italy. Their names are – Ladaniva, Saro Gevorgyan, Athena Manoukian, Brunette.

Ladaniva is a multicultural band creating world music with a fresh touch of Armenian folk and other traditional forms, such as maloya, Balkan, reggae, Arabic, African. The group was founded in October 2019 by Armenian singer Jacqueline Baghdasaryan and French multi-instrumentalist Louis Thomas. Ladaniva is very popular among Armenians. During the tough times, the only thing that would bring happiness to Armenians all over the world was their single ‘Kef Chilini’. Ladaniva would be a fascinating and outstanding choice to represent the country and could easily be in the run to win the televoting in Italy this year.

Saro Gevorgyan is a talented singer and songwriter. In 2016, Saro Gevorgyan took part in the Depi Evratesil show, the Armenian national selection for ESC 2017, where he got into Aram MP3’s team. In 2019, he participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv as the backing vocalist of Armenia’s participant Srbuk. In 2021, he won the New Wave competition in Sochi, becoming the third participant to bring victory to Armenia in the entire history of its participation. He amazed with his fabulous vocals such big names as Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos, Dimash and etc. Saro is very close to the delegation and lately we’ve heard a famous Armenian artist Erik Karapetyan say that Saro is a future Eurovision winner. He could bring an amazing result to Armenia with a modern and emotional ballad!

Athena Manoukian is a Greek-Armenian singer and songwriter. She’s the biggest favourite of eurofans all around the world to represent Armenia in the contest this year. Athena won the Armenian National Selection in 2020 with her song ‘Chains On You’ which automatically became Armenia’s entry for the contest which got cancelled later. Lately, she went to Armenia and as she had mentioned, that trip had something to do with Eurovision. Athena is capable of getting an amazing result with something as modern and catchy as her 2020 entry!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpQHGMM8c5U

Brunette hails from Yerevan, Armenia. She’s part of Nvak (a non-profit organisation that nurtures artists who live in countries experiencing social, political and/or cultural turmoil) which was founded by Tamar Kaprelian (Armenia ESC 2015, Depi Evratesil 2018). She’s very close with Saro Gevorgyan. Brunette was also rumoured for Depi Evratesil 2020, but unfortunately she wasn’t on the list. This year she’s once again rumoured to be one of the 4 main candidates to fly the Armenian flag in Turin. With a high-quality modern and catchy song the newcomer could possibly bring one of Armenia’s best results if not the best to the country.

The minority of Armenians are also claiming that the winner of the first edition of The Masked Singer Armenia, Erik Karapetyan, Sona Rubenyan and Ani Kristi could be in the run as well. Sadly, there’s no certain information about Armenia but it definitely could arrive later.

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