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Portugal: Tonight’s grand final of the Festival da Canção 2020

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Tonight  the grand final of the Festival da Canção 2020, the process by which Portugal will choose to participate in the 65th Eurovision Contest will take place.

Unlike the semifinals that took place in the country’s capital, Lisbon, the final will take place in Elba. There, we will be welcomed by the hosts of the evening Filomena Cautela (one of the four Eurovision 2018 presenters) and Vasco Palmeirim.

 

The candidate songs

Eight artists will contest the country’s representation at Eurovision.

  1. Filipe Sambado – “Gerbera amarela do Sul”
  2. Jimmy P – “Abensonhado”
  3. Tomás Luzia – “Mais real que o amor”
  4. Elisa Rodrigues – “Não voltes mais”
  5. Throes + The Shine – “Movimento”
  6. Kady – “Diz só”
  7. Elisa – “Medo de sentir”
  8. Bárbara Tinoco – “Passe-Partout”

How will the winner emerge?
The result will be determined by 50% by a special jury and the remaining 50% by the Portuguese public. The jury will not be the same as the semifinal round. Each geographical area of ​​Portugal will have its own committee which will announce its results at the end of the night.

Bárbara Tinoco will compete with the air of the victory favorite, as “Passe-Partout” is being discussed since the song’s release in January.

The grand final of Festival da Canção 2020 will take place at 22:00 CETY time  and you can watch it through the Portuguese Public Television website by clicking HERE.

Sweden: Tonight the Big Melodifestivalen 2020 Final

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After four semifinal rounds and a second chance round, tonight’s big Melodifestivalen 2020 final is taking place! Twelve entries will claim the gold ticket for the Eurovision stage in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The show will take place at the “Friends Arena” in Stockholm with presenters of the big night: Lina Hedlund, Linnea Henriksson and David Sundin.

 

The entries of the final:

  1. Victor Crone – “Troubled Waters”
  2. Paul Rey – “Talking in My Sleep”
  3. The Mamas – “Move”
  4. Mohombi – “Winners”
  5. Hanna Ferm – “Brave”
  6. Mendez ft. Alvaro Estrella – “Vamos amigos”
  7. Dotter – “Bulletproof”
  8. Robin Bengtsson – “Take a Chance”
  9. Mariette – “Shout It Out”
  10. Felix Sandman – “Boys With Emotions”
  11. Anna Bergendahl – “Kingdom Come”
  12. Anis Dos Demina – “Vem e som oss”

The result will be determined by 50% by the international jury and 50% by the television audience. A last-minute change in the way the results were presented yesterday was announced. Read more HERE.

The big final of Melodifestivalen 2020 will take place tonight at 20:00 CET time and you can watch it from the official Swedish TV website by clicking HERE.

The bets just before the Melodifestivalen 2020 final

The 12 finalists rehearse intensively before their final appearance tonight at the Friends Arena in Stockholm. Dotter remains the big favorite for the win, with the contestants still being strong and calculating opponents.Dotter remains Bulletproof’s top favorite for nearly two weeks now, which has the most views on YouTube. In second place, with ever-decreasing returns are The Mamas. Third is Anna Bergendahl with “Kingdom Come”, fourth is Hanna Ferm with “Brave”, and fifth is Anis don Demina, who won the crowd yesterday.

Iceland: Daði Freyr responds to rumors about Netflix

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“Netflix doesn’t push the song in any way” – these are the words of Daði Freyr, the frontman of Daði og Gagnamagnið, the Icelandic representatives at this year’s Eurovision. In recent weeks, the band’s “Think About Things” section has become a sensation in all social media and with a large number of celebrities expressing their love.

Supporters range from Hollywood actror Russell Crowe and designer Bridal Princess Diana to one of Britain’s leading political journalists.

Viral phenomena, by their very nature, spread rapidly through the internet, and for no reason at all. But some Europeans seeking to make sense of a pointless world have come up with their own theory – Netflix pays verified Twitter users to support Daði and the band as a way of promoting Will Ferrell’s upcoming Eurovision movie on the Netflix platform.

Daði Freyr denies rumors about Netflix

Speaking in a blog by Birta Rán and Guðný Rós – the creative mind behind the music video “Think About Things” – Daði says:

“We didn’t pay Russel Crow to share the video. We didn’t pay anyone to share anything. The only thing I paid for was to make the video, to make the costumes and the material to make the instruments.

Many people really believe that Netflix is ​​paying to promote us and the reason is supposed to be that our song is in next season’s Stranger Things. This is not the case.

Netflix doesn’t push the song in any way. It would be great if Netflix really paid to promote the song, I’d be okay with it and wouldn’t be ashamed to say it because it would be great. But that’s not the case”.

Iceland at Eurovision 2020 – The Conspiracy Theory with Netflix

There are dozens of reports on Twitter, Reddit and elsewhere, but the situation is about as follows.

Netflix is ​​making a Eurovision movie starring Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams and several other Hollywood A-Listers. In the film, the central couple plays two Icelandic singers competing in a song contest.

In some of the behind-the-scenes photos, Ferrell is seen with long hair, bringing something of the Daði style.

From this summary, we move on to the “Think About Things” which goes viral. The logic is that Netflix is ​​undertaking some sort of special marketing strategy to promote the movie by promoting the song.

According to the theorists, the streaming giant is either paying or asking celebrities to send backing tweets.

So far, none of the famous tweeters have responded to online rumors. However, British journalist Rob Holley – the man who first uploaded the video to Twitter – told a fan that “I tweeted because I’m a fan. As I did with Alligator or Verona. How Does the Internet Work? Do you honestly think that fans like me and you have been deceived? ” Despite the explanation, he appeared to remain convinced.

Source: wiwibloggs.com

Iceland: The detailed results of Söngvakeppnin 2020

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For the 15th consecutive year, Iceland has chosen to participate in the Eurovision Contest through Söngvakeppnin. This year, two semifinal rounds took place on February 8 and 15, with the final taking place on Saturday, February 29.

Daði & Gagnamagnið were named “Winners of the Söngvakeppnin 2020 and therefore representatives of the country at the 65th Eurovision Contest with “ Think About Things ”. These winners gained over 30,000 votes!

Analytically:

SEMI-FINAL 1 – 8 FEBRUARY 2020
DRAW ARTIST SONG TELEVOTE PLACE RESULT
1 Kid Isak “Ævintýri” 3.651 3 Eliminated
2 Elísabet “Elta þig” 1.989 5 Eliminated
3 Brynja Mary “Augun þín” 3.374 4 Eliminated
4 Ísold & Helga “Klukkan tifar” 6.654 2 Advanced
5 Dimma “Almyrkvi” 14.984 1 Advanced
SEMI-FINAL 2 – 15 FEBRUARY 2020
DRAW ARTIST SONG TELEVOTE PLACE RESULT
1 Daði & Gagnamagnið “Gagnamagnið” 11.218 1 Advanced
2 Hildur Vala “Fellibylur” 1.336 6 Eliminated
3 Iva “Oculis Videre” 10.924 2 Advanced
4 Nína “Ekkó” 5.905 3 Wildcard
5 Matti Matt “Dreyma” 5.634 4 Eliminated

 

Although Nína failed to reach the top  in the semifinals, she eventually qualified for the Söngvakeppnin 2020 final, on the advice of the Icelandic broadcaster RUV.

FINAL – 29 FEBRUARY 2020
DRAW ARTIST SONG JURY TELEVOTE TOTAL PLACE RESULT
1 Ísold & Helga “Meet Me Halfway” 17.170 5.568 22.738 4 Out
2 Daði & Gagnamagnið “Think About Things” 24.289 36.035 60.324 1 Qualified
3 Nína “Echo” 15.286 6.515 21.801 5 Out
4 Iva “Oculis Videre” 18.426 19.072 37.498 3 Out
5 Dimma “Almyrkvi” 14.867 22.848 37.715 2 Qualified
SUPERFINAL – 29 FEBRUARY 2020
DRAW ARTIST SONG TELEVOTE PLACE
1 Daði & Gagnamagnið “Think About Things” 118.643 1
2 Dimma “Almyrkvi” 80.183 2

A few hours ago, Iceland became the new big favorite to win in Rotterdam! Read more HERE.

Serbia: With Hurricane and “Hasta La Vista” in Rotterdam

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The grand final of Beovizija 2020, the 10th edition of this institution to choose the country’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, was completed shortly before.

The show started at 21:00CET time and took place at RTS Studio 8 in Belgrade. Dragana Kosjerina, Jovan Radomir, Kristina Radenković and Stefan Popovi were presenters of the evening.

At tonight’s final we saw the 12 finalists compete for a Rotterdam ticket:

-Milan Bujaković feat Olivera Popović – “Niti”
-Hurricane – “Hasta la Vista”
-Neda Ukraine – “Bomb”
-Andrija Jo – “The Mediator”
-Igor Simic – “Ples za rastanak”
-Thea Devy – “Sudnji dan”
-EJO – “Trag”
-LIFT– “Samo mi kaži”
-Ana Milenković – “Tajna”
-Naiva – “Baš baš”
-Marko Marković – “Kolači”
-Bane Mojićević – “Cvet sa Prokletija”

The result

The result was judged by a 50/50 vote by the television audience and the five-member jury. Hurricane won the finale with  “Hasta La Vista” song.

Serbia will appear in the first half of the second semifinal on May 14th.

Greece: Stefania’s appearance on RTL Boulevard | What did she say about the 12th from Netherlands and the coronavirus

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Shortly after the premiere of SUPERG! RL this afternoon on ERT and YouTube, Stefania appeared on RTL’s live show, “Boulevard”. The most popular magazino on Dutch television.

“I hope to get the 12th of Netherlands”
At first the presenters joked that she represents Greece and did not wait long to represent the Netherlands.

“Why not of time! Anyone can suggest it to me. They know where to find me!”

Stefania was then asked about the position she could reach.

“I don’t know, I’ll just enjoy it and do my best for Greece and the Netherlands.”

Of course Stefania could not leave the step she was given unused and once again stated that she wants the 12 points from Netherlands.

“Hope to get the 12 points from the Netherlands!”

Stefania for the coronavirus

One of the issues that concerns not only Greece, but also the entire world is the Coronavirus. Even a few days ago a leading Dutch virologist had stated that if the virus continues to spread at this rate, the contest may have to be canceled.

The journalist asked Stefania if she was scared by the virus.

“No, I’m not afraid of it at all. I think everything will go well.”

Watch the full interview HERE.

 

Greece: “SUPERG!RL” just released! Enjoy it

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Following its first broadcast on ERT and the tv show “Eurovision Countdown”, the video clip of the Greek entry, “SUPERG!RL“, ​​is now available on Stefania’s YouTube channel. In the following hours there will be in all the e-shops. Enjoy it in repeat!

Once again, the music is written by Dimitris Kontopoulos and ARCADE, while the lyrics are by Sharon Vaughn, Dimitris Kontopoulos and ARCADE. The director of the video clip is talented Costas Karydas.

This is the song and video clip of the Greek entry for Eurovision 2020. Watch it below:

 

The authors’ statements shortly after the first official release of the Greek entry

As has long been known, the creative team includes Dimitris Kontopoulos and ARCADE, while Sharon Vaughn has written some of the lyrics. The director of the performance  in Rotterdam will be Fokas Evangelinos, while the video clip we first enjoyed a few minutes ago is directed by the promising Kostas Karydas.

“Stefania has a very strong voice and a very nice tone,“said renowned composer and producer Dimitris Kontopoulos.

“To be honest, it was difficult to find the right song for Stefania, as we wanted to fit both her age and her personality, but I think we did it. It is my first time competing for the Eurovision contest with Arcade, a very talented group of composers and producers, and it is always my honor to work with Sharon Vaughn, an outstanding songwriter with international success”.

Director and scriptwriter Costas Karydas, speaking about the video clip, said:

“We created a story with surreal elements. We are following a young girl who finds the strength to embrace her specialty in a society that sees her as something foreign. It is a journey of exploring power within it. The video comes to complement the song, which is dynamic and fresh. The whole team is made up of professionals, who in their field have given 100% to get a perfect result. We also had a great collaboration with Stefania, who surprised us with her hard work and acting skills”.

Greece: Today the presentation of “SUPERG! RL”

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The big day for the ubiquitous Greek Eurofans has dawned! Everything is ready for the official launch of the “SUPERG! RL” video clip! Today at 167:00 CET time, with ERT1 frequency and the tv show “Eurovision Countdown”, with presenter Michael Marinos, the wait is coming to an end!

The “Eurovision Countdown” show for the Eurovision 2020 song contest kicks off at ERT. From this Sunday and every Sunday, Michael Marinos will take us to the magical world of our favorite contest. As part of the broadcast, the videoclip of the Greek participation in this year’s song contest will be broadcasted – at first viewing! But it will not only have a Greek “color” as the other 65 Eurovision entries so far will be screened. Also throughout the coming weeks the show will feature a variety of reports on this year’s participants as well as a look at the history of the competition!

The first show guests are George Kapoutzidis and Maria Kozakou, who will also be the commentators fro Greece in the upcoming contest. Apart from the twin Greek commentators, of course, we will have the opportunity to see Stefania, as well as her loved ones who wish her good luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Netherlands: Big plans in Amsterdam for Eurovision 2020

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Although the contest will take place in Rotterdam after the city’s victory over Amsterdam for the Eurovision 2020 event, the city of Amsterdam is implementing grand plans for the event.

The de Reguliers business club has plans to install large screens in May to broadcast the two semifinals and the grand final on Reguliersdwarsstraat Street, a street that has linked its reputation with the country’s homosexual life, as there are many gay restaurants and cafes, while hosting the annual Amsterdam Gay Pride.

The municipality has already awarded a € 35,000 grant from the event fund for this purpose. At the same time, there will be events and music playing on Eurovision for the rest of the day.

“We have been working closely with Eurovision Artists, an institution that has been involved with the song festival for at least twenty years”

Eward Koning, President of de Reguliers

However, in order to implement de Reguliers’ plans, special permits will have to be granted by the Centrum district council. Koning himself seems particularly optimistic about the request to the municipality:

“The municipality has stated that this is a unique and extraordinary event and that we want to help us implement it. Normally one can make noise by 23:00, but they have to make an exception on festival days”

Live link to Amsterdam during the contest?

At the suggestion of Sietse Bakker, executive producer of Eurovision 2020, the event could be broadcast live during the competition.

“The competition takes place in Rotterdam. But our community (Amsterdam BC) immediately asked us if we wanted to have something fun. That’s why we do this. We don’t want to steal the show from Rotterdam, but we want to celebrate, share and experience the experience.We discussed the plans with him (ed. Sietse Bakker) a month and a half ago. He suggested to see if we could switch to live broadcasting during the show. I don’t know if it will work, but how perfect would it be to see us in 180 million salons? ”

Finally, Eward Koning did not hold out his optimism by expressing his desire to hear the famous “douze points” from Reguliersdwarsstraat Street.

Source/Image: parool.nl/Nikolai Karaneschev

Eurovision 2020: Got your ticket?Make it personal

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The first wave of ticket sales for the upcoming Eurovision 2020 event in Rotterdam, The Netherlands began at noon yesterday, with Babet Verstappen, the PR manager of the contest, announcing that most of the tickets were purchased by Dutch and British.

Ticket availability began at 12:00 CET  yesterday, and within 20 minutes all tickets were sold, with the number reaching 23,000. As expected, the Dutch are in the first place, followed by the British and Belgians in the second and third place,respectively. The contest in the Netherlands seems to have prompted neighbors to secure tickets to watch the 65th Eurovision Song Contest.

These tickets included 9 total shows, both for the three live broadcast nights, as well as for the family shows and jury nights. But for the lucky ones who caught up and bought the coveted piece of paper to enjoy some of the shows at Ahoy Arena, the process doesn’t end there.

The organization committee of this year’s Eurovision, as it were reasonable, to avoid the “black market” of tickets, that is to say the sale of tickets at higher prices, initially restricts the maximum number of tickets available to 4 per person and in addition, demands another procedure: the personalisation of ticket.

Ticket personalization procedure

Upon payment of the ticket, each buyer receives a confirmation email at the same time receives another email requesting further personal information, such as the full name, e-mail address and date of birth of each attendee. Once someone has completed filling in these personal details, he will then receive his regular ticket. IMPORTANT: Ticket personalization runs from December 13th to December, 12:00 CET time to December 20th 23:59 CET time. If one fails to complete this procedure within the set deadline, then he loses his ticket and receives a refund.

Two more set of tickets

Of course, tickets for Europe’s biggest music contest weren’t sold out yesterday, but for those who didn’t get a ticket, there will be two more “wave” of tickets. According to the Dutch public broadcaster NOS, which is helping to organize the competition, there will be fewer tickets for the next two phases of ticket sales, estimated at around 20,000 at each stage.

The number of tickets for the third phase will come after the stage design and installation of the necessary equipment for the competition has been completed. It is estimated that in all three phases, about 65,000 tickets will be sold.

Tickets will go on sale again in late January, but also in mid-March. The exact dates will be announced at a later stage.

 

Beware of ticket purchases

Particularly cautious must be those who intend to buy tickets to view the contest closely, with the official Eurovision channel urging buyers to visit only the official ticket sales pages (Paylogic and Ticketswap).

Source/Image: songfestival.be/eurovision.tv