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Greece: Areti Kosmidou is on the list of possible representatives for Eurovision 2023!

After returning to Greece, Areti Kosmidou was invited in the Greek morning TV show Breakfast@Star.

Now known as Aretha, Areti was introduced to us back in 2014 through The Voice, ending up second. When she was only sixteen years old, she was the girl that made a great impression in the famous talent show in Mihalis Kouinelis’ team.

Since then, she has been in America to study and worked on her music style and making music.

 The performer and now young mother of a little girl, said in the TV show that one of the main reasons of her return in Greece was to submit her proposal to ERT, aiming for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in the United Kingdom.
As she stated, representing Greece in the contest is one of her dreams, whether it happens in 2023 or one of the next years.

Speaking of 2023, she said that her song is ready, in its final version and the only thing left is submitting it to the Greek broadcaster.

It is an electro pop song and seems more like a maistream song rather than the indie pop style that she was used to when she started singing

Aretha is now the latest addition in the list of artists that are going to claim the Greek representation in Eurovision 2023. She is for sure moved by Greece’s latest entry, as Aretha and Amanda are singing in a similar musical style.

These are some of Areti’s songs you can listen to:

You can watch her interview in the Greek TV show HERE.

What do you think about a possible representation by Areti Kosmidou?

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Greek participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in the United Kingdom!

Spain: All the latest news about Benidorm Fest 2023!

RTVE, Spain’s public broadcaster, has taken up the Eurovision challenge seriously! Intending to capitalise on the success of last year’s edition of Benidorm Fest, and Chanel’s excellent run in Eurovision 2022, RTVE is going all out to present an even more complete and impressive TV show.

The presenters of the show

RTVE confirmed yesterday the names of the two presenters of Benidorm Fest 2023, with Mónica Naranja taking on co-presenting duties, alongside Inés Hernand (last year’s hostess of Benidorm Fest).

According to Formula TV , Mónica Naranjo will be the main presenter of the two semi-finals and the final, which will be broadcast in prime time on La 1, while Inés Hernand will be in the Green Room of the Palau d’Esports L’Illa in Benidorm, where the Benidorm Fest will take place.

Related TV programs

Máximo Huerta, co-presenter of last year’s edition of Benidorm Fest, will be involved again this year in a different capacity. According to the VerTele website, he will present a daily tv program, showcasing all the details and developments of this year’s Benidorm Fest.

Alaska, another co-presenter of last year’s Benidorm, will also be involved, as she is to present a Christmas show that will be broadcast at the end of the year on La 1. In this show, some of the participants of the first edition of Benidorm Fest will also be present, with Chanel Terrero, of course, expected to be (literally) on the spotlight.

Chanel won the first edition of the Benidorm Fest with the song ” SloMo”, and represented Spain in Turin, achieving a 3rd place in the grand final.

Stay tuned for all the developments regarding Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2023!

Ukraine: Possibly 10 songs to Compete in Vidbir 2023!

Ukrainian musical outlet Muzvar revealed some details about Ukraine’s Eurovision pre-selection national final, Vidbir. Its sources state that 10 songs will compete to represent Ukraine in Eurovision Song Contest 2023 that will take place in the United Kingdom. This will be the largest Vidbir final since 2014, when 20 acts competed for a chance to represent Ukraine in Copenhagen.

The country’s national broadcaster UA:PBC on the other hand, decided to use the mobile application Diia for the public voting in an attempt to maintain the largest possible number of voters, taking into consideration the mobile networking issues caused by the conflict.

The final of Vidbir 2023 will take place in December 2022 at Kyiv and the winner that will be selected by a combination of public and jury voting, will represent Ukraine in Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in the United Kingdom. The jury members will be chosen by the public.

Ukraine was represented in Eurovision 2022 by Kalush Orchestra and their song “Stefania”. In the end, they managed to win the contest. They also achieved the greatest televote result in the history of ESC. Due to the ongoing war situation in Ukraine, EBU declared it unable to host Eurovision 2023, making it the first time since 1980 that the contest will not be held at the previous winning country. However, Ukraine will still automatically qualify for the final as it won the last year’s contest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1fl60ypdLs

Source: Eurovoix

Estonia: ERR announces various dates for Eesti Laul 2023!

Yesterday, the Estonian national broadcaster ERR announced the opening for the song submission window, which will be open until 12:00 at the noon of October 20th.  20 songs will be selected to compete by a professional jury and will be revealed at early December.

The show dates are the following:

  • First Semi-Final – January 12th
  • Second Semi-Final – January 14th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

The participation fees vary in price. Until October 17th, the participation fee for a song in Estonian is 50 euro while the price is doubled to 100 euro for a song in a foreign language, including English. At the final phase of the competition both prices double to 100 euro and 200 euro respectively.

The songwriters and artists eligible for participating in Eesti Laul can be either Estonian citizens or just residents in Estonia, or even non-residents. The same applies for the artists. However, a song may be able to have one non-resident songwriter but they should definitely be accompanied by other songwriters that hold the Estonian residency.

The winner of Eesti Laul 2022 was Stefan with the song “Hope”, with which he represented Estonia in Eurovision 2022. He finished 13th at the Grand final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdTpQmMem8U

Source: Eurovoix

Greece: One month left for song submissions | More than 10 songs submitted already!

There is one month left, for those interested in representing Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

There are more artists interested in submitting songs, in comparison to other years, with more than 10 songs already submitted to ERT, the Greek public broadcaster, while at the same point of time during last year’s selection, no song had been submitted!

The interest for the Greek representation is increased!

The Greek public broadcaster expects at least double the amount of song that were submitted last year. The 43 songs for Eurovision 2022, are expected to look like a small number.

The above statement was made clear from early on, back in August 26 when ERT gave out the outline for song submission, for those interested in representing Greece in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, and since then they get phone calls every day for extra information.

Last year, all artists waited until the last week of the submission deadline to send in their songs, but now more than 10 songs are submitted and there is still one month left. Thinking that as the deadline comes closer the number of submitted songs is increased, ERT’s Eurovision  team is positive that the songs that will be submitted until October 9, when the submission period is over, will be double the amount of last year’s songs.

But of course, the biggest names wait until the last days of the submission period to send their songs, wanting to use all possible time to have a more competitive proposal.

National Final rumors have once again started.

There are tons of fake news in the Greek media about Eurovision, regarding artist proposals from ERT but also, as it has become usual the last years, rumors about the songs taking part in a national final.

We don’t have any information on this as of now, but as common sense says, and also based on our experience on how ERT sees the contest, we are going to say what is written on previous articles.

Due to the political changes that will take place in Greece in the coming months due to elections, but mainly because when a selection process is successful it won’t change, the song and artist selection will once again be internal.

We are waiting one more month, as the next 30 days more and more artists will submit their songs to win the representation of Greece in the contest, with everything new being written in our page!

Last year Greece picked Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord internally to represent them with the song “Die Together” and continued for yet another year the top 10 streak, ending up 8th with 215 points.

https://youtu.be/BWeT0nJpB3Y

So stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Greek participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in the United Kingdom!

Ukraine: UA:PBC Reveals That 42 Songs Submitted to Vidbir 2023 So Far!

The Ukrainian national broadcaster UA:PBC, has announced that so far, 42 songs have been submitted to Vidbir 2023. It also revealed that the most common reason for the submitted songs to be ineligibe for selection, is that they are being over three minutes long and have been publicly performed in the past.

Oksana Skybinska, Head of Delegation for Ukraine, explained:

“It is very important that the song which has been is submitted to the selection has not appeared anywhere before – in whole or in part. This composition, which can be up to 3 minutes long, could have been written specifically for the National Selection or is simply waiting for its time to be sung loudly for the first time for the whole world precisely at the selection. We also urgently ask you to send us the final version of the song so that we can evaluate the composition as fully as possible.”

Submissions for Vidbir 2023 will be open until October 15th, while the national final will take place during December 2022 in Kyiv. The winner that will represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2023, will be selected by a combination of jury and public voting. The jury members will be chosen by the public.

Ukraine was represented in Eurovision 2022 by Kalush Orchestra and their song “Stefania”. In the end, they managed to win the contest. They also achieved the greatest televote result in the history of ESC. Due to the ongoing war situation in Ukraine, EBU declared it unable to host Eurovision 2023, making it the first time since 1980 that the contest will not be held at the previous winning country. However, Ukraine will still automatically qualify for the final as it won the last year’s contest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1fl60ypdLs

Source: Eurovoix

United Kingdom: Participation selection with the 2022 formula in 2023!

BBC confirmed the rumors and announced today that it will follow the 2022 formula for selecting a partipant and a song for Eurovision 2023, that is going to take place at United Kingdom.

As announced, BBC and BBC Studios will once again be collaborating with TaP Music (an international management and music publishing company), that is behind world’s most successful pop artists, such as Lana del Rey, Ellie Goulding, London Grammar, Dermot Kennedy and Mabel in order to choose a song and act that will represent the United Kingdom in Eurovision 2023.

At its statement, BBC refers to last year’s very successful British participation – that was selected through the same process that is going to be followed this year – performed by Sam Ryder. The song “Space Man” finished 2nd at the Grand Final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ0hqX_92zI

Some statements by BBC, BBC Studios and TaP Music follow. Rachel Ashdown, Commissioning Editor for BBC says:

“We are thrilled that Ben Mawson and Ed Millett plus the team at TaP will once again bring their unrivalled expertise to work with the BBC and BBC Studios to find an act and song to represent the UK at Eurovision. I hope we can find another artist who will not only be a brilliant ambassador for Eurovision but like Sam will sing their head off with a stand out song.”

Suzy Lamb, MD for BBC Studios Entertainment and Music says:

“BBC Studios are looking forward to working closely with the team at TaP again to continue to build on the success of this year’s collaboration. After Sam Ryder’s incredible result in Turin, we have a hard act to follow, but are looking forward to the challenge of finding a stand-out act and song for Eurovision 2023 that will be cheered on by a home crowd!”

Ben Mawson and Ed Millett at TaP Music says:

“TaP are very excited to be back working with the BBC to select the UK entry for Eurovision 2023. Last year we wanted to change the narrative around the UK and Eurovision to something much more positive. We focussed on what Eurovision is all about – we found an brilliant artist, an unforgettable song and an incredible person in Sam Ryder – we’re so proud of his fantastic success, coming 2nd in the competition and then achieving a number 1 single. 2022 will be a hard act to follow but we’re more than ready for the challenge – Eurovision being held in the UK for 2023 is such an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of British musical talent. Our search starts here!”

Do you agree with the selection proccess chosen by BBC for Eurovision 2023?

Source: bbc.co.uk

Denmark: Opens Song Submissions for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023!

Danish national broadcaster DR, confirmed the country’s participation at Eurovision 2023 by announcing the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 National Final.

Eight songs will compete at the national selection process, while song submissions start from today, September 8th, until the afternoon of October 28th.

The rules are the following:

  • At least one composer, songwriter or singer should be a Danish citizen or somehow be associated with Denmark e.g. residing in Denmark or be married with someone Danish.
  • Feroe Islands and Greenland citizens will also be eligible for participating.
  • All the songs must be original and should not have been played publicly or be available in the internet.
  • The composers and songwriters can submit mutiple participations.
  • The lyrics should not have political messages, swear words or other forms of explicit language.
  • All the songs that meet the Contest’s criteria will be reviewed from a professional jury established by DR. The decision for the final selection cannot be doubted in any way.
  • Until DR reveals the song titles and the creators from the selected participations, the ones involved are not allowed to reveal any details regarding their participation.
  • All the vocals must be performed live during the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix final.
  • The greatest rule change is that in past editions, the participants should have been at least 16 years old during the DMGP final. Now, they should be 16 years old until the ESC final.

Real all the DMGP 2023 rules here.

The national final’s date is not announced yet.

In Eurovision 2022 Denmark was represented by Reddi with the song “The Show” and finished 13th at the First Semi-Final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqakAZP4D24

Source: dr.dk

The Netherlands: During November the song selection for Eurovision 2023!

After S10’s remarkable result at the last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the Dutch national broadcaster AVROTROS has already completed the song submission process for Eurovision 2023.

As previously announced, August 31st was the deadline for Dutch artists to submit their proposals in order to represent the country this year.

Cornald Maas, a member from the Dutch representative selection committee, at some of his statements highlighted the importance Eurovision currently holds for The Netherlands. He also mentioned that November will most probably be the month that their participation will be selected.

More specifically, he said:

“In the last years, Eurovision’s prestige has drastically changed in The Netherlands if someone takes into account that four Eurovision 2022 songs charted at the Dutch Top 40 for the first time since 1983.

Many young artists feel they have a chance and that is what I like the most. That unknown talents don’t feel restricted – they submit their song and think: wait, this stage is also there for me.

The participation will most probably be selected during November.

Maas believes that this year’s submissions won’t surpass those of 2022, although AVROTROS has never announced the number of last year’s submissions.

The members of the selection committee are:

  • Carolien Borgers – DJ and music expert
  • Hila Noorzai – Eurovision expert
  • Eric van Stade – Direct General of AVROTROS
  • Cornald Maas – Commentator and Eurovision expert
  • Jan Smit – Commentator and presenter
  • Sander Lantinga – Radio DJ

The rules that submissions must meet are:

  • The song is convincingly distinctive and meets the above description
  • A maximum of three songs can be submitted
  • The song cannot have been commercially released before September 1st 2022
  • The song cannot exceed 3 minutes in length

Last year, The Netherlands has achieved finishing at 11th place at the Grand Final and at second place at the First Semi-Final, with “De Diepte” by S10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOnu7ux2-k

Source: Eurovoix

Malta: PBS Announces Various Dates for Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023!

The Maltese national broadcaster, PBS, confirmed that the country will participate in Eurovision 2023. In parallel, it announced that the song submissions will be opened at October 17th until October 31st. The participants selected for MESC will be announced in November.

Through the selection process, a jury will choose the 40 songs that will compete at Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Quarterfinals will remain, and in each one 10 songs will compete with 6 of them being able to progress through the Semi-Final. At all the shows, the voting will consist of both jury voting and public televote.

The announcement of dates did not stop there, as PBS also published the dates for the MESC shows. The dates of the shows are the following:

  • Quarterfinal One – January 13th
  • Quarterfinal Two – January 20th
  • Quarterfinal Three – January 27th
  • Quarterfinal Four – February 3rd
  • Semi-Final – February 9th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

Full rules can be read here

In Eurovision 2022 Malta was represented by Emma Muscat and the song “I Am What I Am”, finishing 16th at the Second Semi-Final. Initially, Emma Muscat won MESC 2022 with the song “Out of Sight” but later decided to use the right given by the MESC rules to change the winning song. In the end, she represented Malta with “I Am What I Am”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFCFM5qtvms&ab_channel=EurovisionSongContest

Source: Eurovoix, PBS