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Spain: The viewing figures of the First Semi-Final of Benidorm Fest 2024!

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Yesterday, the first semi-final of the third edition of Benidorm Fest, the national final of Spain for Eurovision 2024, took place. A few minutes ago, the viewing figures of the festival were revealed!

In detail, the semi-final of the contest, hosted by Ruth Lorenzo, Marc Caldero and Ana Prada, reached 10.8% of the viewership, with 3.306.000 individual viewers:

In the above second post, we can see the detailed viewing numbers of Benidorm Fest, per age group and community of Spain:

The respective age groups are:

  • 4-12: 6,7%
  • 13-24: 24,2%
  • 25-44: 19,2%
  • 44-64: 10,5%
  • >64: 6,6%

The viewership in the individual communities of Spain is:

  • Andalusia: 7.5%
  • Catalonia: 8.4%
  • Basque Country: 8.2%
  • Galicia: 5.7%
  • Madrid: 17.3%
  • Valencia: 17.7%
  • Castile-La Mancha: 11.8%
  • Canary Islands: 8.7%
  • Aragon: 10.5%
  • Asturias: 8.3%
  • Balearic Islands: 7.9%
  • Murcia: 10.4%
  • Castile and León: 12.0%
  • Other regions: 9.3%

Finally, the public broadcaster RTVE, received a total of 12.275 votes from the Spanish public, from which the 7.020 went to the group Mantra, who won the televote, but eventually didn’t manage to qualify for the Final:

Yesterday, four artists won the ticket to the Grand Final of Benidorm Fest in Saturday. You can watch the detailed results in our article.

Benidorm Fest continues in Thursday 01/02 with the second semi-final, where the last eight artists will be presented!

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Spanish participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, in Malmö!

Lithuania: Listen to “Simple Joy” by THE ROOP!

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As we’ve previously informed you, THE ROOP, former Eurovision participants of Lithuania in 2020 and 2021, announced that they are going to once again take part in the Lithuanian national final, for Eurovision 2024.  Read more

Christer Björkman: “We will be effective and we will be able to shorten the show!” | Exclusive Interview

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Andreas Papayiannakis and EurovisionFun was invited along with a limited number of media by SVT, to attend the official hand-over ceremony of the contest hosting, from the City of Liverpool to the City of Malmö and the Eurovision Allocation Draw which was broadcast live on eurovision.tv and Ertflix tonight.

There we had the chance to meet several of the people involved in the production of the contest, the Mayor of the City of Malmö Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, the Program Executive of the City of Malmö Karin Karlsson, Eurovision Executive Producer Ebba Adielsson, and Show Producer Christer Björkman.

Christer Björkman spoke exclusively to us about his comeback and more. Christer has been a show producer for five times, now he’s coming back for the sixth time. But how does it feel to be back? Was he planning on his return? Christer said:

“No, I mean to me it was something that I have left behind me and I felt I was done with it. But then when they called and said, you know, we want you, we need you, it’s very hard to say no to Eurovision. You know that, we all know that, we’re fans, you know, in the back of our bones we’re fans. And I’m very proud to be back.”

SVT has always been a trendsetter throughout the years and now with the help of Christer, they are planning on cutting down on the show for up to one hour this year. Christer clarifies:

“Well, we’re trying to be effective. We set up a goal for ourselves to have a show that is 3.30, which is roughly what it was in Malmo last time. That’s sort of the national ego that makes us do that and having done this in Sweden quite recently, you know, in 2016 and we did 2013, so we don’t have to do all that over and over again. So we will be effective and we will be able to shorten it. Maybe not all the way to 3.30, but not far from it.”

Christer has done so many great shows in the past, so his opinion on competing songs and staging matters a lot. So we asked him what he thinks of the Cypriot entry “Liar” and Silia Kapsis! Christer admitted he has listened to the song of Cyprus and got really enthusiastic about telling us his opinion about it:

“Oh my God, I have. I think it’s a very good song. I have not seen Silia live, so I cannot judge the artist’s ability when it comes to a live performance. But the recording is great and I love the song. And it will definitely be one of the songs that I will be very keen on to work with because I think it can be a really good stage performance as well. So that one is good.”

The last time there has been a comment like this about a Greek or Cypriot entry, was back in 2018 with the participation of Cyprus with Eleni Foureira and the song “Fuego“.

You can watch our exclusive interview with Christer Björkman at the video down below:

Special thanks to SVT for inviting us and the City of Malmö for the great hosting at this lovely ceremony, but also many many more that are about to come.

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun and don’t miss out on anything regarding our most loved contest!

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Christer Björkman: “I’m here to make the greatest TV show in the world, SVT can answer on Israel’s participation!”

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On Monday, more than 1.000 Swedish artists, sent a petition to the EBU and the public broadcaster of Sweden, SVT, in order to ask for Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision, as we’ve previously informed you.

Read more

San Marino: The allocation of the 129 artists in the semi-finals of Una Voce per San Marino!

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SMRTV, the public broadcaster of San Marino announced the allocation of the 80 artists competing in the semi-finals of Una Voce per San Marino, in a special press conference. Read more

Latvia: The running order of the semi-final of Supernova 2024!

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On February 3, the semi-final of Supernova 2024, the national final of Latvia, will take place. 15 artists will win the ticket for the Grand Final, to fight it out for the country’s representation in Eurovision 2024!

The public will have the chance to meet the contestants and evaluate their performances for the first time in the semi-final, with Ketija Šēnberga and Lauris Reiniks as the hosts of the night. The vote of the pubic and the jury, are of equal power, as the ones with the most votes combined, will qualify for the Grand Final. The ten best entries will have the chance to represent Latvia in Eurovision 2024!

The running order of the semi-final of Supernova 2024 is:

  1. Agnese Rakovska – “AI”
  2. Patrīcija Spale – “Heaven’s Raining Down on Me”
  3. B/H – “Amsterdam”
  4. Alekss Silvers – “For the Show”
  5. Jar of kings – “Wildfire”
  6. St Levića – “Tick Tock”
  7. Sasha Sil – “Love is a Language”
  8. Papīra Lidmašīnas – “Mind Breaker”
  9. Avéi – “Mine”
  10. Ecto – “Outsider”
  11. Dons – “Hollow”
  12. Katrīna Gupalo – “The Cat’s Song”
  13. Funkinbiz – “Na Chystu Vodu”
  14. Vēstulēs – “Kur?”
  15. Edvards Strazdiņš – “Rock n’ Roll Supernova”

Supernova 2024 Program:

  • Semi-Final– February 3
  • Grand Final– February 10

The previous winners of Supernova, and Latvia’s representatives in Eurovision 2023, were Sudden Lights, with the fan-favourite “Aijā”, who ended up in 11th place of the first semi-final:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Latvian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, in Malmö!

Source: lsm.lv

Sweden: First look at this year’s Melodifestivalen stage!

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The design of this year’s Melodifestivalen stage has been completed and SVT unveiled a sketch/working image of how the final stage looks like, before it gets constructed at Malmö Arena in Malmö . It can now be seen in a post at the official social media accounts of the contest and SVT.

Gigantic LED walls with light and video in all directions, glamorous party atmosphere as well as modern, glittery elegance – and a closeness between artists and audience. That’s what the creators of Melodifestivalen‘s stage and light design want to achieve. Scenographer Viktor Brattström, who together with the lighting design team with Fredrik Stormby at the helm has developed this year’s stage and light design says:

“The stage can offer great variety and the arena feeling will be elegant and festive, both joy and excitement are promised. Everyone will recognize themselves in the wonderful and lively party feeling. That feeling is always part of Melodifestivalen’s identity.”

LED and all are the concepts of the season. Two angled LED walls with integrated luminaires flank the stage, which rests on a 72 square metre LED floor. Thanks to a high resolution of the LED floor, there are a record number of pixels to play with, and it becomes a fun and useful surface. The experience of the different contributions can be greatly enhanced, according to the design team.

To increase the closeness between the audience and the performers, a narrow playing area is placed in the stalls, some distance from the stage, and creates alternative positions for the Melodifestivalen host. A variety of lamps in the stalls further helps to blur the boundary between stage and audience.

Artistic and technical work hand in hand

The prerequisites for the year have been, among other things, that design and construction should work longer over time, and that everything should also fit in smaller arenas. During the design work, great focus has been placed on the big picture. Included in this is everything from the content of the LED screens (in addition to the contributions), lighting, Green Room and interludes, to the host’s clothes and more. For example, the design team has chosen powder pink as one of the shades that is repeated throughout the arena design, on everything from balloons to the lighting over the audience.

Working with the whole in this way is both artistic and technical work that requires close and dynamic teamwork between some of Melodifestivalen‘s key creators – lighting designers, scenographers, image producers, other producers, number creators and project managers. All of them develop a number of basic practical and design prerequisites from their respective areas. Viktor Brattström adds:

“A challenge this year has been to become more compact without losing sight of the grandeur and dynamism. We believe we have succeeded. I am grateful to have been a part of this event and its development over the years.”

Melodifestivalen 2024 is scheduled to take place between February 3rd to March 9th, and next year’s 30 competing songs were selected by SVT among 2624 songs.

The schedule for the six shows of the Melodifestivalen 2024 tour

  • Heat 1: Saturday 3 February 2024, Malmö Arena, Malmö
  • Heat 2: Saturday 10 February 2024, Scandinavium, Göteborg
  • Heat 3: Saturday 17 February 2024, Vida Arena, Växjö
  • Heat 4: Saturday 24 February 2024, Stiga Sports Arena, Eskiltuna
  • Heat 5: Saturday 2 March 2024, Löfbergs Arena, Karlstad
  • Final: Saturday 9 March 2024, Friends Arena, Stockholm – Solna

What is your favourite participant of Melodifestivalen 2024? Let us know in the comments section below!

The winner of Melodifestivalen 2023 and hence the Swedish representative at Eurovision 2023 was Loreen with her song “Tattoo“. Loreen went to become the first female artist in history to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice.

Do you like the Melodifestivalen 2024 stage? Let us know in the comments section below!

Source: SVT

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Israel: The results of HaKokhav Haba’s 21st episode | Or Cohen is the first finalist!

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The 21st episode of HaKokhav Haba (special edition) was just concluded. HaKokhav Haba is the talent show under which the artist that will represent Israel at Eurovision 2024 will be selected.

Out of the 35 artists who made it beyond the audition stage, 14 advanced to the battles’ phase, where they will compete to represent their country in Eurovision 2024!

In episode twenty-one, the five remaining artists performed solo one song each, while one of them was directly advanced to the Grand Final of the competition. Assi Azar and Rotem Sela, serve as the show’s hosts, as they have been doing since 2014. The jury is consisted of Eden Hasson, Shiri Maimon, Itay Levy, Assaf Amdorsky, Ran Dankar, and Keren Pels.

The performances of the 21st episode

The five remaining contestants performed in front of an audience and a panel of judges. The contestant who achieved the highest score, directly advances to the Grand Final of HaKokhav Haba.

Mika Moshe

Mika opened the song with “Umbrella” by Rihanna. As always, Mika has a smooth and captivating voice. Even though two judges did not vote for it, he achieved a score of 84%.

Dor Shimon

Dor chose to perform “In love with the rain” by Ofer Levy .Definitely one of the best singers of this season, he has a powerful voice. While all jurors voted for him, he did not convince the TV audience, as he achieved a score of 80%.

Shay Tamino

Shay Tamino chose to sing “Loruh Hayam” by Ofra Haza tonight. Given that she gave an ethnic performance in front of the judges, there was disagreement among them regarding her interpretation. Three judges voted her out and she achieved a final score of 62%.

Or Cohen

Cohen selected Margol’s “Clay Walls.” Or gives yet another outstanding performance, demonstrating her talent as a singer throughout the season. She gave an excellent of the song. With the support of all the judges, she achieved a score of 93%.

Eden Golan

Eden performed “Roar” by Katy Perry. She is definitely a talented singer. Although all of the judges voted for her, their opinions varied. Hence, Eden achieved a score of 88%.

The results

After all the performances were concluded and with a 93% score, Or Cohen achieved the highest score among all five contestants tonight. Hence, she directly advances to the Grand Final of HaKokhav Haba and is a step closer to the Israeli representation in Malmö.

Now, the four remaining artists who will claim the three remaining spots in the Grand Final on the next episode of HaKokhav Haba, are the following:

  • Eden Golan
  • Dor Shimon
  • Shai Tamino
  • Mika Moshe

The Grand Final of HaKokhav Haba will take place on February 6.

Israel qualified for the finals every year from 2015 to 2020 through HaKokhav HaBa, and Netta won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2018 with the song “Toy”.

Israel was represented last year by Noa Kirel and the song “Unicorn”, which came in third place with 362 points overall.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Source: euromix

Eurovision 2024: Eurovisionfun attending the Semi-Final allocation draw, on-site in Malmö!

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For the first time, a Greek media outlet will be on-site, in the process of the Semi-Final allocation draw of Eurovision. It is with great pleasure and honour that we have been invited by SVT along a limited number of media to cover the event and we will be live in Malmö, tomorrow Tuesday 30/1 and we will be serving you with rich content in all our platforms about the entire process and what is going on at the city of Malmö, a bit less than four months before the contest takes place.

Among a limited number of media, Eurovisionfun is present in the draw

Eurovisionfun, confirming the excellent relations it maintains with SVT, which is this year’s host broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest, will be one of limited number of media that will attend the process of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw of the countries participating in Eurovision Song Contest 2024 and the only Greek media outlet of the bunch!

The above is a great recognition for our website, which is now among the largest of its kind, thanks to your love and support!

So tune in both to our website and to all our social media on Tuesday 30/1, right before 19:00 CET, to watch in every detail this important event for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

What is the Semi-Final Allocation Draw?

This is an established event, during when the host city of the previous year hands-over the reins of the event to the next city to host the contest.

At the same time, the draw takes place and determines in which of the two semi-finals, as well as in which of the first or second half of them, the participating countries will compete. Finally, it is determined in which semi-final the countries that qualify directly for the final, namely the so-called “Big 5” (France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom), as well as the host country Sweden, will vote.

We remind you that you will be able to watch the draw through the official Eurovision Song Contest channel on YouTube.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the latest news regarding Eurovision 2024!

 

 

 

Sweden: These artists want Israel banned from Eurovision! | SVT’s response: “The EBU decides!”

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As you may have read in one of our previous articles, Expressen was able to reveal this weekend that more than 1.000 Swedish artists are demanding that Israel be banned from Eurovision. This is due to the ongoing Middle-Eastern conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza.

Today, the list of all the artists was published by Expressen, including Eric Saade, Marlena Ernman, Timbuktu, also Medina and Jacqline, who are competing in Melodifestivalen this year, have also signed. Also the global star Robyn joined the petition. You can have a look on the full list of artists who signed here!

“Serious war crimes”

There have been calls to ban Israel from Eurovision 2024, like 1000 Swedish musicians that signed today a petition to the EBU against Israel outside NRK right during the first two weeks of MGP. In Iceland, more than 500 artists signed a petition asking RÚV to withdraw from the contest, while Silvia Night signed an open letter to the EBU asking to ban Israel. In Finland, 1300 artists signed a petition asking for Israel to be removed. The British representative Olly Alexander has also shared in public his opinion against Israel. Also just recently Montaigne signed an open letter to the EBU asking the ban of Israel from the contest and Ben Dolic joined her by doing the same. Now 1000 Swedish artists are demanding that Israel be stopped from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. The petition reads:

“For more than 100 days, we have witnessed the Israeli army committing what leading human rights organizations describe as grave war crimes. The Eurovision Song Contest began as a peace project with the ambition to unite countries and citizens through music. Allowing Israel to participate undermines not only the spirit of the contest but the entire public service mission. It also sends the signal that governments can commit war crimes without consequences. That is why we appeal to the EBU: Exclude Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.“

SVT’s answer: “The EBU decides!”

SVT has, through Åsa Barsness, HR and Communications Director, published a response to the demands directed at them, on a press release:

“It is the EBU that decides who participates in the competition and as the host country, SVT relates to what the EBU decides. The human suffering in this deeply complex conflict is horrific. No one can be unmoved by the conditions in Gaza right now, or by the Hamas attack in Israel. We are also concerned about developments. We understand and respect that groups make their voices heard.”

She further writes that SVT has a dialogue with the EBU and hopes to be able to carry out Eurovision in the “best way, with the vision of uniting in music.“

Eurovision will be held in Malmö in May this year and Karin Karlsson is responsible for the city’s initiative. She talked about how they view the artists’ petition, to Expressen:

“We can’t influence whether Israel is in or not, that’s the EBU’s responsibility. We have said all along that everyone is welcome in Malmö.”

Source: Expressen, SVT
Photo: Alex Ljungdahl / Expressen

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the latest news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest!

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