#Beovizija 2019

[because-its-eurovision]

I'm working on a small ESC project atm for which I'm looking at some national finals from this season and the 2021 season. And I noticed that there used to be a lot more internal selections two years ago compared to nowadays. Do you have any idea why that was the case/ why it changed? (I know it's a really random question but I thought you'd be the best person to ask :))

There are many countries that have their established national selections that are organised every year. UMK, Melodifestivalen, MGP, DMGP, Söngvakeppnin, Eesti Laul, Supernova, Festivali i Këngës, Festival da Canção just to name a few.

Then there are those countries that try different selection methods every few years, depending on the participating broadcaster, their financial situation and if there are any established artists showing interest to be selected internally. Some examples of those are Netherlands, Belgium (with two broadcasters), Moldova, Spain, San Marino, France, Malta, Georgia, Australia and Israel. Sometimes they organise a full national final, sometimes they choose just the artist via a talent show (Malta's X Factor 2019 & 2022, Georgian Idol 2019 & 2020), and sometimes they make an internal selection.

In 2022 TRM was planning to hold a full national selection but cancelled it after the preliminary round when it became clear there was no competition for Trenulețul. San Marino's 1in360 was scrapped after only one year letting Senhit & Flo Rida to represent the country and then Una voce per San Marino was founded in 2022. Israel, Slovenia and France also got big names with Noa, Joker Out and La Zarra so organising a NF would have been a waste of everyone's time and money, and so forth. This leads to the number of national selections changing from year to year, and I must admit that I haven't been invested in the subject enough to notice any strong trends.

2021 national final season is very exceptional since it was strongly effected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the 2020 contest got cancelled, a total of 24 countries decided to send their representative again the next year, and that lead to one-year hiatus for many established national selections. Most of those then returned again in 2022 👇

Czechia: Benny Cristo won Eurovision Song CZ 2020, was internally selected in 2021, in 2022 they had national selection ESCZ 2022 Iceland: Daði & Gagnamagnið won Söngvakeppnin 2020, were internally selected for 2021, Söngvakeppnin returned in 2022

Serbia: Hurricane won Beovizija 2020, were internally selected for 2021, in 2022 they had national selection Pesma za Evroviziju '22

Latvia: Samanta Tina won Supernova 2020, was internally selected for 2021, Supernova returned in 2022

Slovenia: Ana Soklič won EMA 2020, was internally selected for 2021, EMA returned in 2022

Australia: Montaigne won Eurovision - Australia Decides 2020, was internally selected for 2021, Australia Decides returned in 2022

Israel: Eden Alene won Rising Star 2020, was internally selected for 2021, in 2022 The X Factor Israel was used as the national selection

Romania: Roxen's entry was selected via Selecția Națională 2020, she was internally selected for 2021 as was her song, and Selecția Națională returned in 2022

Ukraine: Go_A won Vidbir 2020, was internally selected for 2021, Vidbir returned in 2022

Malta: Destiny was chosen via The X Factor 2020, internally selected for 2021, and in 2022 Malta Eurovision Song Contest was used as the national selection

[eurovision]

Nevena Božović representará a Serbia en Eurovision 2019 con “Kruna”

La intérprete ha resultado ganadora del Beovizija, la selección nacional serbia, de entre 12 participantes en total mediante un sistema mixto de televoto y jurado profesional.

Recordemos que Serbia participará en la Primera Semifinal de Eurovision 2019 el próximo 14 de mayo.

[reykjavik-2021]

I see why Lord didn’t win but I thought their song was sooo good and would’ve been cool to see in the semifinal. I’m really happy for Nevena but you can’t tell me this doesn’t SMACK:

[mjeurovision]

Serbia: A Queen without her Kruna

What do you think of the Serbian entry? Will Kruna snatch the crown or is this song going down? Check out my blog and let me know your thoughts!

Deciding to keep their national final from last year, Serbia rounded off an action-packed weekend with a much less controversial edition of Beovizija. Doing a full Beyoncé, Nevena Božović has ditched the other members of Moje 3 and their horrendous outfits and is returning to Eurovision on her own with the song Kruna (crown).

(more…)

[anotherescsite]

The Serbs

Serbia is about to enter the Eurovision for the 12th time as an independent country. They had a few entries while they were part of Yugoslavia, but their biggest success was when the country debuted in 2007. Since then, it hasn’t been all garlands and roses.

Beovizija is the national final they use; this year had two semi finals to limit the number of entrants to 12 songs. I missed the semi finals, but I’m going to watch them now to see how I feel about them.

Aleksandra Sekulić – Tugo Very beautiful girl, but she hasn’t done great job with the song. The song seems alright, but she was obsessed with looking pretty and moving her dress around. I stopped half way.

Saška Janks – Da li čuješ moj glas A song of contrast and control. Saska is an amazing performer; she showed great control and poise through the song. Excellent performance; but I don’t want it to win.

Nataša & Una – Samo bez straha Serbian rap; it didn’t work. It isn’t that bad really, it just a bit clumsy and rehearsed.

Ivan Kurtić – Bella There is a person painting a mural in the background, I paid more attention there. The song wasn’t worth it for me.

Wonder Strings & Ivana Vladović – Moja bol This is quite good. The strings give the song some drama and buoyancy and Ivana sings well. Maybe needs a better voice to sing it.

Sofija Perić – Aritmija Modern, uptempo and dancers. Sofija does a nice job, the choreography is a bit lame, but good all up.

Majdan – Budim Te Band playing a ballad. Performed nicely, but the song needs an injection to make it more interesting. It’s decent for what it is though. 

Jana Šušteršič – Viktorija This is a slow burn and I wished it would have gone harder and louder sooner. The presentation of the song is quiet, but outstandingly paints a picture. Very controlled and precise performance from Jana..

Nevena Božović – Kruna They’re going to choose this aren’t they? It’s well performed by Nevena, she looks tortured by her song. The music is quite simple and the focus is on the words and actions.

Ana Popović – Lutaš This is a lovely performance from Ana; it is performed well. The music is very considered and simple. The song changes in the middle and it brings life to the song. 

Dženan Lončarević – Nema Suza I don’t like it. The song was very laboured and I’m sure it had great meaning to do with the older lady there and memories of the past. Dzenan performs it well.

Lord – Radnički sin Modern Serbia with lively music and choreography and tradtional instruments mixed it. I like it, it’s fun.

CONCLUSION:

I think it will be Nevena. It is the sort of thing Serbia sends to Eurovision. There are other songs worthy, but I can’t see it happening. What do I know though?

[escunited]

Serbia: Final line-up of Beovizija 2019 complete

[mirai-desu]

Loving you is a losing game: An Ode to the Amazing Songs We Lost the Eurovision National Final Season 2020

YouTube Playlist Here

A few of my favorites did win their NFs but I did have others I loved. And here they are! I went with studio cuts to be consistent. List of songs with individual links below. [2019′s playlist is here.]

Rein Alexander - “One Last Time”  (Melodi Grand Prix - Norway) [image above comes from his performance, watch here] 

Pinguini Tattici Nucleari - “Ringo Starr” (Festival di Sanremo - Italy)

Victor Crone - “Troubled Waters” (Melodifestivalen - Sweden)

Magnus Bokn - “Over the Sea“  (Melodi Grand Prix - Norway)

Traffic - “Üks kord veel”  (Eesti Laul - Estonia)

Monika Marija - “If I Leave”  (Pabandom iš naujo! - Lithuania)

Anna Bergendahl - “Kingdom Come”  (Melodifestivalen - Sweden)

Kristin Husøy - “Pray For Me”  (Melodi Grand Prix - Norway)

Rasmus Rändvee - “Young” (Eesti Laul - Estonia)

Olga Lounova - “Dark Water” (ESCz - Czech Republic)

Aistay - “Dangus man Tu”  (Pabandom iš naujo! - Lithuania)

DRIKSNA - “Stay” (Supernova - Latvia)

Francesco Gabbani - “Viceversa”  (Festival di Sanremo - Italy)

Robin Bengtsson - “Take a Chance” (Melodifestivalen - Sweden)

Jordan-Ravi - “Pushing Stars” (Australia Decides)

Edgars Kreilis - "Tridymite"  (Supernova - Latvia)

Gabrielius Vagelis - “Tave Čia Randu” (Pabandom iš naujo! - Lithuania)

Miks Dukurs - “I’m Falling For You”  (Supernova - Latvia)

Kenny Duerlund - “Forget It All” (Dansk Melodi Grand Prix - Demark)

Sondrey - “Take My Time”  (Melodi Grand Prix - Norway)

Raphael Gualazzi - “Carioca“ (Festival di Sanremo - Italy)

Bárbara Tinoco - “Passe-Partout” (Festival da Canção - Portugal)

Méndez feat. Alvaro Estrella -” Vamos Amigos” (Melodifestivalen - Sweden)

Erika Vikman - “Cicciolina” (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailuun - Finland)

Sasha Letty - “Summer of Love’ (O melodie pentru Europa - Moldova)

Senhit - “Obsessed” (Senhit’s Digital Battle - San Marino)

Eden Alene - “Roots”  (HaShir HaBa - Israel)

Elin & The Woods - “We Are As One" (Melodi Grand Prix - Norway)

Iva - “Oculis Videre”  (Söngvakeppnin - Iceland)

Madara - "Māras zeme” (Supernova - Latvia)

Elísabet - “Elta þig” (Söngvakeppnin - Iceland)

Era Rusi - “Eja Merre”  (Festivali i Këngës 58 - Albania)

Darya Hmelnitskaya - “On Fire”  (Natsionalniy Otbor - Belarus)

Olea Roşu - “Alive”  (O melodie pentru Europa - Moldova)

Karelll - “At Least We've Tried”  (ESCz - Czech Republic)

Laika Upe - “All My Roads”  (Supernova - Latvia)

CLOUDLESS - “Drown Me Down” (Vibir - Ukraine)

Geirmund - “Come Alive” (Melodi Grand Prix - Norway)

Audiokvartāls - “Connection"  (Supernova - Latvia)

Elodie - “Andromeda” (Festival di Sanremo - Italy)

Elvana Gjata - “Me tana”  (Festivali i Këngës 58 - Albania)

Rūta Loop - “We Came From The Sun”  (Pabandom iš naujo! - Lithuania)

Merilin Mälk - “Miljon sammu”  (Eesti Laul - Estonia)

F3M - “Bananas”  (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailuun - Finland)

Lisa Børud - “Talking About Us” (Melodi Grand Prix - Norway)

Mariliis Jõgeva - “Unistustes” (Eesti Laul - Estonia)

Annemarija Moiseja - “Undo” (Supernova - Latvia)

Nína - “Ekkó”  (Söngvakeppnin - Iceland)

LITTLE MESS - “Without a Reason”  (Eesti Laul - Estonia)

Kanita -  "Ankth" (Festivali i Këngës 58 - Albania)

Thea Devy - “Sudnji dan“  (Beovizija  - Serbia)

Tika - “I Let My Heart Break“  (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailuun - Finland)

Eden Alene - ”Savior In The Sound “ (HaShir HaBa - Israel)

Malou Prytz - “Ballerina”  (Melodifestivalen - Sweden)

Igor Simić - “Ples za rastanak” (Beovizija  - Serbia)

Dotter - “Bulletproof”  (Melodifestivalen - Sweden)

Moniqué - “Make Me Human”  (Pabandom iš naujo! - Lithuania)

Jaagup Tuisk - “Beautiful Lie“  (Eesti Laul - Estonia)

Barbora Mochowa - “White & Black Holes” (ESCz - Czech Republic)

Astrid in Avantgarden - “Sing to Me” (EMA Freš - Slovenia)

Markus Riva - "Impossible"  (Supernova - Latvia)

TOKIONINE - “Save Me” (Depi Evratesil - Armenia)

Imset - “Femme Fatale”  (EMA - Slovenia)

Andrija Jo - “Oči Meduze” (Beovizija - Serbia)

Valeria Pasa - “It’s Time”  (O melodie pentru Europa - Moldova)

Elettra Lamborghini - “Musica (E Il Resto Scompare)” (Festival di Sanremo - Italy)

Eden Alene - “Rakata”  (HaShir HaBa - Israel)

Oda Loves You - “Love Who We Love”  (Melodi Grand Prix - Norway)

Angelika Pushnova - “True Love” (Natsionalniy Otbor - Belarus)

Catarina Sandu - ‘Die For You”  (O melodie pentru Europa - Moldova)

Mia Negovetić - “When It Comes to You” (Dora - Croatia)

Elizabete Gaile - "For You" (Supernova - Latvia) 

Lina Kuduzovič - “Man Like U” (EMA - Slovenia)

Roxen - “Colors” (Finala Eurovision România)

Lake Malawi - “Lucy” (Szansa na Sukces - Poland)

-

Bonus: Twosome - “Playa” (Pabandom iš naujo! - Lithuania)

Bonus Bonus:  Bugo abbandona il palco dell'Ariston  (Festival di Sanremo - Italy)

[escape-news]

Sırbistan Eurovision 2019 Temsilcisini Seçti

Sırbistan Eurovision 2019 Temsilcisini Seçti

Geçtiğimiz hafta 1. ve 2. yarı finalleri tamamlanan Beovizija 2019 final etabıyla bu akşam son buldu ve Sırbistan’ı Tel Aviv’de düzenlenecek olan 2019 Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması‘nda temsil edecek olan isim belli oldu!… (more…)

[eurosong]

Undo my ESC - 2019, SF1

Hello there, folks, and welcome to the first part of Undo my ESC, where I take a look at the field this year and, for each country, make a feasible change – as small as, for example, minor tinkerings with the staging, or as big as a different song completely winning a national final. It’s all light-hearted and just my opinion, of course. Allons-y... Cyprus: We start off completely in the deep end. I loathe “Fuego”, and this repackaged Fue2.0 is no better and is indeed perhaps worse to me given that I hate desperate attempts to catch lightning in the same jar. I also find Tamta a very unsympathetic character. I don’t know what I’d do to improve this, other than replace the internal selection with a national final with some songs actually in Greek and with local character. Montenegro: Things do not improve... but at least the solution is easier! Montenegro had a decent national final in which literally any other song would have been a better choice. I particularly liked “Nevinost”, and so did the unfortunately out-voted expert jury, so would be tempted to give D mol’s ticket to Tel Aviv to its artist, Ivana Popović, instead. I do find D mol to be sweet kids though, so the other part of me would be sad to rob them of their time in the limelight and would instead have taken the 90s throwback and bizarre random background sound elements out of their song, replaced the score with one that emphasised the traditional musical elements, and kept the lyrics in Montenegrin.

Finland: Three strikes and I am almost out. I really struggle with the new UMK format – I understand the logic behind it, just as I did when it was a thing in the UK in the early 90s, but I think it only really works if an artist has a wide-ranging repertoire. If not, then you end up with 3 samey songs that only appeal to people who like the music styles that artist makes. I’m not an EDM fan and I would have taken the relative flop of Saara Aalto last year as indication to return to a multi-artist UMK. Plenty of artists from previous years who could be worth a spot in one such.

Poland: I was disappointed by the disappearance of Poland’s national final, but I can’t say I was too surprised after a few underperforming years. I have to commend the Polish broadcasters for going for something popular within their own country, without being overly preöccupied as to how it would play outwith their borders. Pali się is one of those entries that I don’t like much but which I respect. My changes would be to remove the pointless English intro and outro, which, if one were not paying attention, one might not notice actually being in English. I’d also try to make the song a little less linear, as the song feels mostly confined to one pace.

Slovenia: Finally, we come to a country where I can change next to nothing. Many people I know were disappointed that “Kaos” was not elected as the Slovenes’ song. Whilst I found it an earworm, I really didn’t like her haughty, “I’m only in EMA to promote my new disc” attitude – and I really preferred the delectable, contemplative and intimate “Sebi.” It’s pure elegance in simplicity, and I wouldn’t need to change a thing.

Czechia: I appreciate the Czechs’ creätive way of bypassing the expenses of a traditional national final – whilst still giving fans a choice – by holding their selection online. Really cute this year was the way they tried to equalise differences in funding by making the candidates’ official video be a low-budget affair filmed in their flats. I liked quite a few songs of their selection, with the eventual winner, “Friend of a friend”, middle of my rankings. I would, of course, opt for my #1 of the NF to win instead, the delightful slice of “Bohemiana del Rey” style that was “True Colours.”

Hungary: Hungary’s A Dal has the cachet to attract a number of returning artists, so it was not surprising that, eventually, it would be won by someone who’d triumphed before – and I’m delighted it was Joci Papái, one of the biggest revelations of the Hungarian NFs for me. Yet, as is often the case with folk coming back to take a second bite of the cherry, the sophomore effort comes short of the first – “Az én apám” is lovely, touching, but lacks the bite and edge that “Origo” had. I might have JP come second and hopefully return for a second victory in 2020/1 with something a bit stronger, and send in his place the soaring but melancholic “Madár, repülj”.

Belarus: Life is too short to do some things, and whilst I try to listen to pretty much every national final song, one of the things life is too short for is intensively following the Belarusian national finals with their hundred-odd auditions. I saw a few, though, and they were a rum lot. Musically, Aura’s touching “Čaravala” was probably the best of those I heard – but was also strangely won over by the unpretentious, fun ode to tubers that was “Potato, aka Buľba” and depending on my mood, I might give it the nod either.

Serbia: Beovizija had a great lineüp yet again, and there were a number of songs I would have been happy to have gotten the win, including the eventual winner, but also those of Saška Janks, Extra Nena and Ivana Vladović. The latter’s beautiful “Moja bol”, with strings to die for, was my favourite on the night, but in retrospect, I’m not sure I’d replace the equally stunning “Kruna.” I’d be tempted to send it in its acoustic version though, where Nevena’s lovely voice stands out even better.

Belgium: Ô, Belgium. I adored “City Lights”, and so my expectations were really high. This is nice enough, but a bit beige, and doesn’t quite deliver, especially the way the enjoyably tense verses lead to an anticlimactically limp chorus. I’d change that with something that actually feels like a pay off to the verses and the Walloons would have a better shot of shining again.

Georgia: I have to say that, once again, I find myself being one of the few people I know who has some love for Georgia. Whilst it wasn’t truly my cup of tea, I appreciated and enjoyed Iriao’s song last year on some level, and the same is true of Oto’s – he has a powerful voice and it’s a strong, if rather unsettling song. I think, though, that I prefer the darkly ethereal Sevdisperi zgva, which sounds like what I imagine would result if Björk were tasked to write a Bond tune.

Australia: After a few years of rumours, Oz finally jumped on the national final train, and, credit where it is due, it was one of the most intriguing national finals of the year. It was as if SBS had decided to atone for its aggressively MOR pop picks of previous years by actually showcasing some musical diversity. Unlike a lot of folk, I don’t dislike “Zero gravity” – it has a meaningful lyrical background and some quirky charm. But there’s no question about whether I would replace it and with what. I still get chills every time I listen to “2000 and Whatever” – the sheer, irrepressible burst of positive energy and the power of its “kulila miranyi” still give me goosebumps. Damn straight one of the best song of the entire year.

Iceland: Given the amount of hype Hatari have received – and how fans flooded videos of its competitors with comments about how they shouldn’t “fuck up” by picking them instead – I may be one of the very few who would change the result there. Yet, I almost definitely would, even though I typically like lesser-heard genres at Eurovision and like the heavier, industrial musical style. And yet, I find this quite trying. It seems like a very knowing, art school student pastiche and I’m not here for their “above the contest” feel or the BDSM gimmickry. I’d be tempted to replace this with the low-key but lovely “Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað”, or to at least pare back the OTT disdainful irony.

Estonia: It feels almost like another era when I was a firm exponent of the idea of Eesti being Beesti. Three years of immense disappointments will quench that type of fire. Whilst leaving behind the stunning Spirit Animal in 2017 and opting for a generic poperatic vocal exercise in 2018 were excruciating, this might be the biggest let down yet – a land of so many talented musicians having to rely on an Avicii pastiche sang with no small difficulty by a reedy-voiced Swede. I found Eesti Laul very slim pickings this year, and found the other two frontrunners to be rather bland too – even the delightful Sandra Nurmsalu came with a tune that, whilst pleasant, sounded less nomadic epic and more toilet tissue commercial backing track. I would have gone for Kadiah’s delicate “Believe” as my pick instead.

Portugal: FdC was once again one of the best national finals, and the one for whose result I was perhaps most anxious. There were a few songs I really liked, like “Pugna”, “Mais brilhante...” and “Inércia”, but when the dust settled, there was only one song I wanted to see winning – “Telemóveis,” of course, which I was delighted to see prevail. I have some real worries about the bizarre staging distracting from the message and emotional power of the song, though. There’s so much going on, and it might be enough to push people from being entranced to being weirded out. I’d get rid of the spoons, sort out the clothes and try to make things impressive without being so extra.

Greece: I actually really like Greece this year, even if I’m still pissed off at what they did to “Don’t forget the sun” in their dubiously axed national final last year. Her voice is beautiful, the music is uplifting and anthemic, the æsthetic is curious and a bit culty, but at least memorable. The one thing I don’t like? The lyrics, which sound like a bunch of motivational Instagram quote clichés loosely knitted together. Sing something actually meaningful, preferably in Greek.

San Marino: Lord, I’m not going to start because if I do, I shan’t stop. All I’ll say is that San Marino’s “troll nation” status is wearing thin for me. Unbelievably, hundreds of talented people came out in numbers last year willing to represent them, and yet they went with a song written supposedly in 5 minutes but probably in half that. I’d have invited Sara de Blue back instead to make up for the bizarre fiasco that was last year’s 1in360. And the automatic qualifiers:

France: If France’s national delegation aren’t rethinking their voting system after this year, then they ought to be. It’s the opposite of Sweden, where the juries really have the power and the televote is scattered – all you need is a frenzied following to overturn a low jury placement. I liked a great number of Destination Eurovision’s selection this year. I would have taken pretty much ány single one of them over the snivelling, bombastic, self-aggrandising drivel that is Roi. With regards to what to send in its place, I’m torn between the powerful “Là haut”; the adorably, quintessentially French “Allez leur dire”; or the energetic, indefatigable earworm that was “On cherche encore”.

Israel: Boy howdy, Israel sure want to do their level best to avoid fluking a 1979 and winning on home ground, eh? I heard there were many big names who sent songs in, though I’m unsure if any of them would have helped to make the stormy Kobi seem more sympathetic. I think I would have opted to let Ketreyah perform for the hosts instead.

Spain: After a great national final last year, I was really disappointed with the subpar quality of the so-called eurotemazos which were anything but. Miki’s song was the best of a bad lot and at least he didn’t have the hideously negative attitude some of the other people, who seemed surprised and aghast that the winner of a contest related to Eurovision could end up performing there. I’d try to give Miki a song that matched his energy with at least a bit more lyrical depth.

Join me in some days when I evaluate what I would change with SF2!

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Montenegro to Eurovision with 6 young souls

(this is a pre-vamp review so take this whole thing as “something I wanted to publish but my schedule was withholding until it was specifically time for them to be reviewed”, therefore, this is a bit of a retrospective review. Will tackle on its revamp later!)

Montevizija, which finally has an official Twitter account (we all should forget the times some dude named Vasilije pretended to having made one), offered us another batch of 5 songs for another year, actually revealing all of them beforehand this time and not just the snippets! Joy to the world I guess.

You gotta love Montevizija for it being the most underrated ex-Yugoslavian national final btw. Granted, it only lasted for 2 editions as of now, and it will take years to grow bigger as a thing, but so far, for us the NFs that are ingrained to our brains more are Dora, EMA and Beovizija (and even Skopje Fest when THAT was used to pick an act and not just served as a festival like it originally was meant to be), therefore Montevizija seems more shunned. But what do you expect when the lineup of 5 for two years in a row is not exactly as stellar as hoped for? Well, there are gems here and there, but they haven’t really won on either years (or at least not on the 2nd year if you call Vanja’s song a gem too), and yet somehow they find someone who call them great. But for me this Montenegrin entry is not. :L

And who is up there to be colossally blamed for its existence? None other than this group of 6 refering to themselves as D mol (with “mol” decapitalized for whatever reason... they used to have hyphen separating the ‘D’ and ‘mol’, but now they scrapped it altogether, an anime death I’ll never forget). Worth noting that I, as a 19 year old, have this particularly ugly feeling I must get rid of, and that’s the one of “feeling old”, already at my age. And this is how I felt seeing that the band whose song I am not fond of today is made up by members that are of 16-17 to 21-ish years old!!! So my heart insists that I shouldn’t go too hard on these poor younglings, even if this is just me, currently tackling the brethren of my age. Prepare as I’ll go to shred their composition they’re going to Tel Aviv with, “Heaven”, to bits.

Although, what I call “shredding to bits” is merely just nitpicking the reasons the original version (keep bearing in mind that I haven’t heard the revamp yet) sucks imo, and idk, the new “Heaven” miiiiiiight just grow on me, but I heavily doubt about it because I never cared for it in the first place (youhouuu, they were my last in Montevizija ‘19 for a reason), and I’m rather looking forward for the new faves from the 8 songs I haven’t listened to yet rather than those that were already chosen. And even the Eurofans were not quite fond on the revamp, as some think the additional ethno sounds made it sound worse (and of course there are some that kinda like it or think of the song as their guilty pleasure). So why shouldn’t I? :O

Anyway, old “Heaven”. The first sounds on here to grace my ears on this song consist of one light piano note being tapped to an exact rhythm and a confused baby girl stuttering. And I’d’ve maybe enjoyed this more ironically at some point if it weren’t for the latter sound effect being re(ab)used later in the song!! Ugh I hate it. The lyrics are fine I guess... though isn’t it ironic the only English song in Montevizija’s lineup this year won?? It’s like the Montenegrin people were openly cringing when being the only ones to understand Vanja comparing his life to cat’s and mouse’s and calling his heart “the most expensive toy” in his song and then they were like “you know what? Let’s let the WHOLE Europe understand how terrible our lyrics are! ^_^” (no but for real, who still uses “I’m in heaven, falling straight into your heart” as a pick-up line? Did they travel through time from 1998 to 2019 or something???)

Speaking of the 90s, the whole song smells like a dated cliché of that period. You know, the kind of “the high school prom song from that 90s teen sitcom’s who you’re forced to watch when your elderly aunt is in the house with you and there’s nothing else on TV” dated. Dated even more than “Chain of Lights”. Seriously though! It includes the pathetic “wah wah” bassline, mid-tempo beats, the boy/girl-group harmonies... catch me puking sugar-coated cheese to this, no thanks. Oh and if you already read my “Zero Gravity” review (which you probably never even bothered to after seeing how much text would you have to read), I definitely mentioned that I’m not a fan of those “two verses-two choruses” songs, and especially those kind of ones that aren’t sounding like something suited for radio (e.g.: Poland 2018, “Light Me Up”)... this obviously sounds like something from the radio of the times the at-the-time senior highschoolers are currently over 30 or slightly over 40, and that should be 4 and a half minutes long. These verses could just not be more ridiculously dragged out for the choruses to prevail and get stuck in our brains... fucking welp [sic] me already.

Well, if there are any brownie points I could give this, it’s pleasant, it’s harmless if I don’t take into account the cheese vibes this emits, and all this bunch are made up by up-and-coming talented singers that clearly deserved a better song...

And the staging concept in their NF was cool tho (illustrating their power of D mol), and I applaud the couple chemistry I guess

Oh and this below is one of the most underappreciated memes this Euroseason:

*stares into your soul in Montenegrin*

So yeah. Oh and the Rizo(tto) guy who is self-aware of his hotness and the hotness of the much older Eurovision guys this year, but he’s not doing it for me so that I could be in heaven falling, so he’s getting a hard pass.

All in all - a nostalgia cash-in made to appease the housewives from Podgorica to Skopje, from Novi Sad to Štúrovo, and nothing quite else, sung by a cool bunch of people that if anything are deemed this year’s "great people with an unfortunately too dated song and a shitty draw” by me. I don’t know much of their personalities but I do believe that even if they like what they’re singing, they’d be much better off doing a better sounding throwback, at least. So that even the disappointed-by-”Heaven” Eurofans could at least call it “so dated but a BOP!”. And hey, I’m aware of those fans that will likely be pissed at me for not bopping along to this, but I said what I said about it and yet again, if revamp changes my mind, I will change my opinion, but right now I’d not prefer to. Grumpy Adio.

Approval factor: Hell with the no. I would like Vanja back instead. At least he made himself a somebody to be cared about even if the Eurofans didn’t quite adapt to his song in return.

Follow-up factor: somehow, both “Inje” and “Heaven” were/are seen by the masses as instant NQs, so it somehow doesn’t sound like Montenegro is following a great path so far. And after this year anything that audience favours and wins can be seen as a way better follow up after something meh coming after something wrose.

Qualification factor: For the n-th time, I’m yet to check the revamp out to state where this will actually go, but being put 2nd in the draw is a massive stab in the knee, as demonstrated by even the national finals this year (Electric Fields in Australia Decides, Aly Ryan in Unser Lied für Israel, Lisa Ajax in Melodifestivalen final... the only glaring exception is ZENA in Eurofest but is it me or these producers did this just so they could be all like “heeeey we put a winning song on 2nd just to show that a NF song can win from ANY draw! ANY DRAW!!!” lol nope), and from it only a few lucky souls have crawled out victorious (Nathan Trent for example, the draw might have pushed him down in the semi but he got up again!). D mol, for as young and developing in talent as they are, don’t seem to be such. You can be young and pitied for your personality, but you always can at the same time have a song that completely crushes your chances to do well and sweeps up the last shards of hope right in front of your eyes despite being an angel worthy of protection (Ari Ólafsson, anyone?). Unless the D molians work all their magic and the random ethnic vibes into their favour for some reason, but for now it ain’t gonna work.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

And even then, what was so interesting about Montevizija 2019?? Let’s see...

• First off, let’s address one meme of the beginning of 2019 that Facebook may or may have not used purposefully to upgrade their automatic “facial recognition” skills - the 10 years challenge. Our first one of this season is the sassy maneater who spent her ESC stint by trying to unlove a guy so hard that he just couldn’t oblige - Andrea Demirović. Her decade-later A-game happened to be this one song she sang in her mother-tongue: “Ja sam ti san” (I am your dream). Now, I wasn’t particularly into it - I enjoy some electro tracks out there (like hello, “Igranka” is one of my favourite Montenegrin entries, and 2013 entries overall as well) but this one just ended up being the right amount of cool AND overbearingly unsettling for me to not really fancy it. Kinda like “Red” by HyunA - I can only bop to this if I don’t care about the fact I actually hate it, oops. (Or maybe it is just because Andrea once again used a composition done by one of those “rent-a-NF-songwriter” people. Which is at least better than collabing Ralph Siegel who’s stopped being relevant ever since starting to work with San Marino, or even since the hilarious attempt of a peace song sung by the original common framework, six4One. But since Michael James Down has co-contributed to one of the better Montevizija songs last year, I will not allow myself to think it’s thanks to those kind of songwriters.) Nevertheless, the Eurofans actualy kind of loved this song, but sadly, Montenegrins and the international jury did quite not, and she didn’t land on to the superfinal 2 (as opposed to a superfinal 3 last year, to which she could have easily qualified if it still were a 3). Here’s her song to y’all anyways (and the performance too, which just needed to include some random monster dudes dancing around... why? Because Eurovision! ^^):

• Speaking of Andrea, during the results part there was this one shot of hers where she was pictured just casually chilling on her phone, not giving a damn that she’s being underrated on the scoreboard. Not only she was badly rated, but this moment was such an universal #mood!

• In between the finally final results announcement (which I didn’t really know when exactly was it taking place because the winner wasn’t really said out loud before the event I will describe next was taking place??) there was this lottery going on of who would be the lucky two audience observers that’d win tickets to Tel Aviv... hilariously enough though, it somehow malfunctioned and there were some sort of errors regarding the announcement of the RIGHT winner <3 but the winners happened and I hope they’re getting to go to Tel Aviv at some point during the Eurovision events! Hope they don’t feel startled by the lack of taken seats this year.

• Unlike Eesti Laul, Montevizija this year took up the job of showcasing tweets of Eurofans, and somehow this fellow fella ended up seen by a handful of Montenegrins AND international viewers. Take a wild guess which of them know what a daddy Serhat is.

• And who could not forget the magic flying envelope for to announce the winner of the NF:

there must have been some Harry Potter magic in there :O

As for what touches the other songs, well there’s the last year’s fan fave Nina Petković with another song, but it’s no “Dišem”, so don’t even bother. Or bother, but imo it’s just okay-sounding, nothing that groundbreaking or pleasant enough to be competitive. The other few songs were also nice but I’d like not to make this longer as my other write-ups, to be fair. Sucked to be Mr. Kállay-Saunders who, as the international juror chosen for this national final, had to rank its songs... as that NF happened right on the same day his second A Dal 2019 performance was taking off. Not that the international jurors were supposed to be present in Montenegro on the day of this NF, anyways...

Anyway, despite all this goddamn criticism (that could’ve flown more smooth had my computer not restarted in the middle of me doing paragraphs for this review), I’m fare welling the D mol-ians and would like to wish them a heavenly Eurovision experience. ^_^

[escstage]

2022'den İlk Ulusal Final Haberi: Beovizija Dönüyor!

2022’den İlk Ulusal Final Haberi: Beovizija Dönüyor!

2021 Eurovision’un sıcağı henüz üzerindeyken, 2022 yılı için haberler gelmeye başladı. Sırbistan’ın televizyon kanalı RTS’nin (Radio-televizija Srbije) genel yayın yönetmeni Olivera Kovačević, Sırbistan’ın İtalya’da düzenlenecek 2022 Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması’na katılacağını doğruladı. Uzun bir aradan sonra 2018’de dönen Beovizija; 2019 ve 2020 yılı temsilci seçimlerinde kullanılan,…

[eurovision-austria]

12 neue Kandidaten traten heute im zweiten Beovizija Semifinale an. Die Jury und die Zuschauer haben sechs weitere Kandidaten in das Finale am 3. März geschickt.

[nickelhatton]

Serbia Announce 24 Acts for Beovizija 2019!

Serbia Announce 24 Acts for Beovizija 2019!

Serbia are the latest country to announce their plans for Eurovision 2019. Today broadcaster RTS revealed the 24 acts and song titles that will participate in their selection show Beovizija in February. Read on to find out who made the list! (more…)

[telavivcity-blog]

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 @ Tel Aviv, Israel eurovision 2019 tickets

https://telavivcity.co.il/?p=42552&utm_source=SocialAutoPoster&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Tumblr The City that never sleeps Eurovision Song Contest 2019 @ Tel Aviv, Israel eurovision 2019 tickets https://telavivcity.co.il/?p=42552&utm_source=SocialAutoPoster&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Tumblr *Latest update at 17:03, 06/03/2019* Good evening, ~~Europe~~ World! In this thread you should find the essentials about this year’s edition of the Eurovision Song Contest which will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel, following Netta’s victory in Lisbon with her song [Toy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84LBjXaeKk4). This thread will be updated regularly, as the artists and songs from all the **41 participating countries** are known. Whenever available, songs from the national finals will also be posted, as well as the artists’ official social media. All the songs chosen so far are available in [this playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvZ9Byx2a0X14lbwe9CYyoh9zoRzpGaNZ). The complete calendar and all the detailed information about each country’s selection process can be found in [this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/eurovision/comments/9jogez/megathread_national_selection_shows_2019/). Plus, don’t forget that you can always live chat with the community on our [Discord server](https://discord.gg/qrUMZPE). ## Eurovision Song Contest 2019 (64th Edition) ## Dates **Semi-final #1** | Tuesday, 14th of May **Semi-final #2** | Thursday, 16th of May **Final** | Saturday, 18th of May ## Venue [Expo Tel Aviv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyOEh17jb0Q) ## Hosts [Assi Azar](https://www.instagram.com/AssiAzar/), [Bar Refaeli](https://www.instagram.com/BarRefaeli/), [Erez Tal](https://www.instagram.com/ErezTal/) and [Lucy Ayoub](https://www.instagram.com/LucyAyoub21/) ## Slogan [Dare To Dream](https://eurovision.tv/story/dare-to-dream-theme-artwork-2019) ## Withdrawing Countries Bulgaria, Ukraine ## Semi-final 1 | First Half |Country|Artist|Song|Language|Selection Method| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |🇧🇾 Belarus|TBD 7^(th) of March|TBD 7^(th) of March|TBD 7^(th) of March|[Eurofest](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLISwrNKXra5HtbQtaniEVzC5uKNkWOVHY)| |🇨🇾 Cyprus|[Tamta](https://www.instagram.com/officialtamta/)|[Replay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESkhPXfl4A0)|English|Internal Selection| |🇨🇿 Czech Republic|[Lake Malawi](https://www.instagram.com/lakemalawimusic/)|[Friend of a Friend](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duSSVY_YJyY)|English|[Eurovision Song CZ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjtRX2wt2HI&list=PL3QGWsDEgtH9-3BYzbQ1_wcn5e8XX7TLy)| |🇫🇮 Finland|[Darude](https://www.instagram.com/darudevil/) feat. [Sebastian Rejman](https://www.instagram.com/sebastianrejman/)|[Look Away](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4DPGAJhSac)|English|[Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHiOd8CgpzyMW89V4YcJI54CQwoEh7dxI)| |🇭🇺 Hungary|[Pápai Joci](https://www.instagram.com/papaijoci/)|[Az Én Apám](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-s__gs-16Y)|Hungarian|[A Dal](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLgAfFvUYMu-fkYRfLhuORQ)| |🇲🇪 Montenegro|[D-Moll](https://www.instagram.com/dmollgrupa_official/)|[Heaven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjafhBNlPJc)|English|[Montevizija](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr4acRV_Y5cTe6EjSvydpdg)| |🇵🇱 Poland|[Tulia](https://www.instagram.com/tulia.official/)|TBA in March|TBA in March|Internal Selection| |🇷🇸 Serbia|Nevena Božović|[Kruna](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-5FgSqp2Fg)|Serbian|[Beovizija](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC38DtsndJajrtKmveBwjnTg)| |🇸🇮 Slovenia|[Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl](https://www.instagram.com/zalagasper/)|[Sebi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Ci3nrBdno)|Slovene|[EMA](https://www.youtube.com/user/ESCSlovenia)| ## Semi-final 1 | Second Half |Country|Artist|Song|Language|Selection Method| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |🇦🇺 Australia|[Kate Miller-Heidke](https://www.instagram.com/katemillerheidke/)|[Zero Gravity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlpBPO9_L4E)|English|[Eurovision – Australia Decides](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6cJNsFSSrWTgQqv7GRgp4SElObHRgL0o)| |🇧🇪 Belgium|[Eliot](https://www.instagram.com/eliotmusicbe/)|[Wake Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17QXkQEckE4)|English|Internal Selection| |🇪🇪 Estonia|[Victor Crone](https://www.instagram.com/victorcrone/)|[Storm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdXzuDigNM)|English|[Eesti Laul](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxVKGS4tdlLYcF1ZQhUXrvs-OWVN0HVZR)| |🇬🇪 Georgia|[Oto Nemsadze](https://www.instagram.com/oto_nemsadze/)|[Sul Tsin Iare](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCOMCqOXmUo)|Georgian|Georgian Idol| |🇬🇷 Greece|[Katerine Duska](https://www.instagram.com/katerineduska/)|Better Love (TBR 6^(th) of March)|English|Internal Selection| |🇮🇸 Iceland|[Hatari](https://www.instagram.com/hatridmunsigra/)|[Hatrið Mun Sigra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ELSP8zqhXo)|Icelandic|[Söngvakeppnin](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr3r5ZhK0uFyEMJEXlTMAKGXnz8Mbghtw)| |🇵🇹 Portugal|[Conan Osíris](https://www.instagram.com/conanosiris/)|[Telemóveis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t5_yUNp0bg)|Portuguese|[Festival da Canção](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMedIwg0kZw9xaTCN_YtViVqPI7DtH6VM)| |🇸🇲 San Marino|[Serhat](https://www.instagram.com/serhathpo/)|TBR 7^(th) of March|TBR 7^(th) of March|Internal Selection| ## Semi-final 2 | First Half |Country|Artist|Song|Language|Selection Method| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |🇦🇲 Armenia|[Srbuk](https://www.instagram.com/srbukofficial/)|TBR in March|TBR in March|Internal Selection| |🇦🇹 Austria|[Pænda](https://www.instagram.com/paendamusic/)|Limits (TBR 8^(th) of March)|English|Internal Selection| |🇩🇰 Denmark|Leonora|[Love Is Forever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAdSQxaXsSk)|Danish, English, French|[Dansk Melodi Grand Prix](https://www.dr.dk/event/melodigrandprix/find-din-favorit-hoer-alle-sangene-til-dansk-melodi-grand-prix-allerede-nu)| |🇮🇪 Ireland|TBA 8^(th) March|TBA 8^(th) March|TBA 8^(th) March|Internal Selection| |🇱🇻 Latvia|Carousel|[That Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j61TWsjcJY)|English|[Supernova](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1GtAB9S4eh4CZmao52Ayig/playlists)| |🇲🇩 Moldova|[Anna Odobescu](https://www.instagram.com/odobesco_anna/)|[Stay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIYghHE-9R0)|English|[O Melodie Pentru Europa](https://www.youtube.com/user/trmMultimedia/videos)| |🇷🇴 Romania|[Ester Peony](https://www.instagram.com/ester.peony/)|[On a Sunday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvzruGxaAO4)|English|[Selecția Națională](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCDijr_CcLx-5VdxbwoMhVN4Qla-poegJ)| |🇸🇪 Sweden|TBD 9^(th) of March|TBD 9^(th) of March|TBD 9^(th) of March|[Melodifestivalen](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtjAn2p1vvgj9vSnpm4N_6A/videos)| |🇨🇭 Switzerland|TBR 7^(th) of March|TBR 7^(th) of March|TBR 7^(th) of March|Internal Selection| ## Semi-final 2 | Second Half |Country|Artist|Song|Language|Selection Method| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |🇦🇱 Albania|[Jonida Maliqi](https://www.instagram.com/jonidamaliqi/)|[Ktheju Tokës](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vZDCw9Pedw)|Albanian|[Festivali i Këngës](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0XoaVRW0j7AH2CEB7BRaO2WR53PEpdW_)| |🇦🇿 Azerbaijan|TBA in March|TBA in March|TBA in March|Internal Selection| |🇭🇷 Croatia|[Roko](https://www.instagram.com/rokoblazevic_official/)|[The Dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH1XfjICYLc)|English|[Dora](https://www.youtube.com/user/HRTnovimediji/videos)| |🇱🇹 Lithuania|[Jurijus](https://www.instagram.com/jurijus_veklenko/)|[Run With The Lions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut-0TaybLRE)|English|[Eurovizijos Atranka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoFjCHU0YQs&list=PLsNtjGy5YSLBVUpclJloub00bK3lYrxur)| |🇲🇹 Malta|[Michela Pace](https://www.instagram.com/michelapace_official/)|TBR in March|TBR in March|X Factor| |🇳🇱 Netherlands|[Duncan Laurence](https://www.instagram.com/itsduncanlaurence/)|TBR 7^(th) of March|TBR 7^(th) of March|Internal Selection| |🇲🇰 North Macedonia|[Tamara Todevska](https://www.instagram.com/tamaratodevska/)|Proud (TBR 4^(th) of March)|English|Internal Selection| |🇳🇴 Norway|[KEiiNO](https://www.instagram.com/keiinomusic/)|[Spirit In The Sky](https://www.instagram.com/keiinomusic/)|English|[Melodi Grand Prix](https://www.nrk.no/mgp/her-er-artistene-i-mgp-2019-1.14378791)| |🇷🇺 Russia|[Sergey Lazarev](https://www.instagram.com/lazarevsergey/)|TBR in March|TBR in March|Internal Selection| ## Final |Country|Voting SF|Artist|Song|Language|Selection Method| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |🇫🇷 France|SF 1|[Bilal Hassani](https://www.instagram.com/iambilalhassani/)|[Roi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VydsMYa9lyI)|French, English|[Destination Eurovision](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtlN-Ff1AivzUjTNLf-_wqQ/playlists)| |🇩🇪 Germany|SF 2|[S!sters](https://www.instagram.com/sisterseurovision/)|[Sister](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuqS6-KJFgA)|English|[Unser Lied Für Israel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-5FgSqp2Fg)| |🇮🇱 Israel|SF 1|[Kobi Marimi](https://www.instagram.com/kobimarimi/)|Home (TBR 10^(th) of March)|English|HaKokhav HaBa L’Eurovizion| |🇮🇹 Italy|SF 2|[Mahmood](https://www.instagram.com/mahmoodworld/)|[Soldi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22lISUXgSUw)|Italian|[Sanremo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK_9khDHcXw&list=PLb_Qew9DujkhkvCNSj2pEL5TzCbNk68HG)| |🇪🇸 Spain|SF 1|[Miki](https://www.instagram.com/miki.ot2018/)|[La Venda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpMIb5rabKQ)|Spanish|[Operación Triunfo](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-5TBWsJU-q-j0qBQGQR4ni-sJsPMYkKZ)| |🇬🇧 United Kingdom|SF 2|[Michael Rice](https://www.instagram.com/itsmichaelrice_/)|[Bigger Than Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3nIUKVp75U)|English|[Eurovision: You Decide](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5A4nPQbUF8C-hwFCh1Adz5KosZut3pbp)| ​ View Reddit by MrTigs – View Source TEL AVIV - THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS

[eurovisionpanorsk]

RESULTATET ETTER DENNE UKENS SEMIFINALER I SERBIA

RESULTATET ETTER DENNE UKENS SEMIFINALER I SERBIA

Nevena Božović gikk til finalen fra den andre semifinalen. Hun har tidligere representert Serbia som en del av gruppa Moje 3, som sang låta Ljubav je svuda i 2013.

Onsdag og torsdag ble det holdt semifinaler når Serbia arrangerte Beovizija 2019. I alt har 24 bidrag blitt presentert, og 12 er nå klare for finalen som finner sted søndag.

Disse gikk videre fra den første semifinalen (tilfeldig…

[earnmoneyonlinenow-world]

Liked on YouTube: Beovizija 2019: Zašto da se ne desi - Funked Up https://youtu.be/Rl7-6tmRwxc