Eurovision 2012 Song Selections Completed

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Rich

The final song in the Eurovision national selections was unveiled today as interested observers heard the entry for the United Kingdom for the first time. As many already knew, Engelbert Humperdinck had been selected as the participant, but the song had been kept undercover creating one of the biggest cliffhangers in Eurovision history.

The reveal showed that The Hump will be singing Love Will Set You Free, a song composed by Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbek, who have been involved with many of today’s major recording artists. Here’s my review of the UK song.

In other news, the San Marino song Facebook Uh Oh Oh has run into trouble with the authorities at the EBU. Product placement in a song is a big no-no, so the small principality will either have to change the lyrics, the song or withdraw by Friday, March 23. Hopefully, we’ll see San Marino in its semi-final in May.

Talking of which, tickets have now gone on sale for Eurovision week beginning May 21. Details of the cost and availability of tickets for each event can be found at the official Eurovision site.

The Head of Delegations are already there as today an official presentation of songs by each was made to the EBU. The delegation leaders also received an update on the preparations for the upcoming Contest, including the arena, the stage, the production, and the hotels. In fact, surprises are promised with the presentation of the stage as it will be like nothing ever seen before.

In the meantime, the Running Order Draw is to take place on March 20 and I’ll have the details here once they become available.

Eurovision 2012: The Netherlands and Slovenia Decide

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Rich

This evening both The Netherlands and Slovenia chose their representatives for Eurovision 2012.

In The Netherlands, the country’s Song Festival was a pick from six songs, which was eventually whittled down to three for a super final. To be honest, all three songs were not anything special, but leading the way by a small margin after the jury vote was Ivan with the song Take Me As I Am.

However, once the public vote was announced, the Dutch had decided upon a country-style song called You And Me sung by Joan who was wearing a ridiculous Native American outfit topped off with a traditional feathery headdress.

Meanwhile, over in Slovenia, the insanity of its national final was somewhat corrected by the winning song by Eva Boto called Verjamem (I Believe). Ms. Boto was up against just one song in Slovenia’s super final, Konichiwa sung by Nika & Eva Prusnik, who resembled inane Ronald McDonald lookalikes in red clown wigs. If that wasn’t bad enough, the lyrics to this Japanese parody left a lot to be desired.

Thankfully, the Slovenian public saw sense and sent Verjamem to the Final in May, a strong ballad that may do surprisingly well.

Eurovision 2012: Pernilla Karlsson Secures the Finland Ticket

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Rich

Tonight Finland chose the country’s representative for Eurovision 2012 in Baku. The final of the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu UMK (Contest for New Music) took place in the Helsinki Ice Hall and once the votes were counted Pernilla Karlsson singing När jag blundar (When I Close My Eyes) was its song choice.

Six acts qualified from the semi-final with two English language songs, three Finnish language songs and the winner, a Swedish language song. Expect some votes from Sweden to go the way of Finland should the latter qualify for the final.

Finland will present their song in the first half of the first semi-final.

Eurovision: Jeward For Ireland; Austria Decides

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Rich

Both Ireland and Austria have now chosen their songs for Eurovision 2012.

In what seemed like a foregone conclusion, Jedward ran away with the voting in Ireland and will represent the country for the second year in a row. This time the twin duo will be singing Waterline, an uptempo pop tune that’s not quite so frantic as Lipstick from last year. With the boys in place to sing in the second half of the first semi-final, bookies are looking to Ireland as one of the favourites to win the competition outright this year.

See the video to Waterline here.

On the other hand, Austria’s choice has polarized the opinions of Eurovision fans. Some love it and some hate it. There’s no grey area here. The country has decided upon the quaintly named duo Trackshittaz and the song Woki mit deim Popo, which loosely translates to Shake Your Ass. If I had to describe the track, it sounds like something the Beastie Boys may have released some years ago: kind of hip-hop, power punk party music. And it looks like they’ll be bringing along some pole dancers to Baku to liven up the party atmosphere. Even with them shaking their collective booties, I don’t see Austria progressing from its semi-final.

See the video to Woki mit deim Popo here.

Next Finland, The Netherlands, Slovenia and Bulgaria decide their songs over the next few days.

Eurovision 2012: Litesound to Represent Belarus

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Rich

In what has become something of a tradition with some ex-Soviet countries, Belarus has pushed aside previous winner Alena Lanskaya in favour of boy band Litesound and the song We Are the Heroes.

This is the second year in a row that Belarus has changed its song. Last year, if memory serves correctly, it was because their song sounded like another. This year, who knows? Could it be that Ms Lanskaya’s English was, how should we put it, sub par and that the song was not that great?

I’m sure that the country’s voting public and jury must feel that this year’s whole voting process was a complete waste of time and money.

Here’s the latest Eurovision entry from Belarus:

Time: Izabo: Is This the Final Version?

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Rich

A lot of buzz this week about the leak of the 2012 Eurovision song for Israel called Time by the group Izabo.

While the song was not officially due to be presented until early March, a version landed on YouTube earlier in the week much to the chagrin of the Israeli authorities and the group itself. That video has quickly been withdrawn, but another one has popped up in its place. However, this may not be the official arrangement, although it gives a good idea of what can be expected from the Israeli entry.

Here’s the video that’s presently available, but for how long is obviously unclear. Expect to hear the actual arrangement on March 1st.

Eurovision 2012: Five Nations Choose Songs

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Rich

This weekend Europe was busy with eight national Eurovision selection shows. Croatia decided on the song for Nina Badric, while Italy, Latvia and Ukraine chose their respective representative artists and songs. The semi-finals for both Sweden and Estonia also took place. Last, but not least, Georgia will decide upon its song on Sunday the19th.

UKRAINE 2012 FINAL

21 acts competed in the Ukrainian final, which again had its fair share of controversy this year. In the end, the song chosen is Be My Guest sung by Gaitana.

CROATIA 2012 SONG PRESENTATION

The 2012 Dora show celebrated the 20th anniversary of independence for Croatia and featured performances by previous Croatian representatives from the contest. The country’s decision was to send Nina Badric and the song Nebo (Heaven) to Baku in May.

LATVIA 2012 FINAL

Latvia finally decided upon its song for the Baku 2012 Eurovision Song Contest from 10 acts. Its presentation featured various special guests as Latvia is celebrating 10 years since their first and only victory in the ESC. Maria Naumova (Latvia 2002), Musiqq (Latvia 2011), Sinplus (Switzerland 2012), Olga Rajecka and cello trio Da Gamba performed as the votes came in proclaiming Anmary the winner with the song, Beautiful Song.

ITALY 2012 FINAL

The San Remo Festival 2012 once again played host to the selection process for Italy’s representative for Baku 2012. Ell & Nikki had the honour of announcing the Eurovision representative for Italy 2012: Nina Zilli with the song Per Sempre (Forever).

LITHUANIA 2012 SEMIFINAL 3

The third semifinal took place in Lithuania and featured nine acts from which three (2 by jury and 1 by televoting) proceeded to the final. VIG Roses with Come Back Home, Bekešo Vilkai with Letter By Letter and Monika with Happy joined six other finalists, while a further three acts will be chosen on February 25th to make up the final twelve.

SWEDEN 2012 SEMIFINAL 3

Swedish Television broadcast the third semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2012, one of the leading national selections for Eurovision across Europe. Eight acts fought for a place in the final (Molly Sandén with Why Am I Crying and Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li with Mirakel (Miracle) winning through) and for a second chance (Youngblood with Youngblood and Andreas Johnson with Lovelight winning the spots).

ESTONIA 2012 SEMIFINAL 1

The Estonian national semi-final kicked off the selection with the first semifinal of Eesti Laul 2012. Ten acts performed with Pop Maniacs – I Don’t Know, Ott Lepland – Kuula, August Hunt – Tantsulõvi, Liis Lemsalu – Made Up My Mind and Loss Paranoias – Valedetektor making it to the Final.

GEORGIA 2012 FINAL

February 19th sees the Georgian national broadcaster holding the nation’s Eurovision 2012 National Final. It features nine acts and will present guest performances by Eldrine from 2011 and the Junior Eurovision 2011 winner, Candy Group, also from Georgia. You can watch the show here.

Another busy weekend of Eurovision action is about to end with a lot more in the pipeline.

Eurovision 2012: Roman Lob Sings For Germany

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Rich

In a very close final showdown in Germany, Roman Lob won the right to represent his country at Eurovision 2012 with the song, Standing Still. It came down to a matter of just over one percentage point between his song and runner-up Ornella de Santis who sang the alternate choice, Quietly.

Lob is the lead singer of a German indie band called Rooftop Kingdom and his interpretation of this Jamie Callum song is ideal for the arrangement it has been given. Think rock or power pop ballad and you won’t be far wrong. Germany has produced yet another contender for the title and I predict that this will be one to watch. Perhaps an each way bet would not be out of the question.

In other news, it has been announced that Maya Sar will sing the song Korake ti znam for Bosnia & Herzegovina. Written by the chanteuse herself, the final touches to the song are being arranged for next week. Its presentation date is yet to be decided.

News in brief:

Turkey’s song sung by Can Bonomo will be presented by the Turkish national broadcaster on February 22 during a thirty minute show starting at 18:20 CET.

Twenty-one songs will be presented in the Ukranian National Final on February 18. One of the favourites, Matias, has been disqualified however, over a conflict of interests between his producer and the internal pre-selection process.

Other National Finals coming this weekend will take place in Latvia, Croatia, Georgia and Italy.

Eurovision 2012: Belarus Chooses Its Song

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Rich

Belarus has now selected the song that will represent the nation at Eurovision 2012. It’s called All My Life and sung by Alena Lanskaya.

Decided upon by 50/50 jury and tele-vote, the song is testament to the fact that most non-English singers should not sing in English. Particularly when the song in question has few, if any, redeeming features. See The Eurovision Song Reviews.

Since last posting, a total of thirteen national songs have been announced. The only ones amongst them not to have been heard as yet are Rambo Amadeus singing Euro Neuro (Montenegro), Izabo singing Time (Israel) and Kaliopi singing Black and White (Macedonia).

However, more national finals are due this week. Germany makes its final decision on February 16th, while Latvia, Croatia, Ukraine and Italy decide upon their songs on the 18th. Georgia has just announced its final will be on the 19th. So, another busy weekend of Eurovision news to come.

Still no word from the UK about its plans and all is quiet in the San Marino and Greek camps. If memory serves me well, decisions will have to be made within the next six weeks.

Until the weekend

Eurovision 2012: Listen to the 5 From Ireland Including Jedward

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Rich

Ireland has broadcast the five songs vying to represent the country at Eurovision 2012. As predicted, Jedward will be among them.

1. Mistaken sung by Celtic Whisper with Maria McCool. (Listen here)

2. Mercy sung by Donna McCaul. (Listen here)

3. Here I Am sung by Andrew Mann. (Listen here)

4. Language Of Love sung by Una Gibney and David Shannon. (Listen here)

5. Waterline sung by Jedward. (Listen here)

Ireland will be voting on its favourite among these on February 24 on The Late, Late Show.

Which one would you vote for?

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