Author Archives: Samantha Ross
A Song for Roberto: “Love Kills” in Belgium
On Sunday, Belgian radio station VivaCité hosted a rare audio-only National Final to pick a song for Roberto Bellarosa, the young winner of The Voice Belgique. Three songs were in the running, with two in English and one in Roberto’s native French. Read the rest of this entry
Heilsarmee for Switzerland (or is it?)
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of a long weekend for Eurovision fans (and for me personally, since I’ve spent about 16 hours in the air going to and from the Swiss National Final), so let’s get cracking at climbing the mountain of ESC news that’s come our way over the past few days! Read the rest of this entry
Preview: National Final in Switzerland
After last week’s National Final in Belarus, Eurovision Preseason is really ramping up. The eyes of the ESC community now turn to Kreuzlingen, a small resort town on the Bodensee within spitting distance of the German border, where Die Grosse Entscheidungs Show will take place at 8pm on Saturday night. After three sub-national selections, where songs were picked from each of the German, French, and Italian-speaking broadcasters (SF, RTS, and RSI, respectively), we will see nine songs competing for the right to go to Malmö. Their genres range from schlager to pop-rock to lullabye-ballads to the absolutely bonkers; let’s take a look! Read the rest of this entry
Belarus has decided…it’s Alyona Lanskaya (again?)
Well, as the great Yogi Berra said, “it’s déjà vu all over again”!
Just as in last year’s Eurofest, Alyona Lanskaya was declared the winner in tonight’s 10-song National Final. Unlike last year, Alyona has brought an upbeat dance number, “Rhythm of Love”, to the table. Taking the maximum points from both the jury and the public televote, it looks like the 27-year-old from Mogilev will likely* get her shot at the Eurovision spotlight. Read the rest of this entry
Preview: Eurofest in Belarus
Ladies and gentlemen, here we are. After months of Post Eurovision Depression, we can finally blow the dust off of our chisels as we start to carve the first new names into ESC History for this year.
(Or, at least, we’ll try. This is Belarus, after all.)
Friday, December 7 brings us the first National Final of the 2013 calendar, when all eyes turn to Minsk, Belarus and Eurofest. Ten songs will compete for the right to represent their homeland in Sweden this May, and hopefully bring the nation back into the Finals for the first time since 2010. Some are familiar names to those who keep an eye on the National Final scene (or, at least, keep an eye on Eurovision scandals). Let’s take a look at the roster: Read the rest of this entry
JESC 2012: We have a Winner!
A dozen young singers from a dozen nations (including a trio of newcomers) faced off in Amsterdam, all vying to take home the title of “Junior Eurovision Champion”. We had ballads, hyperactive pop, Beatle-mania, and numbers that could have been taken straight out of a youth edition of “Glee” (I’m looking at you, Israel!). After all of the tension, and an often-dramatic, yet ultimately decisive vote, who claimed the victory? Read the rest of this entry
Preview: Junior Eurovision 2012 (Part 2)
Over in Amsterdam, kids from a dozen nations are hard at work putting the finishing touches on their stage shows for this Saturday. In our last post, we took a look at the first half of the running order. Let’s take a look at the last six:
7) Albania: Igzidora Gjeta – “Kam Një Këngë Vetëm Për Ju (I Have a Song Just for You)”
- Number of JESC Participations: 0
- Number of JESC Victories: n/a
- Placement at the 2011 JESC: n/a
- Age of 2012 Participant: 11
The third of our trio of JESC debuts for 2012 is Albania, who will be represented by Igzidora, a veteran of youth musical festivals in her home country. She beat thirteen other acts to win the ticket to Amsterdam, and while she might not have the polish of a Lerika or a Georgian production company backing her up, she genuinely looks happy to be performing, which could be enhanced even further by a more refined choreography and instrumentation. And, let’s face it, this is Albania. If their Eurovision entries are anything to go by, there’s always a bit of a makeover between the National Final and the big show. Igzidora might not be Rona Nishliu quite yet, but, keep in mind…she’s only eleven! Read the rest of this entry
Preview: Junior Eurovision 2012 (Part 1)
It appears that December 2012 is going to be a busy month in the Eurovision Sphere. We are expecting National Finals from Belarus, Switzerland, Belgium, Ukraine, Albania, and Lithuania, alongside further details from myriad other countries from across the EBU’s auspices. We already have two names confirmed (Anouk and Roberto Bellarossa), and there’s much more to come as the holiday season approaches.
But before Preseason really kicks into high gear, there’s event that has sort of become the final full-stop on the bleak annual period of Post-Eurovision Depression: the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The tenth annual edition of this event, geared at performers aged 10 to 15, will be held at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on Saturday, December 1st. With a dozen acts competing (including a trio of debuting nations), the youth of Europe is getting ready to shine. Let’s take a look at the first half of this year’s Junior Eurovision Contestants (in running order): Read the rest of this entry
Belgium has spoken: it’s Roberto Bellarosa!
Following on the heels of their neighbor to the north bringing Anouk to Eurovision, today brought word of Belgium’s choice for Malmo (well, technically, Walloonia, but that’s neither here nor there). Fresh off of his victory on The Voice Belgique this past spring, and the release of his first album Ma voie in September, Roberto Bellarosa has been given the challenge to bring Belgium back to the Finals for the first time since Tom Dice’s 6th place in Oslo, and to possibly be the first Walloon performer to break into the Finals at all. Since his victory on The Voice, Roberto has released the hit single “Je Crois”, which might be an insight into the style of entry we might get to hear from him.
A modest National Final on December 16th (the day after the Swiss Selection, for those of you keeping track) will determine what he’ll bring to Sweden. Walloon broadcaster RTBF have been experimenting with selection styles over the past few years, with middling levels of success. Their previous entry, “With Love Baby” by acapella group Witloof Bay, was chosen by a full National Final system, but just missed out on the final. Before that, RTBF went for a completely internal selection, picking the awkward Elvis impersonator Patrick Ouchène and his appropriately-titled “Copycat”, which ended up near the bottom of the table on Semifinal night in Moscow. Also internally selected, the same fate befell 2007’s representative, the KMGs, with their funk-inspired “Love Power”. Fortunately, Roberto has already been “selected” by the people of French-speaking Belgium by emerging victorious from one of their biggest televised talent shows, and the Belgian people (or, at least, half of them) will get to have their say in the song he sings in May.
Stay tuned for more updates on Roberto, as well as all of the other news coming down the pipeline as National Finals approach and broadcasters make their announcements.
News from the Netherlands: it’s Anouk!
Ah, it’s so good to be back…I think I was feeling rust beginning to form…
Although it’s almost seven months to the day before the 2013 Eurovision Grand Final in Malmö, Sweden, it’s not to early to shake off the moss and scribble down the first name on the roster of performers. After a bit of back-and-forth from broadcaster TROS (will John deMol return to the helm of a National Final, will major stars be pitted against talent-show rookies, or will there be an internal selection, a la 3Js?), we finally have a bit of clarity from the Dutch delegation. Veteran rock-chick Anouk, one of her nation’s biggest stars, has been internally selected to represent the Netherlands this May. With seven studio albums under her belt (including her most recent release, 2011’s “To Get Her Together”), Anouk has been an enduring force in the country’s music scene ever since her 1997 debut.
Anouk will reveal her song for Sweden in February, and it is presumed to be entirely the artist’s choice. Read the rest of this entry
The ESC Insider 