Author Archives: Samantha Ross
A Bite of “Cheesecake”: TEO wins in Belarus
Well, it’s not a National Final in Belarus without a bit of controversy, is it? After fourteen entrants (and a seemingly endless cavalcade of interval performances, including former participants Alyona Lanskaya, Polina Smolova, and Ruslan Alekhno), a split jury/televote decision led to a tie at the top of the leaderboard.
Preview: National Final in Belarus
The Belorussian National Final, scheduled for Friday, January 10th, will bring together fourteen acts, all vying for the ticket to Copenhagen. With performances by 2013 representative Alyona Lanskaya, 2006 alumna Polina Smolova, and recent Türkviziyon silver medalist (and occasional Eurofest participant) Gunesh Abasova, the show will be live-streamed on Eurovision.tv. Read the rest of this entry
A New Year’s Gift from Armenia: Aram MP3
As the clock ticked down on the final minutes of 2013 (or, in some time zones, the first moments of 2014), many eyes in the Eurovision fan sphere were fixed on Yerevan, as AMPTV’s New Year’s Gala would be where Armenia’s newest ESC representative would be crowned. Rumors had been swirling about the return of fan-favorite Sirusho after it was announced that she’d be performing on the program, but it turns out that 2014 will be featuring a fresh face. Read the rest of this entry
FiK, Yeah! Herciana Matmuja wins in Albania
There we have it, people…the second song of the Eurovision 2014 roster, and the last new entry we’re likely to hear in 2013. Live from the Pallati i Kongreseve in Tirana, the 52nd annual Festivali i Këngës brought together 16 songs, all fighting for national glory and a ticket to Copenhagen. Read the rest of this entry
Preview: Final of Festivali i Këngës
For some, the week or so between Christmas and the New Year is a time of quiet reflection, figuring out the goals and resolutions for the twelve months to come. For others, it means finishing up the copious leftovers from the holiday meal and wondering how long it will take the neighbors to take down their fairy lights and inflatable reindeer. For those in the Eurovision community, however, there’s one added tradition, nestled lovingly between the Christmas crackers and the New Year’s champagne: Albania’s Festivali i Këngës. A tradition nearly as old as the ESC itself (but only used as a National Selection since the country’s debut in 2004), the 52nd Festivali i Këngës (literally, “Festival of Song”) brings together both musical veterans and fresh faces in a multi-day event that the entire country tunes in for. Read the rest of this entry
“Tick Tock”: Sam’s Awake Too Early for This
I’m going to have to level with you guys. I am really not a morning person. During the weekends, I’m more than likely to be fast asleep until lunchtime. Getting up pre-dawn is akin to torture for me, necessitating an intricate series of alarm clocks and thermonuclear devices in order to get my lazy tush out of my cozy bed.
But for the first official National Final of the year, scheduled to start at 4:15am Central Standard Time (or a perfectly reasonable 11:15am in Kiev), desperate times called for desperate measures. If the Australian fans have to get up at the arse-crack of dawn to watch Melodifestivalen, I could brew a pot of coffee, force my eyes open, and tune in to a Ukrainian National Final.
Oh, the sacrifices I make for you, Eurovision… Read the rest of this entry
Preview: Ukraine’s National Final
Hard to believe it, but by the time the weekend wraps up, we’ll have our first song for the Eurovision 2014 roster. While we’ve already heard artist announcements from San Marino, Austria, Macedonia, Montenegro, and the Netherlands, Ukraine will present the first National Final of the year at 11:15am CET this Saturday on NTU. (So, that’s 10:15am GMT, and 4:15am here in Minnesota. I’ll put on the coffee.) Coming on the heels of a silver at Junior (hosted in Kiev) and a bronze in Malmö, will the country’s next representative keep the hot streak going? Read the rest of this entry
A Champion, a Heroine: Malta’s Gaia Cauchi
Well, it was a hard-fought Junior Eurovision this year, with a dozen entries battling it out for the top spot in one of the world’s most prestigious youth song festivals, but only one pint-sized powerhouse could nab the victory. After a nailbiter of a vote, it was Malta’s Gaia Cauchi who took the win with her power-ballad “The Start”. Ukrainian Sofia Tarasova came in second place on her home soil, with Belarus’s Ilya Volkov taking the bronze, but the night truly belonged to Gaia, who had just turned eleven. Read the rest of this entry
JESC 2013 Preview: Part 3
The moment of truth is just about here! Tomorrow, November 30th, young talent from a dozen nations will set foot on stage at the Ukraine National Palace of Arts in the hopes of bringing home this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest championship trophy. In our first two previews (viewable here and here), we looked at eight of the acts vying for the title; let’s look at our last group! Read the rest of this entry
Ilse + Waylon = The Common Linnets for the Netherlands
Following the long-awaited Dutch return to the Eurovision Finals brought to us by Anouk last year, newly-merged national broadcaster AVROTROS decided to keep up the trend of internally selecting a major name. In this case, they picked two! Singers Ilse DeLange and Waylon, each individually famous in their own right, will be joining forces under the name The Common Linnets this year in Copenhagen. Read the rest of this entry
The ESC Insider 