Category Archives: 2013
Preview: Dansk Melodi Grand Prix
After a seemingly interminable dry spell, where Eurovision fans went literally weeks without a new song being chosen, we finally break through the ice for the first time this year with this Saturday’s Danish National Final. Unlike the other Nordics, Denmark’s Melodi Grand Prix is a one-night affair, with no heats, semifinals, or second-chance rounds to wade through. By the time the night is over, we’ll know who will take the baton from Soluna Samay and cross the Øresund/Öresund into Malmö this May. Read the rest of this entry
Welcoming back Armenia with Gor Sujyan
This year, despite the disheartening news that four nations would be withdrawing from Eurovision (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Portugal, Slovakia, and Turkey), the 2013 event welcomes Armenia back into the competitive fold. Skipping the show in Azerbaijan citing security reasons, nearly as soon as the curtain fell in Baku, the team from ARMTV confirmed their participation in Sweden. Of course, the rumors about who would carry the nation’s tricolor started swirling. The ever-present whispers of Armenian-American rockers System of a Down were quelled, and the gossip about the return of 2008 alumna Sirusho simply resulted in a lot of great publicity for her new single (which happens to be quite good)! Read the rest of this entry
“Nouvelle Star” Amandine Bourgeois for France
Continuing their trend of selecting an artist internally, broadcaster France 3 has delved into their Rolodex of reality television victors and pulled out a versatile, promising name: Amandine Bourgeois. The winner of Season Six of “Nouvelle Star”, the now-33-year-old singer impressed judges on the show with songs ranging from “Nothing Compares 2 U” to “Rehab” to “Bring Me To Life“. Now she’s impressed a panel of musical experts from France Télévisions, who have given her the ticket to Sweden. Read the rest of this entry
A quick game of catch-up…
Ok, I’ll admit it, I’ve been a bad blogger. Due to illness, travel, and that pesky 40-hour-per-week job of mine, a few major bits of news haven’t quite made it to the site yet! (What can I say? The ESC Insider is a one-woman project, and sadly, I only have two hands.) Let’s take a quick look back at the four internal artist selections that were made in Spain, Georgia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Read the rest of this entry
News from Malmö: Theme Art Revealed and Semifinals Drawn
The wheels keep on turning over in Malmö as preparations for Eurovision 2013 kick into high gear. On Thursday, the highly-anticipated theme and logo for this year’s event was unveiled to fanfare by some and minor confusion by others. The Semifinal Allocation Draw, held later that day, kept the gossip and punditry flowing as new rules were put firmly into focus. Let’s take a look at the day’s highlights: Read the rest of this entry
A Winner in Albania: Adrian & Bledar’s “Identitet”
A marathon of a National Selection took place in Tirana’s Pallati i Kongreseve tonight, as Albania became the next nation to select their song for the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. After three and a half hours worth of performances, commercials, retrospectives, and voting, we finally have a winner, and therefore the fifth song to add to ESC 2013’s lineup. Read the rest of this entry
Lithuania has decided: it’s Andrius Pojavis!
After a selection process stretching as far back as November, Lithuania has finally chosen their winner. Fighting off momentum from acts like DAR, Gerai Gerai & Miss Sheep, and constant NF also-ran Linas Adomaitis, it was underdog Andrius Pojavis who took the title with his self-penned song “Something”, despite only coming in third and fourth in his qualification heat and semifinal, respectively: Read the rest of this entry
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
The ESC Insider 