The second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest started filling up this past week as nine countries made their selections. There are elevated pianos, Moldovan wedding hijinks, and baffled rockers—it must be the height of selection season! [Read more…]
Three more songs have joined the 2018 Eurovision field—two from national selections and one from… just showing up? San Marino has a business proposition for you while Israel poses a challenge to the concept of live vocals. Plus, we get ready for the onslaught of Stupor Saturday. Get excited! [Read more…]
Lindsey Weber from the Who Weekly podcast stops by to chat about how the Olympics are the perfect world event to prep for Eurovision before getting into the songs selected for Malta, Switzerland, the UK, Denmark, and Italy. [Read more…]
This week, Ben and Mike do a deep dive into the United Kingdom’s Eurovision selection process and take a look at why the country has struggled for so long at the Contest. Plus, a roundup of headlines from the last week. Links Ryan O’Shaughnessy’s US Tour — https://ryanosmusic.com/pages/show-dates Malta’s entry: “Taboo” by Christabelle — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrC8jJ8eb8 Switzerland’s entry: “Stones” by ZiBBZ — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXOlPGnkZFY The United Kingdom’s contestants: Goldstone – I Feel the Love Jaz Ellington – You Liam Tamne – Astronaut RAYA – Crazy Asanda – Legends SuRie – Storm Gwenno “Tir Ha Mor” — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rCeygWexyA CHVRCHES “Get Out” — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHUKKrcXfJs [Read more…]
We have songs to talk about! France, Czech Republic, and Spain have selected and boy do we have opinions. Russia and Ukraine continue their Eurovision dramarama. Oh, and the semi-finals have been allocated. Episode Rundown Semi-Final Allocation France selects “Mercy” by Madame Monsieur Czech Republic selects “Lie to Me” by Mikolas Josef Spain selects “Tu canción” by Alfred & Amaia Russia confirms Yuilia Samoylova FYR Macedonia is looking for songs Upcoming selection processes Links Ryan’s Tattoo (Instagram) “Mercy” backstory (ESC Insight) “Lie to Me” official video (YouTube) Tu canción performance (RTVe) FYR Macedonia press release (Eurovision.tv) “Here We Go” by PeR (YouTube) [Read more…]
This week is a mini-episode of the EuroWhat with minor updates about what’s happening in Eurovision selection season. We’ll be hopscotching from Armenia to France, Belarus to Serbia, and places in between. Armenia field complete (Playlist) Belarus shenanigans (with news from Eurovoix) Denmark songs France final set (Finalist Playlist) Hungary (Heat 1) Lithuania Romania (Heat 1) Serbia What’s on TV this weekend? Spotify Playlist [Read more…]
On this week’s episode of the EuroWhat Podcast we discuss what “Europe” is (note the air quotes), get acquainted with this year’s hostesses, get caught up with some of the selection processes and look forward to others. Show Notes What is Europe? (1:36) Eurovision hosts (6:33) – Announcement from Eurovision.tv Selection Updates (11:30) Lithuania Switzerland Czech Republic Belarus – Shenanigans reported by Wiwiblogs Norway Armenia What selections are we looking forward to? (40:05) [Read more…]
We’re podcasting, y’all! Welcome to the EuroWhat? In our opening episode of The EuroWhat? podcast, our Eurovision News and Entertainment Research Division Specialists introduce themselves to our listening audience before sharing their first impressions of Albania’s entry. Then the crew hopscotches around Europe (and Australia) to chat about the seven artists already announced from internal selections. Who do we like? Who are we concerned about? Will there be jazz? Listen below and share your thoughts in the comments! Intro 0:00 Who are you? What are you doing here? 3:02 Albania First Impressions 11:02 Internally Selected Artists 23:02 Australia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Finland Georgia Netherlands Links Meet the Eurovision News and Entertainment Research Division Specialists Albania First Listen 2018 Calendar page [Read more…]
“Mall” by Eugent Bushpepa has started the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest selection season on a good note, with an entry that could bring Albania some success in Portugal. Albania’s Eurovision Song Contest selection process Festivali i Këngës took place in the lead up to Christmas, with Eugent Bushpepa’s song “Mall” claiming top honors at the competition. This year’s process featured 22 contestants competing across two semi-finals, with 14 advancing to a grand final on Saturday, December 23. Unlike last year, the audience had no vote and the winner was determined by a five-person jury. After much, much, much deliberation1, Bushpepa earned the right to represent Albania in Lisbon next May. Although there was no audience vote, the process did seem to correlate with YouTube views of the entries. Of the eight entries that advanced from the first semi-final, the top seven entries based on views advanced (though the eighth spot went to the least-watched video of the entire field). The second semi-final had similar results, with five of the six qualifiers ranked at the top of the YouTube field. “Divorci” was the only one to miss the cut, with seventh-place “Zemër ku je” by Denisa Gjezo taking the sixth spot. […] [Read more…]
Something sounds familiar in a recent Broadway in Boston ad… Hat tip to Ben for spotting this one during Sunday’s broadcast of the The Tony Awards: That’s a pretty impressive lineup hitting Beantown next year. Oh, and did you catch the song in the background? That would be a cover of Lithuania’s 2016 entry “I’ve Been Waiting for This Night” by Donny Montell. Kinda random, kinda awesome. [Read more…]
(c) What Else Is On 2016
