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🇱🇹 Road to Malmö: Lithuania

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Lithuania. Silvester Belt Silvestras Beltė, known as Silvester Belt, is a distinguished Lithuanian singer-songwriter born on 26 November 1997 in Kaunas. Educated at the University of Westminster, London, with a degree in Commercial Music Performance, Beltė swiftly returned to Lithuania post-graduation to delve into the electronic/pop music scene. His breakthrough came in 2017 as the victor of Lithuania’s reality show Aš – superhitas, leading to his move to Vilnius and the release of his debut single “Noise.” Beltė’s talents also extended behind the scenes in 2 Barai, a Lithuanian reality show. Despite an early exit in X Faktorius’ sixth season, his competitive spirit never waned. On 17 february 2024, Beltė was announced as Lithuania’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with his song “Luktelk,” showcasing his ascension in the music industry. Eurovizija.lt For the first time, the name of the Lithuanian national selection was Eurovizija.lt. However, the format did not really change. 5 semifinals with 8 songs each were held. Two songs in every semifinal went through to the final. We saw some familiar names in the national selection: Andrius Pojavis (ESC 2013), Vilija (ESC 2014) and The Roop (ESC 2020 and 2021). However, only The Roop reached the final. Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest The first time Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest was in 1994. After gaining no points at all, the country quit, to return in 1999. This year marks their 24th participation. So far, Lithuania never reached the top-5. In 2006, LT United reached a 6th place with the song “We are the winners”. In later years Donny Montel (9th in 2016) and The Roop (8th in 2021) reached the top-10. Will Silvester Belt break the record and reach the top-5? Bookmakers Currently, Lithuania is on the 12th spot to win the contest. Although the betting odds for semifinal one don’t seem to be ready yet, we can safely say that Lithuania will reach their top-10 and go on to the final. That means, according to the bookmakers. The song And this is the song:

🇷🇸 Road to Malmö: Serbia

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Serbia. Teya Dora Teodora Pavlovska, known professionally as Teya Dora, was born on May 1, 1992, in Bor, Serbia. Balancing her academic endeavors in Belgrade with a musical education specializing in piano at the “Dr. Vojislav Vučković” Music School, she furthered her studies at Berklee College of Music. There, she focused on vocal studies alongside Charlie Puth and contributed backing vocals for American Grammy winners like Patti Austin and Valerie Simpson. After Berklee, she moved to New York, engaging in English songwriting for ARKTKT Publishing. Her Serbian music industry debut came with “Nema limita” for Nikolija in 2018, leading to numerous songwriting contributions for artists like Nataša Bekvalac. As a solo artist, her release “Da na meni je” in July 2019 marked the start of her vocal career, followed by her notable work “Džanum” for the “South Wind” series sequel, which achieved viral success on TikTok and significant streaming numbers on Spotify. By 2024, Teya Dora’s innovative musical contributions and unique blend of genres propelled her to represent Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Ramonda”, highlighting her as a significant figure in the Serbian music scene. Pesma Za Evroviziju The Serbian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest is called Pesma Za Evroviziju. The name exists since 2022. Before that, the national final was named Beovizija. This year the contest contained two semifinals with 14 songs each. The final consisted of 16 songs. A familiar name in the contest was the one of Konstrakta, who had a song and act being a close follow up of the 2022 song “In corpore sana”. Konstrakta reached a 4th place. Teya Dora was the no. 1 in both televote and jury vote. Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest Serbian artists have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest in the past when Serbia was a part of Yugoslavia, and later Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia’s debut as an independent country was in 2007, when Maria Šerifović sang “Molitva” and won the contest. It was the only time Serbia won so far, but Željko Joksimović reached a 3rd place in 2012. Konstrakta was 5th in 2022. Last year, Luke Black reached the final but ended up in 24th place. photo: Indrek Galetin, Wikimedia Commons The bookmakers Currently, Serbia is in 18th place in the odds to win the Eurovision Song Contest. Although the odds for semifinal 1 are not ready, we can safely say that Serbia might reach the final. What they will do there depends on a lot of things. The song And this is the song:

🇨🇾 Road to Malmö: Cyprus

photo: EBU/CyBC We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Cyprus. Silia Kapsis Silia Kapsis is a dynamic and talented Cypriot-Australian singer, dancer, and actress, chosen to represent Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with her song “Liar”. Born on December 5, 2006, in Sydney, Australia, Kapsis has been making waves in the entertainment industry from a young age. Before her Eurovision selection, she was known for being the lead singer for the Australian Youth Performing Arts Company (AYPAC) and for performing at numerous high-profile events around the world. Her journey into music saw her releasing singles like “Who Am I?”, which she wrote and composed at the age of 12, followed by “No Boys Allowed” and “Disco Dancer” in 2023, showcasing her evolving musical style. Kapsis’s artistic talents extend beyond singing. She was selected for the ImmaBeast Dance Company in Los Angeles, has appeared on “The Jennifer Hudson Show”, and was featured in a dance documentary produced by Taboo from the Black-Eyed Peas. Her acting skills were highlighted in her role as Zoe in the short film “Pearly Gates”, and she has worked on various projects for Nickelodeon, including being a regular host on “Nick News”. Australians for Cyprus? Silia Kapsis is internally selected for the Eurovision Song Contest. Although born in Australia, she has Cypriot roots. That brings us to last year’s Cypriot participant: Andrew Lambrou. Andrew was also born and raced in Australia, but has Cypriot roots. For Cyprus, he reached a 12th place in the 2023 contest with the song “Break a broken heart”. Does that mean we have to look at Australia to know the 2025 Cypriot participant? photo: EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest The first Cypriot song in the Eurovision Song Contest was “Monica”, from the group Island in 1981. Anna Vissi (1982), Chara & Andreas Constantinou (1997) and Lisa Andreas (2004) reached a 5th place. The best score ever came, however, from Eleni Foureira, whose “Fuego” reached a 2nd place in the 2018 contest and was even one of the hot favourites to win the competition. Eleni is still one of the more popular Eurovision participants. photo: EBU/Andres Putting The bookmakers Currently, Cyprus has a 24th place in the betting odds. Although the odds for the semifinals are not published yet, we can say from the winners’ list that Cyprus would get through as a 10th finalist. But who knows what will happen on the night of the 1st semifinal itself. The song And this is the song:

🇳🇱 The Netherlands: In memoriam Humphrey Campbell

Dutch Eurovision singer Humphrey Campbell passed away. He was 66 years old. Campbell’s journey in the music industry kicked off when he, still a teenager in Suriname, clinched victory at a School Song Festival. This win earned him a record deal, under the mentorship of Oscar Harris. Following a tour in the Netherlands alongside Harris, Campbell was inspired to settle there and pursue his musical career. He took part at the Knokke Song Contest, and secured a lead role in the musical “A Night at the Cotton Club,” where he starred alongside Ruth Jacott. Jacott and Campbell had a relationship at that time. During this period, he crafted a unique musical style that fused jazz with elements of South American music. Campbell’s big break came in 1992 when he was selected to represent at the Eurovision Song Contest, outperforming nine other competitors. Ruth Jacott joined him at the contest in Malmö, Sweden, as his background singer. His song, “Wijs me de weg”, reached a 9th place. The following year, roles reversed as Campbell supported Ruth Jacott with background vocals when she represented the Netherlands with the song “Vrede.” Following his stint at Eurovision, Campbell continued his music career predominantly behind the scenes, collaborating as a guest musician with artists such as Paul de Leeuw, Anita Meijer, and Rob de Nijs. He also shared his expertise as a conservatory teacher in Amsterdam. Last week, Humphrey Campbell announced that he had to cancel a planned tour, as he was seriously ill, suffering from cancer. Campbell was 66 years old.

🇦🇲 Armenia presented their song

Armenia presented their song today. Only a few days ago, Armenian TV announced that the French/Armenian duo Ladaniva represents the country in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. Now we know the song: “Jako”. The song is sung in Armenian; lyrics and music are from the duo itself, but the song is co-composed by Audrey Leclercq. Armenia will perform in the first half of the 2nd semifinal; this is the song:

🇸🇪 News from the HoD meeting

Today, there is some interesting news from the Head of Delegation meeting. This meeting took place today, and some decisions are made about the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest: Iceland It was a big questionmark whether Iceland was going to take part or not. Icelandic broadcaster RUV stated that they, together with the artist, would make a decision. Icelandic artists expressed serious concern about their country taking part in a contest with Israel being there.The decision now made is that Iceland will take part. Big releave for singer Hera Björk, who now will for sure represent her country. Marcus & Martinus Always, the place for the host country gets drawn at the HoD meeting. So this time, it was decided where Sweden would perform in the final. And the result is: they will open it! In 1984, Sweden opened the show too and won. Is it an omen? Big Five For the very first time, the artists from the Big Five countries – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom – and host nation Sweden will each perform their entries in full live during the Semi-Finals. In other years, a part of the rehearsals was shown, but never the entire performance. Longer ago, even that didn’t happen and only a part of the video was shown. The voting A new feature for Malmö 2024 includes extending the timeframe for voting during the Grand Final. Voting will start just before the first song is performed on Saturday, 11 May. This allows viewers to vote for the songs in real-time as they are being performed, a departure from the traditional method where voting commenced after all the entries were showcased. This approach was the standard since the introduction of public voting in 1997, with the exceptions of 2010 and 2011 when voting opened at the show’s start. Moreover, fans from countries not competing (Rest of The World) will be given almost 24 hours to vote for their preferred songs before the start of each live show. For these international fans, online voting will be available right after the conclusion of the second dress rehearsal for each Semi-Final and the Grand Final, continuing until the commencement of the live broadcasts.

🇬🇪 Georgia: This is how “Firefighter” sounds

“Firefighter” is the title of the Georgian entry. Nutsa Buzaladze was already chosen some time ago to represent Georgia in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. Her song is written and composed by Ada Skidka and Darko Dimitrov. Dimitrov pens the Georgian entry for the first time. However, he has written the North Macedonian entry on 6 occasions, the Serbian one 3 times and also 1 Montenegrin Eurovision Song. His biggest success was “Proud”, sung by Tamara Todevska; the song became 7th overall and the jury winner of 2019. This is how “Firefighter” sounds:

🇮🇱 “Hurricane” is the song for Israel

Tonight, the Israeli song “Hurricane” has been presented. Singer Eden Golan was chosen already a few months ago. Her entry was controversial: the lyrics of the song, originally titled “October rain”, where rejected by the EBU. Another text was also rejected; after that Israeli broadcaster changed the lyrics of “October rain”, now titled “Hurricane”. It became the Israeli song. The song is written and composed by Avi Ohion, Keren Peles and Stav Beger.

🇵🇹 Iolanda wins Portuguese national final

National final season is over! Iolanda has won in Portugal. She sings the song “Grito”, written by Iolanda herself. She also composed the song along with Luar. Iolanda was the clear choice of the jury, while the televoters applied for João Borsch, who became 2nd. Portugal will perform in the second half of the first semifinal. These are the full results: Iolanda, “Grito”, 22 pts. João Borsch, “….pelas costuras”, 18 pts. Leo Middea, “Doce mistério”, 18 pts. Silk Nobre, “Change”, 12 pts. Rita Rocha, “Pontos finais”, 11 pts. Buba Espinho, “O farol”, 10 pts. Noble, “Memory”, 7 pts. Rita Onofre, “Criatura”, 5 pts. Perpétua, “Bem longe daqui”, 4 pts. Nena, “Teorias da conspiração”, 4 pts. No Maka ft. Ana Maria, “Aceitar”, 3 pts. Cristina Clara, “Primavera”, 2 pts.

🇸🇪 Marcus & Martinus sing for Sweden

photo credits: PhotoAnnaR, Wikimedia Commons Marcus and Martinus sing for Sweden. They have won Melodifestivalen tonight with the song “Unforgettable”. The song is written and composed by Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thornfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, with Marcus and Martinus themselves. Both televoters and expert jury chose the song with a landslide. Here’s the full result: Marcus & Martinus, “Unforgettable”, 177 pts. Medina, “Que sera”, 104 pts. Smash Into Pieces, “Heroes are calling”, 90 pts. Cazzi Opeia, “Give my heart a break”, 87 pts. Liamoo, “Dragon”, 83 pts. Danny Saucedo, “Happy that you found me”, 74 pts. Maria Sur, “When I’m gone”, 72 pts. Annika Wickihalder, “Light”, 63 pts. Jacqline, “Effortless”, 61 pts. Jay Smith, “Back to my roots”, 46 pts. Lisa Ajax, “Awful liar”, 37 pts. Dotter, “It’s not easy to write a love song”, 34 pts.