Martijn

🇨🇾 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.

🇦🇲 Ladaniva to represent Armenia

The duo Ladaniva will represent Armenia in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. That is what Armenian television announced tonight. Ladaniva consists of Jaklin Baghdasaryan, an Armenian vocalist, and Louis Thomas, a French multi-instrumentalist. Together, they create a unique fusion of Armenian folk music with diverse international influences. Their song for the Eurovision Song Contest is set to be unveiled shortly. Their music seamlessly integrates elements ranging from Balkan folk melodies to the rhythms of maloya, jazz, and reggae, illustrating a transcultural journey that merges traditional Armenian melodies with the duo’s rich experiences gathered from travels in Latin America, Africa, and Reunion Island. Ladaniva’s sound mirrors their mixed heritage and their deep fascination with exploring the music and cultures of the world. Armenia will perform in the 1st half of the 2nd semifinal. Note that “Shakar” is NOT their Eurovision song.

🇵🇹 Portugal: Festival RTP da Canção final tonight

Festival RTP da Canção closes the row of national finals tonight. In this festival, consisting of 12 songs, the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest will be chosen. The contest will be transmitted from the RTP Studios in Lisbon and hosted by Vasco Palmeirim and Filomena Cautela. They will be supported from the green room by Inês Lopes Gonçalves. The show starts at 22:00 CET and you can watch it here and here. These are the 12 participants: nr. Title Artist(s) 1 Change Silk Nobre 2 Criatura Rita Onofre 3 Memory Noble 4 O farol Buba Espinho 5 Teorias da conspiração Nena 6 Grito Iolanda 7 Aceitar No Maka ft. Ana Maria 8 Primavera Cristina Clara 9 Pontos finais Rita Rocha 10 Doce mistéria Leo Middea 11 Bem longe daqui Perpétua 12 …Pelas costuras João Borsch