Martijn

Tonight, the first semifinal of the Icelandic national selection, Söngvakeppnin, starts. The show will be on at 20.45 CET and you can watch it here. 5 songs will compete, two will head to the final. The songs are: Amarosis, “Don’t you know” Stefán Óli, “Ljósið” Haffi Haff, “Gía” Stefanía Svavarsdóttir, “Hjartað mitt” Sigga, Beta & Elin, “Með hækkandi sól” The finalists are in bold letters. Haffi Haff took part in the 2008 semifinals.Stefanía Svavarsdóttir was involved in the 2015 semifinals.Note that Sigga is NOT the Sigga who represented Iceland on three occasions.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) is the Finnish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. It will be held tonight at 20.00 CET and you can watch it here, here (English commentary) or here (Swedish commentary). One name of international fame is included: The Rasmus, a rock band who had their breakthrough with the song “In the shadows” in 2003. This is the full list of participants: 1 Jezebel The Rasmus 2 Kuuma jäbä Isaac Sene 3 Thank God I’m an atheist Olivera 4 Ram pam pam Bess 5 Sun numero Younghearted 6 Hurricane Cyan Kicks 7 Elämä kantaa mua Tommi Läntinen   Tommi Läntinen was the only one who took part in the Finnish national selection before: he was involved in the 2005 semifinals.  

The Swedish national selection Melodifestivalen will continue tonight with it’s 4th heat. The show will start at 20.00 CET and you can watch it here. Two participants will go directly to the final, while two others will go to the semifinal (what was previously called ‘andra chancen’). These are the participants:  Anna Bergendahl, “High power” (semifinal) Lillasyster, “Till our days are over” (semifinal) Malin Christin, “Synd om mig” Tenori, “La stella” Medina, “In i damman” (final) Angelino, “The end” Klara Hammarström, “Run to the hills” (final) The songs that went through are in bold letters.   Anna Bergendahl won Melodifestivalen 2010 and thus represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2019, she became 10th. In 2020 she was 3rd.Lillasyster came to andra chancen in 2021.Sami Rekik (Medina) took part in the 2021 semifinals.Klara Hammarström took part in the 2020 semifinals and became 6th in 2021.

Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC asked the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to suspend membership of Russian channels C1R and VGTRK. This would exclude Russia from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. The reason is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in the night from Wednesday to Thursday. “Russia, as an aggressor and violator of international law, cannot participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, which was created precisely to unite Europe,” said Mykola Chernotytsky, chairman of the board of directors of UA:PBC. He stressed that VGTRK, responsible for this year’s Russian entry, “serves as an instrument of Kremlin power” and “constantly violates journalistic standards“. Chernotytsky thinks exclusion would be a strong response from the European broadcaster association.

Emma Muscat has won the Maltese national selection. She will sing the song “Out of sight”. The song is written and composed by Emma herself with Antonio Caputo, Gabriel Rossi, Lorenzo Santarelli andMarco Salvaderi. Malta will perform in the 2nd half of the 1st semifinal. Here are the full results: Emma Muscat, “Out of Sight”, 92 pts. Aidan, “Ritmu”, 72 pts. Nicole Azzopardi, “Into the Fire”, 36 pts. Norbert, “How Special You Are”, 34 pts. Denise, “Boy”, 31 pts. Miriana Conte, “Look What You’ve Done Now”, 31 pts. Matt Blxck, “Come Around”, 18 pts. Nicole Hammett, “A Lover’s Heart”, 16 pts. Enya Magri, “Shame”, 15 pts. Richard Edwards, “Hey Little”, 13 pts. Mark Anthony Bartolo, “Serenity”, 11 pts. Sarah Bonnici, “Heaven”, 10 pt. Giada, “Revelación”, 8 pt. Raquel, “Over You”, 8pts. Baklava feat. Nicole, “Electric Indigo”, 7 pts. Janice Mangion, “Army”, 7 pts. Jessika, “Kaleidoscope”, 1 pt.

For the 2nd time in Eurovision history, San Marino organized a national final. And Achille Lauro is the winner with the song “Stripper”. San Marino will perform in the first half of the second semifinal. Full results: Achille Lauro, “Stripper” Burak Yeter & Alessandro Coli, “More Than You” Aaron Sibley, “Pressure” Ivana Spagna, “Seriously in Love” Matteo Faustini, “L’ultima parola” Francesco Monte, “Mi ricordo di te (Adrenalina)” Vina Rose, “Sweet Denial” Camille Cabaltera, “Move ‘Em Like You Never Did” Maria Chiara Leoni, “Tiramisù” Tony Cicco, Deshedus & Alberto Fortis, “Sono un uomo”   Unplaced: Alessia Labate, “World Falls Down” Basti, “Running” Cristina Ramos, “Heartless Game” Elena & Francesco Faggi, “Nothing Can Blow Me Out” Fabry & Labiuse feat. Miodio, “Blu” Kurt Cassar, “Tears of Gold” Mate, “DNA” Valerio Scanu, “Io credo”    

Tonight, Krystian Ochman won the Polish national final Tu Bije Serce Europy. Ochman will represent Poland with the song “River”, written and composed by Krystian Ochman, Ashley Hicklin, Adam Wiśniewski and Mikołaj Trybulec. Poland will perform in the 2nd half of the 2nd semifinal. The full result of the national final is: Ochman, “River”, 51% (superfinal) Daria, “Paranoia”, 39% (superfinal) Unmute, “Głośniej niż decybele”, 10% (superfinal) Kuba Szmajkowski, “Lovesick”, 4% Karolina Lizer, “Czysta woda”, 3% Ania Byrcyn, “Dokąd?”, 3% Siostry Szlachta, “Drogowskazy”, 3% Karolina Stanisławczyk & Chika Toro, “Move”, 2% Emilia Dębska (Mila), “All I Need”, 2% Lidia Kopania, “Why Does It Hurt?”, 1%

Subwoolfer wins Melodi Grand Prix and will thus represent Norway in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. The song ” Give that wolf a banana” is written by Keith, Jim and DJ Astronaut. Norway will perform in the 2nd half of the 1st semifinal. The full result is: Oda Gondrosen, “Hammer of Thor” NorthKid, “Someone” Anna-Lisa Kumoji, “Queen Bees” Farida, “Dangerous” Sofie Fjellvang, “Made of Glass” Frode Vassel, “Black Flowers” Christian Ingebrigtsen, “Wonder of the World” Maria Mohn, “Fly” Subwoolfer, “Give That Wolf a Banana” Elsie Bay, “Death of Us” The gold final: NorthKid, “Someone” Sofie Fjellvang, “Made of Glass” Subwoolfer, “Give That Wolf a Banana” Elsie Bay, “Death of Us” The gold duel: NorthKid, “Someone”, , 312,322 votes Subwoolfer, “Give That Wolf a Banana”, 368,106 votes

LPS will represent Slovenia. won the national final EMA with the song “Disko”, written and composed by Filip Vidušin, Žiga Žvižej, Gašper Hlupič, Mark Semeja and Zala Velenšek, Jakob Koroše. Sloveania will perform in the first half of the first semifinal. The full result of EMA is: LPS.  “Disko”, 103 pts. Batista Cadillac,  “Mim pravil”, 90 pts. BQL, “Maj”, 69 pts. Luma.  “All In”, 68 pts. July Jones, “Girls Can Do Anything”, 62 pts. Manouche. “Si sama?”, 53 pts. Gušti feat. Leyre, “Nova romantika”, 38 pts. Hauptman, “Sledim”, 34 pts. Leya Leanne, “Naked”, 28 pts. Stela Sofia, “Tu in zdaj”, 23 pts. Anabel, “Tendency”, 10 pts. David Amaro, “Še vedno si lepa”, 2 pts.