Eurovision 2021

Today, the third semifinal of Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix will start. It can be seen at 19.50 CET, and you can watch it here. Last year, Ulrikke won the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix. Norwegian broadcaster NRK however decided that they want a national final with more than one artist and with semifinals.  Tonight, these are the participants: Dinaye, “Own yourself” Big Daddy Karsten, “Smile” Ole Hartz, “Vi er Norge” Emmy, “Witch woods” None of them has any Eurovision or Melodi Grand Prix experience.

It was expected already, but Moldovan national broadcaster TRM didn’t confirm it, until today: Natalia Gordienko will represent Moldova in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. Natalia was chosen to represent the country in the 2020 contest, but due to the cancellation, that didn’t happen. She has, however, been on the Eurovision stage, but in 2006. Together with Arsenium and rapper Connect-R, she sang the song “Loca”. “Loca”, the 2006 Moldovan entry TRM stated that, due to COVID19, it was impossible to organize a national final. Anything they would do would break the limitation that they have in Moldova because of the crisis. A songtitle for Natalia Gordienko is not known yet.  “Prison”, the 2020 Moldovan entry

And the Israeli entry is…. Set me free! It was chosen tonight in the national final Hashir Shelanu L’Eurovizion. This is the Israeli entry:

The contest is called HaShir Shelanu L’Eurovizion. The singer is called Eden Alene. Tonight the decision will be made which song Eden will sing in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. The show will start at 20.15 CET and you can watch it here. If you wanna watch all the songs before the show, that is also possible. You can find them here. Last year, Eden Alene was already chosen as the Israeli representative. As we all know, that contest was cancelled. Her song last year was called “Feker libi”. Photo: © Itay Bezaleli

The results are in in Lithuania. In bold letters the five entries going to the final: Unoband, “Eisiu” Rapolas, “Degam” Sunday Afternoon, “Open” Aiste Brokenleg, “Home” Cosmic Bride, “Solitary star” Norbertas, “Man in need” Gabriele Goštautaite, “Freedom” Gebrasy, “Where’d you wanna go?” Evita Cololo, “Be paslapciu” Gabrielus Vagelis, “My guy”

Norway has a new finalist. After two duels Raylee won a ticket to the final. Also Stavangerkamaraterne performed their song, which will go directly to the final. The duels were:Ketil Stokkan vs Daniel OwenRaylee vs Maria Solheim And finally Raylee vs. Maria Solheim

Today, the first semifinal of Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix will start. It can be seen at 19.50 CET, and you can watch it here. Last year, Ulrikke won the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix. Norwegian broadcaster NRK however decided that they want a national final with more than one artist and with semifinals.  Tonight, these are the participants: Raylee, “Hero” Maria Solheim, “Nordlyset” Daniel Owen, “Psycho” Ketil Stokkan, “My life is OK” Raylee took part in Melodi Grand Prix in 2015, but she came close to winning in 2020. She made it to the 2nd round in the final with her song “Wild”. Will she do better this year? For Ketil Stokkan’s participation we have to go way further back in history. His first attempt was in 1983! In 1986, he won Melodi Grand Prix and represented the host country with the song “Romeo”. In 1990 he won Melodi Grand Prix again and went to Eurovision stage with “Brandenburger Tor”. Will he make it a third time?

Tonight, at 20.00 CET, the Lithuanian semifinals will start. You can watch it here and here. Last year, The Roop was chosen to represent Lithuania. However, Lithuanian tv LRT did not want to give up their national final this year. The Roop has a wildcard for the final. Tonight’s contestants are: Unoband, “Eisiu” Rapolas Meškauskas, “Degam” Sunday Afternoon, “Open” Aiste Brokenleg, “Home” Cosmic Bride, “Solitary star” Norbertas Norbe, “Man in need” Gabriele Goštautaite, “Freedom” Gebrasy, “Where’d you wanna go?” Evita Cololo, “Be paslapciu” Gabrielus Vagelis, “My guy” Aiste Brokenleg also took part last year, but did not survive the first round. Same goes for Gebrasy, but one year earlier. Gabrielus Vagelis was more succesful: in 2013 and 2020 he reached the semifinals; in 2017 he reached the final and became 5th. 

For a long time, there was no Eurovision news about North Macedonia. Today, North-Macedonian broadcaster MRT confirmed that Vasil Garvanliev will represent the country. Vasil was a backing vocal when Tamara Todevska represented the country in 2019, and was supposed to represent North-Macedonia in 2020. But we all know why that didn’t happen. On his instagram Vasil writes: “Rarely in life we get not just one, but THREE, chances to make our dream come true. In ’19 I stood proudly behind Tamara, in ’20 I dedicated everything to YOU – but Covid said no! In ’21 I am using my personal journey and story to place my heart in your hands through my voice.Never stop believing, dreaming, and fighting for what you stand for in life. Dreams do come true! I am grateful for your continued support and can hardly wait to share what we are planning as a Macedonian team. Y’all better be ready for this!”

When Eurovision 2020 was cancelled, it was immediately decided that Israel would go for the same artist again in 2021: Eden Alene. Now the time has come to find a song. An online voting has started in Israel to find out the right entry. The songs the Israeli audience is able to vote for are: 1.Set me free 2.La la love 3.Ue la la The results will be made public next Monday, january 25. It will be an online show, due to new Corona regulations Eden Alene will not attend a studio to sing her winning entry live. Photo: ©Itay Bezaleli