Eurovision 2022

Famous band The Rasmus is chosen to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. The song “Jezebel” is written by Lauri Ylönen and the famous American composer Desmond Child. Finland will perform in the first half of the second semifinal. The full results are: The Rasmus, Jezebel, 310 pts. Cyan Kicks, “Hurricane”, 221 pts. Bess, “Ram pam pam”, 204 pts. Isaac Sene, “Kuuma jäbä”, 127 pts. Olivera, “Thank God I’m an atheist”, 121 pts. Young Hearted, “Sun numero”, 91 pts. Tommi Läntinen, “Elämä kantaa mua”, 56 pts.    

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.

photo: EBU While the whole world is watching the news about Ukraine, the country itself comes up with Eurovision news. The committee of the national final has decided that Kalush Orchestra will represent the country with the song “Stefania”. The song is written and composed by Ihor Didenchuk, Ivan Klimenko, Oleh Psiuk, Tymofii Muzychuk and Vitalii Duzhy. The Ukrainian final was won by Alina Pash. She withdrew when it appeared that one of her team members had forged documents, which said that she had visited Crimea via the Ukrainian border and not via Russia. While Kalush Orchestra was second overall, they still managed to win the televoting of Vidbir 2022.