Malmö Messages: yesterday’s pressconference

photo: EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett

Yesterday, after winning the tickets to the final, the 10 winners headed to the winners’ pressconference. We of Eurovision Universe were present at this press conference.

Cyprus

Silia Kapsis said it was a huge opportunity to be here. She was super proud and super happy. About her country of birth, Australia, she said she was proud as well that the Australians showed their culture. It was her goal to make her country proud and after this, to grow as a pop artist.

Serbia

Teya Dora said it was crazy; the rehearsals, the performance; it was all super exciting and she was happy. She wants to make her country proud and give the best she can, with the best placement. She loves it that so many people watched her performance. And about Konstrakta, who was in the introduction film, she loved her amazing energy.

Lithuania

Silvester Belt thanks the audience. To all the bullies from the past he has a message: “I know you are struggling. And to the little boy I was: I love you so much”. The biggest challenge this week was sleeping. About singing in the Lithuanian language he said: “only Lithuanians wanted me to sing in English. Everybody else said I should sing in Lithuanian.”

Ireland

Bambie Thug said they are completely dissociated after this succes, but also that they are super proud. They have a small team and they are en independent artist, yet they reached this. And also, they are the first non binary artist in the contest. Bambie revealed that they met the rules of the EBU: texts like Ceasefire and Free Palestine were not allowed, so Crown The Witch was the only text left. On the question what made them special, Bambie answered “What makes me special is that I’m a queer”.

Ukraine

Alyona Alyona explained that she and Jerry Heil raised fund to rebuild Ukrainian schools. She called for donation. Half of the money is there, but you can donate via United24. “Children are our future”, Alyona Alyona stated. Jerry also stated that it was great to be in Malmö now. It was a super possibility to say thank you for your help. And yes, they felt pressure, because they felt Ukraine expected something from them.

Croatia

The performance was way better than the rehearsals. Before going on stage, Baby Lasagna tried to empty his mind, but before him Poland performed; that song got stuck in his mind. About his first place in the odds he said that odds are just numbers, it’s not over ’til it’s done. He felt comfortable in Malmö as Eurovision is, in his opinion, the next level of professional, with all the sound- and camerawork. The energy to him was fine.

Slovenia

Raiven said she was grateful. She was unsure about the result and doubting all the time. That meant going to the final was a huge surprise for her. When it comes to making music and visuals she went with her instinct. “The staging is really me, and I am very satisfied with it”, she said. About the fact that she was called Eurovision’s opera diva, she said that it is great to hear that people checked her background.

Finland

It was our own Kal (!!) who had the opportunity to ask windows95man a question. Due to the lyrics of the song “No rules”, Kal was interested to know which of the many rules of Eurovision had to go in his opinion. “More nakedness! For everybody!”, windows95man replied without any hesitation. Windows95man also told that he got help in preparing for the show. Before the show the men do some physical exercises.

Portugal

Iolanda from Portugal thinks that music can be whatever you like. She wrote the song in her grandmothers house. Her message is that you can do a lot with not so much money. She designed the act with the stage director and the choreographer. She also added that she believes music connects.

Luxembourg

“I nearly had a heart attack”, Tali explained, “It was brutal, but the camera was approaching and I thought…. maybe”. In Tali’s opinion Eurovision is a beautiful contet that unites. She was thrilled and was hoping to inspire other countries to return to Eurovision. “Music is my life, my therapy, my everything”, Tali stated.

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Read More »
March 29, 2026 No Comments
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Martijn

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The Eurovision Song Contest is celebrating its 70th anniversary. That is a wonderful milestone. We at Eurovision Universe love diving into the history of the contest. That is why we are taking a closer look at the contests of the past 70 years. 1956 Seven countries lined up at the start of the Song Contest. Lugano, Switzerland hosted the event. Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland took part. Each country could submit two songs, which helped fill the programme. Lohengrin Filipello presented the show entirely in Italian. The scoring lacked suspense. Two jurors from each country gave their verdict. At the end of the evening, Rolf Liebermann, the Martin Green of his time, came on stage and announced Switzerland as the winner. That result did not come as a surprise. Luxembourg did not send any jurors and instead asked two Swiss jurors to vote on their behalf. The winning song was the Swiss “Refrain”. When singer Lys Assia had to sing her song again, it became too much for her. She said she was overcome by emotions and decided to start over. Few moving images of the festival have survived; however, an audio recording does. 1957 United Kingdom, Denmark, and Austria joined the seven already participating countries. The contest was held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. And this time, there was a voting procedure. Host Anaid Iplikjan had an assistant who established the telephone connections. It was a tough job for the presenter: not every jury chairman had read the instructions properly. Anaid had to constantly make adjustments. One entry that should not go unmentioned is that of Denmark. Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler played a fishing couple. She said goodbye to him because he had to go sailing. The act ended with a kiss. At a sign from the director, the two were supposed to let go of each other. However, the person who was supposed to give that sign was not paying attention, causing the kiss to last an extremely long time. And this happened in 1957! It did not get any more exciting after that. The Dutch Corry Brokken won with a landslide. She made quite an impression with her “Net als toen”. This was due in no small part to the beautiful solo by violinist Sem Nijveen. 1958 For the first time, the winning country hosted the Song Contest the following year. Ten countries competed in the AVRO studio in Hilversum. Great Britain skipped this edition, but Sweden made its debut. Hannie Lips served as the host. She only appeared after all the songs had been performed. At that point, she explained that technical problems had prevented some countries from broadcasting the first entry, Italy’s song. The organisers therefore repeated it. He did not win. However, it was a lucrative experience for the Italian Domenico Modugno. His song “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, under the title “Volare”, probably became the biggest Eurovision hit ever. Countless versions have been made of it. Dean Martin’s is the best known, but David Bowie and Paul McCartney also sang the song. The battle for first place was incredibly exciting. This one was between France and Switzerland. 1956 winner Lys Assia seemed poised to take first place with her “Giorgio”. She just missed out. It was the Frenchman André Claveau who claimed first place with “Dors mon amour”. And for anyone who thinks he went on to buy a villa or a yacht with the proceeds from this song: not at all. He happily announced that he could now purchase an extra cow for his herd!

Read More »
March 29, 2026 No Comments
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