national final

Käärijä wins UMK for Finland 2023

Tonight was the big final of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2023! Just like last year, the Finnish national final was really strong. We’ve had big superstars, and new talent compete at this years UMK. The most famous one being Robin Packalen. He’s a been singer in Finland since 2008. The newest talent tonight was female pop singer Keira with “No Buisness On The Dance Floor”. She was the runner up of last years The Voice Of Finland. However the most popular superstar of tonight was Käärijä. He began his music carreer in 2016 with Urheilujätkä. The song didn’t blow up, but also didn’t stay unheard as it has gathered one million streams. He has been able to find himself in this music industry, as he released “Cha Cha Cha” for his UMK entry. The song went viral on Spotify, and was the number one in the Finnish charts for several weeks. Tonight he competed and won over the public & jury vote. He has been number one in the odds for a month, and now recieved the ultimate price. Käärijä will represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in the first Semi Final.

Gustaph represents Belgium

Gustaph will represent Belgium with the song “Because of you”, written and composed by Jaouad Alloul and Stef Caers. After an exciting voting, the televoter chose Gustaph as the winner with a landslide, while Gala Dragot was the favourite with the expert jury. It is to be announced in which of the semifinals in Liverpool Belgium will perform. Gustaph, “Because of you”, 278 pts. The Starlings, “Rollercoaster”, 277 pts Gala Dragot, “T’inquiette”, 271 pts. Chérine, “Ça m’ennuie pas”, 268 pts. Ameerah, “The carnival”, 171 pts. Loredana, “You lift me up”, 167 pts. Hunter Falls, “Ooh la la”, 128 pts.

Estonia: 2nd semifinal Eesti Laul

Tonight is the night: Eesti Laul will have it’s second semifinal. Out of 10 songs, 5 will be chosen to go to the final: four of them by a 50/50 jury-televoting. After that, one more song will be chosen by televoting only. The show will be aired on ETV at 18:30 CET and you can watch it here. The contestants are: Inger sings “Awaiting you” Linalakk, Bonzo sing “Aeg” Meelik sings “Tuju” Elysa sings “Bad philosophy” Robin Juhkentahl sings “Kurbuse matused” M els sings “So good (at what you do)” WIIRALT sings “Salaliik” Sissi sings “Lighthouse” Carlos Ukareda sings “Whiskey won’t forget” Alika sings “Bridges” Inger became 6th in Eesti Laul in 2019 and 8th in 2020.Meelik was a member of Tenfold Rabbit, who took part in 2012 (3rd) and 2013 (semifinal)Elysa was 3rd in Eesti Laul last year.Robin Juhkentahl won in 2010 as a member of Malcolm Lincoln and represented Estonia in the ESC with “Siren”. Malcolm Lincoln also took part in the 2012 semifinal. In 2015, Robin and his band The Big Bangers became 6th. WIIRALT took part in 2012 (semifinal) and 2022 (quarter final).Sissi was present in 2019 (4th) and 2021 (2nd).

Norway: Melodi Grand Prix starts

Tonight knows the start of Melodi Grand Prix, the Norwegian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Three semifinals will all contain 7 songs. 3 of them will be selected to go to the final, chosen by 100% televoting. The show starts at 19:50 CET and you can watch it here. The participants are: Allessandra Mele sings “Queen of kings” Erik Næss sings “Wave” Rasmus Thall sings “Tresko” Kate Gulbrandsen sings “Tårer i paradis” Umami Tsunami sings “Geronimo” Ulrikke sings “Honestly” Byron Williams jr. ft. JOWST sing “Freaky for the weekend” Kate Gulbrandsen won Melodi Grand Prix in 1987 and represented Norway with “Mitt liv”. She also took part in 1989, but didn’t reach the superfinal.Ulrikke took part in 2017 (4th) and 2020 (1st). However, in 2020 the festival was cancelled and her song “Attention” thus never reached the Eurovision stage.JOWST was the 2017 winner. With “Grab the moment” they represented Norway.

Belgium selects entry

After a week of tv-shows on Flemish television, in which all the contestants chose a song out of two, there will be a final in Belgium. The show starts at 20:20 and you can watch it here. The contestants are: * Loredana You lift me up * Chérine Ça m’ennuie pas * Hunter Falls Ooh la la * Ameerah The carnival * Gala Dragot T’inquiète * Gustaph Because of you * The Starlings Rollercoaster Loredana took part in Eurosong 2014 with 2Fabiola and reached the semifinal.Tom Dice (The Starlings) represented Belgium in 2010 with the song “Me and my guitar”.

Malta: first quarterfinal MESC 2023

Tonight, Malta makes a start with their first quarter final of MESC (Malta Eurovision Song Contest). The show starts on 21.00 CET and you can watch it here. Four quarter finals will be held. Out of 13 songs, 8 will be chosen to go to the semifinal. The songs are: Aidan sings “Regina” Christian Arding sings “Eku car” Clintess sings “Lura Qatt” Eliana Gomez Blanco sings “Guess what” Fabrizio Faniello sings “Try to be better” Geo Debono sings “The mirror” Haley sings “Tik Tok” Jason Scerri sings “Anything can happen” Klinsmann sings “Piranha” Maria Debono sings “X’allegria” Mikhail sings “Leħen Fiċ-Ċpar” Nathan sings “Creeping walls” Stefan Galea sings “Heartbreaker” Aidan took part in MESC in 2018 (4th), X-Factor 2019 (semifinals) and MESC 2022 (2nd)Christian Arding took part in 2006 (5th) and 2009 (semifinal)Fabrizio Faniello took part in 1998 (2nd), 1999 (8th), 2000 (2nd), 2001 (1st), 2004 (3rd), 2005 (12th), 2006 (1st), 2011 (4th), 2012 (6th) and 2014 (semifinal). He took part in Eurovision in 2001 with “Another summer night” and in 2006 with “I do”.Klinsmann took part in 2007 (3rd), 2008 (7th), 2009 (13th), 2010 (11th), 2011 (7th), 2012 (16th), 2013 (semifinal) and 2017 (10th).Mikhail took part in X-Factor 2019 (semifinals).Stefan Galea took part in 2016 (semifinal) and X-Factor 2019 (auditions).

Estonia: semi final results are in

Both the expert jury and the televoters have decided. The songs, heading to the final, are in bold: “House of glass”, sung by Janek “Pretty girl”, sung by Ellip “Valik”, sung by Kaw “Unicorn vibes”, sung by Merlyn “Üks samm korraga”, sung by Mia “Tokimeki”, sung by Neon Letters & Maiko “Venom”, sung by Ollie “Why do you love me”, sung by Andreas “Monsters”, sung by The Bedwetters “You need to move on”, sung by Anett & Fredi Janek was chosen by televoters only in the second voting round. The others were already chosen by mixed jury/televoting in the first round.

Estonia: Eesti Laul, 1st semifinal

Tonight is the night: Eesti Laul will have it’s first semifinal. Out of 10 songs, 6 will be chosen to go to the final: four of them by a 50/50 jury-televoting. After that, two more songs will be chosen by televoting only. The show will be aired on ETV at 21:20 CET and you can watch it here. The contestants are: “House of glass”, sung by Janek “Pretty girl”, sung by Ellip “Valik”, sung by Kaw “Unicorn vibes”, sung by Merlyn “Üks samm korraga”, sung by Mia “Tokimeki”, sung by Neon Letters & Maiko “Venom”, sung by Ollie “Why do you love me”, sung by Andreas “Monsters”, sung by The Bedwetters “You need to move on”, sung by Anett & Fredi Mia took part in the semifinal of Eesti Laul 2012Joosep Järvesaar (The Bedwetters) took part in 2016 as a member of the band Cartoon. They became 3rd.Karl-Kristjan Kingi (The Bedwetters) took part in 2017 (4th) and 2018 (5th)Annett & Fredi took part in 2020 and became 3rd.

Albania: Festivali i Këngës 61, final

Tonight is the night: Albania will select it’s Eurovision entry. After two semifinals and a night with duets, the country will make a final decision. The show can be watched at 21.00 CET here and here and on Youtube. 21 songs are left. These are the titles: Enxhi Nasufi sings “Burrë” Erma Mici sings “Kozmosi i dashurisë” Fabian Basha sings “Një gotë” Fifi sings “Stop” Urban Band sings “Në çdo hap” 2 Farm sing “Atornike” Rezarta Smaja sings “N’Eden” Albina & Familja Kelmendi sing “Duje” Sergio Hajdini sings “Vështirë” Rovena Dilo sings “Motit” Melodajna Mancaku sings “Gjysma e zemrës sime” Gjergj Kaçinari sings “Dje” Franc Koruni sings “Në pritje” Petrit Çarkaxhiu sings “Emri yt mirësi” Elsa Lila sings “Evita” Genti Hoxha sings “Ajër” Evi Reçi sings “Ma khte” Manjola Nalbani sings “Dua” LYNX sings “Nëse ke besim” Alban Kondi & Lorela Karoshi sing “Melodi” Vanessa Sono sings “Aroma jonë” Enxhi Nasufi took part in the 2016 final and became 6th.Fabian Basha took part in 2008 and became 15th in the final as a member of the group Produkt 28.The Urban Band reached the final last year.Rezarta Smaja took part in 2013 (7th), in 2014 (7th), in 2015 (7th), in 2016 (with Klodian Kaçani, 4th), in 2017 (7th), in 2018 (with Luiz Ejlli, final), and in 2022 (final).Rovena Dilo took part in 2004 (final), in 2008 (semifinal), in 2009 (with Eugent Bushpepa, 12th) and in 2010 (10th).Gjergj Kaçinari took part last year and reached the final.Franc Koruni took part in 2017 (11th) and 2021 (semifinal).Evi Reçi participated in 2021 and 2022, both times finalist.Manjola Nalbani took part in 2006 (final), 2008 (6th), 2018 (final). Due to a positive Corona test, she had to withdraw in 2021.LYNX took part in 2013 (14th), 2014 (15th), 2017 (10th) and 2018 (semifinal).Alban Kondi took part in 2008 as a member of Produkt 28 (15th).Lorela Karoshi took part in 2017 (12th).

Albania: Festivali i Këngës 61, semifinal 2

The Albanian national selection starts tonight. In four evenings, Albania will make a choice. Tonight, the second semifinal will be held. It starts at 21.00 CET and you can watch it here and here and on Youtube. Albania usually is the first country to select an entry. Not this year, as we already know Ukraine’s entry. The Albanians will select through four evenings. The seminfinals will be held on Monday and Tuesday, another show, not with the participating songs, will be on Wednesday. Thhe final will be on Thursday. These are tonight’s entries: Melodajna Mancaku sings “Gjysma e zemrës sime” Permit of Stay sings “Fobia” Arsi Bako sings “Sonte dua të jem me ty” Gjergj Kaçinari sings “Dje” Franc Koruni sings “Në pritje” Petrit Çarkaxhiu sings “Emri yt mirësi” Elsa Lila sings “Evita” Genti Hoxha sings “Ajër” Evi Reçi sings “Ma khte” Manjola Nalbani sings “Dua” LYNX sings “Nëse ke besim” Alban Kondi & Lorela Karoshi sing “Melodi” Vanessa Sono sings “Aroma jonë” Gjergj Kaçinari took part last year and reached the final.Franc Koruni took part in 2017 (11th) and 2021 (semifinal).Evi Reçi participated in 2021 and 2022, both times finalist.Manjola Nalbani took part in 2006 (final), 2008 (6th), 2018 (final). Due to a positive Corona test, she had to withdraw in 2021.LYNX took part in 2013 (14th), 2014 (15th), 2017 (10th) and 2018 (semifinal).Alban Kondi took part in 2008 as a member of Produkt 28 (15th).Lorela Karoshi took part in 2017 (12th).