press conference

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.

Winners press conference

Ten countries head to the final. After this there is a winners press conference. The ten winners all answered some questions, and here is a short overview of what was said. Croatia will perform in the second half of the final. The groups wants to make this world a little bit better place for everybody. The singer said “please stop f*cking wars. In wars there is no winners, in Eurovision there is no losers. They are proud to reach the final, as several times they reached the 11th place. Moldova will perform in the second half of the final. It felt pretty similar to his 2012 performance, because even Loreen is back! He likes to feel that they were more prepared this year. His wife says that if you work together you do everything together, even taking a shower together. Switzerland will perform in the first half of the final. Remo says it was his biggest dream to go to the finals. He started believing in it. Remo also confirms that the fan bubble in Eurovision is another level: he felt the love, also in the preview parties. He is the youngest qualifier. The next goal in his life is to win Eurovision. He always had a very low voice, people never expected it. “It is what it is, I have a babyface and a low voice. It’s okay for me to be the baby”. When he heard the song for the first time he started crying. It’s about a boy with a watergun now having to fight for his country. He is very sad about the situation in Ukraine. There is hope for a better future and he keeps Ukraine in his prayers. Finland will perform in the first half of the final. He is one of the favourites, and he says he doesn’t want to take any pressure. He wanted to have his vocals good by training and practicing. All artists want to win. “I just go and do my best and let’s see what happens”. Maybe he just wants to smile when he does his performance in the final. Some people do some crazy things, they got power and energy, maybe they can do the same in the final. It feels great for him to do the song entirely in Finnish. He wants to show and do his best, showing that you can win, also with a song in Finnish. Czechia will perform in the first half of the final. They say that they wanted braids because it shows the concept of sisterhood. She said that if all people no matter in what country would feel with their heart, there wouldn’t be a war like this. In the past the husband said “it is me or the career’, but she is happy that there is not a situation like this anymore. In some countries there is still that situation, and she hopes that is gonna change. The hands in the song symbolize manipulation. At one point you see the hand that is coming up above them. It symbolize the power that you have when you use it for bad things, you have the power to use it in a good way too. Israel will perform in the second half of the final. She feels the energy, this is different from other things as you are representing her country. In the beginning she was afraid not to make it to the final. She says “You know me, I am never relaxed, I want to do it better and better and better.” Her parents were with her in the green room: “Making my parents proud is so important to me. They were always there for me, there couldn’t be something more powerful than for them to be there”. Portugal will perform in the first half of the final. She thought of giving away “Ai coração” to other people. Her husband told her not to do it. The song is a very traditional song but she wanted to do a specific Mimicat song. As soon as she was selected she changed the arrangement. She says she was not confident with herself and her body as a teenager. She started living her live when she was in college and started making music. She played in a band and the members of the band told her she was vulgar. That’s where she wanted to prove them wrong. She wanted to say: keep going on and be yourself, as a message to her younger self. About getting to the final she says: “I have no expectations for the final as my goal was to get into the final”. Sweden will perform in the first half of the final. She never thought in her wildest dreams that she would come back to Eurovision. She fell in love with the song and then the Melodifestivalen question came up. She first said no but when she said ‘maybe’, people were so happy. That is how she decided to do it again. She had to feel not like she had to improve herself but she does have a need to make us feel and for that she works her ass off. Thoughts about winning or losing she blocks, as in her opinion the performance is not authentic anymore. “My job is to make you feel”. Serbia will perform in the first half of the final. He wrote the song originally as an anthem during the pandemic. He wanted to sleep through everything by playing videogames. He wanted to wake up himself and then wake up the world for the world problems. Luke Black also talks about the mass shootings in Belgrade. It triggered people more in their mental health. Luke wants to dedicate this performance to the victims. He wants to say ‘stay strong’ to the families. Norway will perform in the second half of the final. Alessandra said it was nervewrecking to be mentioned as the last one. She said her stomach was talking while