San Marino

Day 6: Bananas, raincoats, a circus and a rodeo rider

The storm around the still sun finally seems to have subsided a bit. This is not a weather forecast, but it is all about the Eurovision Song Contest. Now that everyone knows what really matters with the non-spinning sun, we can move on. And so we do. With ten countries from the 1st and 2nd semi, as well as the Big Five (more about that later), there is certainly something to look forward to. ICELAND: It is no surprise that the foursome (the girls’ brother is also there) can sing. The clothing and the setting are slightly reminiscent of “Little House on the Prairie”, for those who still know what that is. However, the whole thing seems a bit static. It’s not a done deal for the Icelanders. NORWAY: It ís a done deal for the Norwegians. They will make it to the final. Subwoolfer puts on a dazzling act. It is one of the kind that you either love or hate. Eurovision.tv notes that there is no change to the costumes. To be honest, we would also have been surprised if the gentlemen would suddenly wear something different. ARMENIA: She is the last one in the first semifinal. While she may not be the festival’s best singer, Rosa Linn does a good job. She walks around a bedroom covered with Post-Its. When she pulls it off the wall, for example, the title of the song appears, but also, yes, a Eurovision heart! FINLAND: The 2nd semifinal opens with the festival’s biggest stars: The Rasmus. The raincoats are now appropriate: the weather is not good. It also rains in Turin. Although the act is solid, there is something to be said for the vocals of Lauri Ylönen. We have heard better singing in the last few days…. ISRAEL: If we’re talking about song and dance, the Israelis do put down something. Michael Ben David never gets out of breath from all the dancing. He reaches the high notes effortlessly. The bookmakers’ expectations when it comes to Israel are not too high, but they could be completely wrong this time. SERBIA: No changes in the act of Serbia, which by the way is partially subtitled. The hands that are washed are also reflected in the graphics. Whether it is all sung very well, you can question that. Fun fact: for the second time in Eurovision history, someone from the British royal family is being sung: after Princess Diana in 1986 (“Européennes”, for France) it is now Megan Markle’s turn. AZERBAIJAN: Do you remember “Hold me”, Azerbaijan’s 2013 entry? It certainly wasn’t the strongest song that year, but thanks to the act it became second. We now see a similar act, but with a grandstand instead of a glass box. Big difference: Nadir is a very good singer. Because of the act and the good vocals this could end up higher than we all might expect. GEORGIA: “Lock me in” the members of Circus Mircus sing. And a circus it is, with flying goggles and a decorated beard. You may wonder whether the song is something that the televoter or the jury is going for. It just might become the least understood entry of 2022. MALTA: Few changes in the act. What we had not learned during the first rehearsals is that Emma not only sits behind the piano, but also stands on it. The moving and dancing seems to have an effect on Emma’s voice. SAN MARINO: The extravagant Achille Lauro jumps, dances, runs, rides rodeo: it won’t be three quiet minutes. Behind him are two musicians in cages. In addition, there are three guitarists. Achille Lauro’s agility does not benefit the vocals at all. It was all so wild that the rodeo seems to be broken by now. Hey wait…. I hear you thinking: and what about the Big 5!? Well, they will have their first rehearsals, without any press allowed. However, we will keep you updated about them later today.

Day 3: start of the 2nd semi rehearsals

Day three of rehearsals: the second semifinal has started. Nobody knows about the stage anymore. We try to keep you informed. For the time being, we’ll stick to the nine countries that rehearsed. FINLAND: Expectations were obviously high with a big name like The Rasmus in da’ house. In black and yellow rain gear, the stars stood on stage between huge black balloons. Eurovision.tv praises the professionalism of the band members. ISRAEL: It was quite exciting whether Israel would participate or not. However, the security issues died down. And so Michael Ben David stood on stage in white, surrounded by his dancers. Remarkable: eurovision.tv reports that there is good singing. That has not been done so far. SERBIA: Konstrakta’s act is little different from what we saw during the national final. She has the healthy hair of Megan Markle, which she also sings about. She washes her hands regularly. The dancers around her carry towels. Everything to stay “In corpore sano”, in a healthy body. AZERBAIJAN: It was to be expected: Azerbaijan has a standout act. Nadir Rustamli sings from a sort of staircase that looks like a grandstand. There is also a dancer in that stand. Halfway through the act, the stand is split in two and the dancer and singer can see each other. GEORGIA: Circus Mircus represents Georgia. And clowns belong to a circus. A singer in a leather jacket and flying goggles, a man with an eye patch and a belly organ and a bassist who seems to have borrowed the hat from the Ukrainians. That last man has a beard of flowers. Many colors can be seen on stage. Surreal is how even the official site describes it. MALTA: Emma Muscat performs in a dress covered with silver. She is flanked by four dancers. Later during the act, she sits behind a huge piano. She also uses the so-called B-stage, just in front of the green room. The sun springs into action and gives off its golden light during this act. SAN MARINO: You can expect a striking act from Achille Lauro. He wears body stocking, cowboy boots and hat, a black boa and he is at a red rodeo. While you’d expect that with the title “Stripper,” the clothes don’t come off. Where there is smoke there is fire: that certainly applies to this act, which ends with a lot of pyro technics. AUSTRALIA: Of course Sheldon Reily wears his jeweled mask. Surprising is the huge white suit he is also wearing. At the bottom of the suit is a huge tow. Eurovision.tv compares it to a wedding dress that drags on the floor. It almost seems as if Sheldon is staying in the clouds. CYPRUS: Andromache is singing in a purple dress with what looks like a huge fan behind her. The dancers move around that fan. The fan is also used to display the graphics. Different colors are visible.

Flo Rida

© EBU/Thomas Hanses About Quick Facts NameTramar Lacel Dillard Born17 september 1979 Nationality🇺🇸 American National Selection– In Eurovision2021 Rotterdam SongAdrenalina (with Senhit, 2021) Biography Tramar Dillard was born in Carol City, Florida, USA. Already at a young age, he started making music as a member of the group called The Groundhoggz. Later, he started working with Fresh Kid Ice. He was featured on Fresh Kid Ice’s album in 2004. In 2008, Flo Rida got the chance to record his debut album “Mail on sunday”. The first single was “Low”, featuring T-Pain. “Low” reached the no. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.The follow up “Elevator”, featuring Timbaland, “In the Ayer” featuring will.i.am, and “Roll” featuring Sean Kingston became chart successes as well. Flo Rida made guest performances on other R&B, rap, and pop singles, among others “We Break the Dawn” by Michelle Williams, the remix of “4 Minutes” by Madonna and “Running Back” by Australian singer Jessica Mauboy. He also cooperated with Lady Gaga. Flo Rida’s second album “R.O.O.T.S.”, was released on March 31, 2009. The first single, “Right Round”, featuring Kesha, jumped from number 58 to the top spot in one week in late February. The song broke a record for the most digital one week sales in the US, with 636,000. “Right Round” also became Flo Rida’s first huge hit in the United Kingdom. The second official single was “Sugar”, which featured R&B singer Wynter Gordon. “Jump”, featuring singer Nelly Furtado, was the third official single. and was released on July 27, 2009, in the United Kingdom, and July 28, 2009, worldwide. “Be on You”, featuring singer Ne-Yo, and “Available”, featuring Akon, followed. He kept on featuring in songs for other artists. Flo Rida’s third album “The only One” was released in 2010. Apart from the album, he released a single called “Zoosk girl”. On June 28, 2010, Flo Rida released the song “Club Can’t Handle Me” featuring David Guetta, which was stated to be the official first single for the album. Flo Rida also made guest appearances on Cody Simpson’s song “iYiYi” and collaborated with The Saturdays, recording a new version of their single, “Higher”. In December 2010, Flo Rida created his own label, International Music Group. Flo Rida’s fourth album, “Wild Ones” was released in July 2012. Its debut single was “Good Feeling”, released on August 29, 2011. The song samples Etta James’ 1962 song, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”. Following the death of Etta James on January 20, 2012, Flo Rida dedicated the song in her memory. The song peaked at No. 3 in the United States, and topped the charts in several European countries. In November 2012, he collaborated with Olly Murs for his song “Troublemaker”. In June 2013, Flo Rida collaborated with Marc Mysterio on the song “Booty on the Floor” to benefit the families and victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. In January 2014, Flo Rida was featured in the song “One Night Stand” by Slovak duo TWiiNS. In November, he appeared on Nickelback’s album No Fixed Address in the track “Got Me Runnin’ Round”. An EP, “My house”, followed, from which several songs became hits. In 2016, Flo Rida released a single “Hello Friday” featuring Jason Derulo. His new album was called “Masterminds”. He also featured on Pitbull’s single “Greenlight”. It took Flo Rida a long time to release his fifth album. It was supposed to be released in January 2021. However, the album is not released yet. Flo Rida was featured on the song “Adrenalina” by Italian singer Senhit. The two represented San Marino in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. Whether Flo Rida would really join Senhit on stage was a long kept secret. Only a few days before the contest Flo Rida arrived in Rotterdam. Entries Adrenalina (Senhit ft. Flo Rida) Country🇸🇲 San Marino Year2021 LanguageEnglish Lyrics and musicChanel TukiaTramar Dillard (Flo Rida)Jimmy ThörnfeldtJoy DebLinnea DebKenny SilverdiqueMalou RuotsalainenSenhit Zadik ZadikSuzi PancenkovThomas Stengaard BackingsIlaria CavolaLucrezia StopponiStefano Rei FerrariPatrizio Ratto Results Semi Points: 118Position: 9Running order: 1 Results Finals Points: 50Position: 22Running order: 6 https://youtu.be/TkhiH-JXFPs

Flo Rida arrived in the Netherlands

It was the biggest questionmark of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest: will Flo Rida perform in Rotterdam? San Marinese representative Senhit said that we all have to find out. Tonight, we found out: Flo Rida arrived on Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. That is what Senhit posted on her instagram. Senhit and Flo Rida will perform in the 2nd semifinal, upcoming thursday.

Jenifer Brening

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts NameJenifer Brening Born15 December 1996 Nationality???????? German National Selection1 in 360 2018 (San Marino) In Eurovision2018 Lisbon SongWho we are (2018, with Jessika) Biography Jenifer Brening is a German singer, born in Berlin. She uploaded cover videos of top international hits to YouTube. In 2010 she took part in the regional singing competition Heidenheim sucht den Superstar and took the first place there. Brening also took part in Bravo-Star 2011. She took part in the Sat.1 talent game show The Winner is … in 2012. In 2014 she took part in Deutschland sucht den Superstar. In February 2013 Brening’s EP “My sky” was released. Brening’s first solo single “Not That Guy” was released on December 31, 2013. With this, she won the EMMAward 2014 as Best Newcomer. Brening’s second solo single “A New Me” was released only a few days later 2014, her third single “Alive” shortly after. All three songs were available as downloads. In 2015 first self-written single was released under the label KHB Music followed by “Miracle” in 2016, for which she was nominated in the Pop category at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. In November of that year, Brening released her debut album “Recovery”. In 2018, she participated in the Sammarinese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Sorry” and “Until the morning light”. However, when Sammarinese rapper Irol withdrew, she replaced him as the featured artist in Jessika‘s entry “Who we are”. They won and represented San Marino in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. In 2020, during the first COVID19 lockdown, Jenifer released the single “Wonderland” in cooperation with Nico Rosentahl. Entries Who We Are (with Jessika) Country???????? San Marino Year2018 LanguageEnglish LyricsMathias StrasserZoë StraubChristof StraubStefan MoessleJenifer Brening MusicMathias StrasserZoë StraubChristof StraubStefan MoessleJenifer Brening BackingsLeni SommerBasti SchmidtCarlota de Bastos CarreiraJoana de Lima Results Semi Points: 28Position: 17Running order: 4 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/66D0pKVdA-4

Senhit

© EBU/Thomas Hanses About Quick Facts NameSenhit Zadik Zadik Born01 october 1979 Nationality🇮🇹 Italian National SelectionInternal Selection In Eurovision2021 Rotterdam2020 Rotterdam (Cancelled)2011 Düsseldorf SongAdrenalina (2021)Freaky! (2020)Stand By (2011) Biography Senhit Zadik Zadik known as Senhit (previously Senit), is an Italian singer of Eritrean descent. She was born in Bologna. Senhit began her musical career playing main roles in successful musicals such as “The Lion King” (2001/2002) in Germany, the Swiss versions of “Fame” (1999/2000) and “Hair” (2002) and and in Italy Il Grande Campione (2001/2002). She worked together with Italian singer Stadio, with whom she had the opportunity to tour. In September 2005 the singer signed a contract and released her first album “Senit”. In June 2007 she released the single “La fronte che ho”, which anticipated on the release of the second album “Un tesoro è necessariamente nascosto”. In 2009, the third, this time English, album “So High” was released. In 2011, Senit represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song” Stand By”. Right after the contest, the uptempo “Through the Rain” was released, a single following the singer’s participation in Eurovision. In 2013 she released a new single, “AOK”. In 2014, when she released her single “Relations”, she chose her official first name Senhit as her stage name. In 2019 she decided to sing in Italian again: she published the single “Dark Room” in april of that year, followed by “Un bel niente” in september. In 2020 she was supposed to represent San Marino again in the Eurovision Song Contest. Unfortunately, due to the corona crisis, that didn’t happen. She was chosen again by San Marinese television to do the job in 2021. Her song “Adrenalina” was a co-operation with the famous rapper and producer Flo Rida. The two reached the final. Senhit also caught attention with her #freakytriptoRotterdam, a series of videos in which she sang Eurovision classics. Senhit hosted Una Voce Per San Marino, the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, in February 2022. A new single, “Follow me”, was released in July of the same year. She also recorded a Christmas song, “Jesus, oh what a wonderful child”. On the last day of 2022, her single “Try to love you” came out. Senhit was asked to host Una Voce Per San Marino once again in 2023. In May 2023, the new single “Pow” was released, followed in November by “I am what I am”. In the first two months of 2024, she did an international tour, the I Am What I Am-tour. She performed in Spain, France, Germany, Serbia, Sweden, Austria, The Netherlands, the UK and the USA. Entries Adrenalina (feat. Flo Rida) Country🇸🇲 San Marino Year2021 LanguageEnglish Lyrics & MusicChanel TukiaTramar Dillard (Flo Rida)Jimmy ThörnfeldtJoy DebLinnea DebKenny SilverdiqueMalou RuotsalainenSenhit Zadik ZadikSuzi PancenkovThomas Stengaard DancersIlaria CavolaLucrezia StopponiStefano Rei FerrariPatrizio Ratto Results Semi Points: 118Position: 9Rank: 1 Results Finals Points: 50Position: 22Rank: 26 https://youtu.be/TkhiH-JXFPs Freaky! Country San Marino Year2020 LanguageEnglish Lyrics and musicGianluigi FazioHenrik Steen HansenNanna Bottos Backings – Results Semi Points: –Position: –Rank: – Results Finals Points: –Position: –Rank: – https://youtu.be/c6ZNo_hVA6E Stand by Country San Marino Year2011 LanguageEnglish LyricsRadiosa Romani ComposersRadiosa Romani Backings Gino EmnesKasia WalcząkAdam EvansBen EpsteinMonica Sarti Results Semi Points: 34Position: 16Rank: 12 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Rank: – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTCBm8Z2CrY

Jessika

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts NameJessica Muscat Born27 February 1989 Nationality???????? Maltese National SelectionMalta Song For Europe 2008Malta Eurosong 2009Malta Eurosong 2010Malta Eurosong 2011Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2013Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2014Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2015Malta Eurovision Song Contest 20161 in 360 2018 (San Marino)Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022 In Eurovision2018 Lisbon SongWho we are (2018, with Jenifer Brening) Biography Jessica Muscat, better known as Jessika, is a Maltese singer, songwriter and actress. She was born in Mosta. In 2004, she participated in the national final for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Four years later, she took part in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. She did so continuously every year until 2016. Jseeika toured throughout the United Kingdom in 2009 and took singing lessons in the United States. She took part in the International Discovery Festival in Varna, Bulgaria. Her debut single “Golden ways” was released in 2012, followed in 2016 by “Can’t let go”. Meanwhile, she plays in a soap opera called Ħbieb u Għedewwa on a daily basis. In 2018, she took part in the Sammarinese national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. She sang “Out of the twilight” solo and “Who we are” originally in a duet with Sammarinese rapper Irol. When he withdrew, he was replaced by Jenifer Brening. Jessika and Jenifer won the contest and represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. A new single, “No la conoces”, was released a year after the Eurovision adventure. With the song “Kaleidoscope”, Jessika returned to Malta Eurovision Song Contest, the Maltese national final, in 2022. Entries Who We Are (with Jenifer Brening) Country???????? San Marino Year2018 LanguageEnglish LyricsMathias StrasserZoë StraubChristof StraubStefan MoessleJenifer Brening MusicMathias StrasserZoë StraubChristof StraubStefan MoessleJenifer Brening BackingsLeni SommerBasti SchmidtCarlota de Bastos CarreiraJoana de Lima Results Semi Points: 28Position: 17Running order: 4 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/66D0pKVdA-4