Tornike Kipiani
Georgia's artist for Rotterdam!
The winner of Georgian Idol 2020, the decision being made an hour before the show started and I was therefore the first radio show to announce it live. Luckily for me I had taken the risk of putting his incredible cover of "Breathe" by these guys as the opener for this week's show:
What did you think? I can't imagine that he will be sent to The Netherlands with a power ballad or some teenie pop tune! Have a look online at his effort in the Georgian 2017 NF, "You Are My Sunshine" - an incredible performance and vocal that perhaps would have done better in Kyiv that "Keep The Faith" did. This year's song will now be composed for Tornike and we will probably see the results in the next couple of months. Whatever is sent to Rotterdam, I think we are going to back to the Georgia of old, the cutting edge output that hits the spot with enough voters and jurors to see them safely into the Final for the first time since 2016 and these guys with the Brit pop tune...
"Breathe" - Tornike Kipiani ft. Liza Kalandadze
"It Can't Be Translated" - Anzor ft. Tornike Kipiani
"Tower Of Babylon" - Lorena Bućan
"Show Me Your Love" - Tina Karol
"When We're Old" - Ieva Zasimauskaitė
"Long Live Love" - Olivia Newton-John
"Satellite" - Lena
"One More Day" - Eldrine
"Euphoria" - Loreen
"Gravity" - Zlata Ognevich
"Cliché Love Song" - Basim
"Here For You" - Maraaya
"Zero Gravity" - Kate Miller-Heidke
"Je t'adore" - Kate Ryan
"Crazy" - Franka
"I Love Belarus" - Anastasiya Vinnikova
"När jag blundar" - Pernilla Karlsson
"Congratulations" (censored) - Silvia Night
"Salvem El Món" - Anonymous
"Horehronie" - Kristina
"Hear Them Calling" - Gréta Salome
"Blackbird" - Norma John
"Funny Girl" - Laura Rizzotto
"Fire" - Sycamore Tree
"Speak Love" - Anna Bergendahl
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
As you can see, my 2016/2017/2018 favourites appeared in this listing:
My Favourite SF Non-Qualifiers
I went through all the SFs we have ever had at Eurovision, even the 1996 Pre-Qualifying Round, which I consider to be a 'SF' of sorts, and picked my top ten. Yes, you can see that three of those picks are my top three here and it could be argued that I did actually choose a proper top ten for a change! Eventually songfestival.be will publish the results of ALL the acts given points this year - at the moment, we just have the top 250 and SIX of my ten were there, surprisingly enough given the tight criteria I had placed on myself this year. Those six?
Pernilla Karlsson - 227
Anonymous - 201
Greta Salóme - 177
Norma John - 129
Kristina - 117
Silvia Night - 106
My all time fav, Marie Myriam with "L'oiseau et l'enfant" came a respectable 101st this year but the big story as always was "Would anyone depose Loreen at number 1?". The answer?
NO!
Duncan Laurence was this year's 'best of the rest' but he was 1546 points behind Loreen, she getting the most 12s (271), 10s (170), 8s (158), 7s (126), 6s (88) and 5s (81) of anyone. THAT is why she is top yet again and unless 2020 provides a smash runaway winner, she is likely to stay there for the next few years too! Having Mahmood, KEiiNO and Duncan this year diluted the votes so I always thought that Loreen being this year's winner was a done deal. I treat the Top 250 as an enjoyable experience, a new playlist every year, a great way to spend New Year's Eve and a fun time to be had watching other fans go mad that 'their favourite' is so low down the list! Guys, you have to accept that you have loves that most don't, like my 12 pointer this year:
To have this song as part of the incredible 2018 journey that I had means more to me than any scores Laura got in Lisbon and whatever position "Funny Girl" finished below the Top 250 - Eurovision has now become less of a Contest for me and more of a way of hearing new music from every nation in Eurovision. I find there is far less disappointment that way and 2019 was an easier experience for it!
Sanremo is going to be one hell of a Contest this year!
Hold on tight, the Eurovision 2020 rollercoaster has just started and it's going to just get quicker form now on...oh, and of course:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!