If press, pundits and fans in Spain are anything to go by...
Tanxugueiras are the band to beat in Benidorm Fest 2022!
We will be experiencing all four of the official languages of Spain in Benidorm Fest 2022 - you too when you listen to "Terra" by Tanxugueiras (Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician) in the form of one phrase repeated ('there are no borders'). That is one of the entries and there are six more from Spain to listen to during this week's show, along with five from Albania's FiK60 and three from Eesti Laul:
The playlist shows off a lot of National Final entries - it is a bit of quiet one news wise!
"It's My Life" - Cezar
"Prison" - Natalia Gordienko
"VOLTE-FACE" - EU.CLIDES
"You And Me" - TAKASA
"Radio Luxembourg" - Tor Endresen
"Hallå hela pressen" - Chattanooga
"Për Dreq" - Mirud
"Më Duaj" - Evi Reçi
"Triumfi i jetës" - Endri & Stefi
"Hijena" - Ester Zahiri
"Në Ëndërr Mbete Ti" - Gjergj Kacinari
"Love Me Blind" - Molly Hammar
"SloMo" - Chanel
"Culpa" - Javiera Mena
"Sigues En Mi Mente" - Marta Sango
"Calle de la Llorería" - Rayden
"ECO" - Xeinn
"Terra" - Tanxugueiras
"Mejores" - Unique
"Take Me Home" - Lauri Pihlap
"Tule Minu Sisse" - Dramanda
"Quicksilver" - Emily J
"Never Let Me Go" - Timmy Trumpet x Cascada x Harris & Ford
"Parlons de nous" - Philippine
"Toxic Love" - Viki Gabor
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
As the show aired, the second night of FiK60 was on, meaning that by the time you read this, we will know which artist and song title will be going to Turin to represent Albania. I say song title as we often get some sort of revamp prior to Eurovision itself but assuming that the winner has released their FiK song commercially, you will hear it soon on LET ME BE THE ONE. As for Benidorm Fest, there is half the list to go (seven) plus sixteen of the Estonian original forty - you will hear those in January, along with more National Final favourites of the show's listeners. Two more played this week...
And Chattanooga - "Hallå hela pressen" for Melissa! Not much in the way of additional material needed this week but there will definitely be a lot more next week:
New Year's Eve - Song 250 plays at 11am CET
Who has won will be known about Midnight CET
Anyone ever spent all THIRTEEN hours listening?
Regular readers of the blog and listeners will know that in the past I have changed the criteria to which I have voted each year. This year is different - having watched and listened to every single Eurovision entry from 1956 to 2021, I now have my absolute selection...
My All-Time Eurovision Top Ten!
I will reveal on next week's show those entries and also include the big movers up and down, plus perhaps some of your stand-outs too. Of course the big question is whether we will see a different #1 for the first time since 2011:
Can Måneskin beat Loreen?
Tune in next week to find out what happened on New Year's Eve!