First time back for seventeen years and the UK means business!
Freya Skye won't 'lose her head' in Yerevan, that's for sure...
So not only has the UK returned to JESC, they have what appears to be a great singer and a very good pop song. Three out of the last four Contests have been won by solo female teens with a song that would not be out of place on a commercial radio station chart. If the Junior Eurovision audience is becoming more adult (as I think it is) then "Lose My Head" could see Freya as a favourite to win in Armenia - it has definitely impressed me:
I really should watch all the JESC entries as I have done the Eurovision ones, but my limited knowledge of its twenty year history is that the early years catered more for a younger audience - that appears to have changed in the 2020s. Not many entries have been released so far for this year's Contest, so it will be interesting to see how the UK does but confidence is high. First live performance of the entry is on Children In Need on Friday November 18th - we will have a better idea then of Freya's chances. Good luck to her with that and it was an excellent way to kick off this week's show:
And the playlist?
"Lose My Head" - Freya Skye
"Balance Of Water And Stone - Tenfold Rabbit
"Veel Üks Päev" - Mia
"Me And My Guitar" - Tom Dice
"Hope Never Dies" - Marta Jandová and Václav Noid Bárta
"Secreto De Agua" - Blanca Paloma
"Sound Of Silence" (Live) - Dami Im
"Get A Life - Get Alive" - Eric Papilaya
"Take Me To A Place" - Jamala
"All The Way Over" - Sam Ryder
"What About My Dreams" - Kati Wolf
"C'est Le Dernier Qui A Parlé Qui A Raison" - Amina
"Me tana" - Elvana Gjata
"Ég elska þig mest á morgnana" - Friðrik Ómar
"Shallow" - Ben Adams & Ulrikke
"Shallow" - KEiiNO
"Baby Baby" - Nicole & Hugo
"Mitt liv" - Kate Gulbrandsen
"Crazy" - Franka
"I Wanna Be Someone Who's Loved" - Tusse
"Simon's Song" - Omar Rudberg
So immediately after Freya, we moved onto Eesti Laul, where we now know all the artists and their song titles - here are pictures of the twenty...
Eesti Laul SF1
Sissi - "Lighthouse"
Wiiralt & Ultima Thule - "Salalik"
Carlos Ukareda - "Whiskey Won't Forget"
Alika - "Bridges"
JANEK - "House Of Glass"
ELLIP - "Pretty Gril"
kaw - "Valik"
Andreas Poom - "Why Do You Love Me"
Meelik - "Tuju"
Elysa - "Bad Philosophy"
Eesti Laul SF2
m els - "So Good At What You Do"
Robin Juhkental - "Kurbuse matused"
Neon Letters & Maiko (Tokimeki)
Bedwetters - "Monsters"
Anett x Fredi - "You Need To Move On"
OLLIE - "Venom"
Linalakk & Bonzo - "Aeg"
MERLYN - "Unicorn Vibes"
MIA - "Üks samm korraga"
Inger - "Awaiting You"
Based purely on previous results, the highlighted artists are likely to be the pre-show favourites for this year's title. Given that last year's Contest was absolutely jammed packed with recognisable artists to us Eurovision fans, with lots of returnees and past Eurovision acts, it is a surprise that the only one who has been to Eurovision before is Robin Juhkental as frontman of Malcolm Lincoln back in 2010. STEFAN, Stig Rästa and Kjetil Mørland all appear with songwriting credits though - December is when we will hear the entries themselves.
Show 223 will hopefully be as busy as Eurofest was this Friday! This was the crowd eagerly anticipating the arrival of this lady:
Ronela Hajati was an absolute star in London...
She will also be one of the artists on next week's show!