And two revealed Space Wolves...did I mention that?
The Worst Kept Secret in Norway is no more!
It was a busy week in Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, Czech Republic (or should that now be Czechia, again?), Armenia, Georgia and of course Norway. We had five entries ready for Liverpool, two artists lined up and of course Ben Adams (Keith) and Gaute Ormåsen (Jim) removed their gloves, glasses and masks to prove once and for all who Subwoolfer really were. Still no clue as to who DJ Astronaut is though! Before I take you on a whistle-stop tour of the names and songs from the above nations, have a listen to this week's show:
And a look at the playlist...
"Eaea" - Blanca Paloma
"Carpe Diem" - Joker Out
"We Are One" - Wild Youth
"Queen Of Kings" - Alessandra
"Worst Kept Secret" - Subwoolfer
"My Sister's Crown" - VESNA
"Gisher" - BRUNETTE
"Idea" - IRU
"De Mallemolen" - Heddy Lester
"Zjarr e ftohtë" - Luiz Ejlli
"Dreamer" - Malik Harris
"Hold On" - Will Church
"Alle Frauen in mir sind müde" - Frida Gold
"Melodies Of Hope" - Patty Gurdy
"Dare To Be Different" - TRONG
"Blood & Glitter" - Lord Of The Lost
"Concrete Heart" - René Miller
"Once Upon A Dream" - Anica Russo
"Misfit" (censored) - Lonely Spring
"Lied mit gutem Text" - Ikke Hüftgold
"Because The Night" - SuRie
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
As you will have heard during the show and seen in the playlist, hour two was almost exclusively German in flavour. Malik Harris kicked off the 60 minutes with his new release "Dreamer" and then you had the pleasure of listening to all NINE entries in Unser Lied für Liverpool, including "Melodies Of Hope" that you have heard before on the show. Before we move onto the definite songs for May, here are my preferences for Germany:
Pre-show favourites are Patty, Lord Of The Lost and Ikke - having seen recent German National Finals, the live vocals and performances are key, so I will wait for the show on March 3rd before judging who might win. Having said that, any of those three artists would bring something different to the Liverpool show and at least you have now all had a taster of what they might sound like. Fingers crossed it is this lady though: So that is Germany out of the way, let's look at the two singers selected for Eurovision 2023 who have yet to have a song given to them. First up is BRUNETTE from Armenia:
Armenia have gone back to Tamar Kaprelian's Nvak Collective after Rosa Linn's Final appearance and worldwide success with "SNAP" and asked for the next exciting artist available - BRUNETTE is the answer! She is Armenia's choice for Liverpool and I played you her track "Gisher" to give you a flavour of her sound - here is another example of her output:
March is when we expect to find out what BRUNETTE is singing in Liverpool - hopefully it will be true to her style of vocal and performance and not geared for Eurovision. Somebody that will be geared towards Eurovision in a practical sense, as she has been there and done that at JESC, is Georgia's representative, IRU...
Iru Khechanovi was the convincing winner of The Voice Georgia and will be their artist in Liverpool. Any of you who have followed JESC for any length of time will know that she is a former winner there, being part of the group Candy who won with "Candy Music" in 2011. She was the front of the V shape the five piece group made on the Yerevan stage and she also co-wrote Georgia's JESC entry in 2022 that was performed on that very same stage! She joins a small group of singers who have performed at JESC and ESC - will she do better than 7th in Liverpool and become the most successful of those? That will depend on the song but any Final qualification will be a massive achievement, seeing that her nation hasn't got out of the SF since 2016. There won't be any questions about IRU's voice though :
So let's move onto the nation that added the song to the mix last week - Slovenia's Joker Out will be singing "Carpe Diem" in Liverpool...
'Misija Liverpool' was the format for the reveal and it was a blast from the past how that performance was filmed, what with the audience all dancing in a semi-circle around them! It is always good to see bands at Eurovision, as they are often under represented, and it is a big deal that Slovenia are sending a big name in their country's music scene. This will be a great addition to the 2023 line-up and I suspect a fun bunch of guys for the press to interview.
Continuing with the bands, Ireland saw Wild Youth take the Eurosong crown on The Late Late Show with "We Are One". This chat show studio has never been the most conducive place for a music contest and so it proved yet again with most acts struggling with performance and vocals. Wild Youth were by far and away the most professional looking and sounding act, at least giving me confidence that they wouldn't embarrass Ireland in May. Musicianship was spot on, vocals good and even the backing singers looked like they knew what they were doing - nobody else had this level of competence in their shot at the #1 spot. The aim for Ireland will be getting to the Final, something that hasn't happened since 2018 - anything else will be a bonus to be honest. We had seen them perform the week beforehand in facilities not much better than those in Ireland but had to wait a week for voting to show that VESNA were the clear winners at ESCZ 2023 with "My Sister's Crown". They were never going to be in a position to match the colour and spectacle of their video, but the vocals were pretty good for that venue and their attitude, energy and chutzpah will travel with them to Liverpool, I am sure. This is a wonderful mix of EDM, folk, rap and pop that I am sure will take Czechia (I used that for so long in the blog and only now is it official) to the Final, perhaps even giving that nation their second ever top ten. Somebody already tipped for top ten minimum in May is Norway's entry, "Queen Of Kings" by Alessandra. The early confidence would be from us who saw this relative newcomer unexpectedly sweep all before her at MGP, winning both jury and televote, the public choice in a very convincing manner. Runner-up Ulrikke missed out on a lot of Jury votes that most thought were her due, but to be honest Alessandra's win was so big that it was her destiny to sing for Norway this year. Her team got it right as far as choreography goes for the Final - less movement meant better vocals for Alessandra, giving proof that this entry isn't just a visual show. Eurovision hits tend to be simple to look at, an earworm to listen to and have a performer who can connect - Norway has all of those and at this early stage of the season, I'd be disappointed if Alessandra wasn't one of those waiting for the last five sets of scores on May 13th. Strengthen her vocal stamina, perhaps make it less dark and Norway could be onto a winner here. And last but by no means least from last week, we have Spain. Whoever decided to revive Benidorm Fest has definitely earnt their corn - Chanel with "Slo Mo" last year and Blanca Paloma with "Eaea" this. Totally different genres, totally different aspects of the Spanish psyche and yet potentially we might have another entry from this nation challenging for the Eurovision title. I have to admit that when I listened to all of the Benidorm Fest entries way back when on the RTVE website, "Eaea" did absolutely nothing for me and in fact I was turned off by the ethnic form of the song. At the time I felt that was a shame as Blanca Paloma, the only returnee from 2022, had such a great visual and vocal profile with "Secreto de agua". That mindset changed when I saw this performed at Benidorm itself - much in the same way that "Solovey" by Go_A needed the visual live show by that band, this entry needed the colour, the texture, the dancing, the visual intensity and the show of Blanca and her singers/dancers:
Now I have never been a great fan of flamenco at any time but this is, shall I say, a calmer vocal version of that - more control by Blanca and yet losing any intensity or power that this genre craves. She has perfect connection with the camera, the crowd and her entourage and that made it one of the moments so far of the Eurovision 2023 season. So much so that this is my current list of preferences for 2023:
Now Show 236 will have at least another SEVEN entries to add to the eight above from these National Finals...
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix
DORA
Eesti Laul
Sanremo
Supernova
MESC
Selecția Națională
As for the rest of the show, perhaps I will play yet another National Final set for you to listen to. There will be one definite though and it relates to a songwriter who would appear to have no connection to the world of Eurovision and who passed away aged 94. He did have his favoured singers around the world, and a Dutch artist with a voice suited to jazz and his particular brand of songwriting has sung three album's worth of his material. You'll hear one of their collaborations on next week's show...
The songwriter? Burt Bacharach...
The singer? Trijntje Oosterhuis...
