The 2024 season has started - Eurovision is back!
Malta Eurovision Song Contest kicks off with its first SF...
Friday 27th October 2023 - the first selection process began its
journey to Malmö on the evening tv chat show XOW in Malta.
The host, resident singer and band, two specials guests and nine singers
all hopeful of securing that Maltese space for Eurovision were on the
show and happy to have their picture taken (like they had a
choice):![]()
We had the pleasure of seeing Glen Vella (One Life 2011) and Kurt Calleja
(This Is The Night 2012) both attempt each other's dance moves, Kurt meeting
his competing name sake from 2023, along with the realisation that this
could all be equivalent to Ireland's "Late Late Show"! The actual
sections with the nine songs was actually quite compact and all nine
performances are here:
Obviously everyone has their own tastes and we don't quite know if
there will be three selected from each SF or the top 12 votes over the
36 semi-finalists. If it is the former, I'd be going for OXYGYN,
Nathan and Gail Attard - if the quality of entries are the same in
SF2/3/4 then we have a great year for Maltese music! As none of
the entries themselves are out yet commercially, Kurt and Glen kicked
off the show:
And the playlist?
Kurt Calleja - "This Is The Night"
Glen Vella - "One Life"
AISEL - "X My Heart"
Guy Sebastian - "Tonight Again"
Drum N' Jack - "Millennials"
Yan Girls - "Do It My Way"
Carla - "J'en veux pas"
Kate Ryan - "Je t'adore"
Mikolas Josef - "Never Get Over You"
Albina & Familja Kelmendi - "Duje" (Karaoke)
Diodato - "Fai rumore"
Ultimo - "Alba"
Samir & Viktor - "Shuffla"
Lisa Ajax - "My Heart Wants Me Dead"
Cazzi Opeia - "I Can't Get Enough"
Elecktra - "Unna daj (Synd Å Slänga Ju)"
Duran Duran ft Victoria De Angelis - "PSYCHO KILLER"
DJ BoBo - "Vampires Are Alive"
Boris Novlovic ft Lado Members - "Vukovi Umiro Sami"
Jamie-Lee - "Ghost"
Molly Sandén - "Psykos"
The Shadows - "Let Me Be The One"
The other nation that was progressing its path to Sweden was Azerbaijan and one of the last 15 was someone I have seen before on the Eurovision stage - AISEL:
I always thought she got a raw deal in 2018, given she was an accomplished jazz musician and singer, being asked to sing a generic pop songs with a very stark staging. It will be interesting to find out what musical genre AISEL has entered into the Azeri process and if she makes it to Eurovision again, allowing her the chance to redeem herself by making the Final this time.We have now heard all 16 JESC 2023 entries - Ireland's song "Aisling" will be played on next week's edition, as it wasn't released in time to make this week's show. Just so you have a head start, I thought that I'd include the playlist of all 16 songs, as the first round of voting for JESC starts before the Final itself. Last item to mention from the show - Isaac had his favourite Eurovision and National Final songs played on the show:
Diodato singing "Fai rumore"...
And Ultimo with "Alba". Hope you all enjoyed those choices - both definitely went down well in the chat room on Tuesday night!
Could Koit Toome be one of the Eesti Laul artists for 2024?
You'll hear his new track with Púr Múdd on next week's show!