[LMBTO] Eurovision in January - Demy, Tako and NAVI are Kyiv bound...

Now it goes without saying that I always like to have an eye catching picture at the start of all my articles in my blog and I think that I have excelled myself this time!  The blue might be a little enhanced but having the gorgeous Demy here was an absolute no-brainer and we are going to see a lot more of her in the months to come, her being the internal selection for Greece this year.  It was one of the worst kept secrets in Eurovision that she was going to try to emulate Helena Paparizou by giving Greece victory in Kyiv, twelve years after their only ESC crown - at the very least, it's another lady who will end up in Eurovision Beauty!  The Greek public will get to choose her song though - sort of, out of three, that she already knows is coming, in English, and has hinted which of them she would prefer to sing (the dance track).  She is a big star in Greece and Cyprus (understandably, given the strong ties between the two nations) and can cover pop, R&B and dance.  Now there are lots of artistic videos on YouTube of her output which sound and look amazing but I wanted to get an idea of what she sounded like live - here's a mini concert of her at "Positive Energy Day 2014":



It will interesting to see and hear what she is given to sing - I am certain that each will be tailored to her perfectly and it will then be up to the voters which they like the best and I can't imagine there will be a "Puppet On A String" or "Boom Bang-A-Bang" in sight!  She's definitely got the chutzpah to be performing at the big event - let's hope that one of those songs hits the spot.  At the very least, I would suspect that Greece will be returning to their regular place on Saturday night in the Final - "Utopian Land" would have stung their national pride last year...


Georgia send Tako to Kyiv...
For a guy that runs a blog (on and off) about the beautiful women of Eurovision, 2017 appears already to be a vintage year!  Tako Gachechiladze took the Georgian crown during their NF with the song "Keep The Faith":



Unfortunately the Bon Jovi track of the same name keeps jumping into my head more than this does and that can't be a good thing, can it?  Tako looked absolutely amazing during this knock out performance and sounded great, loads of passion and power during this ballad but there is already some mumblings amongst fans about the backdrop video that was playing behind her during the song.  To me, it is a cast-iron certainty that the EBU won't allow it to be played in Kyiv due to its almost 100% political commentary about everything that is going wrong with the world, especially the newspaper article about Russia invading Georgia!  Nothing in the lyrics to worry me it has to be said - the dress looks a little bit Conchita though?  It all served a purpose and got Tako the win - she'll probably have the 'biggest hair' in Ukraine too.  I hope to do a summary of the NF in a separate post - it will be a summary, as there were 25 songs...Tbilisi couldn't afford at least one extra show to cut down the numbers?


Shock And Awe!  Belarus will be singing in Belarusian...
I know, it has surprised a lot of fans but in a very good way.  For the first time in FOURTEEN years, Belarus will NOT be singing in English:
Unless everyone has a change of mind - judging by an interview with the winning artists immediately after the NF had finished, this doesn't appear likely:



Here's hoping that NAVI stick to their guns - Ksenija seemed adamant that the song must stay in their native tongue and to be honest, a lot of it is fairly understandable to anyone else across Eurovision:



I'm sure that the English for 'Hey!" is...well, you know, umm, "Hey"?  "Historyja majho zyccia" is a fun, superbly upbeat toe tapper that I am certain will stand out amongst all the other entries this year - Belarus back in the ESC Final?  Maybe, just maybe.  As has become a tradition for this blog, I intend to do a summary of this NF as well, especially as it had one of my favourite hosts in Minsk yet again - no, not TEO, his lovely wife, Olga...


Damn, no Amaya in Slovenia...
A chance at making it big in South Korea has meant that we will not see the divine Amaya (or Maja Keuc as she was known in 2011) at EMA 2017 - she is working on her debut album together with Swedish and South Korean producers who want to launch her career in SE Asia, the timeline of which clashes with the Slovenian NF.  She is quoted as saying that she's not saying never, just not now to a chance to represent her nation at Eurovision.  I suppose that means that I'll have to put up with watching her perform "No One" on YouTube and switching my support to Raiven next month...


Hooray!  Anja Nissen is back in Denmark...
There's a few blondes in the DMGP line-up this year but the lady in the red jacket and white shorts is instantly recognisable by those who watched the catastrophe that was DMGP 2016, when the Danish public decided that they didn't want to win in Stockholm after all and weren't even that bothered about watching the Final.  Anja Nissen had potentially a winning Eurovision song with "Never Alone" last year - just remind yourselves of a NF entry that is Eurovision-ready, as far as staging is concerned:

Almost a year on and I still can't believe she didn't win but maybe this year redemption will allow her to go one better and be the number one in Herning, a bit like a certain Danish winner in 2013.  DR have again tinkered with how the winner will be decided - we return to a 50/50 split but with a twist, the public giving half the vote and FIVE SUPERFANS having the other half!  A big responsibility is going to be given to people such as myself (and you, dear reader) who love Eurovision so much that DR's Head of Light Entertainment Jan Lagermand Lundme feels that, after asking a select group to listen to some of the songs submitted,


I will be watching DMGP with great interest as to how this will work - who knows?  If Denmark win Eurovision this year, maybe other countries will follow up this idea - I'm up for helping out!


Ukraine reveal their wildcard winner...or was there two?

Ukraine confirmed their Wildcard winner and at the same time announced their list of 25 Semi Finalists.  Bear in mind that the songs above are examples of the artist's discography, not necessarily what they will be entering.  As for the Wildcard, even though Kuznetsov had all their votes annulled due to voting irregularities and went back to zero, 10000 votes or so behind the new leading song, they regrouped and with the help of their fans showed that, in all probabilities, those votes were real ones and they sailed past Denis Povaliy to claim the Wildcard spot with 11820 votes:



When the list of the Ukrainian acts who would be taking part in their Semi Finals was announced, Kuznetsov was there but so was another wildcard act, one who had also been accused of voting issues and who had also been reset to zero - Aghiazma.   They didn't get the "fans bounceback" that Kuznetsov did and in fact disappeared from the wildcard listings after awhile - it now became obvious why that happened, as they now have a spot in the SF list, admittedly not with "Zombie Dogs", their original wildcard choice but with another track, "Synthetic Sun":



They've still not got the idea that it needs to be three minutes long, have they?  Even so, this might still do the business for a lot of Ukrainian fans who almost sent The Hardkiss to Stockholm, as it is hard and edgy enough to stand out amongst a lot of the other offerings on the list.  Both acts have an advantage over the other candidates in that their songs are already out there and being listened to - it is therefore difficult to say what sort of competition there will be up against them so I'll leave Ukraine here, although there will be at least one female soloist with a power ballad giving another genre to consider:


Looks a bit cold just to be wearing a mac...


Apparently Lindita is coming to London...
As I alluded to in my summary of FiK 55, if the USA was part of Eurovision Albania would have a nailed on douze points coming from across the Atlantic this year.  Lindita will have the highest profile of any Eurovision singer there due to her living in America, being featured in "People" magazine in a section about massive weight loss and also being on the last series of American Idol.  Even her local news media have decided to follow her progress at Eurovision:



If you were listening closely, you'd have heard Lindita mention that her promo tour will include London, of all places.  Maybe she's the first act to be going to the London Eurovision Party?  That's more than enough incentive for me to go!  The more I see of Lindita, the more I think that Albania could be looking at one of their best results at Eurovision - she's definitely got the voice and the looks, along with a great personality and ease in front of the camera, something highlighted by interviewer Paul Milliken's Facebook Mentions session with her before the tv interview: