Albania
An earthquake that occurred in Albania made difficulties in preparing for the national final. RTSH (The Albanian Broadcaster) considered to postpone “Festivali I Kenges”, but eventually it wasn’t postponed. However, the release of songs will be on next Monday the 9th of December.
The festival will include 8 ballads, 6 Up-Tempo/Pop songs and 6 songs of other Genres (such as Rock):
The guests of the festival were announced:
Australia
Another two contenders of “Australia Decides 2020” were unleashed:
The 5th artist that was announced is Montaigne
Montaigne is a 24-year old Australian art-pop singer-songwriter and activist. 3 months ago she released her second album “Complex” that received many praises by the press. On the album, she worked with a wide range of producers including Tony Buchen, Wynne Bennett, Kyle Shearer, Mozella, Dave Sitek and Mario Späte that worked in the past with the biggest artists in the music industry such as Dua Lipa, Madonna, One Direction, and, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The 6th artist that was announced is Didirri
Singer-songwriter and pianist Didirri was born in the countryside town of Warrnambool. He began writing songs as a challenge to himself. his debut EP, “Measurements” collected over 30 million streams, and led to Didirri playing such renowned festivals as the UK’s The Great Escape and Latitude Festival. last month, Didirri was released his latest music video for “Blue Mood Rising”. The singer revealed that he is planning to play on the piano in his entry for “Austalia Decides 2020”.
These two artists join four other artists the were revealed earlier: Casey Donovan, Vanessa Amorosi, Mitch Tambo, and iOTA. Another four artists will be unleashed later on.
Austria
ORF (The Austrian Broadcaster) may already have chosen an artist and a song for Eurovision 2020. One of Austrian music production studios published a post on Instagram where it is said that the ORF decision converged to 3 artists. In the previous post, we have revealed that a potential representative may be the singer Thea Devy. However, the latest news suggests that the potential representative may be Vincent Bueno.
Vincent Bueno is an Austrian-born Filipino R&B singer who is based in Austria and the Philippines. He is 33 years old and rose to fame in 2008 when he won Musical! Die Show (Musical! The Show). Vincent competed in the Austrian National Selection in 2016, where he performed the song “All We Need is That Love” and ended in 6th place.
Vincent was a backing vocalist of Nathan Trent that represented Austria in Eurovision 2017.
Czech Republic
The online national final will include only 7 acts (and not 8 acts) due to the withdrawal of one artist. The competing artists will be revealed on the 13th of January 2020.
Estonia
All the 24 songs of “Eesti Laul 2020” were released. You can reach the playlists in a variety of digital platforms right here.
A review of “Eesti Laul 2020” semi-final 1 can be found right here.
A review of the second semi-final will be published later on.
Semi-final 1 will be held on the 13th of February 2020. The 12 competing acts will be:
Anett x Fredi – “Write About Me”
(Egert Milder – “Georgia (On My Mind”
INGA – “Right Time”
Jennifer Cohen – “Ping Pong”
Kruuv – “Leelo”
Laura – “Break Me”
Little Mess – “Without a Reason”
Rasmus Rändvee – “Young”
Renate – “Videomäng”
Revals – “Kirjutan romaani”
STEFAN – “By My Side”
Synne feat. Väliharf – “Majakad”
Semi-final 2 will be held on the 15h of February 2020. The 12 competing acts will be:
German & Violina – “Heart Winder”
INGER – “Only Dream”
Jaagup Tuisk – “Beautiful Lie”
Janet – “Hingelind”
Mariliis Jõgeva – “Unistustes”
Merilin Mälk – “Miljon sammu”
SHIRA – “Out In Space”
Traffic – “Üks kord veel”
Uku Suviste – “What Love Is”
Uudo Sepp – “I’m Sorry. I Messed Up”
Viinerid – “Kapa Kohi-LA”
Ziggy Wild – “Lean On Me”
France
France has decided to cancel its national final “Destination Eurovision” which was used as a platform to choose a song and an artist in 2018 and 2019. The conclusion was that France will select internally. However, Franch media reports that there is an option that the Franch audience will still be involved in choosing the act for Eurovision. Therefore, France may hold a reduced national final that based on one artist with up to 4 songs or a reduced national final that will include up to 4 different artists. The main reason for the decision of the broadcaster is a low rating of “Destination Eurovision”.
Georgia
Last Sunday, the third live show of “Georgian Idol” was held. 8 candidates faced each other. At the end of the show, one was eliminated. The candidates performed songs in the language of Georgian. Tornike Kipiani ended in first place for the second time in a row with 21.17% of the votes. The two candidates that ended in the bottom 2 places were: Mariam Gogiberidze and Nika Kalandadze. At the end of the show, the eliminated singer was Nika Kalandadze.
Here are the 8 performances of the third live show:
Barbara Samkharadze
Anri Guchmanidze
Mariam Shengelia
Nika Kalandadze
Mariam Gogiberidze
Tornike Kipani
Davit Rusadze
Tamar Kakalashvili
Israel
The auditions of “The Rising Star” (“Hacochav Haba La’Eurovision“) continues this week. The candidates that qualified for the next level are:
Yahel Yaish (71%)
Zohar Manor (88%)
Moran Aharoni (88%)
Racheli Tareka (87%)
Niki Goldstein (85%)
Lihi Toledano (91%)
Shira Gavrielov (91%)
Dave Spector (58%, saved by the hosts)
Itzik Shamli (81%)
Daniel Ben Haim (81%)
Or Edi (77%)
Yinon Hajaj (80%)
Oneg Israel (80%)
Ofer Naveh (71%)
Shira Tzafri (58%, saved by the hosts)
Galit Weizman (77%)
Italy
Lady Gaga was invited to perform as a special guest in “San Remo 2020” but she rejected the proposal. The competing artists have not been revealed yet. However, there are some rumors about the participates: Nina Zilli (that represented Italy in Eurovision 2012), Francesco Gabbani (that represented Italy in Eurovision 2017), Annalisa (fans favorite that participated in San Remo 2015,2016 and 2018), Umberto Tozzi & Raf (that represented Italy in Eurovision 1987), Al Bano & Romina (that represented Italy in Eurovision 1976) and Nek (that participated in San Remo 2015,2019 and more).
Slovenia
The last week of EMA FREŠ has just ended. Another 6 young artists competed for 2 spots in the EMA FREŠ final. All of these 6 young artists have got a second chance after they were defeated in previous weeks. Lana Hrvatin won over Martina, Astrid in Avantgarden won over Petra Ceglar, and Tilen Lotrič won over Ljudmila Frelih. afterward, the three winners faced each other. Jury picked one candidate and the other was selected by online voting: Astrid in Avantgarden and Lana Hrvatin.
What’s the next chapter of the journey? The meaning is that 10 young artists qualified for EMA FREŠ final which will be held in January 2020. In the final, two acts will qualify for EMA final (that will be held in February 2020). The two qualifiers will face against 8 established artists.
The 10 finalists of EMA FREŠ final are:
#1. Stella – “Ne vem, če sem v redu”
#2. Younite – “The Cure”
#3. Klarity – “Diham”
#4. Parvani Violet – “Cupid”
#5. Saška – “Še Kar Lovim Tvoj Nasmeh”
#6. Marmoris – “Moj pristan”
#7. Pia Nina – “Tukaj in zdaj”
#8. Alfirev – “Črno bela lika”
#9. Astrid in Avantgarden – “Sing to Me”
#10. Lana Hrvatin – “Dream”
Serbia
Girls trio Hurricane has sent a song for “Beovizija 2020“.
The trio consists of Sanja Vucic (who represented Serbia in Eurovision 2016), Ivana Nikolic’, and Ksenija Knezevic (the daughter of Knez who represented Montenegro in Eurovision 2015. Besides, she was her father backing vocalist on stage).
Spain
Spanish media mentions that there is a group of potential songs for Blas Canto. In an interview, the singer admits that he has one favorite song among them. Blas describes the song as an interesting mid-tempo which is not up-tempo and not a ballad. He says that the verses are intimate and the chorus is epic
The Netherlands
The three hosts of “Eurovision 2020” were revealed:
Edsilia Rombley (who represented The Netherlands in Eurovision 1998 and 2007 and was the presenter of the Dutch voting in Eurovision 1999 and 2015), Chantal Janzen (a famous Dutch TV host) and Jan Smit (a singer and TV host).
More information about the three hosters is available here
Moreover, the design of Eurovision 2020 was selected. The stage will be designed by the German designer Florian Wieder in the third time in a row:
More information about the design of the staging is available here
Ukraine
Ukrainian media reports that KAZKA may compete in “Vidbir 2020” with the song:
