As we continue our weekly series Around The Continent, we will discuss the news and tell the story of each country’s preparation for Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
General
At the moment, 29 countries confimed participation at Eurovision 2022:
Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy (Host Country), Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine
Pre-Recorded Backing Vocals
Eurovision 2021 was held under the heavy atmosphere of the Covid virus (which is still present in our life). Regarding this and in order to reduce the number of people on the stage, the EBU decided to allow pre-recoded backing vocals in Eurovision 2021.
EBU will probably permit the use of pre-recoded backing vocals during Eurovision 2022 as well. However, the page where the news was published, became unavailable later on.
Rules for Eurovision 2022, suggest that the lead singer must sing live, however backing vocals are permitted –
The backing track in question shall not contain Lead Vocals, Lead Dubs and/or any other vocals that would have the effect of, or aim at replacing or unduly assisting the Lead Vocal(s) during the live performance on stage.
The submission window for “Australia Decides 2022” will be closed on the 26th of September 2021.
As in 2018 and 2020, Belgium will be the first country to reveal an artist for the upcoming Eurovision.
The artist will be revealed on VivaCité Radio, during the programme “Le 8/9” . The programme will be broadcast on Wednesday the (15th of September 2021) between 8:00 and 9:00 CET.
As in previous years, Belgium chose the artist and the song for Eurovision behind closed doors.
The song will likely be revealed at a later date, apparently in February 2022.
We already know that the winner of “The Voice Belgium”– Jérémie Makiese has shown an interest to represent the country:
The submission window for “UMK 2022” (national selection for Eurovision 2022) was closed on the 6th of September 2021.The selection show will be held on February 2022 or March 2022.
Greek broadcaster ERT has officially submitted an application to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
The broadcaster has opened a submission window for Eurovision 2022. The deadline is the 10th of October 2021. Greek Music Labels can submit their proposals. They should name artists with 1-3 songs. ERT will base its decision not only on the songs, but on other parameters as well.
According to Greek media, there are 3 potential contenders:
- Kalomira (who represented the country in 2008 and ended up in 3rd place in the grand final)
2. Amanda Georgiadis – A Greek singer who lives in Norway.
3. Good Job Nicky – One of the rising stars in Greece who was recommended as an artist we would like to see at Eurovision in the Looker series
On the 6th of September 2021, the Irish broadcaster RTE confirmed the country’s participation in Eurovision 2022.
The mechanism of choosing an artist and a song is still unknown.
In the years 2014 – 2015, the Irish broadcaster RTE held a national selection to determine the Irish act for Eurovision.
However, in the years 2016 – 2021, they selected internally.
The host city of Eurovision 2022 hasn’t been revealed yet.
However, the official page of the Eurovision Song Contest made a promise to reveal it soon:
We would like to remind you that 5 cities are still in the hosting race: Turin, Milan, Bologna, Rimini, and Pesaro.
Portuguese broadcaster RTP has opened submissions line to everyone who is interested to participate at Festival da Canção 56 to select Portuguese entry at Eurovision 2022.
The Festival da Canção organisers are announced that they are selecting 4 contestants from publicly submitted entries. The remaining 16 songwriters and musicians will be invited by RTP in advance.
The festival will be held in February and March 2022 and it will consist of 2 Semi Finals and Grand Final. 20 songs will be included in the festival’s line-up. Each semi-final will include 10 artists and 5 of them will qualify for the grand final. The grand final will include 10 songs.
The results will be determined by 50% public voting and 50 national jury.
Some rules for submitting songs are:
- Songs must be in the demo version or final version and must be sent by 31st October 2021.
- Submissions must consist of a voice and instrument or consists a voice with several instruments.
The author or competitor who wants to send in more than 1 song RTP will choose the best one. - The final versions of the songs must be submitted by 30th November 2021 and must consist of the full version (playback with music), karaoke version and instrumental version..
- Songs must have a maximum duration of 3 minutes and cannot not be published before publicly
- Lyrics may not contain a political or religious message
- RTP will provide the music producer if the author/competitor can’t produce the song
Swedish broadcaster SVT revealed that singer and radio presenter Oscar Zia will lead the Melodifestivalen 2022
Oscar Zia is a 24 year old singer and radio presenter. He rose to fame, after participating in “X- Factor Sweden“.
This won’t be the first time Oscar has taken part in “Melodifestivalen”:
In 2013, he was the backing vocalist for Behrang Miri and Louise “Loulou” Lamotte.
In 2014, he participated as a solo singer with the song “Yes We Can” and ended in 8th place in the final.
In 2016, he participated once again as a solo singer with the song “Human” and ended up 2nd in the final.
Last year, Oscar was one of the hosts of semi-final 2 of “Melodifestivalen 2021″, together with Christer Björkman and Anis Don Demina.
Oscar Zia reacted:
It would be absurd if I was completely alone. I will invite friends and people I do not know who I think will do well. We are very early in the process so I cannot say more
Therefore, we can infer that Zia won’t be the only host. He will be joined by others.
However, SVT has some more exciting news to share with us.
If the Covid situation in Sweden will permit it, SVT will take a tour around the country in the different shows. The dates and arenas will be as follows:
- 5/2 – Semi-Final 1: Malmö – Malmö Arena
- 12/2 – Semi-Final 2: Gothenburg – Scandinavium
- 19/2 – Semi-Final 3: Linköping – Saab Arena
- 26/2 – Semi-Final 4: Lidköping – Sparbanken Arena
- 5/3 – Second Chance: Örnsköldsvik – Hägglunds Arena
- 12/3 – Grand Final: Stockholm – Friends Arena
In 2021, “Melodifestivalen 2021” was held without any audience, due to the Covid situation.
We would like to remind you that the submission window for “Melodifestivalen 2022” will be up on Friday, the 17th of Septermber 2021 at 11:59 a.m.
Some artists have already shown an interest in participating in the Spanish selection for Eurovision 2022,which will be a music festival in Benidorm:
#1. Ladilla Rusa
Ladilla Rusa is a Spanish duo consisting of Tania Lozano and Víctor F. Clares. The band was formed in 2017. Their music genre can be described as a combination of Rumba, electopop and trash pop.
The band published a video on Twitter claiming:
“One thing: we just gave birth to the idea of the Eurovision song. See you at ROME in 2022. HIT.”
One of their latest songs is “Todos los días lo mismo” (Eng: all days are the same)
#2. Rayden
Rayden, (real name: David Martínez Álvarez) is a 36 year old Spanish rap-pop singer, song-writer and producer. He has been active since 2006, and his first album was released in 2010.
Rayden was mentioned on one of the wishlists for Festival Benidorm.
The singer retweeted and hinted he was interested in joining:
He recently collaborated with Ruth Lorenzo (who represented Spain in 2014):
#3. Varry Brava
Varry Brava is a Spanish Indie pop band that was formed in 2009.
The band consits of Óscar Ferrer (vocalist ), Aarön Sáez ( keyboards ) and Vicente Illescas (guitar). So far, the band has released 6 albums so far.
According to Eurovision-Spain, the band is considering participating in the music festival in Benidorm.
On Twitter, the band asked:
“Do you have the form to fill out for # Eurovision2022 at hand?”
The band has released the song “Loco“:
#4.Cariño
Cariño is a Spanish pop band consisting of 3 women: Paola plays the guitar, Alicia plays the bass and sings and María plays keyboards and sings.
They started recording songs in 2018, and in the same year they released their debut album “Movidas“.
In 2020, they released the song “Excusas“:
#5. Siderland
Siderland is a Catalan band, based in Barcelona. They have released songs since 2018.
On Twitter, they hinted at an optional participation in the festival:
Here is one of the band’s songs:
Maksym Kryvytskyi, who is the General Producer of Ukrainian TV network 1+1 stated that the network has not ruled out the interest working on the national selection process with UA:PBC to select Ukrainian entry for Eurovision 2022.
1+1 is currently the 3rd largest TV network in Ukraine and the network is currently producing multiple shows like The Voice Ukraine and Dancing With The Stars.
Detector Media has explained that:
”I do not rule out. And looking at what you mean by “do”. For our team to produce a show of this level is a challenge. Of course, if this has a chance to happen, we will be grateful.”
Maksym Kryvytskyi added:
”Everything is not so simple in this show, so we are thinking about how to make a scheme that is beneficial for us. Maybe we’ll make an offer. Maybe not – I don’t know yet.”
According to reports in the UK, the leading recording labels are calling to boycott Eurovision 2022.
The reason is the poor results that the UK achieved in the last few years, including ending up in last place in 2019 and 2021.
Some claim that the UK is doing poorly as a reflection of Brexit. Therefore, they don’t see any need to make any effort and send their artists to the contest.
Therefore, the BBC would have to find other ways to look for Eurovision 2022 potential artists.
Meanwhile, British singer Little Boots (real name: Victoria Christina Hesketh) hinted on Twitter that she is writing a song for Eurovision 2022
The singer is well known for her pop hit “Remedy” that was released in 2009:
Could the BBC pick her for Eurovision 2022?
