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.
Albanian broadcaster RTSH revealed the dates of the music festival “Festivali i Këngës 60”:
The festival will include 3 shows:
- The first night will be held on Monday the 27th of December 2021
- The second night will be held on Tuesday the 28th of December 2021
- The grand final will be held on Wednesday the 29th of December 2021
Therefore, Albania will probably be the first or second country to reveal its entry for Eurovision 2022 (Depending on the dates of the Czech selection which will be held in December 2021 as well)
In a few years, the performances were split into 2 semi-finals (the 2 first nights of the festival).
Afterward, the qualifiers from each night qualified for the final.
However, in other years (like the last edition), all the contenders performed in all 3 shows.
The second night was dedicated to acoustic versions of the songs.
The list of competitors will be published at a later date, probably by the end of November 2021.
We can expect a list of 20-26 artists.
Like every year, we can expect some returning artists from previous editions or even former Eurovision participants.
At the moment, according to rumors we can mention the following names as potential participants:
- Ronela Hajati
- Elhaida Dani
- Xhesika Polo
- Arilena Ara
- Besa Kokëdhima
- Mentor Haziri
- Tiri Gjoci
- Mirud
- Alban Ramosaj
- Ardit Çuni
- Samanta Karavella
Ursula Tolj, head of the Croatian delegation, was removed from her position by Croatian broadcaster HRT.
She will be replaced by Tomislav Stengl, who was head of the Croatian delegation in the past:
It isn’t clear why she was replaced. However, Croatian media suggests some explanations:
One of the suggested explanations is that Ursula has chosen Juraj Zigman as a costume designer for Eurovision 2021 act rather than Natasa Svekler (who usually works with HRT).
Another explanation is that Ursula announced “Dora 2022” before HRT permitted it.
What will be the impact of the change at the head of the delegation is still unknown.
Not much has been said regarding France’s national selection for Eurovision 2022 – “c’est vous qui décidez 2022“.
However, one of the submitted songs is probably this one:
It is still early to determine whether the song would be shortlisted for the selection itself.
According to the German radio station Bayern3 – which is part of the German broadcaster ARD), the country will choose its Eurovision 2022 act via a national selection – “Lied für Turin” (Eng: Song For Turin).
After 2 years of a complicated internal selection process, Germany returns to the format of national selection. The concept (as well as the name) is very similar to the ones in the years 2018 and 2019.
Since 2015, Germany has ended up in the bottom 2 places, 5 times out of 6 different occasions.
It might be a key factor for a change in the selection process.
The submission window is already open. Interested singers, composers, and singers will be able to submit their entries here.
Here are the main regulations:
- Singers must be at least 16 years old
- Artists can be soloists or groups with up to 6 members.
- The song shouldn’t be longer than three minutes.
- German citizenship isn’t mandatory!
A professional jury panel will listen to the submitted songs. 5 songs will be selected to participate in the televised song – “Lied für Turin“.
The public will be partly/ fully involved in determining the results of the national selection.
According to the Greek media (and especially OGAE Greece), the option of national selection is still possible. At the moment, 40 songs will be judged by a jury panel.
Dimitris Papadimitriou will be the head of the special committee with 7 members, They will choose the best 4-5 songs to qualify for the next round.
Some of the candidates have expressed their resistance to a national selection.
Earlier this week, the first 3 episodes of “X Factor Israel” were broadcast on “Reshet 13“.
There are 5 judges: Netta, Ran Danker, Margol, Miri Mesika, and Aviv Geffen.
In order to qualify, each candidate has to get at least 4 yeses.
Here are the artists that qualify for the next round:
Kama Kamila(4 Yeses,1 no)
Ilai Elmakayas (5 Yeses)
Michael Ben David (5 Yeses)
Ana Stephanie (4 Yeses,1 No)
Inbal Bibi (5 Yeses)
Elisha Nachmias (5 Yeses)
Adi Cohen & Liron Lev (5 Yeses)
Avigail Moyal (4 Yeses)
Gali Ben Shushan (5 Yeses)
Linet (5 Yeses)
Taranta Group Machine (5 Yeses)
Shahar Admon (5 Yeses)
Sapir Saban (5 Yeses)
Yuval Levkovsky (5 Yeses)
Next week, we will be able to watch an additional 2-3 audition episodes.
Song submission for Lithuanian selection for Eurovision 2022 is open until the 25th of November 2021.
Earlier this week, the singer Ieva Zasimauskaitė has expressed her interest in representing the country at Eurovision 2022.
The singer prepared a slow song with motives of ballad and gospel. The title of the song is “I’ll Be There“:
Ieva represented Lithuania at Eurovision 2018 with the song “When We’re Old”.
She finished in 12th place in the grand final:
According to the Norwegian website ESC Norge, we can learn additional details regarding “Melodi Grand Prix 2022″ – the Norwegian selection for Eurovision 2022.
Stig Karlsen, the music director, and project manager behind “Melodi Grand Prix 2022″ revealed more details.
Norwegian broadcaster NRK has received around 1000 songs for “Melodi Grand Prix 2022″!
The selection process included several different phases: songwriting camps, auditions, listening marathons, and more. A reference group composed of Norwegian Eurovision fans had the chance to listen to some of the songs and rank them (without knowing who are the artists behind them).
What can we tell you about the songs?
Stig Karlsen mentioned that selecting the final list of songs to compete in the televised shows was a hard mission. This year was characterized by the high quality of songs.
Among the competing songs in Melodi Grand Prix 2022″, we will be able to find a wide range of genres: ballads, opera, rock, heavy rock, country, and more.
We will encounter songs that will make us move on the dance floor, along with songs with theatrical colors.
The list of competing songs has already been chosen. Some of them are having the final tuning towards the show.
In the last 2 years, 25 – 26 songs were included in the line-up of “Melodi Grand Prix“.
We expect a similar number of songs for the upcoming edition as well.
It has been said that we will get not only excellent songs but professional and outstanding performances as well.
“Melodi Grand Prix 2022” – Foramt
As we have reported in the last article, NRK considers some changes in the format of the national contest. The possible changes are: timing of releasing the songs, voting format, hosts and more.
However, certain details are:
- As in 2 previous years, 5-6 artists will pre-qualify for the final. They will be selected by NRK.
- Both the semi-finals and the final will be broadcast from the H3 arena at Fornebu.
- The arena will be expanded to the absolute maximum of area, however we won’t see thousands of people in the audience
- Most likely, 4 artists will compete in each semi-final
- Competitors will be revealed on Monday the 10th of January 2022
- The competition will include 5 semi-finals and a grand final:
- Semi-Final 1 – 15th of January 2022
- Semi-Final 2 – 22nd of January 2022
- Semi-Final 3 – 29th of January 2022
- Semi-Final 4 – 5th of February 2022
- Semi-Final 5 – 12th of February 2022
- Grand Final – 19th of February 2022
In a special Instagram post, Stig chose to thank all the people involved around him:
Portuguese broadcaster RTP has revealed on Antena1 (official radio station in Portugal) the names of 20 competing composers and these are:
#1. Agir
#2.Aurea
#3. Blacci
#4. Cubita
#5. DJ Marfox
#6. Fábia Rebordão
#7.Fado Bicha
#8.FF
#9.Joana Espadinha
#10.Kumpania Algazarra
#11.Maro
#12.Norton
#13.Os Azeitonas
#14. Pedro Marques (public submission) – he has composed Portugal’s entry at Eurovision 2009
#15.Pepperoni Passion (public submission)
#16.PZ
#17.Syro
#18.The Mister Driver (public submission)
#19.Tiago Nogueira (Os Quatro e Meia) (public submission)
#20.Valas
Over 600 songs were submitted. 4 songs have been selected from the public path and the other 16 came from 16 composers who have received a special invitation from RTP.
submissions. Composers may sing their entry themselves or compose to the artist that will sing it.
As in every year, some of the composers will be the performers themselves.
The festival will once again be formed of 2 semi-finals, with 5 songs qualifying for the grand final from each semi-final. The Grand Final will involve 10 acts and the winner will be determined by 50% public and 50% jury voting.
Last Thursday, the Spanish broadcaster RTVE held a special press conference where plans for Eurovision have been presented in more detail.
Spain will select the act for Eurovision 2022 via “Festival Benidorm“.
It seems that Spain will take a new path for Eurovision, with a brand new group behind the selection and of course a new head of delegation.
The participants in the press were:
- Eva Mora (Spain’s Head of Delegation)
- Ana Maria Bordas (Head of Entertainment RTVE)
- Tony Aguilar (Spanish Eurovision Commentator)
- Fernando Macias (Head of Eurovision Content RTVE)
- Maria Ezaguirre (Head of Communications RTVE)
- Dave Goodman (Head of Communications Eurovision, EBU)
- Carla Bugalho (Portugal’s Head of Delegation)
- Nicola Cagliore (Former Italian Head of Delegation)
It was revealed that the festival will be the selection method for Eurovision for at least the 4 following years. One of the concerns is that established artists will be afraid of the results.
Therefore, it is possible that in the grand final, RTVE will announce only the winner.
The deadline for submissions is the 10th of November 2021
A total of 12 candidates will be selected to participate in the “Festival Benidorm”, two of which (at least) must come from this public call. The festival will consist of three shows: 2 semi-finals and a grand final. For each semi-final, 6 artists will compete for 3 spots in the final.
The results will be determined by 4 components: 25% public vote (SMS and etc), 25% public vote of the population that has been selected in advance (different ages, different cities, and more), 30% Spanish jury, and 20% international jury.
One of the songs that were submitted to the selection is “Venus” by Big Lion:
