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
Sietse Bakker and all other members of Eurovision‘s reference group have spent 2 days in Turin.
They had some discussions regarding RAI‘s plans for Eurovision 2022.
The 2 hosts of “Festivali i Këngës 60” of have probably revealed:
Jonida Maliqi and Bora Zemani.
They were sisters-in-law, as they were married to two twins.
Jonida won the “Festivali i Këngës 57” and represented Albania at Eurovision 2019
Electric Fields has published their planned tours.
According to the schedule, we can infer that they won’t participate in the national selection “Australia Decides 2022″
More than 20 songs have been made into the first listen, compared to previous years, when we had 10-15 songs per year. Most were approached by Austrian broadcaster ORF.
At the moment, there are 4 acts in the race to represent Austria at Eurovision 2022.
Eberhard Forcher, an Austrian musician and producer who is the project manager for Eurovision in ORF, gave some hints about the identity of 4 potential acts.
You’re welcome to read our article, where I’ve tried to guess the artists behind the hints. The act will be decided before the end of November but announced in December 2021:
According to the official page of Eurosong HRT, the deadline for “Dora 2022” was extended until Sunday the 12th of December 2021
Czech Republic will choose its act for Eurovision 2022 on Wednesday, the 16th of December 2021.
- According to the Czech broadcaster ČT, the finalists of “ESCZ 2022” will be revealed in a special press conference.
- The press will take place on Sunday, the 6th of December 2021.
- The number of finalists is still unknown, but there will probably be 6-8 acts to take part in the selection.
- The songs will be released on the same day (or on the day after).
- The results will be determined by a combination of 50% internatioanl jury voting, 25% Czech public vote and 25% international public vote.
- Voting will be open between 7th of December 2021 and 15th of December 2021.
- International voting will be available on the official Eurovision Song Contest App.
- The selection show will air on Wednesday, the 16th of December 2021. Participants will record a live version of their songs that will be part of the selection show.
- According to rumors, Eurovision 2018 representative Mikolas Josef is among the artists who submitted a song. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee he has been shortlisted for the final.
During the show “Ringvaade“, the first 10 participants of “Eesti Laul 2022” revealed.
The 10 acts are:
- Jaagup Tuisk- Kui Vaid
- Boamadu- Mitte kauaks
- Evelin Samuel- Waterfall
- Fiona and me- Feel like This
- Kéa- Everytime
- Little Mess- Hea Paëv
- Maian- Meeletu
- Peter Põder- Koos Lõpuni
- Stig- Interstellar
- Traffic- Kaua Veel
(The songs are available on ERR website, see the links above)
Who are the Competing Artists?
- Evelin Samuel
Evelin (alongside Camille) represented Estonia at Eurovision 1999 with the song “Diamond Of Night“. They finished in 6th place in the grand final.
She competed in the national selection on other occasions like in 1998.
2. Stig
Stig (alongside Elina Born) represented Estonia at Eurovision 2015 with the song “Goodbye to Yesterday“
They finished in 7th place in the grand final.
Stig Raste is also the writer of Estonian entries for Eurovision 2016 and Eurovision 2019
3 .Kéa
The singer competed in “Eesti Laul” in 2 different occasions.
In 2016, she performed the song “Lonely Boy” and ended up in 9th in the “Eesti Laul 2016″ final
In 2021, she competed in “Eesti Laul 2021” and performed the song “Hypnotized“.
She finished in 11th place in the semi-final and didn’t advance to the final:
4. Jaagup Tuisk
Jaagup Tuisk is a 20 year old singer and actor.
He is well known for participating in “Eesti Laul 2020“. Back then, he performed the “Beautiful Lie” and ended up 2nd in the final
5. Little Mess
The Little Mess Girl band is well known for participating in “Eesti Laul 2020“.
Back then, they performed the song “Without a Reason“. They ended up in 7th place in semi-final 1 and didn’t advance to the final.
6. Traffic
Traffic is an Estonian boy band that usually performs in the country pop genre.
They participated in the Estonian selection for Eurovision on a few different occasions: 2009, 2014 and 2020.
They used to collaborate with Stig Rasta.
In 2020 they performed the song “Üks kord veel”, and ended in 5th place in the final:
Quarter-Final Format
They will compete in the first quarter-final on Saturday the 20th of November 2022.
These 10 artists will fight for 5 spots in the semi-finals. 3 of them will be chosen by public vote, while 2 others will be chosen by jury panel.
The 2 hosts of the first quarter-final will be Tanel Padar and Eda-Ines Etti.
Tanel was part of the duo that won Eurovision 2001 for Estonia, while Ines represented Estonia at Eurovision 2000.
About the Selection Process
- This year, “Eesti Laul” will have 4 quarter-finals, 2 semi-finals, and a grand final.
- Out of 202 songs, 40 songs were shortlisted for the quarter-finals.
- The initial plan is to build a line-up of 20 songs in Estonian and 20 songs in other languages.
- A jury panel of 17 music experts ranked the songs without knowing who the singers, composers and lyricists were behind them.
- 10 songs will be included in each quarter-final. 5 of them will qualify for the semi-finals: 3 will be chosen by the public and 2 others by the jury.
- In the quarter-finals, songs won’t be performed live. We will watch the video clips of each one of them.
- As always, the semi-finals will have 2 rounds, where in the first round winners (jury votes and TV viewer’s phone votes combined) will qualify for the grand final and 2nd round decided by the public vote.
- Each semi-final will include 10 songs and only 5 of them will qualify.
- In the grand final, the 10 competing songs will face 2 rounds vote. The first round will be determined by 50% public vote and 50% jury voting.
- 3 artists will qualify for the “Superfinal,” which will only be determined by a public vote.
- A total of 202 songs were submitted
- 84 songs are in Estonian, while the other 118 songs are in foreign languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish and a fictional language.
- 7 of the artists have already represented Estonia in the past.
- Some of the song writers are well known Estonian musicians, composers and lyricists
- The dates of the shows are:
- Quarterfinal 1:November 20th 2021
- Quarterfinal 2:November 27th 2021
- Quarterfinal 3:December 4th 2021
- Quarterfinal 4:December 11th 2021
- Semi Final 1: 3rd February 2022
- Semi Final 2: 5th February 2022
- Grand Final: 12th of February 2022
According to Estonian media, we might encounter the following artists in “Eesti Laul 2022“:
- Elina Nechayeva (who represented the country at Eurovision 2018)
- Greta Paia (who competed in the national selection in 2013, 2016 and 2019)
- Ariadne (who competed in national selection in 2017)
- Ott Lepland (who represented the country at Eurovinision 2012)
The date of “UMK 2022” has been officially confirmed: Saturday the 26th of February 2022.
The show will be held in Logomo arena in the city of Turku.
This is the same venue where “UMK 2019″ was held.
After the show, you will be able to enjoy after-party from 11pm to 4am which will feature DJ’s like DJ Orkidea, Club La Persé, Fiona Timantti and YleX DJs Anne Lainto and Renaz.
UMK 2022 – New Details
- “UMK 2022” line-up will include 7 competing artists.
- The results will be determined by 50% internatioal jury vote and 50% public vote.
- A total of 312 songs have been submitted to “UMK 2022″. The record may be as a result of the huge success of the song “The Dark Side” by Blind Channel.
- More than 1000 musicians, writers and composers were involved in writing the songs.
- The professional jury panel, headed by Tapio Hakanen (YleX Head of Music of YLEX) had a challenge selecting only 7 acts for the show.
- There was an increase in the number of submitted rock entries. As you know, Finland is one of the countries with the strongest rock music industries. We can assume that more rock musicians have been encouraged to submit their works due to the success of Blind Channel and Måneskin at Eurovision 2021.
- The audience will be present in the show. Tickets are available here
- The artists will be revealed on Wednesday the 12th of January 2022.
- The songs will be revealed one by one. The first song will be revealed on Thursday the 13th of January 2022.
- The participants haven’t been revealed yet. However, we can share the following details:
- Some of the participants are rising pop-stars that enjoy huge success in digital media
- One of the participants is a worldwide known artist
- One of them appeared in a well known music TV show
- One artist has an appreciated career that started back in the 1980’s.
- There are some fresh new musicians that enjoy praise from the local music industry.
In addition, YLE published some blurry hints regarding the identity of “UMK 2022” participants.
You can read more about them here (click on the image below):
Georgia will be represented by indie rock band Circus Mircus at Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
The band published the following statement:
Dear Earthlings,
This is a message from Circus Mircus.
We would like to inform you that according to the decision made by the Georgian Public Broadcaster, at the international song contest Eurovision, Georgia will be represented by Circus Mircus.
You ask, what is Circus Mircus?
It is a movement that brings together dozens of professionals from different fields to create an unprecedented audio-visual experience.
The cornerstone of their philosophy lies in the complete neglect of musical frameworks.
To talk to ‘Circus Mircus’ members and for further information, please email us at why@circusmircus.com
Sources that Circus Mircus consists of 3 ”local circus dropouts” and group was established in Tbilisi,Georgia. Their music genre is called the experience rock genre with some space elements.
Some Eurovision fans suggest that the band is none other than Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz who represented Georgia at Eurovision 2016:
Greek broadcaster ERT has revealed the identity of 5 the finalists in the selection for Eurovision 2022.
The next phase will be held behind closed doors. Therefore, Greece will choose internally
- Good Job Nicky
it seems like the singer has submitted a ballad with cinematic soundtrack elements. It was composed by the young composer Hermes Geragidis. Moreover, the team behind him includes the art director and choreographer Fokas Evangelinos.
Meanwhile, you can listen to one of his songs:
2. Amanda Tenfjord (Amanda Georgiadis)
Amanda Georgiadis is a Greek singer who lives in Norway.
She is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter who was born in Oslo.
In her childhood, she lived in Greece, but later on, moved to Tenfjord in Norway (and that’s why her stage name is Amanda Tenfjord).
The singer submitted an emotional ballad. She has written the song by herself.
It is an emotional ballad that Amanda wrote following the meaningful break-up.
Norwegian musician Bjørn Helge Gammelsæter is the producer behind the song.
Meanwhile, you can listen to one of her songs:
3. Elias Kozas
Koza Mostra & Agathon Iakovidis represented Greece at Eurovision 2013. They performed the song “Alcohol is Free” and ended up 6th in the grand final.
This time, the singer submitted 3 different songs. All of them are written in English. The songs have a rock vibe and they are midtempo – uptempo.
2 of the songs have been written by him, while the third was written by a Swedish team.
One of these 3 songs was shortlisted for the final 5 songs in the selection.
Meanwhile, you can listen to one of his songs:
4. Joanna Drigo (Ioanna Drigopoulo)
Joanna Drigo is the stage name of Ioanna Drigopoulo.
She is a young musician who sings in the pop-rock genre. She sings in English and Greek.
At the beginning of her career, she used to collaborate with Filippos Pliatsikas.
So far, she has released 2 studio albums. In 2021, she started to collaborate with the Spring T(h)ree – a group of producers and singers.
You can listen to 2 of her songs:
5. Louisa Sofianopoulou (Lou is)
Louisa Sofianopoulou is an experienced singer, who tends to sing in Spanish, Greek, and English.
Her style is diverse: from ballads to pop-rock and tango.
She used to collaborate with well-known Greek musicians like Dimitra Galani, Eleni Vitali, Giannis Kotsiras, and more.
The song she submitted is an uptempo disco with elements of the 1980’s music.
Meanwhile, you can listen to one of her performances:
ERT will probably select the act for Eurovision 2022 by the end of 2021.
A representative will be revealed a little bit later, while the song will be revealed at a later date.
On the 16th of November 2021, it was revealed that the Irish broadcaster RTE has received a total of 320 songs for Eurovision 2022‘s national selection.
Ireland will select its entry and artist for Eurovision 2022 through a special edition of “The Late Late Show“.
Michael Kealy, the head of the Irish delegation for Eurovision, was interviewed by The Euro Trip.
In the interview, he revealed some interesting details:
- The Irish selection for Eurovision 2022 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, the 22nd of January 2022. It will be part of “The Late Late Show“. The decision about the date isn’t final.
- Out of 320 submitted songs, 5-6 songs will be shortlisted for the show.
- The results will be determined by 3 equal components: public vote, national jury vote and international jury vote.
Why will Ireland use national selection?
Michael Kealy mentioned that he has received a lot of comments from Eurovision fans who asked Ireland to return to national selection.
His wishful thinking was to hold an extended version of national selection, in the style of Swedish “Melodifestivalen“. However, RTE has some financial limitations.
Another factor in the decision was to enable the broadcast of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Therefore, it has been decided to hold a national selection that will converge to the financial limitations. “The Late Late Show” will enable it.
Ireland will return to national selection after a 6-year absence. The last time Ireland used “The Late Late Show” as its selection method was in 2015.
This week, we had a chance to watch 3 more audition episodes, on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
The candidates who qualify this week are:
Ron Vaknin (5 Yeses)
Nadir Hawa (4 Yeses,1 No)
Eli Huli (5 Yeses)
Maya Siman Tov (5 Yeses)
Shaya Avitan (5 Yeses)
Gayda (5 Yeses)
Hen Hazut (5 Yeses)
Reut Libi Naftali (4 yeses,1 No)
Next week, 3 more audition episodes will be broadcast on Reshet 13.
On Monday, the 22nd of November, RAI will announce the 12 finalists of newcomers – “Sanremo Giovani 2021“. The grand final of “Sanremo Giovani 2021” will be held on Wednesday, the 15th of December 2021.
At the end of October 2021, the Italian broadcaster published the names of 46 newcomers to compete in the “Festival Sanreromo Giovani“:
- Bais – Che fine mi fai (What happened to me)
- Federico Baroni – Chilometri (Kilometres)
- Martina Beltrami – Parlo di te (I’m talking about you)
- Berna – Re Artù (King Arthur)
- Blind – Non mi perdo più (I don’t get lost anymore.)
- Edoardo Brogi – Pioveranno sassi (It will rain stones)
- Carolina – Nemmeno le nuvole (Not even the clouds)
- Thomas Cheval – Sale (Salt)
- Ditta Marinelli – Male malo mala (Bad bad bad)
- Drama – Ma tu lo sai che (But you know that)
- Elasi – Lap dance
- Enula – Il buio (mi calma) (The dark (calms me))
- Esa – Come mai (How come)
- Esseho – Arianna
- Francesco Faggi – Mentalmente instabile (Mentally unstable)
- Matteo Faustini – Autogol (Own goal)
- Marta Festa – Tiberio (Tiberius)
- Diego Formoso – Anche una sola notte (Even just one night)
- Fusaro – Senza coloranti aggiunti (Without added dyes).
- Giuse The Lizia – Bee Gees
- Kaze – Volevo portarti al mare (I wanted to take you to the sea)
- Malvax – Zanzare (Mosquitoes)
- Angelina Mango – La mia buona colazione (My good breakfast)
- Manitoba – Pesci (Fish)
- Matilde G – Lasciami qui (Leave me here)
- Mida – Lento (Slow)
- Melissa Morandini – Rumore (Noise)
- Giulia Mutti – Notte fonda (Late night)
- Mydrama – Soli (Alone)
- Nebraska – Jonio
- Nuvolari – Farabutto (Rogue)
- Obi – Ispirazione (Inspiration)
- Oli? – Smalto e tinta
- Opposite – Settembre (September)
- Quomo – Animali (Animals)
- Matteo Romano – Testa e croce (Head and cross)
- Royahl – Trap boy
- Samia – Fammi respirare (Let me breathe)
- Santi Francesi – Signorino (Master)
- Scozia – Britney
- Tananai – Esagerata (Exaggerated)
- Aurora Tumiatti – Maschere (Masks)
- Viito – Naturale (Natural)
- Yuman – Mille notti (A thousand nights)
- Zo Vivaldi – Spero di star male (I hope I’m sick)
- Simo Veludo – Anni ’60 (The 60’s)
The submission window for Poland’s internal selection will close today (Saturday the 20th of November 2021).
However, it seems that TVP has already put their eyes on a reduced list of candidates.
According to Open FM, Woman.pl website and Eurowizja.org website, we can mention the following names as potential candidates: Daria Marcinkowska,The Szczepan Sisters and Lidia Kopania (the latter represented Poland at Eurovision 2009).
But more than others, it seems that the leading contender is Daria Marcinkowska.
Who is Daria Marcinkowska?
Daria Marx Marcinkowska was born in 1995 in Mikołów. First, she studied to be an opera singer. At the age of 18, she left for London to study at the London College of Music for 5 years. During her studies, she sang, among others in front of the Swedish royal family.
In 2019, she made her debut in the 10th edition of the “The Voice of Poland“. She advanced to the battle round where she was eliminated.
Apparently, she submitted the song “PARANOIA” that was released in October 2021 and already has 2.7 Million views on YouTube
s we all know, San Marino will hold a national selection for Eurovision 2022 – “Una Voce Per San Marino 2022″ .
The selection is composed of 2 different paths. One of them is for established artists who will get a special invitation from San Marinian broadcaster.
The other path is intended for emerging artists with no country, language or nationality restrictions.
The submission window for emerging artists in “Una Voce Per San Marino 2022” closed.
According to SMRTV, we learned that over 200 songs were submitted by artists from all over the world!
The majority of emerging artists are from Germany, Sweden and Russia. Some of the other candidates are from USA, Australia and other European countries.
More About the New Artists Path
- a special committee will choose several applicants to qualify for the semi-finals.
- In the months of January – February, the San Marinian broadcaster will host the semi-finals of the “Emerging Artists” category.
- Top 9 new artists in the “Emerging Artists” category will get a spot in the grand final of the national selection.
- There’s no language on nationality restrictions regarding this category.
- Candidates will have to go through 2 days music camp and private auditions.
- The grand final of this category will be held on the 16th of February 2022.
4 jurors have been revealed by the broadcaster and these include:
Roberta Faccani, former lead singer of Matia Bazar, is known for singing in the musicals: “Rent“, “Pinocchio the great musical“, “Alice in Wonderland“, “Romeo and Juliet – Love and change the world” and “Zerovskij“. She is the founder of the Academy and singing method La Fabrica del Cantante Actore and of the Bandidos Records label.
Emilio Munda – producer, composer and songwriter for Il Volo, Umberto Tozzi, Francesco Renga, Nina Zilli, I Nomadi, Michele Bravi, Paolo Meneguzzi, Dear Jack, Gemelli Divers, Valerio Scanu. He has won several Gold and Platinum records, twice in a row he wins the podium at the Sanremo Festival.
Roberto Costa – bassist, sound engineer, arranger and producer for Lucio Dalla, Stadio, Ivan Graziani, Ron, Luca Carboni, Mina, Gianni Morandi, Luca Barbarossa and Luciano Pavarotti. He wrote anad produced of music for cinema, theater and television.
Steve Lyon – sound engineer and producer who lives in London.He has collaborated with Depeche Mode, The Cure, Sir Paul McCartney, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Recoil, Amplifier, Reamonn, Suzerain, Subsonica, Marco Guazone, MirkoeilCane, Laura Pausini, 99 Posse, Eros Ram azzotti. He has obtained numerous Platinum and Gold Records and two Latin Grammys.
Established Artists Path
- The San Marinian broadcaster will invite 9 established artists to take part in the selection
- At the moment, it seems like there’s no country restriction regarding the established artists category
- The 9 finalists of the established category will be revealed on the 10th of February 2022
“Una voce per San Marino” – The Grand Final
- The San Marinian Television will hold a grand final show of the selection on Saturday, the 19th of February 2022.
- The grand final will take place at Teatro Titano
- 18 artists will take part in the final: 9 established artists alongside 9 new artists.
- Artists will perform their intended songs for Eurovision 2022
- Jury panel of 8 members will rank the performances and determine who will represent San Marino at Eurovision 2022!
The last time San Marino held a national selection was in 2018 with the “1 in 360” competition
The submission window for “EMA 2022” and “EMA FREŠ 2022” will close on the 22rd of November 2021. So next week Slovenian broadcaster RTV SLO will be able to start sorting the songs.
Ana Mena, a Spanish singer from Malaga, is rumored to be taking part in “Festival Benidorm 2022“.
The singer is well known not only in Spain, but also in Italy due to her collaborations with Italian musicians.
It all started with hints that the singer had spread on her Instagram and Twitter accounts:
One of them was of Spanish performance at Eurovision 1968, when Spain won the contest.
Last summer, the 24-year-old singer and actress was ranked 4th in our traditional annual survey, La Elección Interna
Meanwhile, you can listen to one of her songs:
Swedish newspaper Aftonbaldet continues to give us more potential names for the “Melodifestivalen 2022” line-up. Here are the names that have been reported this week:
- Anna Bergendahl
Anna Bergendahl represented Sweden at Eurovision 2010 with the ballad “This is My Life” and unfortunately, didn’t qualify for the final
Her first “Melodifestivalen” was in 2010 when she was announced as the winner.
Since then, she made 2 more appearances in the national selection:
In 2019, she performed the song “Ashes to Ashes” and ended up 10th in the final:
In 2020, she performed the song “Kingdom Come” and ended up 3rd in the final:
2.Linda Bengtzing
47 year old Linda Bengtzing is one of “Melodifestivalen” veterans.
She has already participated in 7 editions of the contest.
Her first attempt was in 2005 with the song “Alla flicko“, while her last participation to date was in 2020 with the song “Alla mina sorger“. Back then, she didn’t make it to the finals.
According to Aftonbladet, this year she will sing in Swedish as well.
3.Tenori
Tenori is a duo of 2 male-singees who sing in the pop-opera genre.
Not much is known about the two, besides the fact they have strong vocal abilities.
Meanwhile, you can watch one of their performances:
4. William Segerdahl
William Segerdahl is a 19-year-old Swedish singer. He rose to fame in 2018, when he participated in the “Swedish Idol” and finished 3rd in the final.
Since then, he has released several singles.
You can listen to one of his songs:
5.Niello
Niello (real name: Niklas Grahn) is a 34-year-old Swedish rapper. He rose to fame in 2013 with the song “Legenden” that made him earn millions streams on Spotify.
Niello has tried to submit songs for “Melodifestivalen“, but has never been accepted by SVT.
You can listen to one of his songs:
6.Faith Kakembo
Faith Kakembo is 36 years old. She rose to fame after reaching the finals in the competition for emerging artists – “P4 Natsa“.
In 2020, she made her debut in “Melodifestivalen 2020” with the song “Crying Rivers“. Back then, she finished 5th in the semi-final, and therefore didn’t advance for the final.
7. Omar Rudberg
Omar is a 23-year-old Swedish singer and actor.
Omar made his debut in “Melodifestivlaen” in 2017 with the boy-band FO&O.
They finished in 11th place in “Melodifestivlaen 2017″ final
He recently had some huge success with the Netflix series “Young Royals“.
In 2021, he was rejected by SVT while trying to participate in “Melodifesativalen 2021“.
8.Lance Hedman
Lance Hedman is 21-year old Swedish singer.
He is well known for being one half of the duo Lance & Linton tat created dance and house music.
However, he is more likely to participate as a solo artist
You can listen to one of his songs:
So far, we have 19 rumored artists for “Melodifestivalen 2022“:
- Robin Bengtsson
- Liamoo
- Klara Hammarström
- Alvaro Estrella
- Angelino
- Lance Hedman
- John Lundvik
- Theoz
- Malou Prytz
- Cazzi Opeia
- Medina
- Anna Bergendahl
- Linda Bengtzing
- Tenori
- William Segerdahl
- Niello
- Faith Kakembo
- Omar Rudberg
- Lance Hedman
Meanwhile, the train station in Sweden has the beautiful “Melodifestivlaen 2022” commercial on their walls:
