As we continue our weekly series Around The Continent, we will discuss the news and tell the story of each country’s preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.
Albina and familja Kelmendi, won the public vote of “Festivali i Këngës 61”.
They will represent Albania at Eurovision 2023 with the song “Duje“:
You can listen to their song here:
In addition, the professional jury gave the following awards:
- The Winner of The Festival – Elsa Lila – Evita
- 2nd Place – Albina and familja Kelmendi – Duje
- 3rd Place – 2 Farm (Bandë muzikore) – Atomike
- Career Prize (Best Established Artist) – Rovena Dilo – Motit
- Best Young Artist (And Alternative Bands) – Erma Mici – Kozmosi i dashurisë
14 songs will compete in the Belgian “Eurosong 2023”:
- Ameerah – The Carnival
- Ameerah – Armageddon
- Chérine – Ça m’ennuie pas (From French: I Don’t Mind)
- Chérine – Mon étoile (From French: My Star)
- Gala Dragot – Emotion ollie
- Gala Dragot – t ‘inquiète (From French: Don’t Worry)
- Gustaph – Because Of You
- Gustaph – The Nail
- Hunter Falls – Home
- Hunter Falls – Ooh La La
- Loredana – Dream In Colors
- Loredana – You Lift Me Up
- The Starlings – Oceanside
- The Starlings – Rollercoaster
And this is how the songs will be reduced from 14 to 7:
- Starting on the 9th of January 2023, the full songs will be revealed.
- Once per day, after the daily news program, an artist will perform his 2 songs live in front of the other artists in the selection.
- The daily show will be held at 19:40 CET
- The rest of the artists will advise the performer, which of the 2 songs to perform in the final.
- However, the performers will have their own right to pick the song for the final.
You can read our full review of the “Eesti Laul 2023” songs:
Playlists can be found here:
YouTube
Spotify
Apple Music
Official Site / Song Lyrics
We will still have to wait for the official list of “UMK 2023” participants.
According to the Finnish website Iltalehti, we can name the top rumored artists who will probably participate in “UMK 2023”:
- Robin Packalen
- Portion Boys
- Benjamin Peltonen
- Lxandra (Alexandra Lehti)
The head of the French delegation, Alexandra Redde-Amiel, promised news regarding Eurovision 2023 plans:
According to rumours, the French broadcaster will want the involvement of the leading record labels in the selection. Will there be a way to choose artists for the national selection? Or will France choose internally this year?
The third episode of “The Voice of Georgia” was broadcast this Thursday.
The qualifiers from this week’s blind auditions are:
Click on the artist’s name to watch his audition:
- Iru Khechanov (was part of Candy, who won Junior Eurovision 2011 for Georgia)
- Anka Tatarashvili
- Anika Gabiskiria
- Gvantsa Kupatadze
- Sopo Garakanidze
- Sopho Batilashvili (The winner of the music reality show in 2019)
- Alegro
- Irakli Kapanadze
7 artists remained in the race to represent Greece at Eurovison 2023.
The professional jury panel reduced the list from 106 to 7 songs.
However, the selection process will have a different mechanism this year.
A total of 70 people from the public were chosen, with the following composition:
- 25 people from the age of 18-25 years old
- 20 people from the age of 26-35 years old
- 15 people from the age of 36-45 years old
- 10 people from the age of 46+ years old
On the 28th of December, 2022, the demochopic jury will listen to these 7 songs will rank them independently and personally.
The 70 voters won’t know who is the singer behind each song.
The Greek entry for Eurovision 2023 will be chosen by a combination of 50.6% for the demoscopic jury ans 49.4% for the professional jury (composed of 7 members).
Noa Kirel recorded 2 potential songs for Eurovision 2023.
Both of them are written in English, and include some phrases in Hebrew.
There are some oriental-middle east elements in the song.
The first song will talk about love while the second one will talk about empowerment.
Noa and her team can consider the creation of additional songs for Eurovision 2023, with the condition that she and her team will be responsible for the writing.
The final decision regarding the song for Eurovision 2023, will be made by Noa Kirel, Doron Medalie, Noa’s team, and the national broadcaster.
LRT Revealed full details regarding the selection process for Eurovision 2023 – “Pabandom iš naujo! 2023”
30 songs will be part of the line-up of the selection.
30 songs were selected by a professional committee, in 2 phases.
However, one of them (Lina Štalytė) was disqualified due to being released too early (in 2020!).
LRT replaces this song with another (The PiXLES)
The Songs
- Agnė – “New Start”
- Aistė Pilvelytė – “We’re Not Running” (particiapted in the national selection 11 times, including 2017)
- Alen Chicco – “Do You” (national selection 2019 and 2020)
- Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio dantys – “Sėdi ir važiuoji” (Sit down and drive)
- Baiba – “When the Lights Go Out”
- Beatrich – “Like a Movie”
- Donata – “Dreamer” (national selection 2020 and 2021)
- Gabrielius Vagelis – “Šauksmas” (Shout) (national selection in 2013, 2020, 2021)
- Gebrasy – “Saw Your Ghost” (Particiapted in the national selection in 2021 and 2022)
- Il Senso – “Sparnai” (Wings)
- I. T. – “Žinau, tai tu” (I know it’s you)
- Joseph June – “Vacuum” (national selection 2022)
- Justa Rubežiūtė – “When I’ll Find”
- Justė Kraujelytė – “Need More Fun” (national selection 2022)
- Justin 3 feat. Dj AugustYno – “Not Giving Up” (weas part of Twesome and participated in 2022)
- Luknė – “Paradise”
- Mario Junes – “Do What You Do”
- Matt Len – “Midnight Train”
- Melona – “Song Of Whispers”
- Monika Linkytė – “Stay” (Eurovision 2015)
- MoonBee – “Rumor”
- Multiks – “London”
- NOY – “Destiny’s Child”
- Paulina Paukštaitytė – “Let Me Think About Me”
- Petunija – “Love of my life” (national selection 2020)
- Rūta MUR – “So Low”
- The PiXLES – “Šaukt” (Shout)
- Viktorija Faith – “If You Ever Miss Me” (nnational selection 2022)
- Voldemaras Petersonas – “Things” (national selection 2021 and 2022)
- W.I – “You Can Not”
YouTube Playlist
Dates
“Pabandom iš naujo! 2023″ will last for 5 weeks.
It will include 2 heats, 2 semi-finals and a final:
- Heat 1 – Saturday, 21st of January 2023
- Heat 2 – Saturday, 28th of January 2023
- Semi-Final 1 – Saturday, 4th of February 2023
- Semi-Final 2 – Saturday, 11th of February 2023
- Grand Final – Saturday, 18th of February 2023
The results of each round will be determined by 50% national jury vote and 50% public vote.
Moldovan broadcaster TRM has announced national selection for Eurovision 2023:
- Round 1 – Review of all submissions between 25th and 28th of January 2023
- Round 2 – Live audition stage that will be broadcast live on TV Moldova 2.
- The audition qualifiers will be determined by 100% national jury decision.
- Auditions will be held between the 28th of January and 5th of February 2023.
- Only 10 artists will qualify for the show.
- Round 3 – Live show (the national final) will be held between 25th of February and 5th of March 2023.
- The results of the final will be determined by 50% public vote and 50% national jury.
Preparations for the “Festival da Canção 2023” are underway. The design and artwork can be seen here:
In addition, 20 authors split into 2 semi-finals in a random way.
However, it doesn’t stand for running order.
We would like to remind you that those are only authors, not necessarily the singers:
12 finalists for “Selecţia Naţională 2023” revealed, as well as the running order (determined by an allocation raw:
- Deiona – Call on me
- Andrada Popa – No time for me
- Ocean Drive – Take you home
- AMIA – Puppet
- Andrei Duţu – Statues
- Theodor Andrei – D.G.T. (Off and on)
- Steven Roho x Gabriella x Formaţia Albatros – Lele
- Aledaida – Bla Bla Bla
- Adriana Moraru – Faralaes
- Maryliss – Hai Vino (Eng: Come On)
- JaxMan (Erin Dăneţ) – Bad&cool
- Andreea D Folclor Orchestra – Periniţa mea (Eng: My Little Girl)
The composer of the song “Statues” is Mørland, wh o represented Norway as part of a duo at Eurovision 2015
The playlists can be found here:
YouTube
Spotify
Apple Music
Maltese singer Kurt Cassar, who was a finalist in “Una Voce Per San Marino 2022“, will try his luck in “Una Voce Per San Marino 2023“:
RTS will provide additional details regarding the national selection around the 15th of January 2023.
It seems that some established and popular artists submitted their songs for selection this year.
One of the rumored acts is Senidah with the following song:
Joker Out have finished recording their song for Eurovision 2023.
The song was recorded in Germany. It will be in the Slovenian language
The songs for “Benidorm Fest 2023” were released at the beginning of this week:
- Agoney – Quiero Arder
- Alfred García – Desde Que Tú Estás
- Alice Wonder – Yo Quisiera
- Aritz – Flamenco
- Blanca Paloma – Eaea
- E’Femme – Uff!
- Famous – La Lola
- Fusa Nocta – Mi Familia
- José Otero – Inviernos En Marte
- Karmento – Quiero Y Duelo
- Megara – Arcadia
- Meler – No Nos Moverán
- Rakky Ripper – Tracción
- Sharonne – Aire
- Siderland – Que Esclati Tot
- Sofía Martín – Tuki
- Twin Melody – Sayonara
- Vicco – Nochentera
You can find the playlists here:
YouTube
Spotify
Apple Music
Official Website
In the coming weeks, we will publish our review of the songs
Last Saturday, Ukraine held their national final “Vidbir 2023”.
10 artists competed in the final and the winners are Tvorchi with “Heart Of Steel”:
They won the public vote, and ended 2nd with the jury:
Meanwhile, the runner-up KRUTЬ appealed against Tvorchi, claiming they doubled of lead vocals which isn’t allowed in “Vidbir 2023” regulations.
In addition, the band is related to record label which is active in Russia.
However, Suspline rejected her appeal.
The production team behind Eurovision 2023 revealed:
Set Designer: Julio Himede
Julio has rich experience in set designing. He created designs for productions like:
- Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration
- MTV Video Music Awards (2018-2021)
- American Song Contest
- Grammy Awards
Directors: Ollie Bartlett, Richard Valentine, Nikki Parsons
Ollie has worked as a director for Kylie Minogue, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, The GRM Awards Soccer Aid, and more.
Richard is an appreciated director. He was involved in the Harry Styles Live Concert, Ariana Grande Live Concert, The Sound of Music Live, Global Citizen London and more.
Nikki led the following productions: MTV Asia Awards, Dancing On Ice, Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards US, So You Think You Can Dance, Britain’s Got Talent and more
Creative Directors: Dan Shipton, German Nenov and Oksana Skybinska
This is a collab between the UK and Ukraine. They will be responsible for the flag parade and the creative elements of the show.
Dan (UK) has worked on several Eurovision performances, he has worked with Ava Max, Little Mix, West Life and more.
German Nenov (Ukraine) has worked with 2 former Ukrainian artists who participated at Eurovision: Tina Karol (2006) and Zlata Ognevich (2013).
Oksana Skybinska (Ukraine) has been the head of the Ukrainian delegation.
Head of Sound: Robert Edwards
Robert Edwards has worked on leading TV productions in recent years: Olympic Games in Tokyo and Beijing, X-Factor UK, Britain’s Got Talent, The Masked Singer UK
