ESC 2013 - Ukraine picked its song

Well, I watched the NF this morning but I turned it off once all the contestants performed. I didn't watch the voting part and I saw who won a couple of hours ago. Zlata Ognevich with "Gravity" is Ukraine's entry for 2013. At least for now. :P While I was watching her performance I gave her 1 point! I take it back! It grows on me! So it's definitely not an 1! I love the backing vocals! But I will give my points in April...

ESC 2013 - Albania picked its song

Right, I just wasted 3,5 hours on the albanian NF! What the hell did you choose Albania? 17 songs, a couple of them were nice and you picked the worst! Well done guys! It should have been Kejsi Tola. I heard it for the first time this morning and after tonight's performance I love it! Much much better than her 2009 attempt! But no! No Kejsi Tola for Albania this year! They chose Bledar Sejko & Adrian Lulgjuraj with "Indetitet". I would have given Kejsi an 8. Even a 10! But these guys? A big fat zero! Better luck next year neighbours! :/

Pablo Alborán to ESC!

Yeah I know that Spain sends El Sueño de Morfeo to Malmö but the title worked for Pastora Soler so let's hope it will work for Pablo as well! In 2014... Let's say he's my new Pastora! I'm having a Pastora déjà vu with Pablo! The same obsession I had (well still have!) with Pastora I have now with Pablo! Yeah you got it (I hope!)! 

Pablo Alborán (the album) is on repeat since last Sunday! Ever since we got the news that Spain will choose their artist internally Pablo's name kept popping up in almost every eurosite! So I got interested in him. All I needed was one song. "Solamente Tú". To help you get the picture, I was listening to the song and it was around 12:20am (I remember that coz I also posted it on facebook) and I went to bed at 2:30am because I kept saying "ok one more time and then I'm going to bed". And then I listened to his first album "Pablo Alborán" (released in 2011). That was it! 

Listen to the album and see for yourselves! I don't think I ever suggested and album before. I usually don't do that coz taste differs but seriously, give this a shot! After all this album reached 6x platinum in Spain! In 2011! During the economic crisis! 'Nuff said! 

And to go back to Eurovision, yes, he can bring another great result for Spain! And he has more chances for a better result than Pastora simply because he's a guy. A really handsome guy which means more votes form the televoting. So to sum it up, Pablo is an excellent live performer (just like Pastora), he's an amazing musician, he has the looks and he can definitely get the right song for the ESC (judging by his music). Yeah his music is too spanish but that's what I, personally, like! It's not traditional music but it's spanish music! That's the point of Eurovision. Showing to the rest of Europe your music, your language, your culture! 

I'm all for Pablo Alborán to represent Spain in 2014! I believe in him the same way I believed in Pastora and I was right about the latter one. ;) Yes, I know Pastora scored extremely low on televoting but Pablo can get both the juries' and televoters' points! Spain sent a female artist in 2011, 2012 and now a group with a female vocalist so in 2014 a male artist would be the perfect choice!

ESC 2013 - Lithuania picked its song

Yup, more "old" news but I'm trying to comment all the songs that are being chosen for the ESC and so far I think I've done it. And I will try to keep up.

So, Andrius Pojavis will represent Lithuania with "Something". The chorus sounds very familiar. Once again, I don't know which song it reminds me. And once again, whenever I say "it sounds familiar" I'm not talking about plagiarism! It's an ok song. It lacks that "something"... ;)

Well, it's too early to form a full opinion about the songs...

ESC 2013 - German NF's line-up

I was never that interested in Germany's selection but this year is totally different. There's one name in that line-up that I'm rooting like hell for! Cascada! Yeah ok, their songs sound pretty much the same but I like them. I think they're perfect for the ESC. A dance song and a good show on that stage is gonna look awesome! I'm just hoping for a really good song though. It's all it takes!

• Ben Ivory - The Righteous Ones
• Betty Dittrich - Lalala
• Blitzkids mvt. - Heart On The Line
• Cascada - Glorious
• Finn Martin - Change
• LaBrassBanda - Nackert
• Mobilée - Little Sister
• Nica & Joe - Elevated
• Die Priester feat. Mojca Erdmann - Ave Maris Stella
• Saint Lu - Craving
• Söhne Mannheims - One Love
• Mia Diekow - Lieblingslied

No other name rings a bell so yeah. Cascada to win!

ESC 2013 - El Sueño de Morfeo for Spain

Yeah I know Lithuania picked their song last night. I'll get to it. I just take the "old" news first.

So we knew about the internal selection but I was hoping for Malú or Pablo Alborán (Pablo will get his own blog post, btw) but we got El Sueño de Morfeo instead. Never heard of them before but I did my homework. "Wikied" them, "youtubed" them and now I have a better view.

Unfortunately they're not my cup of tea. :/ Raquel's voice... I don't know how to put this. After listening to a few songs her voice starts to annoy me. No, "annoy" isn't the right word. "Irritate" maybe? Well it's her high pitched voice that bugs me. It's fine for a song or two but then I can't stand it. It's the combination of their music style and Raquel's voice. Maybe if she sang a ballad, things would be different.

Anyway, the thing is that they're not my style. But then again, it's all about the song. Who knows? Maybe in a few months I'll be here, giving them 12 points! Well, I doubt that but you never know. It's Spain. I always have a soft spot for Spain!

ESC 2013 - Belgium picked its song

I didn't watch NF (can we even call it an NF?). I tuned in for about 30 seconds but I couldn't watch it all! So amateurish! Roberto Bellarosa won with "Love Kills". I don't know what to say about the song. Definitely better than last year's "Would You?" which was a sleeping pill but even this year's attempt is nothing much. I really can't say anything right now. I will review each song (as I always do) around April. That's when I'll have a better view of each song but everything will change once the rehearsals begin. xD

ESC 2013 - Switzerland picked its song

I'm so late for everything! I'm back in Greece and I had to stay for a couple of days in Thessaloniki (no internet there) until my luggage arrived (yeah, long story). Anyway! There's a lot of euronews!

I watched the swiss NF on Saturday night. My ultimate favourite, Melissa, disappointed me that night. I adore the song (yeah I still do!) and I will keep listening to it but that live performance was really really weak! What was with that "Rebeka Dremelj" at the beginning? No choreo for Melissa. Obviously because she wanted to focus on the vocals. But then again her vocals were so weak. I was expecting a really powerful performance but I never got it. Such a shame. :( 12 points to the studio version, 4 to that live performance.

Apart from Melissa and the winners I didn't really care for the rest. Heilsarmee won with "You And Me". I'm totally fine with it and I give them an 8 (for now at least!)! I just don't get why they have that old man with them... Poor grandpa... He had no idea of what was going on! Especially at the part where they were announcing the top 3.

I've also read that Heilsarmee need to drop their name and clothes if they want to enter the contest. I don't know what's the latest news on that. But I don't really get why EBU has a problem with that. It's not like everyone knows that Heilsarmee means The Army of Salvation or what they do. Anyway...

ESC 2013 - Belarus

We have the first entry of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013! Belarus picked their song last night. I missed the final coz I was out and I was too tired to blog when I got home but I listened to the song. "Rhythm Of Love" sung by Alyona Lanskaya. It's so familiar! So familiar!!! I can't think what other song it reminds me but like it. For now at least. Her english is pretty bad though. Anyway, it's Belarus we're talking about so let's hope this will actually be their entry. ;)

Melodifestivalen 2013: The artists, the songs, the composers - Heats 3 & 4

So here we have the last 16 acts of Melodifestivalen 2013!

Semi-final 3, Skellefteå February 16th

1. Eddie Razaz – Alibi (Peter Boström, Thomas G:son)
2. Amanda Fondell- Dumb (Freja Blomberg, Fredrik Samsson)
3. Ravaillacz (Körberg, Rabaeus, Malmberg & Ronander) – En riktig jävla schlager (Kjell Jennstig, Leif Goldkuhl, Henrik Dorsin)
4. State of Drama – Falling (Göran Werner, Sebastian Hallifax, Emil Gullhamn, James Hallifax)
5. Janet Leon - Heartstrings (Fredrik Kempe, Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad)
6. Caroline af Ugglas – Hon har inte (Heinz Liljedahl, Caroline af Ugglas)
7. Martin Rolinski - In and out of love (Thomas G:son, Andreas Rickstrand)
8. Elin Petersson – Island (Elin Petersson)

Semi-final 4, Malmö February 23rd

1. Ralf Gyllenhammar – Bed on fire (Ralf Gyllenhammar, David Wilhelmsson)
2. Therese Fredenwall – Breaking the silence (Terese Fredenwall, Simon Petrén)
3. Behrang Miri - Jalla dansa salwa (Behrang Miri, Anderz Wrethov, Firas Razak Tuma, Tacfarinas Yamoun)
4. Lucia Piñera – Must be love (Peter Kvint, Jonas Myrin)
5. Army of Lovers - Rockin’ the ride (Alexander Bard, Henrik Wikström, Per QX, Andreas Öhrn, Jean-Pierre Barda)
6. Ulrik Munther - Tell the world I’m here (Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, Ulrik Munther)
7. Sylvia Vrethammar - Trivialiter (Thomas G:son, Calle Kindbom, Mats Tärnfors)
8. Robin Stjernberg – You (Robin Stjernberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, Joakim Harestad Haukaas)

Ok let's see... From semi 3 I'm looking forward to Amanda Fondell. I like her voice and for some reason I find the title of the song very promising...

Ravaillacz - oh my God! (Interpret this however you want...)

Comeback for Caroline af Ugglas and Martin Rolinski (BWO)... Caroline is crazy (in a good way!). I can't say I'm a fan but I like her as a person and I actually like her previous mello attempts. As for Martin... I don't like him so much although I love "Lay Your Love On Me".

Semi 4. Army of Lovers! Army of Lovers!!! Now that's the biggest surprise! AOL reunited! Well just 3 of them but still! I'll be honest here. I haven't heard many songs by them but I know they were huge back in the '90s! Besides it's Alexander Bard we're talking about! Really really interested in them!

And Ulrik Munther is back. I don't care actually. And I don't like his last year's attempt.

Now who's that Lucia Piñera? Spanish name so let's flag that entry! :P

Overall I'm not pleased by this year's line-up. Of course judging just by the artists since we haven't heard the songs but still...

ESC 2013: Portugal withdraws

At this point this is the worst news of the ESC 2013 I've heard! I don't even care about the organization or the new rules anymore! Portugal withdraws! The country that kicked out of my all time top 10 ESC countries the Netherlands! (Although I should really revise that top 10 sometime) I'm sad. And I really mean it! :( Very sad! And I know that Poland is also out and that there are rumors for Slovakia's withdrawal but I don't really care. Ok I care for Poland but not as much as Portugal!

During the last few weeks Portugal became a real favourite! Very close to Spain and Israel! I can't blame them though. They've been in the contest for 46 years and their best result so far is the 6th place in 1996 which also happens to be my favourite portuguese entry! Add to that the new stupid rules and their problems with economy and you have the reason why they're out!

I've been checking groups on facebook, friends' statuses, euroforums... Every single eurofan is shocked and sad by this decision! No surprise there...

Volta, Portugal! :'( Hope to see you back in 2014!

Melodifestivalen 2013: The artists, the songs, the composers - Heats 1 & 2

Busy day today! I took a quick look at the artists in the morning but I had no time to blog. Ok let's see.

Semi-final 1, Karlskrona February 2nd

1. Cookies N Beans – Burning Flags (Fredrik Kempe)
2. Mary N’diaye – Gosa (Johan Åsgärde, Mattias Frändå, Mary N’diaye)
3. Yohio – Heartbreak Hotel (Johan Fransson, Tobias Lundgren, Tim Larsson, Henrik Göranson, Yohio)
4. Jay-Jay Johanson – Paris (Jay-Jay Johanson)
5. Anna Järvinen – Porslin (Björn Olsson, Martin Elisson)
6. David Lindgren – Skyline (Fernando Fuentes, Henrik Nordenback, Christian Fast)
7. Eric Gadd – Vi kommer aldrig att förlora (Eric Gadd, Thomas Stenström, Jacob Olofsson)
8. Michael Feiner & Caisa – We’re Still Kids (Michael Feiner, Caisa Ahlroth)

 Semi-final 2, Gothenburg February 9th

1. Joacim Cans – Annelie (Joacim Cans)
2. Anton Ewald – Begging (Fredrik Kempe, Anton Malmberg, Hård af Segerstad)
3. Sean Banan – Copacabanana (Sean Banan, Ola Lindholm, Hans Blomberg, Joakim Larsson)
4. Rikard Wolff – En förlorad sommar (Tomas Andersson Wij)
5. Eric Segerstedt and Tone Damli – Hello Goodbye (Robin Fredriksson, Mattias Larsson, Måns Zelmerlöw)
6. Felicia Olsson – Make Me No 1 (Amir Aly, Henrik Wikström, Ingela Pling Forsman, Maria Haukaas Mittet)
7. Pernilla Wahlgren, Hanna Hedlund, Jenny Silver – On Top Of The World (Peter Boström, Thomas G:son)
8. Louise Hoffsten – Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream (Louise Hoffsten, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn)

There are quite a lot names that I've never heard before. I can't say a lot right now coz I need to listen to the songs first. If we just see the artists, I'm rooting like hell right now for Pernilla, Hanna and Jenny! And judging by the composers (combined with the artists) it's safe to say we're talking about a schlager song! Yay! :D 

I'm also interested in David Lindgren's song since I love "Shout It Out". 

You guys should google Yohio! Personally I don't like him (her?) at all. Well he's an interesting person (I watched an interview) but I don't like his music.

Then we have a comeback for Cookies N Beans. I can't say I'm a big fan of "What If" but sometimes I enjoy it... When I'm in the country mood. It's weird but I see that the Swedes really enjoy country and rockabilly music...

Oh I'm also interested in Erik Segerstedt and Tone Damli's duet! And it's more interesting that the song is written by Måns Zelmerlöw, among others. I've never heard of Tone before but when was the last time we saw, well heard, a duet by two young singers? No, Lotta and Christer aren't young!

Joakim Cans is 2013's Dead by April I guess. xD It's good to have a variety of genres. Even if his style is not my cup of tea.

Finally let me puke coz I saw Sean Banan's name there. Eeew!!


These are my comments for now. The rest of the artists will be revealed next Monday at 10:00 CET. And I have a full schedule that day as well. -.-

ESC 2013 - The Swiss final line-up

Ok the first part is over. We know the 9 finalists of the Swiss NF. Lys Assia is not one of them! :( Damn! I liked the song. It's fun and that "Hello, how is the flow?" is epic! xD Oh well, there's always next year Lys!

I'm gonna make some comments on all songs. You can listen to all of them here.

Anthony Bighead: «Do The Monkey»

Do the monkey? Seriously? This sucks! I can't find anything positive!

Heilsarmee: «You and Me»

Ok I like this! I really like the chorus. It reminds me of something but I can't tell what... hm... 

Jesse Ritch: «Forever & a day»

I like this one too but it's nothing special. A nice song for the radio but not for ESC IMO.

Melissa: «The Point Of No Return»

Ok I think I found my winner. I know I have 5 more songs to listen to but I love this! And I love Melissa! She was my winner in the spanish NF in 2011 with "Eos"! Even though Lucia was in my top 3 in ESC, at first I didn't like her song. Anyway, vamos Melissa!

Carrousel: «J’avais Rendez-vous»

No, no, no! I don't like it and french is a big minus for me! I really dislike french (of course some songs are the exceptions!). Not a single thing I like in this song!

Nicolas Fraissinet: «Lève-toi»

Nothing special here either and totally forgetable. Next!

Nicolas Fraissinet: «Lève-toi»

Hm... ok-ish song. Same comments as "Forever and a day".

Ally: «Catch me»

Boring and quite repetitive. Too much noise in the chorus. I don't like it.

Chiara Dubey: «Bella Sera»

Sleeping pill! I saw the italian title and I was expecting something else but that's über-boring!

So I was right about Melissa! She's totally my winner! It's either her or Heilsarmee!

Time to get back on track!

I stopped using informative posts a long time ago. That's because I don't blog regularly and because there are hundreds of websites out there which are updated several times a day. I'm here to make personal comments on (mostly) ESC and music related topics. And we're almost in the middle of November. Soon the NFs will begin and it's time for me to find my pace again. Probably not everyday blogging but not one post every 2 weeks either!

Now I'm really excited about Melodifestivalen 2013 because on November 19th SVT will reveal the artists! There's a list on several website with some artists names. Not too happy about it so I hope it's not the real one...

About ESC 2013... I just read this... The running order will be decided by the producers and not by draw. I'm not sure whether I like it or not... I'm not a big fan of that idea... But that's done now. We'll see how it will work in May...

Melodifestivalen 2013 - The hosts

Photo: svt.se

Wow that's amazing! Not. So Gina Dirawi and Danny Saucedo will be the Melodifestivalen 2013 hosts. Yes, I find Gina funny (sometimes) but I don't really like her and I don't have the best opinion about her. It's all about politics and some of her views that I'm not going to discuss coz I'm not into politics. But ok, I can live with her being the hostess.

Then we have Danny... Coming second in mello two years in a row [and by the way he also came 2nd in the OGAE Second Chance 2012 with one point short, right behind Pastora Soler (yay! :D)] was enough to make him not compete in 2013 (no more whining, thank God) but now he'll be the host... You know, last March he turned out to be a real douchebag by making all these comments about his song and Loreen so now I don't like him that much. I hope he can keep this professional and I hope he doesn't make any stupid comments to whoever comes second in March.

So, to sum up my opinion about the hosts.......meh!

"You're really good in swedish!" Seriously?!

Photo: http://talkbetweenpeople.wordpress.com

Nope, that's not an ESC related post. (We'll get to them eventually. Too busy right now) This is a personal one. Apparently, everyone (well let's say 98% of them) in Sweden that I talk to seems so surprised by me. Especially when they hear that I'm in Sweden since September 2010. They go like "wow", "amazing", "you're really good in swedish" etc. I mean really? Looks like everyone thinks that. Everyone BUT me. :S I still think it's the accent that misleads them. And damn I'm not using my real accent! When I'm alone, reading a text out loud I sound like a real Swede and I mean a real Swede. Don't know what happens to that real accent when I'm talking with someone. I guess it's a childhood trauma...

When I was 7 I started learning english. And before I even begin the lessons I knew (don't know how...) that it was "engliSH" and not "englis". And I remember the first day where we had to read a text (please note that the rest of the kids in class were one or two years older than me), I read it with (american, always american!) accent. So the teacher was like "oooh look at you! with accent!" while laughing but not at me. That was it! I never used the accent again. Only when I had an oral exam coz I knew it had to be perfect! Of course nowadays it's different. I'm using my accent both in english and swedish but as I said not 100%. But I'll reach 100% eventually.

Anyway the point of the post is that on Friday I will have to make an oral presentation. I had one in spring but I did it in english (the teachers were fine with that). Today I went to ask a few questions to our communication teacher (that's where I had those "wow" reactions about my swedish and made me blog about it) and one of the questions was if I could make my presentation in english. She said "no". She'll be there to evaluate our skills in communication (in swedish of course). But she also told me that I could make the presentation in english in the second part of the course (I'm so doing this in english!!). So here I am! "Ready" to speak swedish for the first time since May 2010! Yeah I speak swedish every day but this time I will have to stand there, speaking swedish in front of about 10 people and then answer their questions! Now that I think about it, this is worse than May 2010! Back then I had to sit in front of a lady (who told me she'd be looking down not to freak me out) and talk to a recorder for 15 minutes (15 minutes? ok maybe that was worse coz on Friday I'll need only 4-5 min). Of course I used only 10 minutes so only God knows how I passed that (yeah ESC and Mello saved me once again! huhu).

Oh well, I need to make a PowerPoint presentation and write my manuscript in swedish! Nah! I'll do it the Ifi-way (yeah like no one else does that). First in english, then translate it to swedish and we're good to go! Wish me luck!

In thinking mode...

Photo: http://kaosmaschine.com/sketch.htm

Did I tell you I will NEVER find a proper blog title? I've been sitting one hour every day (literally) thinking about it and I can't find anything! All I know is that I want a one-word title but that word would be a combo of two words which when combined will make sense but you won't find the "new" word in a dictionary! Example: scandipop. You can't find it in a dictionary but you know what we're talking about: scandinavian pop! It has to be unique!

I was supposed to fix all that during summer but I couldn't sit and work on the blog. I was home!

There are so many things I want to do with my blog and it looks like they won't be done soon. At least I made a progress on paper. I've noted so many things I want to do. New pages, features, the layout... I really need a new template. I have some ideas in mind. Actually many ideas and I have to pick one or at least a couple of them combined. Otherwise it will look like a mess. But I'm thinking of making it myself which means I need to study a lot about C.S.S., lots of PhotoShop tutorials and stuff like that. Summer was the best period to do that since I had no classes and stuff but now... Now it looks like we'll spend the next ESC season with this layout.

But the work can't begin if I don't find a title! Unfortunately I can't change the blog address. Actually I can but when someone will try to access alca-gr.blogspot.com they will get a message of the page not existing any more and not the new address which means I will lose lots of you guys. But as I said I need a title so I can find the right "theme" for the new layout/template, favicon and all that. A new blog identity I could say.

I just hope the thing they say about Geminis is not true. But I think it is. We start something and we never finish it. I've done this so many times but I really wanna do this! :/

ESC 2013 - Switzerland: More candidates

There are 5 more songs uploaded here. I won't comment all of them coz I don't like any of them. Actually I like only one. And so far it's my winner but it won't do well in ESC coz it's really really really really "euphoric". ;) I'm talking about ILARY's "Voglia Di Vivere". I like it a lot but seriously don't they get it? It's happening every year! We have a winner and the next year there are copies popping up in almost every NF! The same recipe never works two years in a row! Mostly because the copy is worse than the original but also because Europe won't vote for the "same" winner twice. Anyway, we still have a long way to go!

Melodifestivalen 2013 - The dates!

Seriously how unlucky am I? First, the ESC 2013 will be held in Malmö and not Stockholm where I could go! Now the cities of Melodifestivalen 2013 are announced and there's no Linköping in the list, once again! I mean it's my second year in Lkpg and still no mello here!

Anyway, here's the list.

• Semi-final 1: February 2nd, Karlskrona, Telenor Arena
• Semi-final 2: February 9th, Gothenburg, Scandinavium
• Semi-final 3: February 16th, Skellefteå, Skellefteå Kraft Arena
• Semi-final 4: February 23rd, Malmö, Malmö Arena
• Andra chansen: March 2nd, Karlstad, Löfbergs Lila Arena
• Final: March 9th, Stockholm, Friends Arena 

So it looks like I'm only going to Stockholm for the final. Malmö and ESC 2013 are 99,9% off my table.

ESC 2013 - Switzerland: The two first candidates

And it's official! The 2013 NF season kicked off today! SF posted the two first candidates for next year's ESC! Now I don't like John Hänni's song. I find it bland and boring. I like United Passion feat. Lyane Leigh's song but I wish there was no rap part. It ruins it! 

Really not much more to say about this but it's a start for next year's contest! I don't know if I'll be able to post all the news about the Swiss NF but I'll try!

Melodifestivalen 2013 - The first artist is revealed!

Photo: Johan Ljungström/Sveriges Radio

Haven't posted anything in months and I feel like the blog is abandoned but it still looks the same. I was supposed to fix the layout and add some more things while I was in Greece but this never happened... Now I wonder when I'll find time to fix it before the start of the ESC season.

Anyway back to the point. The girl in the picture is Terese Fredenwall and she's the first out of 32 artists who will compete in Melodifestivalen 2013! She's the winner of a swedish contest called "Svensktoppen nästa". A contest that was created for this exact purpose; finding an artist to compete in mello '13. There are more details here (in swedish).

Well I know one thing for sure and I can bet a million euros on that; Terese is not the winner! And she'd rather not keep her hopes high. I mean let's face it, no one knows her and we all know that in Melodifestivalen the popular ones make it to the final. Of course you can give me a bunch of famous Swedes who didn't make it to the final but still. Or tell me that, how many webjoker artists made it to the final? To andra chansen? It also depends on the song but really I don't see Terese going too far. It will be a great experience for her though. That's for sure!

ESC 2013 - Malmö

I won't say a lot about it... Just read all the details here. I am so disappointed about this! They had Friends Arena and they chose Malmö Arena instead. They could host the contest in Stockholm (which is the right thing to do) but no. It's Malmö. Now things are not easy for me. I need MUCH MORE money now coz I had a place to stay in Stockholm! There is a small chance that I might miss ESC 2013. My first ESC ever! I'm devastated right now. If I don't find a job when I get back to Sweden I might as well say goodbye to the contest...

Loreen - "Euphoria" video release

Photo: Ruben Broman

So the video of "Euphoria" is out! I have to say that I'm disappointed... I was expecting something really good but all we got is Loreen taking a walk in the woods... I really don't like the concept and it's not something I will watch over and over again. I totally prefer the live performances of MF/ESC.We have some really great shots and the feeling is amazing but the concept is really bad IMO. What I like in the video is the second verse. I wish Ausben was there too...

Annikafiore - "Recovered" EP released!

Well to tell you the truth the EP was released yesterday! I saw it on my fb but I decided to blog about it today. First of all, you can BUY "Recovered" by clicking here.

The tracklist:

1. Crying At the Discoteque (Antti Original) 4:10

2. Don't Wanna C U 2nite (Piol Remix) 3:48

3. Crying At the Discoteque (Piol Remix) 4:04

4. Love 2 Live (Johan Åberg Ha2f Radio Mix) 2:56  

5. Don't Wanna C U 2nite (Radio Cut) 3:59

6. Love 2 Live (Piol Funk Remix) 3:39

7. Love 2 Live (Johan Åberg Ha2f Club Mix) 5:24

8. Love 2 Live (Piol Sos Remix) 3:31

9. Love 2 Live (Johan Åberg Ha2f Club Instrumental) 5:24

10. Don't Wanna C U 2nite (Piol Piano Remix) 3:09

And as I promised the videos from August 2011 are now available! 

Shut Up And Dance (love the choreo!)

Don't Wanna C U 2nite (SoundFactory remix) 

Crying At The Discoteque (Antti Original) 

Enjoy! ;D

 

Annikafiore - Don't Wanna C U 2nite (Piol Remix) video release

Loaned from Dave

Sooo what do we have here? New remix and new video for Annikafiore's "Don't Wanna C U 2nite"! We loved (don't tell me you didn't!) the SoundFactory remix but now we have the Piol remix which is a more summer night/lounge version. Personally I love both! Keep the SoundFactory remix for dancing and keep the Piol remix for relaxing at nights!

The new video is just awesome! Watched it quite a few times and I had it on repeat for many more. There are two parts (so far) that I totally love and I have to say that I rewinded the video a few times just to rewatch those parts. xD The first one is at 1:02-1:05 and the second is at 2:49 and at 2:51 (you get it right? two WOW frames!). Gaah I just LOVE the video! Those scenes while Annikafiore is sitting on the bench are probably my favourite. I know, not much happening over there but I love the colors and the feeling. Oh and those drama-looks on the camera are so only-Annikafiore-can-do-it-like-this! Yeah you get it, I LOVE everything on that video! :D


This remix will be included on her new EP called "RECOVERED"! It's gonna be an EP with new remixes and listen to this: there will be two new versions of Alcazar's "Crying At The Discoteque"! I watched her performing CATD last August and recorded that performance (don't go searching on youtube, the video is still unlisted but when the EP comes out I'll make it public)! I have no idea if that version she performed back then is one of the two on the EP. What I know is that one of them will be the version she performed in May at the Alcazar reunion (still don't have that performance guys. I got no reply from the uploader). Anyway, read more about the EP here. It's Annikafiore's official blog!

Spread the news about the new remix people! :D

ESC 2012 - Split results of televoting and jury

I was waiting for this to comment the results. The split votes of the juries and televoting. Of course there are also the split results of each country individually but no country so far (as far as I know) revealed both the jury and televoting points which makes us think that something fishy is going on. Especially since the Cypriot jury said that they gave no points to Azerbaijan and yet, in the final Cyprus gave 8 points to them. It's just impossible even if the televoters gave their 12 points to Azerbaijan. I won't say anything else here. Draw your own conclusions.

Back to the split results from eurovision.tv.

Semi-final 1

Country	Combined		Televote		Jury vote
-	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points
Russia	1	152	1	189	8	75
Albania	2	146	3	131	1	131
Romania	3	120	2	132	5	87
Greece	4	116	5	110	3	103
Moldova	5	100	7	85	2	107
Ireland	6	92	4	116	10	72
Cyprus	7	91	6	99	4	90
Iceland	8	75	8	79	11	70
Denmark	9	63	9	53	6	81
Hungary	10	52	11	39	7	76
Switzerland	11	45	10	49	13	45
Finland	12	41	12	36	12	57
Israel	13	33	16	16	9	72
San Marino	14	31	13	25	14	42
Montenegro	15	20	14	24	16	28
Latvia	16	17	15	18	18	17
Belgium	17	16	18	2	15	38
Austria	18	8	17	15	17	27

Just take a look at Cyprus and Iceland! Cyprus came 6th in the televoting and 4th in the jury vote and Iceland came 8th in the televoting and 11th in the jury vote! Just wow! I was expecting this to be the other way around! I thought Iceland was a jury bait and would have scored higher and Cyprus was the cheesy (?) pop that would have scored a lot higher in the televoting and lower in the jury vote! I'm surprised to see Israel in the top 10 if we only had the juries! And Finland was 12th no matter what. Russia 1st in the televoting and 8th in the jury vote. Quite a difference! Moldova 2nd in the jury vote? Seriously? And Greece 3rd?! I'm really surprised! What happened to the juries this year? And Switzerland would have made it if it was only for the televoting...


Semi-final 2

Country	Combined		Televote		Jury vote
-	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points
Sweden	1	181	1	180	1	145
Serbia	2	159	2	148	2	141
Lithuania	3	104	3	128	10	55
Estonia	4	100	5	88	4	102
Turkey	5	80	4	114	13	42
Bosnia & Herzegovina	6	77	7	70	6	77
Malta	7	70	11	39	5	97
Ukraine	8	64	17	24	3	109
FYROM	9	53	8	63	9	58
Norway	10	45	6	72	18	25
Bulgaria	11	45	9	59	17	27
Croatia	12	42	14	34	7	66
Portugal	13	39	13	37	12	49
Georgia	14	36	18	15	8	62
Belarus	16	35	12	37	11	52
The Netherlands	15	35	10	51	16	31
Slovenia	17	31	16	27	14	40
Slovakia	18	22	15	32	15	40

Hm Sweden and Serbia both came 1st and 2nd respectively both in the jury vote and televoting. Lithuania 3rd in the televoting and 10th in the jury vote?! Turkey 13th in the jury vote! Malta 5th in the jury vote but 11th in the televoting. Never thought that they would have scored higher in the jury vote! Ukraine came 17th in the televoting and 3rd in the jury vote?!?!?!?! This is too hard to believe! It seems as if they made some kind of mistake here and the televoting is actually the jury vote! Norway was 18th in the jury vote! :O Oh my God! And Bulgaria 17th?! But 9th in the televoting! This is shocking! Really!  Ok here comes the biggest shock of the second semi! Georgia was 8th in the jury vote! AH COME ON!!!!!!! Are they on drugs or something? And my lovely Belarus would have stayed out of the final no matter what. :(  Finally Slovenia was 16th in the televoting and 14th in the jury vote... :S


Final

Country	Combined		Televote		Jury vote
-	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points
Sweden	1	372	1	343	1	296
Russia	2	259	2	332	11	94
Serbia	3	214	3	211	2	173
Azerbaijan	4	150	5	151	8	118
Albania	5	146	8	106	3	157
Estonia	6	120	12	78	6	152
Turkey	7	112	4	176	22	50
Germany	8	110	6	125	10	98
Italy	9	101	17	56	4	157
Spain	10	97	18	45	5	154
Moldova	11	81	13	75	9	104
Romania	12	71	7	117	20	53
FYROM	13	71	11	79	17	69
Lithuania	14	70	14	68	14	82
Cyprus	15	65	15	63	12	85
Ukraine	16	65	20	37	7	125
Greece	17	64	9	89	18	60
Bosnia & Herzegovina	18	55	16	57	15	71
Iceland	19	46	19	39	19	53
Ireland	20	46	10	89	25	14
Malta	21	41	25	10	16	70
Denmark	22	21	23	18	21	51
France	23	21	26	0	13	85
Hungary	24	19	22	20	23	30
United Kingdom	25	12	21	36	26	11
Norway	26	7	24	16	24	24

:( I don't know what's wrong with you people... Spain came 18th in televoting but 5th in the jury vote... *sigh* Russia 11th in the jury vote but still 2nd in the televoting. Turkey 4th in the televoting (oh God!) and 22nd in the jury vote (yeah that). And Italy 17th in the televoting but 4th in the jury vote! Wow! Romania 7th in the televoting (they should have finished in the top 10!!) and 20th in the jury vote so I guess the 12th place was ok for them. Cyprus was 15th in the televoting and 12th in the jury vote. That's interesting... Now I really don't get this about Ukraine! 20th in the televoting but 7th in the jury vote! What's wrong with the juries?! Greece would have kept the record of being in the top 10 every year since 2004 if we had only the televoting! Iceland 19th no matter what and that's surprising since everyone thought this would have finished in the top 3! Ireland 10th in the televoting but 25th in the jury vote!! France came last in the televoting with 0 points!! But 13th in the jury vote! United Kingdom 21st in the televoting but last in the jury vote and finally Norway came 24th both in the televoting and the jury vote...

I really don't know what to say about the juries! They did excellent job in some of the songs and terrible job in some others... And for the first time since their introduction I don't know if I want them out! :O