ESC 2013 - Petra Mede to host Eurovision!

Photo: Peter Knutson

I hate it when it happens! All the important news is revealed when I am at the uni! Of course I was checking my cell all the time so I found out about the hostess right away but I missed the entire press conference.

But it doesn't matter now. We got Petra Mede!!!!! Thank you SVT!! It was either Sarah Dawn Finer or Petra for me! I love love love Petra! Amazing sense of humour, great english and french so we have everything we need! God I'm so happy with this decision! The only right decision SVT has done so far!

Now please give us Lynda Woodruff in the green room and we're all set for 3 funny as hell nights! Plus, Europe will see that Lynda is just a character and nothing more. Coz some (maybe a lot) people didn't get this when she was announcing the swedish votes and thought that she's making fun of Azerbaijan. Of course I found it extremely hilarious since I knew about Lynda from mello's final. 

Anyway! PETRA MEDE people!! Wooohooo!  

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2013 - Second semi results

From the happy danish news to the sad icelandic news. Erna didn't make it to the final! What the hell have you done Iceland?

I was watching the DMGP (since it was the final!) and I only saw Erna's performance! It was amazing! But she's out. The wildcard went to Magni. He was my second favourite but since he was already disqualified yesterday, I don't see him winning. What's the point of the wildcard anyway?

The qualifiers:

• Jógvan Hansen and Stefanía Svavarsdóttir - Til þín
• Haraldur Reynisson - Vinátta
• Unnur Eggertsdóttir - Ég Syng!

I guess Birgitta has to win now...

DMGP 2013 - With Emmelie de Forest to Malmö

Photo: Wouter van Vliet (EBU)

So Denmark decided and I welcome them in my top 10 this year! Even though there are a lot of countries who haven't picked their entry yet. The winner, Emmelie de Forest with "Only Teardrops"! My second favourite tonight, right after Frederikke and right before Simone who made it to the top 3 along with Mohamed.

Really nice choice Denmark! Thank you!

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2013 - First semi results

Well I got home just in time to see the results! I didn't see any of the performances but my top 3 were Magni, Birgitta and Yohanna. Since I wrote my comments on all songs, I've narrowed it down to two. Magni and Erna to win Söngvakeppni! Magni is out so the winner is Erna! And please keep it to icelandic this time!!!

• Birgitta Haukdal - Meðal andanna
• Svavar Knútur Kristinsson & Hreindís Ylva Garðarsdóttir Hólm – Lífið snýst
• Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson - Ég á líf

These are the 3 qualifiers! I'm glad for Birgitta but the song sounds quite dated. I don't like "Ég á líf" and "Lífið snýst" sounds like "Coming Home".

Yohanna, Magni and Edda are out... I'm not surprised about Yohanna's result. The song wasn't as good as her two previous entries...


Tomorrow is the second semi (GO ERNA!!!) and the final of DMGP. DMGP starts at 20:30 CET and Söngvakeppni at 21:00 CET. It will be difficult to watch both but I will mostly stick to DMGP since it's the final!

Oh and I know that Finland's qualification rounds are on and that Hungary revealed some songs and that Greece revealed the four acts but I will comment on all these when we get closer to the finals. There's no time for all of them unfortunately.

DMGP 2013 - The full songs

The full songs are out! Listen to them HERE. 

1. Frederikke Vedel - Jeg har hele tiden vidst det (Pernille Georgi, Thomas Reil, Jeppe Reil)
Love it! Adore it! Pure schlager in danish!!

2. Brinck - Human (Niels Brinck)
Yeah I stick to the opinion I had a few days ago when I reviewed the teasers. I don't like this. Sorry Brinck!

3. Kate Hall - I'm not alone (Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Larsson, Michelle Bell, Oscar Holter, Jakke Erixson, Simon Hermansen)
Like like like! Another schlager track! I get a mello vibe from this! Oh well! Scandinavia! ;)

4. Louise Dubiel - Rejs dig op (Casper Lindstad, Rune Braager, Louise Dubiel)
Listening to the full song didn't change my first impression. Don't.like.it.

5. Daze - We own the universe (Thomas G:son, Peter Boström)
It's still a no. I get a mello vibe from this one as well but not a good one...

6. Simone Egeriis - Stay awake (Lars Halvor Jensen, Carsten Lindberg)
Damn! This was my favourite teaser. Now that I've heard the full version it's not anymore. I still like it. Especially the chorus but I'm a bit disappointed by the verses...

7. Jack Rowan ft. Sam Gray - Invincible (Achmad Darwich, Jack Rowan, Sam Gray)
I just listened to the entire song but nothing changed. It's still really meh.

8. Emmelie de Forest - Only teardrops (Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, Thomas Stengaard)
Ok now that's good. And I like Emmelie's voice! In the previous post I said the chorus is too repetitive. Well it wasn't the entire chorus on that teaser they made public last week! So this gets a green light from me!

9. Albin - Beautiful to me (Brian Risberg Clausen, Mads Haugaard)
Cheese! But I like the chorus! The melody...

10. Mohamed Ali - Unbreakable (Morten Friis, Michael Parsberg, Peter Bjørnskov, Lene Dissing)
Another mello vibe! Good vibe! Like!


Ok we have some really nice songs! For my taste, they are great. For Europe's taste, I don't know...
Well my winner is Frederikke! She got those extra points by singing in danish and made it to the top! Schlagertastic song! Kate, Simone, Emmelie and Mohamed complete my top 5.

Just keep the song in danish please! If it's the winner!

MGP 2013 - Qualifiers of first semi

So yeah. I got back from work at around 19:30 only to see on facebook several posts about MGP beginning in 20 minutes! I had totally forgotten about the first semi! I watched it but I got quite bored to be honest! Thank God Erik Solbakken was there! The songs were pretty meh. Some of them, horrible. Despite all that, I found a couple of songs that I kinda liked. They didn't make it of course!

• Vidar Busk - Paid My Way (3rd Place)
• Carina Dahl - Sleepwalking
• Tom Hugo - Det er du
• Gromth and Emil Solli-Tangen - Alone (1st Place)
• Julie Bergan - Give A Little Something Back
• Mimi Blix/Doc MC - Catch Me
• Datarock - The Underground (2nd Place)

I can't find Vidar's and Datarock's songs on youtube. Maybe they will take down "Alone" as well. I don't know if MGP has the same rules as Melodifestivalen. I suppose they do... Anyway the qualifiers are pretty bad. Maaaaybe Datarock have a little something but nah. Not my cup of tea. Didrik's little brother Emil didn't impress me. Actually I hate all that growling in the song! Which is not Emil's fault but overall I really don't like "Alone"! As for Vidar, such a crap song! Again, for my taste! I don't know if the rockabilly lovers like this. I don't!

If I had to pick the three qualifiers I'd send to the final Julie Bergan, Carina Dahl (I'm not sure she can sing live though. Her performance was like a pure playback!) and Tom Hugo. Mimi's song has a nice beat but the lyrics are... Well let's say I don't really like songs promoting sex in that way...

PS Sorry about the links guys. The synch is pretty bad but that's I could find on youtube right now. 

ESC 2013 - Austria's five songs

This is the list of the competing artists and their songs (taken by eurovision.tv):

1. Falco Luneau - Rise Above The Night (written by Falco Luneau, Tony Cornelissen)
2. Natália Kelly - Shine (written by Andreas Grass, Nikola Paryla, Natalia Kelly, Alexander Kahr)
3. The Bandaloop - Back To Fantasy (written by Barca Baxant, Justin Case)
4. Elija - Give Me A Sign (written by Elija)
5. Yela - Feels Like Home (written by Daniela Bauer, Lukas Hillebrand, Alexander Pohn)

Listen to them HERE.

1. Alright this will stay in the semi. Ok no, it's not bad but given the fact that it's Austria and that it will compete in the first half of the first semi, the chances of making it are low. There's nothing special about it. It's an ordinary radio song. But to be honest I kinda like it. If I keep listening to it, it will grow on me a lot.

2. I like this one! I even get some Eurovision vibes!

3. I struggled to keep it playing until the end. 'Nuff said.

4. Another ok song. Nothing much here...

5. Hello radio song no3. But this actually could do something with a smart staging...

Ok I have a clear winner! Natália Kelly! Hope you can sing live girl!

ESC 2013 - The logo and the semi-final allocation draw

eurovision.tv

Let's start with the logo and slogan... (click on the photo to enlarge it). I have to say that the first impression wasn't so good... It's beautiful but it looks random. It has nothing to do with Sweden and SVT said there won't be any slogan this year. On the other hand, after all those press releases about this year's concept, the randomness kinda makes sense. Add to that the story behind it and ok! I like it!

The slogan... Well as a member on escforums.com said, do we actually need it? I don't know. The logo does look better without the slogan right there. "We are one"... yeah I don't really like the slogan...

Let's go to the semi-final allocation draw...

I'm glad for Greece and Israel for now... Sad for Slovenia and Iceland (if they pick Erna's song). Right now I can't say much! I need to listen to the songs and then I will see which countries will be benefitted and which not...

DMPG 2013 - The songs and artists

Well to be honest I wasn't planning to write about DMPG's line-up but we have teasers of the songs so I wanna comment them. The thing is that I don't have much free time so I can't blog about everything and especially about countries that are not my favourite in the contest and therefore I don't know any of their artists. Blogging about the rest of the countries would be just to inform you about them and nothing more since I can't make any comments. And you know there are hundreds of eurosites out there which are closely follow everything so you can find any info you want there. :)

Back to DMPG now. Listen to the songs HERE.

1. Frederikke Vedel - Jeg har hele tiden vidst det (Pernille Georgi, Thomas Reil, Jeppe Reil)
Like! Schlager! Good start Denmark! An extra point for the danish.

2. Brinck - Human (Niels Brinck)
Brinck is back! But I'm not that impressed... I totally prefer his 2009 attempt in ESC.

3. Kate Hall - I'm not alone (Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Larsson, Michelle Bell, Oscar Holter, Jakke Erixson, Simon Hermansen)
Another up-tempo! Nice! I can't tell a lot just from those 30 seconds though... It's not bad...

4. Louise Dubiel - Rejs dig op (Casper Lindstad, Rune Braager, Louise Dubiel)
Nah. I don't like this one...

5. Daze - We own the universe (Thomas G:son, Peter Boström)
The winning writing team of the ESC 2012... However I can't say I like this... Maybe if I listen to the entire song but from what I hear it's a no...

6. Simone Egeriis - Stay awake (Lars Halvor Jensen, Carsten Lindberg)
Right. I like this a lot! So far it's my favourite!

7. Jack Rowan ft. Sam Gray - Invincible (Achmad Darwich, Jack Rowan, Sam Gray)
Uhm yeah. I prefer this one...

8. Emmelie de Forest - Only teardrops (Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, Thomas Stengaard)
I need to hear the verses... Chorus is too repetitive...

9. Albin - Beautiful to me (Brian Risberg Clausen, Mads Haugaard)
A bit cheesy... And it's just the chorus so...

10. Mohamed Ali - Unbreakable (Morten Friis, Michael Parsberg, Peter Bjørnskov, Lene Dissing)
 I like this. It has a nice beat but that's all I can say now.

Overall it's a good final with many up-tempo songs and I like that. Unfortunately I don't see any winning material here. Not for my taste at least.

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2013 - The songs

Ok holidays are over! Söngvakeppni's songs are out so let's get to work!

Semi-final 1 January 25th:

Magni Ásgeirsson - Ekki Líta Undan (Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Ingibjörg Gunnarsdóttir)
So icelandic! Nice song but nothing special. The thing is however that I don't mind hearing this over and over but will it work in ESC? Well it depends on what the other countries will send.

Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson - Ég á Líf (Örlygur Smári, Pétur Örn Guðmundsson)
No no. That's a sleeping pill! Don't like it at all!

Svavar Knútur Kristinsson & Hreindís Ylva Garðarsdóttir Hólm - Lífið Snýst (Hallgrímur Óskarsson, Svavar Knútur Kristinsson)
Another no. The music in this one is also really icelandic but I don't like the song. I find it boring.

Birgitta Haukdal - Meðal Andanna (Birgitta Haukdal, Sylvía Haukdal Brynjarsdóttir, Jonas Gladnikoff, Michael James Down, Primoz Poglajen)
Hm... I was excited to see Birgitta's name here coz I really love her 2003 attempt but this one... ah I don't know. It's not much...

Edda Viðarsdóttir - Sá sem Lætur Hjartað Ráða För (Þórir Úlfarsson, Kristján Hreinsson)
Not this one either... I can't say I don't like it. It's just a bit meh... :/

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir (Yohanna) - Þú (Davíð Sigurgeirsson)
Ok I've read quite a few comments about Yohanna's song. Negative comments that is. But I actually like it! Yeah it's nowhere near "Is It True?" and "Nótt" but I like it!

Semi-final 2 January 26th:

Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir - Augnablik (Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Ingibjörg Gunnarsdóttir)
I like this one. I get a feeling of the Middle Ages... You know knights, kings, queens, castles, horses etc. It's totally a grower!

Unnur Eggertsdóttir - Ég Syng! (Elíza Newman, Gísli Kristjánsson, Ken Rose, Hulda G. Geirsdóttir)
I like this one too! It's a happy song!

Klara Ósk Elíasdóttir - Skuggamynd (Hallgrímur Óskarsson, Ashley Hicklin, Bragi Valdimar Skúlason)
Nothing here... Most of these songs sound so similar so there's nothing I can say...

Sylvía Erla Scheving - Stund Með þér (María Björk Sverrisdóttir)
Ok song. Just another icelandic song I can say.

Jógvan Hansen & Stefanía Svavarsdóttir - Til þín (Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Ágúst Ibsen)
Not my cup of tea...

Haraldur Reynisson - Vinátta (Haraldur Reynisson)
This is way too boring!

Ok I really don't know which is my winner! Most of them sound the same... I'm between Magni, Yohanna, Erna and maybe Birgitta...