Super Saturday Preview 2 - Croatia - Maja's got it in the bag!

Another Super Saturday contender up next - Croatia.

Having listened to the rather uninspiring offerings in this year's Dora, we think it's clear that a previous entrant has the best song and also the best chance of representing her country again in Belgrade.

Maja Blagdan sings Zvala sam ga anđele, a nice little ballad which stands out from the rest of the pack.

If you're not familiar with Maja take a look at her performance in the 1996 Contest. It's become a classic, thanks to Terry Wogan's commentary. During one particularly screechy part, Terry says something like 'Steady Woman'. Might not sound funny (and quite a few fans were outraged) but in context you'll seeing where Terry's coming from.

12 years on Maja's still going strong, and we reckon it'll be Blagdan for Belgrade! Take a look at her performance below.

Super Saturday Preview 1 - Romania - Let It Shine

First up in our Super Saturday preview is Romania. Over the past couple of weekends they've held two qualify rounds to create a final with 12 songs.

The one to beat looks to be Shine by all male trio Biondo. And guess what? It's co-written by Måns Zelmerlöw, who sang Cara Mia in last year's Melodifestival. Joining Måns on writing credits are fellow Swedes Henrik Wikström and Niklas Edberger, who have composed many a tune for the Swedish Eurovision heats.

Shine is a powerful, opera-lite song, aimed at those who enjoy the likes of Il Divo and G4, and, should Romania choose it on Saturday, we reckon it will sail through to the Eurovision Final.

What's in store on Super Saturday

Next Saturday (23 February) no fewer than 8 countries will be choosing their Eurovision entry for Belgrade.

Yes, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Romania and The Ukraine have collectively created the busiest night of Eurovision entertainment in living memory.

It's all going to pretty hectic, so over the next week we'll be providing an essential guide to Super Saturday.

Carola's Goose is cooked!

What a shocka in Västerås tonight! Three times Melodifestival winner Carola, together with Andreas Johnson, probably thought getting through tonight's Swedish qualifying round would be a walk in the park.

Everything indicated that favourites Sanna Nielsen and Carola/Andreas would sail into the Globen final on March 15th. Sanna got through ok, and all seemed to be going to plan.

But then came the result. Two bald-headed, red-suited Scissor Sister wannabes called Rongedal produced what is probably the biggest shock in Melodifestival history. They got the ticket to the final and the dream ticket of Carola and Andreas have to suffer the embarrassment of going into the 2nd chance round! Carola's face said it all!

All looks bright for Charlotte Perelli and BWO now!

Time for Turkey

It's relatively quiet on the Eurovision front this weekend. Everyone is girding their loins for next week's SuperSaturday - on 23 February no fewer than 8 countries will be picking their entry for Belgrade.

Attention this weekend is likely to be focussed on Turkey, who are not having a national final, but have simply chosen an artist and a song. This method has proved pretty successful for them in recent years - Sertab won Eurovision in 2003 and Kenan came 4th last year.

Hoping to keep up the good work are alternative four-piece rock band Mor ve Ötesi, which means 'Violet and Beyond'. Here at Eurovision Express we're not especially into alternative rock, although we did like Lordi, Wig Wam and Athena (if they count as alternative!). But we're all for a diverse range of musical styles in the Contest, so we're looking forward to seeing what the boys from Turkey have prepared for us.

Their song will be premiered tonight on Turkish TV at around 18.30 CET, so hopefully we'll be able to see and hear the song not too long after that. Stay tuned!

It's a knockout!

More news is filtering in about Eurovision: Your Decision, the new format the UK will use to select its Eurovision entry for Belgrade.

Information from the press office section of the BBC's website suggests that six acts will battle it out in three (as yet unannounced) categories, although, we here at Eurovisio Express, suspect these may be Male Soloists, Female Soloists and Groups.

During the first of two programmes one act from each category will be knocked out. The three successful acts, plus a wildcard, will proceed to the second programme, during which the four songs will be reduced yet again to two for a 'superfinal'.

It's unclear at the moment if the wildcard will be one of the original six acts that gets knocked out in the first round, or a completely separate seventh act (although this latter option seems less likely).

Singers and songtitles are still to be revealed, so this format still leaves the possibility for the much mooted Joseph/Maria concept to be used. For example the three categories could be 'Josephs', 'Marias' and 'Joseph and Marias'.

More information as soon as we get it!

"MYMU" RIP - Say Hello To "EYD"

Looks like the BBC is renaming its national final from Making Your Mind Up (or MYMU as it was affectionately known) to Eurovision: Your Decision.

Although we don't think people are going to start calling the show EYD, maybe the change of name is a step in the right direction. Associating the UK Eurovision selection with Bucks Fizz's winning song from 1981 perhaps suggested to the voting public that what the UK needed was a stereotypical 'Boom-Bang-A-Bang' type entry.

And, as the past 5 years have shown, this is definitely not what we need to send. Eurovision Express thinks it's time for us to send a good solid ballad (a la Jessica Garlick) or a contemporary pop song (a la Imaani).

The BBC should be announcing details of EYD within the next week or so, and whether it takes the form of the rumoured Joseph+Maria/Lloyd Webber+Gary Barlow extravaganza or another format, the only thing that really matters is that we send a good song. Fingers crossed.

Cheeky Scotland!

Eyebrows and kilts were raised this week when it was reportedly announced that Scotland has been given permission to break away from the U.K. and launch its own bid for glory at the Eurovision Song Contest.

According the several newspapers and websites, the EBU has said there was nothing to prevent Scottish musicians from entering under their own flag.

The ruling comes after lobbying from a Scottish member of the European Parliament, Mr Alan Smyth.

However, practically this is probably not a realistic option as Scotland would be able to vote for itself as it would use the U.K. phone system!

Maybe some day eh, Scotland?

Meanwhile in Moldova....

What with all the excitement in Norway, Eurovision Express didn't really have time to check out the Moldovan final. Anyway, they've chosen Geta Burlacu and a sultry jazz number called A Century Of Love, which is not dissimilar to last year's Lithuanian entry.

Eurovision fans don't seem to be exactly ecstatic with the choice, most feeling that Alexa and her uptempo We Are One would have been a better choice. Seems that the Moldovan public agrees. Geta only won by getting high marks with the two juries - in the televote Alexa scored 7665, resoundly beating Geta's 4293.

Judge for youself. Geta's video is on the right, amongst the songs already selected to represent their country this year. Alexa's song is below.

Girl Power from Norway!

photo nrk.no

Hurrah! Our fave song has won in Norway. Maria Haukaas Storeng's fabulous Hold On Be Strong written by Mira Craig, wiped the floor with the rest of the competition in Oslo last night. The win also bagged us a few Krone from some well placed bets! Tak!

The Norwegian song is now our joint favourite so far this year, along with Switzerland's Era Stupendo. The songs selected so far are all on this page - just scroll down on the right-hand side to see them all.

Want to learn more about Ms Haukaas Storeng? Click here to link to Maria's own website.

Good luck in Belgrade...Hold on be strong girls!

Eurovision Express spotted in Hungary!!

We're loving the disco version of the Hungarian song for Belgrade - Szívverés by Csézy! It's an homage to this blog! Choo Choo!

Far Away In The Land Of The Furrytale....

Excitement is mounting here at Eurovision Express ahead of tonight's Norwegian MGP. It's a strong line-up, and although we're a tad disappointed Zuma didn't make it to the Spektrum, there's still plenty of great songs to cheer on.

The hot favourite with the bookies is King of Trolls (pictured above) with Far Away. We love all the words that sound like they begin with the letter 'F' at the start of the chorus - 'fairytale' (sounds more like 'furrytale'), 'fun' and 'thrilling' (sounds more like 'frilling'). Quite whether this song cuts the mustard live, however, is pretty debatable.

Eurovision Express also has soft spots for Veronica Akselsen with her hypnotic ballad Am I Supposed To Love Again, and Torstein Sødal's West End style showstopper, Eastern Wind. Bizarrely neither of these songs were given a cat in hell's chance of getting through their qualifying heats - but we here at Eurovision Express knew better and backed them all the way. We were delighted, and considerably richer, when they made it direkt til Spektrum.



But which song would we really like to see winning tonight? Well, if it's down to merit, it has to be Maria Haukaas Storeng(pictured above), with the sultry, Amy Winehouse-sounding Hold On Be Strong. If Norway wants to hold its head up high in Belgrade then this is the song to send! See Maria's performance below.

Viva Forever

Well looks like no one in Europe can get the Hungarian webstream to work, so Eurovision Express thought we'd check out Youtube to see if any new Eurovision gems had come to light. A few clicks later and up pops the video to Cinema Bizarre's Forever or Never, one of the five songs fighting it out to represent Germany.

We're loving this. Good luck guys!

Hungary for Orsi

Eurovision Express has been wading through the 15 entries in the Hungarian national final, to be held tonight at 20.10 CET. We loved Hungary's first entry back in 1994 - Kinek Mondjam El Vetkeimet, and thought Nox were great in 2005.

Tonight we'll be supporting pop minx Orsi Szatmári and her song, Véletlen. You can hear the song on Orsi's website here, or below. We reckon it sounds like it would be more at home representing Spain. Indeed it's very reminiscent of David Civera's entry from 2001 - but that's no bad thing!

Alas we don't know much more about Orsi (her website is all in Hungarian of course!), but we'll be cheering her on tonight, that is if the weblink doesn't break down of course!

2nd Chance Shocka!

How wrong did we get that then?

The two songs through to the final of MGP are not Lene or Zuma or even Podium....but in fact are The Tinkerbells and Ole Ivars! What a shocka!

Poor ol' Lene and her Sillycone Valley (currently no.17 in the Norwegian charts) won't be performing in the final.

After that shock, we are more convinced than ever that the King of Trolls will be victorious on Saturday!

"Far away in the land of the furry-tales...."

You can say that again!

Sistesjansen...You Decide!

Hi

Thank you for voting for the two "Sistesjansen" songs that you want to get through to the final of the Norwegian MGP. The two most popular songs were:

Lena Alexandra - Sillycone Valley
and
Podium - Lystgass

with Zuma in 3rd place. Tune into NRK tonight to see if our voters were right!

You can play my Bungles again!

Eurovision Express has already made it clear that we would like Zuma to make it through Norway's Second Chance round. But who should join them?

We hope it will be either The Tinkerbells or Anne Hvidsten, both of whom have concocted Corrs-meets-Wilson Phillips confections. But therein, alas, lies their downfall - the songs are too similar to one another, and could well cancel each other out.

Schlager dansband Ole Ivars is a little too old fashioned for even us, and rockgroup Podium a bit too modern. So that leaves us with the competition's one time hot favourite, Lene Alexandra.

Unfortunately Lene's song, Sillycone Valley, is not, as the title would lead you to expect, about IT, but about parts of the female anatomy.

Of course Lene does have the support of Rainbow star, Bungle, who gets a name check in the song. Altogether now - "And if you wanna play my Bungles, you can can play 'em til you blow your mind".

The sprouts are springing in our garden.....

With two more spots to fill in Saturday's Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix, midweek Eurovision excitement is focussed on Wednesday's Second Chance round.

In what has surely been the best national selection so far this year, Eurovision Express would like to see pop duo, Zuma, make it to the Spektrum this Saturday. Their song, Always Always, is a Pet Shop Boys inspired piece of brilliance, and with lyrics like "I'll be there when the sprouts are springing in your garden, and the badger's waking up" we can't help but love it!

So, come on Norway, vote Zuma!

Dustin's Fan Club arrives in Ireland!

So the rumours are true, Ireland has a turkey in the national final. How marvellous. Irish celebrity puppet - Dustin the Turkey - has an entry called Irlande Douze Points which apparently makes a reference to UK commentator Terry Wogan's (alleged) wig! It's got winner written all over it.

Ireland has been criticised by many fans each year for sending typical ethnic/ballad-type songs. Well, they have certainly woken up and smelt the coffee this year. It's a case of - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em - and we think it's a brilliant idea to enter a puppet!

Well done RTE, and we hope Dustin can win the Irish national final on 23rd feb and bring Ireland back up to the top of the scoreboard in Eurovision!

Here's Dustin meeting Westlife....

Four-tune smiles on Rebeka!

If at first, you don't succeed, try try try again. And tonight it was 4th time lucky for Rebeka Dremelj in Slovenia - but only just. She beat an ethnic-type song into second place by just over 350 televotes.

Her entry - Vrag naj vzame is a very typical Slovenian europop entry, and, as such, will probably suffer the same fate as the likes of Karmen Stavic, Sestre and Anžej Dežan. But hey, who cares, she has finally made it and we're sure it will become a fan fave!

You can see all 10 ESC 2008 songs selected so far if you scroll down on the right of this page.

Good luck in Belgrade Rebeka!

Samara for Slovenia?

Tonight the Euro-tastic country of Slovenia chooses its entry for Belgrade. There are some notable names in the shake-up - not least Rebecca Dremelj, Manca Spik and the hardy annual of the EMA - Johnny Bravo.

However, our money is on the saucy little minx singing last - Brigita Suler - with her entry Samara, which has a very mediterranean feel about it. We like this one very much, but just wish she would sing more than "Aaaaaahhhhh" for the chorus. We're sure her stint as a playboy model will stand her in good stead for some powerful hip-thrusting tonight.

Not a great selection from Slovenia this year, but our fingers are crossed for Brigita! Here she is, accompanied by a mad violinist!

Rock On Tallinn....

Gracious! It's gone from the sublime (Denmark and All Night Long) to the ridiculous as Cannon and Ball tribute act have won the right to represent Estonia at this year's Eurovision.

Kreisiraadio sing (or attempt to) Leto Svet. Since the introduction of the semi-final format in 2004 Estonia has never managed to get through to the final. This year they have resorted to a joke song to see if they can break their run of bad luck. And although we here at Eurovision Express don't really like it, we think it could do pretty well. Altogether now...Leto Svet, Leto Leto Svet....

An Error in Estonia!

Oh dear. Looks like our favourite in Estonia - It's Never Too Late - has bombed, coming in 8th! It's now between 3 songs: a fab ballad - 365 Days; the ever-so-slightly bizarre - Ice Cold Story; and the absolutely mad Leto Svet, which appears to feature Cannon and Ball...

Fingers crossed for 365 Days, but we anticipate Ice Cold Story winning. If Leto Svet does it, then we give up....

Denmark Delivers a Delicious Ditty!

Hurrah! Our fave song in the DMGP has won! It was a close run thing but the Horsen Hunk won through in the end. Simon Mathew will represent Denmark in Belgrade with the marvellous All Night Long.

Simon saw off some stiff competition from Sandee May with her Spanish Soul and the oh-so-catchy (not!) Everybody needs a tree from Unite. In the end, we didn't need a tree, just a good song from Denmark, and we have one. Tak!

One down, two to go....come on Estonia pick Luisa and Trafik!

Denmark, Estonia or Lithuania??

Tonight, we are treated to not one, not two, but three national finals. By the end of the night we will know 10 of the songs for Belgrade.

Denmark (20:00 cet), Estonia (20:30 cet), and Lithuania (20:00 cet) will all choose their Eurovision entries tonight. Decisions, decisions, which one to watch live and which to watch later? And of course, not forgetting Azerbaijan, who choose their singer tonight. It's gonna be a long night!


Our preferred results would be :

Mini Me with Yes for Lithuania

Simon Mathew with All Night Long for Denmark

Luisa Värk & Traffic with It's never too late for Estonia

Can we get a hat-trick? Probably not! Good luck to all!