Our tip for the Norwegian MGP crown!

The third and final set of entries for the Norwegian MGP have just been released. Having now heard the full versions of all 21 songs taking part this year, we predict that the winner will be:

Didrik Solli-Tangen with the excellent My Heart is Yours.

It's a strong ballad that sounds very similar to Cyndi's ballad in the UK final three years ago. Unlike the UK in 2007, Norway in 2010 know a good song when they hear one, and it helps that the co-author is a certain Mr. Fredrik Kempe! The song competes in the 3rd heat on Saturday hoping to make it to the final in Oslo on February 6th.

We confidently predict that Didrik will sail through to Spektrum on Saturday and will win the MGP final and go onto represent his home country in May. We will be in the arena on the night of the MGP final to cheer him on!

You can hear a snippet of the song here.

Be sure to tune in on Saturday night to see and hear the full version!

Getting to know Hera!

Eurovision Express was delighted to meet the wonderful Hera Bjork in Moscow and are equally delighted that she is attempting to represent Iceland in Oslo.

Let's get to know a little about Hera....



and here's the song that we hope will get our favourite Icelandic to Oslo....
we wish you all the best Hera!

Rolf proves he's still got The Touch!

From the sunny climes of Gran Canaria, Eurovision Express has still managed to listen to the full length versions of this week's Norwegian songs.

And we're pleased to say that the full version of The Touch, written by Rolf Lovland and performed by Maria Arredondo, is very good: if anything the verse outshines the chorus. It builds to a suitably arresting climax, and we're pretty convinced it will qualify directly to the Final in Oslo.

We still love Venke's Jealous Cause I Love You, although the verse here is decidedly weaker than the chorus. The full version of Alexander Stenerud's Give It To Me didn't live up to our initial expectations; that said we're sure Alexander will give a fantastic performance on Saturday, and there's no denying the power of the song's ending.

So our thoughts are: Maria and Venke to the Final, with Alexander and Tomine Harket to 2nd Chance round.

It just proves you can't rely on 30 seconds, but have to hear a song in full.

Waiting until this weekend comes...

Eurovision Express is currently getting away from all the snow, and has headed South to the Canary Islands for some sun. But, of course, we're still keeping our ear to the ground on the Eurovision front.

We're looking forward to the semi-finals taking place this weekend in Finland, Norway and Iceland.

Here are our tips:

Finland
The best song this Friday evening is the irresistibly quirky Annankadun kulmassa sung by Heli Kajo. It makes us think of something that could be used as part of the soundtrack in a Charlie Chaplin film, and is like something Finland might have sent in the 1970s. It's great!

Norway
Our favourite this week is Venke Knutson with the very catchy Jealous Cause I Love You. We also think Alexander Stenerud is in with a chance of going directly into the Final with Give It To Me. We're a tad disappointed with the entry penned by Rolf Lovland, The Touch, sung by Maria Arredondo. But to be fair we've only heard snippets so far, so things could change!

Iceland
The song that stands out this week is I Believe In Angels, performed by Sigrun Vala, which should sail into the Final.

Switzerland Eurovision 2010: Michael von der Heide

Hot off the press, here's the Swiss entry for Eurovision 2010: Michael von der Heide with Il Pleut De l'Or.

Ice Ice Baby

Tonight Iceland begins its quest to find a successor to Yohanna, who came 2nd in last year's Contest.

Eurovision Express is backing Íris Hólm with The One, a big, heart-breaking ballad. You can hear the song here, and find out more about Íris below.

In her interview she reveals that her favourite Eurovision moment is Selma's 2nd place in 1999. Apparently she kept watching that contest again and again, hoping Selma might win! She's also keen to be a hairdresser....well here at Eurovision Express we reckon you should keep to singing good songs, just like The One.

Who will represent Norway on home turf?

The search to find out who will follow in Alexander Rybak's footsteps and represent Norway at this year's Eurovision begins this evening. The first 'semi' final comes from Ørland. Seven acts are competing for 2 spaces in the Final, with the songs coming 3rd and 4th going through to a Second Chance Round.

Having listened to the seven songs, we think Norway is easing us in gently, as all of the entries are reasonably good, but none really sounds like a song that will actually make it to May's Eurovision. Big hitters, like A1, Mira Craig and Maria Arredondo, are coming up in the next two 'semis'.

The name that stands out tonight is Maria Haukaas Storeng (pictured below), but unfortunately You Make My Day is not a patch on Hold On Be Strong, Norway's entry in 2008. It's pleasant, but not a winner. That said, it has a good chance of going straight to the Final.


Our favourites this evening are probably Bjørn Johan Muri's Yes man, Elisabeth Carew's Rocketfuel and we think Gaute Ormåsen could surprise people and qualify with the only song in the Norwegian language, Synk eller svøm which has a strong oom-pah-pah feel to it.


But if we had to stake our mortgage on which song will definitely get through to the Norwegian Final, we'd have to plump for rock/thrash/metal group Keep of Kalessin (pictured above) with The Dragontower. It's not our cup of tea, but we're sure the stage act will be spectacular, and it's likely to stand out amongst the six other more laid back entries.

You can watch the show from 19.40 (CET) here

Will Nina finnish on top with some vintage cider?

This weekend sees a number of countries kicking off their Eurovision selections. Alongside Norway and Iceland, Finland begin their search for a song.

Here at Eurovision Express our fingers are firmly crossed for Nina Lassander and the fabulous Cider Hill. This is a beautiful, arresting song. We're just hoping that Finland, better known of late for sending rock songs, will realise just how good this song is.

So Nina, sock it to 'em, and let's hope everyone gets drunk on your vintage cider.

You can hear the song below.

Norwegian Semi 1 snippets online

Snippets of the seven songs in the first Norwegian semi final (taking place this Friday) can be heard here.

Is it true....? Dana is a granny!

A very happy new year to all our readers.

Two news stories to start 2010.



First off, we attended a very lavish do indeed last night at a secret location to select the best ESC song of the previous decade -or the "noughties" as they have become known. It was a close run thing but in the end, the Shady Lady - Ani Lorak - was pipped at the post (quite rightly in our view) by the excellent "Is it true?" by Johanna from Iceland ,which came 2nd in 2009. Congratulations to Johanna!



On another note, Congratulations go to Ireland's first ever Eurovision winner - Dana - who has just become a grandmother. Details here

Puppet on a string for Malta?

A very strange act is competing to represent Malta at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Ryan Dale (human) and Duminika (puppet - we think) performed "One For You" in the 4th semi final.

The song isn't especially strong, so maybe the composers thought adding a puppet, which looks a little like a drag queen, might liven things up a bit. We're not sure it was such a good idea - have they forgotten how badly Dustin The Turkey did for Ireland?

Check out the performance below (scroll to 1:27 for the puppet).

Merry Christmas from Alexander Rybak!

We at Eurovision Express wish you all a very Merry Christmas and here's to a marvellous new Eurovision year! As they say in Oslo ..God jul og Godt Nytt År.

Our 2009 winner - Mr Rybak - is definitely in the festive mood!

It's all kicking off in Malta

Tonight the first of 6 heats to find Chiara's successor took place in Malta.

For Eurovision Express the stand-out song was Song Number 3 - Change, performed by Richard Edwards. This confidently performed ballad looks set to make it through to the national final, taking place on 20 February.

Take a look at Richard's performance below:

Wild for Peter Jöback?

Sweden has announced another wildcard contender for Melodifestivalen 2010. It's Peter Jöback, who's pretty big in the Nordic countries.

Eurovision Express knows him primarily for his fantastic collaboration with 1995 Eurovision winners, Secret Garden. On their album, Inside I'm Singing, he takes lead vocal on Thank You (below). If his MF song, Hollow, is anywhere near as good as that, we're in for a treat.


Peter's MF song is written Anders Hansson (who wrote Alcastar, Temple of Love and Lay Your Love On Me, amongst other previous MF entries) and Fredrik Kempe, who of course, has been behind Sweden 2 most recent Eurovision entries.

Peter is also well connected to Eurovision royalty, Benny and Björn from ABBA, having created the role of Robert in B+B's musical Kristina.

We reckon Peter's going to be hot favourite to win MF 2010....and we'll be throwing a few quid on him as soon as betting opens!

Finland's Fifteen

The 15 songs vying to represent Finland at the 2010 Eurovision have been put online. However at time of writing it seems that there has been too much traffic to the website of national broadcaster, YLE, so they aren't currently available there.

But thanks to Youtube, we've taken a quick listen, and think they're not a bad bunch of songs.

On first hearing our favourites are:

Osmo Ikonen - Heaven or Hell


Heli Kajo - Annankadun kulmassa


Nina Lassander - Cider Hill


The Finnish national selection consists of 3 rounds, beginning on 8 January and ending with a grand final on 30 January.

Let It Swing! Norway reveals 21 songs competing to defend Eurocrown

The 21 song titles (and writers) taking part in the Norwegian MGP, which will select the host country's Eurovision entry in 2010, have been revealed here.

And what a list it is! There are some extremely familiar names, not least 2 times Eurovision winner, Rolf Løvland (above), who has submitted a song called The Touch.

Other songwriters on the list are Mira Craig (composer of Hold On Be Strong), Alexander Stenerud (who entered MGP in 2008 with Find My Girl), Ben Adams, Mark Read, Christian Ingebrigtsen, David Eriksen (aka boy band A1), Melodifestivalen veteran, Fredrik Kempe and Maltese lyricist, Gerard James Borg!

It looks like Norway is going all out to get a great song to represent them in Oslo next year. And the good news is we don't have to wait too long before the Norwegian selection kicks off. The first semi final takes place on 8 January.

Let It Swing!

The Netherlands wins Junior Eurovision 2009!

Ok we got it wrong big time this year with Junior Eurovision. Our tip, Malta, came 8th!

The voting was exciting, and just as the points of the last jury came in, it looked like Armenia was going to win, but FYR Macedonia gave them just 1 point, and handed victory to The Netherlands. For Armenia it's the 2nd time they looked like they were going to win: in 2007 they had victory snatched away at the last moment.

So congratulations to Ralf and his catchy entry Click Clack. Perhaps the fact that Ralf sang after a series of girl performers helped, especially as, we guess, most of the young audience would be girls, who would probably want to vote for a boy.

So 2009 has been an interesting year with two Western countries winning Eurovision and Junior Eurovision. It looks like the addition of juries has helped balance things up, and now, provided a country has a good song, anyone can win.

Hooray - after a decade of difficulties, Eurovision looks like it will enter the 'Teenies' in good health.

Junior Eurovision 2009 - our tip for the top: MALTA!

OK, we love the Belgian song, we really do, but we think the winner of Junior Eurovision 2009 is Malta!

This time last week we didn't rate the Maltese song at all, but that was before we saw the entry's performers, Francesca and Mikaela rehearsing in Kyiv. This once passed over song is now our tip for the top!

It's called Double Trouble - a bouncy pop tune with a clever, but simple prop (incorporating stairs and a slide), a key change just at the right moment....and a brilliant use of bubbles!

What we like about this song is that it doesn't look overly rehearsed. Quite a lot of the entries in Junior are just a bit too slick and polished, and we're not sure that's what this contest is about.

Judge for yourselves:

Junior Eurovision 2009 - Belgium is best but not our winner!

There's one stand out song in this year's Junior Contest, and it comes from Belgium. Laura sings Zo Verliefd, and throws in some good old yodelling for good measure.

It's definitely the best song in the Contest, and if there's any justice it will win big on Saturday, but it will be interesting to see if a Western song can win the Contest. Most countries taking part are from the East, so if Belgium does triumph it will be quite an achievement.

Until the beginning of the week Belgium would have been our tip for the top, but after seeing one particular song in rehearsal, we've changed our minds. One entry that we hadn't even really noticed has totally gone up in our estimation, so much so that we're tipping it to win.

But which song is it? All will be revealed tomorrow!

Junior Eurovision 2009 - another one to watch: Belarus

Belarus may not have had much success in the adult Eurovision, but they've won the Junior Contest twice: in 2005 and 2007.

This year their song is quite a strange affair. Backed by 4 young chaps, it's sung by Yury Demidovich, and is a mix of opera, hard rock and lots of talking. It's called Volshebnyi Krolik which we think translates as Magic Rabbit.

Most people seem to think it's a poor song, but there's no denying the performance is certainly intriguing and Yury looks calm and comfortable. Will it be a 3rd victory for Belarus - probably not, but it may come close.

Watch the first rehearsal here:

Junior Eurovision 2009 - ones to watch: Netherlands and Russia

With 3 days to go before the big event, it's time for Eurovision Express to take a look at who's likely to do well in this year's Junior Eurovision.

Amongst our favourites are the songs from the Netherlands and Russia.


The Dutch song is in the hands of one of the few boy singers in the contest - Ralf Mackenbach, who sings the catchy Click Clack. Ralf performs 7th on the night, and has the advantage of being the first boy to appear in the running order. It's a good song, and we think it deserves to find its way near the top of the final scoreboard.


Another strong contender comes from Russia with Ekaterina Ryabova singing Malenkiy Prints. Unfortunately for Ekaterina she's performing in the dreaded 2nd position, although the first Junior Contest was won by Dino for Croatia from that spot.

Watch the first rehearsals of these 2 songs below:

Place Your Bets Please....for Junior Eurovision 2009

Eurovision Express always likes a little flutter, and we're always interested to see what the odds are on the Junior Contest. Last year we had to wait until 11am on the day of the Contest before any betting was available, but not this year!

The only bookmaker that seems to offer odds these days are Bet365, so hats off to them!

Here are the starting prices:

Belgium 7/2
Russia 7/2
Ukraine 4/1
Netherlands 9/2
Georgia 5/1
Belarus 9/1
FYR Macedonia 10/1
Sweden 12/1
Armenia 12/1
Romania 14/1
Malta 16/1
Serbia 18/1
Cyprus 18/1

We've taken a look at the rehearsals from Day 1, which covered 12 of the 13 songs, and placed our bets. On whom, you may ask?

Well, all will be revealed later in the week, but it wasn't a country we originally had any intention of betting on!

Junior Eurovision is on its way

It's just over a week til Junior Eurovision 2009. Eurovision Express prides itself on keeping an eye on the younger member of the Eurovision family, and this year will be no different.

Rehearsals kick off next Monday in Kyiv, Ukraine, and we'll be providing our regular dose of thoughts, reactions and predictions on who's likely to triumph this year.

Meanwhile let's take a look at last year's winners, from Georgia:

Johan's Our Joker!

For 2010 Sweden has allocated one of its 32 semi-final places to a song that is chosen by the Swedish public through a series of voting from online clips.

There were, we think, about 200-300 songs vying for this spot - in other words far too many to listen to. Now there are just 10 left so we can make a few comments.

The most interestingly titled is Alrik Paulsson's Lite sex och lite spex, but unfortunately the song isn't especially strong.

Lovers of 80s camp should check out Genjor McNell's My Kind of Love. And for sheer cheek you have to admire Ingela Hemming, whose Love For People sounds uncannily like Roxette's It Must Have Been Love.

But, our money's on Johan Skoog with a very good pop song - När vi har landat . Johan we've got our fingers crossed for you!

Judge the 10 songs for yourself here.

Let's hear it for Hera! Consong winner 2009!

Eurovision Express is back from Belfast, are we're delighted to report that Hera Bjork did, as we predicted, win ConSong 2009 for Denmark. But it was a close run thing!

As always ConSong - a competition that gives songs that didn't make it through their national finals a chance to compete against each other - was an incredibly well produced event.

We had thought Hera Bjork was going to romp home with the brilliant Someday, but in the end it was only 4 points that separated her from the song that came second, Norway's Alexander Stenerup's Find My Girl (see video below).



Completing a Scandinavian top three was Sweden's Alcazar with Stay The Night.


Fourth place was taken by Greece with Sakis' Ride On Time, although we think they would have done better with the other song that Sakis sang in the national final, the 80s sounding Out Of Control.

And, much to our delight, the Netherlands came 5th with The Toppers and Everybody Can Be A Star, which we think is much better than Shine.

So a good Top 5, but best of all - Hera triumphed!