Eurovision Season 2018: March Update II
And so, we have finally come to the end of the National Finals road! We've had some good times, some bad times, some sad times and some downright weird times (Kamil Show, we're looking at you). As of today however, we are now a week away from the EBU-set deadline for countries to release their song for the contest. We have a bunch of internal selection reveals set to take place this week (as in most of the internal selection songs) and the dropping of some new mixes of previous national final winning songs (namely the United Kingdom, Spain & Moldova). For now though, we look ahead our final three national finals.
Lithuania
To this day, I find the way that Lithuania select their Eurovision entry to be the most baffling and bizarre of any country I know. Yet at the same time, it has proven results with the 2015 entry being my personal favourite of that year and the 2016 entry storming the televote in Stockholm. Last year was a bit of a blip but in Ieva Zasimauskaite's 'When We're Old', they have a song which I believe could place in the top 10 in Lisbon. It does of course still need to get through this six-entry national final, but Ieva has consistently come first in all of her heats and has been loved in equal measure by both the juries and the public. The song is sweet, reminiscent and nostalgic and it wouldn't be out of place in today's charts. Take a listen to it and let me know what you think in the comments but I have faith that this is what will win the Lithuanian ticket
Norway
If you were to look at a National Final on paper, THIS is the best and biggest final of the Eurovision season. Where do we start? The return of 2009 runaway winner Alexander Rybak? The return of Aleksander Wallmann who with JOWST returned Norway to the top 10 last year? The return of Kenyan-Norwegian sensation Stella Mwangi who failed to get out of the Semis in 2011 but who still made one of my personal favourite Eurovision entries? A song filled with metaphors about how frisky Scandinavians are? And that's all without mentioning the fan favourite which was written by 2015 entrant Kjetil Morland. It will be a proper knifefight in Oslo to see who gets the Norwegian ticket. My personal favourite of the pack is Aleksander Wallmann and 'Talk to the Hand' but the fun lover within me would like nothing more than to see Ida Maria get the ticket and bring 'Scandilove' to Lisbon!
Sweden
And of course, we had to end with the queen of all National Final processes, Melodifestivalen. Anybody who has been following this blog will know that I am completely incapable of hiding my excitement for everything about this show and I have been shamelessly following it like a hawk for the last few weeks, eating from the laps of what SVT throw down. We now come to the Stockholm final and it really is one of those too close to call years. I was one of the people last year who naively thought that Wiktoria had the whole thing wrapped up. This year, I am not making the same mistake and I am coming in cautious about everybody's chances. My favourite is Samir & Viktor who I have followed not only at every Melodifestivalen they have participated in but also beyond into their own music. I was very excited to see them back in the running for the Swedish ticket this year and it seems to me that they have never had a better shot at the title than they do this year. Standing in their way is the international juries. Will they take to a song in Swedish? Will they take to an upbeat dance song complete with saxophone? I am convinced that they will take to current favourite Benjamin Ingrosso with 'Dance You Off' and to Andra Chansen qualifier Felix Sandman with 'Every Single Day' although Felix will have to hope he can up his televote numbers after failing to beat out Rolandz in his semi final for the automatic spot. Let's not forget that Margaret is now in the final and despite the song not quite living up to the hype, there are still many die-hard Eurovision fans that want her going to Eurovision. Are there enough of them in Sweden to send her through? Will the juries take to the song? I have cleared my schedule on Saturday night in order to come home and watch the show which promises to be a thriller of a contest! If I had to put money on anybody, it would be Benjamin Ingrosso but I am far from being confident enough to call that a prediction!
And that was all your updates on all the 2018 national finals. Coming up on the blog, we will have loads more content ahead of the May finals. I will be releasing my 2018 rankings, I will be talking staging, I will be discussing the favourites and I will even be exploring what winning the contest would mean to certain countries vs. others.
Lithuania
To this day, I find the way that Lithuania select their Eurovision entry to be the most baffling and bizarre of any country I know. Yet at the same time, it has proven results with the 2015 entry being my personal favourite of that year and the 2016 entry storming the televote in Stockholm. Last year was a bit of a blip but in Ieva Zasimauskaite's 'When We're Old', they have a song which I believe could place in the top 10 in Lisbon. It does of course still need to get through this six-entry national final, but Ieva has consistently come first in all of her heats and has been loved in equal measure by both the juries and the public. The song is sweet, reminiscent and nostalgic and it wouldn't be out of place in today's charts. Take a listen to it and let me know what you think in the comments but I have faith that this is what will win the Lithuanian ticket
Norway
If you were to look at a National Final on paper, THIS is the best and biggest final of the Eurovision season. Where do we start? The return of 2009 runaway winner Alexander Rybak? The return of Aleksander Wallmann who with JOWST returned Norway to the top 10 last year? The return of Kenyan-Norwegian sensation Stella Mwangi who failed to get out of the Semis in 2011 but who still made one of my personal favourite Eurovision entries? A song filled with metaphors about how frisky Scandinavians are? And that's all without mentioning the fan favourite which was written by 2015 entrant Kjetil Morland. It will be a proper knifefight in Oslo to see who gets the Norwegian ticket. My personal favourite of the pack is Aleksander Wallmann and 'Talk to the Hand' but the fun lover within me would like nothing more than to see Ida Maria get the ticket and bring 'Scandilove' to Lisbon!
Sweden
And of course, we had to end with the queen of all National Final processes, Melodifestivalen. Anybody who has been following this blog will know that I am completely incapable of hiding my excitement for everything about this show and I have been shamelessly following it like a hawk for the last few weeks, eating from the laps of what SVT throw down. We now come to the Stockholm final and it really is one of those too close to call years. I was one of the people last year who naively thought that Wiktoria had the whole thing wrapped up. This year, I am not making the same mistake and I am coming in cautious about everybody's chances. My favourite is Samir & Viktor who I have followed not only at every Melodifestivalen they have participated in but also beyond into their own music. I was very excited to see them back in the running for the Swedish ticket this year and it seems to me that they have never had a better shot at the title than they do this year. Standing in their way is the international juries. Will they take to a song in Swedish? Will they take to an upbeat dance song complete with saxophone? I am convinced that they will take to current favourite Benjamin Ingrosso with 'Dance You Off' and to Andra Chansen qualifier Felix Sandman with 'Every Single Day' although Felix will have to hope he can up his televote numbers after failing to beat out Rolandz in his semi final for the automatic spot. Let's not forget that Margaret is now in the final and despite the song not quite living up to the hype, there are still many die-hard Eurovision fans that want her going to Eurovision. Are there enough of them in Sweden to send her through? Will the juries take to the song? I have cleared my schedule on Saturday night in order to come home and watch the show which promises to be a thriller of a contest! If I had to put money on anybody, it would be Benjamin Ingrosso but I am far from being confident enough to call that a prediction!
And that was all your updates on all the 2018 national finals. Coming up on the blog, we will have loads more content ahead of the May finals. I will be releasing my 2018 rankings, I will be talking staging, I will be discussing the favourites and I will even be exploring what winning the contest would mean to certain countries vs. others.
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