Eurovision Season 2019: The Preview Post

Whilst some have spent the last month dreaming of a white Christmas. I have been "daring to dream" of an Israeli Eurovision Song Contest in May and so it approaches. They say that the festive period is the most wonderful time of the year but I beg to differ because Eurovision Season has begun and it is already beginning to kindle my fires of expectation and excitement. 

I will start this year's preview by stating the obvious that Bulgaria will be very much missed at next year's contest. In their three years since returning, they not only placed highly but also pushed the boundaries of what people should come to expect from a Eurovision entry. I hope the finances get sorted out soon so they can come back just as big, bold and bad and I speak for many when I say that we would love to see the contest in Sofia someday.

Now onwards and upwards to the 42 participating countries and we will start with all the current national final updates. We have a Festival I Kenges winner and unfortunately like most Albanian entrants, I can't see them making it out of the semi but we will see what the broadcaster choose to do with Jonida Maliki and her song 'Ktheju Tokes' ahead of the contest.

I have already predicted France to come last in the final having cobbled together an extremely uninspiring set of songs for their bumper live edition of Destination Eurovision. 'Roi' will probably win for the same reason that 'Mercy' was such a success but Madame Monsieur have been unable to win me over with what is effectively the same formula they used last time with a singer who isn't as stylish. 

Things are looking similarly gloomy for Latvia who are beginning to realise they should just hire Aminata to write their entry every year. I wouldn't watch next year's Supernova if you paid me to sit through it and it's looking like another Semi Final finish for the 2002 winners. 



Speaking of 2002, the Saku Suurhaal is getting set to play host to what is in my memory the best Eesti Laul line-up yet. The opening up to singers from outside Estonia has been welcomed by many (not least their 2002 home contest representative from Sweden). Despite the foreign influx however, this has also been the best lineup yet for beautiful Estonian language music, something that the contest has seriously missed since their last such song in 2013. 'Soovide Puu' is my tip to win but there are plenty of other fantastic songs on the list to enjoy and the Tartu Semi-Finals will definitely be worth checking out! 

Spain have released their list of songs that will be sung by the Operacion Triunfo contestants and having listened to all of them, the ones I like most are all being performed by contestants who went out in the early rounds. This will create an interesting dynamic to see if the popular singers will get voted for even if other songs are better. I suppose such is one of the risks of the format. I should also offer the disclaimer that all songs released up until now are 90 second demos and therefore nothing is entirely conclusive.



And otherwise, it's buzz, buzz, buzz in the air. The Melodifestivalen line up is getting everybody giddy with excitement. Sanremo will see the return of Il Volo. Australia's first national final is looking set to be one of the best national finals ever with a wide diversity of artists and styles presented so far. EMA's lineup is also getting people wondering about Raiven potentially representing Slovenia in Israel. And the Czechs have spontaneously increased the number of slots in their final which gets me thinking that the quality of songs is high (though that might just be me getting overenthused).

A special shout out should definitely go to Cyprus though who despite having decided to go down the internal selection route have chosen to drip-feed details about the act and have consequently gotten everybody excited. Now on one hand, they are clearly building off and the hype and the success of Fuego but on the other hand, I don't have any issue with that because it's gotten me extremely excited to hear 'Replay'. Cyprus have begun carving out an identity of what to expect from a Cypriot act and as I've said many times, I think more nations should be trying to do that at Eurovision because if you get it right, there's a potential to turn your country into a Eurovision powerhouse (just ask the Swedes).

There are many potential plot lines which will surely unfold over the course of the contest. How will the Russians treat next year after the Kiev debacle of 2017? How will Belgium bounce back from last year's semi-final exit? Will the BBC's new format for Eurovision You Decide be a success? Only time and my future entries on this blog will tell but for now, I want to take an initial swing at predicting a winner from what we know, so in true awards season style I will pick five candidates and quickly explain my logic on each of them. 

Russia
Cyprus
Moldova
Poland
Germany 

A strong finish from the Germans last year demonstrated that they were on their way to a winning formula. With the right song and staging that was as strong as it was last year, I can easily see the Germans betting a little extra on this year being their second victory of the decade. 


I have previously mentioned that Poland has everything in place to win Eurovision and that all they needed was the song. Their victory at Junior Eurovision this year demonstrated they have a winning formula that could have success in the adult version of the contest. They were always going to need to try something different after their semi-final exit last year.

With the small resources that Moldova have, you would never expect them to be challenging the top of the leaderboard and yet built on their third place finish in 2017 with one of the greatest ever stagings of a Eurovision entry to date! Their fun and cheeky style as become a staple of Eurovision Song Contests and will bring lots of fun to Tel Aviv. It's a big ask to get a song that has the quality of their previous two entries but one thing is for sure, once they have the song, they will throw the kitchen sink at getting it as Eurovision-ready as possible. 



Similarly, Cyprus looked to have found a style and format that almost got them victory at the first attempt. Whilst it admittedly won't feel as fresh in 2019, I have full confidence in the Cypriot delegation to have learnt from last year's experience and to create a full packaged performance that will be truly worthy of another high placing.

But admittedly, this year's hot favourites have to be the Russians. From 2012, they gradually threw more and more at the contest until 2016 when not only did Sergey Lazarev defy gravity with his staging and was fully deserving of his public vote victory but to then be pipped by the country they were at war with with a song considered to be anti-Russia in the eyes of many. It was a beautiful political melodrama playing out on the Eurovision stage but more importantly, it was enough to knock the Russians off their groove. The entire debacle with Julia Samoylova was sad for everybody involved not least because it deprived the contest of a full-fledged, well-worked Russian entry. This year we have that back and even if the Russians choose not to re-send Sergey Lazarev as rumoured, we can be sure that they will be more determined than ever to deliver a second Russian victory this year on the tenth anniversary of one of the greatest Eurovisions of all time in Moscow.

So if I had to put money on anybody right now, it would be the Russians but the contest's beautiful unpredictability means that this list will most likely not be the top 5. For that, we can only wait to see how the Eurovision season unfolds. I will be attending the Melodifestivalen Semi-Final in Gothenburg on February 2nd and the Eesti Laul Grand Final in Tallinn on February 16th so make sure you stay tuned for on-the-ground reporting from both those exciting events in the National Finals calendar. You can stay on top of all the news and views from the world of Eurovision by subscribing at the top of this page. Bring on January!