The Internationalist Eurovision Blog

We're back with the last post of what has been a turbulent 2019 in the Eurovision world but has been a fantastic year for the blog in which we went to Estonia and Sweden and were part of organising a  the 2019 OGAE Song Contest. In our last article of the year, we are looking at everybody's favourite Swedish reality TV show. Many of us are excited about a number of the competing acts. Will Robin or Anna win the chance to represent Sweden again? Will Felix take the win he was robbed of in 2018? Will Victor earn the Eurovision ticket for his home country? Whilst I share in much of this excitement, I am also very conscious of a dark cloud that has settled over the contest with 2019 seeing a fifth straight year of a solo man representing the Swedes at Eurovision. In this article, we are going to explore what's going on with women at MelFest and question if it's something for MelFest fans, the wider Swedish population and the Swedish broadcaster to be concerned about. ...

*SPOILER ALERT* Please do not read any further if you have not gone and watched this year's OGAE Song Contest or if you have any interest in the result. As this article will explore, a lot of work went into this contest by various OGAE UK members including myself and it would mean a lot for you to watch the finished product before reading about it which you can do so here. The story of the OGAE Song Contest 2019 began of course with the previous year's contest. I watched the results from the Australia-hosted contest from Clapham Junction station in the brisk November cold as I made my way back to Chichester from London. To my great surprise, Steps had defied the odds to win OGAE UK a song contest, the first in my time as an OGAE member! There was something incredibly surreal hearing the phrase "And our twelve points go to the United Kingdom" from nations across Europe, something that is indicative of my country's current form at the main contest. In the excit...

It may be the Eurovision off-season but we all have two Dutch cities on the brain as we get closer and closer to the official announcement date for where we are headed next May. Meanwhile, I am sure that all of you have been taking some time to relax, reflect & ponder on the contest we love. When I haven't been working to organise the OGAE UK hosting of the OGAE Song Contest, I have been thinking about British commentary legend Sir Terry Wogan. Last year, I moved from London to Chichester, a small town on the English south coast. In making this move, I came across a very different perspective on cosmopolitanism, internationalism and Europe. When the Eurovision Song Contest came around, I came out with all my usual traditions and excitement. The attitude of people that I was greeted with is one that will be very familiar to many British Eurovision fans. Popular catchphrases including "We never do well because Europe hates us", "Everybody else just votes for their ...

And then there were four! One of England, the United States, the Netherlands or Sweden will soon be champions of the biggest football tournament this summer! And of course, we have been waiting and ready to go with the best three Eurovision picks from each nation. Put your favourites in the comments below and feel free to vote along! England vs. USA 1975 By the time the Shadows took to the stage in Stockholm, the United Kingdom had been waiting since 1967 for their first outright victory (discounting that fiasco in Madrid). The BBC's consequent decision to internally select The Shadows was not met with much popularity. In fact, 'Let Me Be the One' tallied the lowest published winning score for a British act in national selection history. Despite this, they ended up bucking the public perceptions to come second in Stockholm behind Teach-in's Dutch classic. Wess and Dori fly the Stars and Stripes again in Stockholm with their own brand of southern Mediterranean sult...

Following a somewhat successful reading of the World Cup through Eurovision eyes last year (https://internationalisteurovisionblog.blogspot.com/2018/07/world-cup-semi-finals-2018-eurovision.html), we are back to do it all again with the Women's World Cup. Amazingly, we can start unusually early with this tournament as 7 of the 8 competing nations in this year's quarter finals are European and the last is the United States of America. Fortunately for us, there have been many American participants over the course of time and they will be flying the stars and stripes in our mini competition. Please vote for your favourite by writing it in the comments section below and we will post the results along with the next round of matches when the Semi Final line-up is revealed. So without further ado, here are the Women's World Cup 2019 Quarter Finals... Eurovision style! Norway vs. England 1985 We start in the Scandinavium in the year that the Norwegian curse was finally lifted...

Another year gone and another opportunity to reflect on a year of Eurovision history and heritage. As regular readers will know, I maintain two separate rankings of all nations at Eurovision. The first is a points ranking in which I give countries 2 points for a song I love and 1 for a song I like. The second is a proportional ranking which takes into account the number of times that each country has participated at the contest. With that in mind, let's have a look at this year's update starting with the state of play pre-update. Point Rankings (only showcasing countries with 5 or more points): 1. United Kingdom-22,  2. Sweden-18, 3. Ireland-15, 4. France-14,  5. Estonia-13,  6. Greece-13,  7. Norway-11,  8. Germany-11,  9. Malta-10,  10. Italy-10,   11. Denmark-10, 12. Switzerland-10,  13. Spain-9, 14. Netherlands-9, 15. Iceland-9, 16. Romania-8, 17. Russia-7, ...

Feel that? It's the gentle breeze of summer coming through. We have made it through another year of Eurovision and it's time for that beautiful reflection period that allows us to have a breath, take stock and begin looking forward to doing it all again in a few months time. This year brings some added excitement since a full-scale bidding war is now breaking out in the Netherlands and even though Rotterdam is the favourite, I definitely wouldn't say it's a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. So as the many Dutch cities fight it out for the chance to host the 2020 contest, let's take this opportunity to celebrate Dutch heritage within Eurovision history. This is my list of the top ten Dutch Eurovision entries of all time and I think it's a list that will surprise many. 10) 'Amsterdam' by Maggie MacNeal (1980) Perhaps it is apt that we kick off this top 10 with a celebration of the Dutch capital sung as the home entry during the last contest ...