DMGP 2020 eidtion

DMGP is reaching this year’s its 50th anniversary! The national final is set to take place on March 7 at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen and will be hosted by Hella Joof and Rasmus Bjerg, while the live orchestra returns for the first time after 1999.

In this year’s edition we see some changes introduced in the way the Danish representative will be selected. Five out of the ten songs of the national final have already been determined.

The rest five entries will be selected through a radio selection with a total of 9 songs which are divided in groups of three , depending on the region the acts come from (North,South and Eastern Denmark). The audience casts its votes until January 24 and the song that receives the most votes in each group qualifies to the DMGP 2020 final.

From the remaining 6 entries that didn’t qualify according to public voting, a jury will award two wildcards for the final, completing the total of 10 contestants we will see in the final show.

The Groups and acts that will battle for the five spots in the final are :

Group A (South Denmark)

Jamie Talbot – Bye Bye Heaven
Kenny Duerlund – Forget It All
Nick Jones – 2AM

Group B (East Denmark)

SamSara – For You
BEN & TAN – YES
Søren Okholm – Impossible Dreamers

Group C (North Denmark)

Emil – Ville ønske jeg havde kendt dig
Mielou – We Could Be So Beautiful
Sander Sanchez – SCREENS

The national final will see a total of 10 entries that will battle to receive 50% of the points from the audience and another 50% by the juries. Once the voting is over the first three entries will go into a super final round where again public and jury voting will determine the final winner and the next Danish Eurovision representative in Rotterdam.

THE EUROVISION STORY SO FAR

Denmark made it first appearance in the Eurovision family in 1957 and has been crowned winner three times: In 1963 with Grethe & Jorgen Ingmann and the song Dansevise, in 2000 with Olsen Brothers and their entry Fly on the wings of love and in 2013 with Emmelie de Forest and her song Only teardrops. The country apart from hosting the Contest each year after its victories , has hosted the special show tribute to the 50th Eurovision anniversary in 2005.

In 2018 Denmark was represent by Rasmussen who with Higher ground, giving a Viking touch in the latest contest in Lisbon, and finished in the 9th place of the Grand Final. Last year Leonora defended the Danish colors at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv with Love is forever, finishing 12th in the Grand Final.

TVP , after Poland’s last two years of failure to reach the Grand final has decided to make a change to the format of national selection and is opting this year for the music talent show Szansa na Sukces (A Chance For Success) the method to select the Eurovision 2020 act.

THE FORMAT
The show consists of 3 semi final round, during which we will see 6 or 7 acts will compete. In each show there will be a special guest, some songs of which will be performed by the competing acts. A special three member jury formed by past Eurovision participants will determine which act will be the winner of each show and qualify to the final.

During the final show the three candidates will perform two songs, one cover of a well known song and one song they want to perform at Eurovision. The final winner will be selected by public and jury voting.

TVP has already open the submission window for interested act that can apply uo to January 13. The first semi final show will be held on February 2.

THE SHOW
Szansa na sukces ( A Chance for Success) was one of the first popular talent shows on Polish channel TVP2. The show ran from 14 November 1993 to 29 April 2012. In the program aspiring singers performed covers of smash hit singles by legendary Polish recording artist bands which were invited to the show (one band/artist each show). The original singer/group chose the winner who sang the same song at the main annual concert in Sala Kongresowa in Palace of Culture and Science. The show was presented by Wojciech Mann.

In summer 2019, TVP2 confirmed a reboot but with a different format. This reboot featured young singers aged 9 to 14 hoping to represent Poland at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019 and the result was fully satifiying as the winner of it, Viki Gabor achieved a second consecutive victory for Poland in the competition.

THE EUROVISION STORY SO FAR

Poland debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 with Edyta Gorniak‘s To nie ja, achieving the best result for the country uo to date. The country which has participated 21 times in the contest and counts mixed results . It has managed a top 10 placing only three times. Due to poor results and financial issues and was absent from the competition for three consecutive years until their return in 2014.

In 2018 Gromee feat Lukas Meijer represented the countey with their song Light me up but unfortunately were left out of the grand final. In 2019 Tulia with “Fire of Love (Pali się)“ represented the country but failed to reach the grand final as they finished 11th in the first semi final .

Countdown Clock for Eurovision 2021

With a 100 days to go for the Grand final of Eurovision 2021, Rooterdam's Mayor Aboutaleb therefore unveiled a large clock at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, together with the four Eurovision presenters, which is counting down to the final day on Saturday 22 May.

The kick-off was kept in the open air and because of the corona measures from the public with the ESC 2021 Executive producer, Sietse Bakker, saying: 

"Yet it was a special moment . The Eurovision season has now officially started. From today we are looking forward to what is to come."

Last year the Host Insignia Handover Ceremony had taken place in Rotterdam City Hall under totally different circumstances.  "Then we were all still shoulder to shoulder. The key has been in a safe for a while now. To mark the moment of the hundred days, the municipality of Rotterdam came up with the countdown clock." says organizer Sietse Bakker.

New Set Design in Rotterdam Ahoy

With all plans being tinkered with last period circumstances the organisers are adjusting the set design within the venue that will host the next competition. As Bakker explains the Green Rooms will replace the audience standing area. Specifically he says: 

"Normally there would be 2000 fans on the floor around the stage, waving all kinds of flags. That is of course not possible in Corona time. So the set designer had to go back to the drawing board."

 The organization has therefore decided to fill the entire floor of Ahoy with the green room, where all participating artists and delegations are seated. 

The plans for the Delegations and Audience

S. Bakker sound optimistic about the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. His statement reflects the plan for welcoming the delegations next May :

"As it looks now, all artists can come to Rotterdam. We do create bubbles around the participants and we will do a lot of testing."

 Should there be an outbreak in one of those bubbles, the participating country will participate with a pre-recorded video clip featuring live singing.

Regarding the amount of audience which will be able to attend the event Bakker considers it as the most uncertain factor at the moment with final decisions being pushed in a later date. The Ducth ESC producers says on that matter: 

"The amount of audience in Ahoy is the greatest uncertainty. The government roadmap shows that for locations larger than 2000 square meters, an exception can be made in terms of the amount of public. However, the government only makes that exception at a lower risk level. Then the infections have to be reduced first."

Therefore the organization will take the plunge in mid-April, based on the measures then in force and having in mind the whole picture of the circumstances at a time closer to the Eurovision dates without of course ruling out even a contest without any audience at all. 

The 65th Eurovision Song contest is set to take place on May 18, 20 and 22 at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 

 News Source: nos.nl

Image: Open Up to Rotterdam YouTube

Assol
CLOUDLESS
David Axelrod
Elina Ivashchenko
FO SHO
GARNA
GIO
Go-A
Jerry Heil
Katya Chilly
KHAYAT
KRUTЬ
MOONZOO feat. F.M.F. Sure
Oleksandr Poriadynskyi
[О]
TVORCHI

This will be the first national selection which won’t see so many famous act take part. The most known among the contestants is Elina Ivashchenko who won the The Voice Of Kids in 2016 and the X-Factor Ukraine 2019. KHAYAT make a comeback after last year’s participation when the failed to qualify to the final, while YouTuber Jerry Heil will perform a comic song delivering a socia message concerning the world.

Vidbir 2020

Ukraine will be selecting its Eurovision entry through Vidbir. UA:PBC and STB will collaborate on holding the country’s national selection , which will be presented by Sergey Prytula.

Ruslan Kvinta will be the musical producer of the shows while Natalia Franchuk will be the the creative producer of the national selection. According to the dates announced the Ukrainian national selection will unfold as following:

Semi-final 1 : 08/02/2020
Semi-final 2 : 15/02/2020
Grand Final : 22/02/2020

All three shows will be aired by UA:PBC 1 and STB

After last year’s dramatic developments in Vidbir 2019 with winner Maruv , next year’s edition of Vidbir will see some changes to its regulations according to UA:PBC statements. Next year the nationa final winner will receive financial support by the broadcaster all the way to Rotterdam. Acts that are interested in representing Ukraine in the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest can send in their application here . The Ukrainian broadcasters have released the rules and regulations of Vidbir 2020

In 2019 Ukraine saw a dramatic national selection Vidbir, which saw Maruv winning with her entry Siren Song. After a serial of dramatic developments between the broadcaster and the winner eventually Ukraine withdrew from the Eurovision 2019

Ukraine in Eurovision

Ukraine participated for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 when Oleksandr Ponormayov represented the country Hasta la vista. Ukraine has won the Eurovision trophy two times, in 2004 with Ruslana and in 2016 (Jamala). Following both vicotries the country hosted the contest in 2005 and 2017. The country has achieved remarkable results as it has reached 9 times the top 10 places in its 15 year ESC history.

In 2018 Ukraine was represented by Vidbir 2018 winner, Melovin with his entry Under the ladder, achieving a 17th place in the Grand Final.In 2019 Ukraine saw a dramatic national selection Vidbir, which saw Maruv winning with her entry Siren Song. After a serial of dramatic developments between the broadcaster and the winner eventually Ukraine withdrew from the Eurovision 2019.

.

Liechtenstein will not be the new nation debuting in Eurovision, taking into account what the Liechtesnteiner broadcaster told ESCToday . Although the country is not an active member of EBU and therefore not eligibe to participate in the contest, it has come forward showing interest in joining the EBU in order to take part in the competition. 

While the broadcaster's director Mr. Peter Kolbel  has made ongoing effort to bring the nation in the Eurovision family too significant issues seem to stand in the way for such result to be accomplished. The first one concerns the lack of governmental support and the second has to do with the financial consequence a EBU membership brings along plus the cost of a Eurovision participation. 

The last nation that debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest was Australia in 2015, as an associated EBU member and after being invited to the contest. The next Eurovision Song contest is set to take place in Rotterdam on May 18, 20 and 22 at the Rotterdam Ahoy.

The alternative show that hit the screens in more than 45 nations  and on the official Youtube channel replacing this year's cancelled Eurovision Song Contest due to the covid-19 pandemic, saw a total of 73 million viewers switch on their TV's in order to watch the show. 

The countries that saw the highest viewing figures were: Italy (RAI) with 3,0 Million viewers, The Netherlands (NPO) and United Kingdom (BBC One) with 2,4 million viewers each while Russia saw an audience of 2.1 million watched the show on Channel One. 

Another remarkable figure concerns the younger audience from 15 to 24 year olds which reached a 20% in viewing numbers more above the average prime time percentage which is around 11%.

The Online content

In additon to the Europe shine a Light show, new content was launched online in order to fill the space left after this year's Eurovision cancellation. Special content such as Eurovision Home Concerts, Eurovision Song Celebration and Eurovisioncalls with NikkieTutorials attracted more than 53 million unique viewers between March and May while  74% of viewing on YouTube was by under 35-year-olds.

EBU Director General Noel Curran said:

“I really want to congratulate the whole team at NPO, NOS and AVROTROS who produced an incredibly creative and very emotional show under challenging circumstances. I’m proud that with Europe Shine A Light we united a continent in true Eurovision spirit. These fantastic figures really highlight the power of public service media to bring audiences together, not just in their own countries but across the world too.”

Jon Ola Sand, the outgoing Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest said:

“Even in the absence of a Song Contest, our show this year proves that the light that Eurovision shines into millions of hearts remains undimmed. I’d like to thank the incredible team in the Netherlands for all their hard work and our digital team who also worked intensively to provide new, original content which engaged millions online as well". 

And concluded saying: 

“The past 10 years have been amazing and I will always be a proud part of the Eurovision family. I wish everyone, and in particular my successor Martin Österdahl, all the very best as they begin preparations for the return of the Eurovision Song Contest next year.”

The EBU confirmed during the Europe Shine A Light show that Rotterdam will host the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest while the dates during which the next contest will unfold will be unveiled the coming weeks. 

News/Photo Source : Eurovision.tv

From Thursday 14 May to Sunday 17 May 2020 at 23.59, when the voting was over, the website eurovision.ert.gr was visited by 22,751 people, and a total of 15,589 votes were recorded.

Sandro Nicholas, The Roop and Athena Manoukian won the Greek Eurovision Song Contest 2020 voting and are in the top 3 of this year's favorite entries according to the results of the online poll organized by the General Directorate of New Media of ERT to honor the artists who would compete in Eurovision 2020 , in Rotterdam.

The most popular song was Running of the Cypriot participation, second in the audience's preferences came the song On Fire for Lithuania and third favorite among the ESC 2020 entries in ERT's online voting was the song  Chains on You  representing Armenia. 

You can see in detail in the first graph the top 10 of the songs and in detail all the results of the online voting in the next two graphs.

 Source: eurovision.ert.gr

Stefania Liberakakis, was internally selected by the ERT, to represent Greece at Eurovision 2020 with her song Superg!rl. . Composers of the song are Dimitris Kontopoulos and Arcade while behind the lyrics are Dimitris Kontopoulos, Arcade and Sharon Vaughn .

Stefania's Eurovision remix maitains its contemporary uptempo pop and ethnic elements while a more upbeat dance rhythm is added to the initial version. Its music video include new shots of Stefania in addition to some parts of the story that unfolds in the first music video.

Listen below to the new version of the Greek ESC 2020 entry:

About Stefania

Stefania Liberakakis was born 17 December 2002 in Utrecht, also known simply as Stefania, is a Greek–Dutch singer, actress, voice actress and YouTuber.

Stefania is no stranger to the Eurovision family! In 2016 as member of the group  Kisses she represented The Netherlands in στην Junior Eurovision 2016 performing the song  Kisses and Dancin which came 8th.

Earlier, in 2013, Liberakakis was a contestant in the third season of The Voice Kids in the Netherlands. She joined Team Borsato after her blind audition, but was eliminated in the battle rounds. She then joined the children’s choir Kinderen voor Kinderen, which she left after two years.

In 2018, Liberakakis released her first solo single named “Stupid Reasons”. In 2019, she released three more singles: “Wonder”, “I’m Sorry (Whoops!)” and “Turn Around”.  From 2018 onwards, she stars as Fenna in the TV-series Brugklas (English: The First Years) and the movie Brugklas: De tijd van m’n leven. She also starred in other Dutch movies, including De Club van Lelijke Kinderen (as singer) and 100% Coco New York (as Lilly).^[

In June 2019, she performed a cover of the song “Con Calma” (together with Konnie Metaxa and Ilenia Williams) at the MAD Video Music Awards, which was broadcast on Greek television.

ERT has revealed that it will be continuing with Stefania in next year's edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, giving to the young talented act the chance to complete her Eurovision journey in Rotterdam. 

The votings that took place during the alternative Eurovision shows in 10 broadcasters saw Iceland’s Daði og Gagnamagnið winning the voting in six out of the 10 shows. Of course viewers didn’t have the chance to watch any live performances but had to choose its favorite one by watching the 41 music videos of this year’s entries.

Specifically, Iceland came first in the voting held in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, while Italy saw its ESC entry with Diodato winning the first place in Iceland and San Marino. Lithuania came first in Germany while Switzerland was the people’s favorite in Bulgaria.

Check below the people's favorite entries in 10 countries:

• Australia – ESC 2020: Big Night In (winner: Iceland)
• Austria – Der Kleine Song Contest (winner: Iceland)
• Bulgaria – BNT’s mobile app (winner: Switzerland)
• Denmark – Europe Shine a Light (winner: Iceland)
• Finland – Viisukevät 2020 (winner: Iceland)
• Germany – Das deutsche Finale (winner: Lithuania)
• Iceland – Okkar 12 stig (winner: Italy)
• Norway – Norge bestemmer (winner: Iceland)
• San Marino – Una Serata In Musica (winner: Italy)
• Sweden – Sveriges 12:a (winner: Iceland)

Eurovisionworld, went on taking the top 10 results from each country and pictured the overall results in accordance to the Eurovision points scale. Thus the overall scoreboard from all 10 shows looks like following:

Source: Eurovisionworld

Flollowing the cancellation of Eurovision 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the three Dutch Eurovision 2020 host broadcasters in collaboration with EBU have decided to air a special show to honor the effort put in this year’s cancelled edtion and the 41 competing entries that didn’t even. The show will be hosted by the Dutch Eurovision presenters Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley (Eurovision 1998 and 2007) and Jan Smit.

According to the Greek media outlet znews.gr the Greek winner of the 2005 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, with her song My Number One,  Helena Paparizou , is one of the acts that have been invited to join the project and appear on the special show that this year will be replacing the cancelled edition of Eurovision. Already alongside with Helena, have been reportedly mentioned other acts among which Katrina and the Waves, and Johnny Logan . Although it hasn't officially been specified in what way Helena will take part , it is very like she joins the line up of winners that will be sending their message from home. 

Such development is no surprise as Helena is a fan favorite for years now. Don't forget that apart from her victory in 2005 Helena has achieved a 3rd placing previously at Eurovision 2001 as member of Antique with their song "Die for you" and was voted in the top 5 of all time ESC entries in the special edition show "Congratultions" in Demark for the contest's 50 years anniversary. In addition she participated in Melodifestivalen 2014 where she came 4th with her song "Survivor" and has featured several panels and shows up to date.

Lets remember Helen's winning performance in Kiev back in 2005:

As the date of  "Eurovision: Europe shine a Light" is approaching the Dutch organisers will begin revealing progressively details of the special show we will wtach on our tv screens May 16.  The show will durate 2 hours and will be broadcast live on the official YouTube channel.

Tonight the special alternative show that will be taking the place of this year’s cancelled Eurovision Song Contest, "Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light " will hit our screens live from Hilversum , The Netherlands at 21:00 CET. The show will be presented to us by the ESC 2020 hosts Chantal Janzen,  Edsilia Rombley (ESC 1998 & 2007) and Jan Smit. 

What to expect in tonight's show

The three hosts will welcome the audience to the show, and will take a small tour with shots from the city of Hilversum and make a visit at Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena, which has been turned into a hopsital to treat coronavirus incidents. A big led screen will follow displaying all 41 Eurovision 2020 participants that saw their Eurovision 2020 journey end so unfairly due to the covid-19 outbreak. 

The first song to reach our ears will  be the international Eurovision hit Volare (Italy 1958) performed by the Dutch broadcaster’s Symphonic Orchestra. A special tribute to Mr Eurovision, Johny Logan is set to follow, with the Irish act to perform his winning ESC 1980 entry “What’s another year”.

The 41 Eurovision 2020 participanting countries

After Johnny Logan the show will go on presenting the 41 entries of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The presentation of each country will include the classic postcard, a snippet of the song and a 20 second video of the acts’ statements. The 41 entries will be presented in groups , between which the organisers have planned to treat the audience with several surprises , past winners, social media reactions and much more.

First part

After the first group of countries the show will feature as guest Mans Zelmerlow (Sweden 2015) performing his winning entry Heroes,  the winner of Junior Eurovision 2019 Viki Gabor, followed by a promo video for  Junior Eurovision 2020, that is scheduled for next Novemver. From there the show will continue to unfold on our sreens by taking us to Jerusalem where Gali Atari, will perform the winning entry Hallelujah (Israel 1979) alongside with past JESC participants. Further on Nikkie Tutorials will outline some of the social media reactions to the show.

A really emotional and touching moment will certainly be Diodato's performance of his entry "Fai Rumore" live from Verona’s Arena in Italy, a country that has been hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic. 

Second Part

Following the second set of countries the show will travels to Belgrade and sees  Marija Serifovic perform her winning ESC 2007 entry Moltiva, in the empty streets of the Serbian capital city. Little bit after we will take a tour around the countries, taking a look over the illuminated monuments and landmarks. An inspirational video with all the ESC songs the lyrics of which inspire people to hold on during difficult time will lead us to the third group of participating countries. 

Third Part

Once the third group of countries is completed, the show will pop over to Hamburg in Germany where will see Michael Schulte (Germany 2018) perform his entry You Let Me Walk Alone. In addtion, Michael will go on with  Ilse Delange (ex member of Common Linnets-The Netherlands 2014) to perform Germany’s first winning entry  Ein Bisschen Frieden ( ESC 1982).

Fourth Part

Shortly after the fourth set of countries, the show will see Netta (Toy– Israel 2018), Duncan Laurence (Arcade– The Netherlands 2019) perform their Eurovision entries while a video with messages from past Eurovision winners will work as bridges to the past times of the contest. Just before the last group of countries the show will connect live with the BBC ESC commentator , Graham Norton.

Last part

Following the last group of participating entries, the organisers have planned for a special gues , an Eurovision Hero to appear on the show, a surprise for all the viewers out there! The show will conclude with all 41 ESC 2020 participants singing all together the song that inspired the whole show, “Love Shine A light” , the UK's winning entry back in 1997.

The show will be aired by 45 nations and a total of 46 national broadcasters across Europe and Australia. Europe shine a Light is set for 21:00 CET and apart from the national broadcaster you can watch it on the official ESC Youtube channel. 

The Australian broadcaster, SBS, brought the Eurovision party feeling to the fans  through a special alternative Eurovision show,  Eurovision 2020: Big Night In! hosted by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey.

The fans of Down Under had the chance to cast their votes choosing their favourite 2020 act, and it was time for the Aussies to watch their verdict unwind on their screens during the three hour show. Iceland’s Daði & Gagnamagnið were crowned winner of Eurovision 2020: Big Night In! with their synth-pop track Think About Things. Second came Russia and  Little Big with their song Uno, while Lithuania’s The Roop finished third with their indie-pop entry On Fire.

 SBS Commissioning Editor and Australian Head of Delegation Josh Martin said:

Move over Bjork, Australians have voted Daði og Gagnamagnið as our new favourite Icelandic artists with a beautiful song honouring a parent’s love for a newborn. SBS is proud to have given Eurovision fans some sort of closure to this year’s contest and, although we’ll never know who might have won the song contest this year, Montaigne’s performance tonight was incredible. I have no doubt she would have done Australia proud and finished high on the leader board!

The spectators further more had the chance to watch an exclusive studio performance of Don’t Break Me. The show gave to Montaigne the opportunity to unveil the how her staging would have unfolded in Ahoy Rotterdam.

Montaigne said about the performance:

To bring a song to life on the Eurovision stage takes a lot of hard-working creative people, and though we don’t get the real stage, I’m grateful that we get to show off our baby — of which we are very proud — to the public. The core team at Blink TV and SBS did an amazing job of finding recruits who understood my niche interests (dungeons & dragons, fantasy, anime and animation) and could fuse that with the emotional content as well as a ‘popular’ aesthetic. Now it’s back to the drawing board. I’m excited to cook up something fresh and new for 2021!

 

An imperssive line up of special guests

Eurovision 2020: Big Night In!  saw an impressive line up of  outstanding acts performing throughout the night several ESC entries. Kate Miller-Heidke, Electric Fields, Courtney Act, Jack Vidgen, Jaguar Jonze, Isaiah, Ella Hooper and, of course, Jessica Mauboy teamed up to give an amazing performance of  Jessica’s entry “We Got Love”.

The composer of the Cypriot ESC 2020 entry, Alfie Arcuri gave a captivating acoustic performance of Running, which was Sandro's ESC entry in this year’s contest.

Additionally, the performance that certainly was the highlight of the show was that of the brand-new Eurovision act, Lars Erickssong (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams) with their music video for Volcano Man. SBS treated the viewers an global exclusive presentation of the clip from Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga, written by Will Ferrell.

The Australian broadcaster will conclude its special Eurovision week with airing the show “Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light” at 21:00 CET.

News/photo Source: SBS

Following this year’s cancellation of Eurovision 2020 , the national broadcasters across Europe are airing several alternative ESC shows conveying the Eurovision spirit and in search of  what could have been the country’s set of votes if Eurovision had taken place.

Last Tuesday the Icelandic national broadcaster, RÚV, had announced the Top 15 ESC 2020 entries that were most voted during the series of  the show Alla Leid.  Taking in account the votes exclusively from the viewers Iceland determined its favorite ESC 2020 entries with all the profits of the show going to the battle against Covid-19.

According to the televoting the Icelandic 12 points go to Diodato from Italy, while Little Big from Russia finished 2nd followed by The Roop from Lithuania in 3rd place.

Here is the set of votes according to the public vote results: 

12 points – Italy

10 points  – Russia

8 points – Lithuania

7 points – Denmark

6 points – Bulgaria

5 points – Sweden

4 points – Azerbaijan

3 points – Switzerland

2 points – Austria

1 point – Netherlands

The show was hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir, who has a history in presenting the national final Söngvakeppnin, and the singer/songwriter Jón Jónsson.

Withing its alternative Eurovision schedule SVT held this evening the show “Sveriges 12:a” aiming to convey to the audience the Eurovision feeling through our screens.

Eurovision Week on SVT started on Saturday, May 9 with the show Inför ESC, hosted by Christer Björkman along with the comedian David Sundin. The Swedish public watched all 41 songs and voted for their favourites using the Melodifestivalen app. 25 entries out of the 41 entries qualified to this evening’s show. The voting that unfolded during the show was based on points coming from a jury and the televoting.

Iceland achieved to win both votings reaching the maximum total of 24 points while Malta finished 2nd with a total of 20 points. The top 3 closed with Switzerland receiving a total of 10 points.

Here is how the score looked like after the jury votes were announced: 

The jury results were followed by the televoting results which saw the impressive number of 1,461,000 votes determining the winner. Once the public votes were added the final scoreboard developed as following:

Iceland adds one more victory after its win in Eurojury 2020, Eurostream 2020 and several other polls showing that if the contest was held Daði & Gagnamagnið would have been one of favorites to win this year’ s contest with the song ‘Think About Things’.

Last Saturday night SVT aired the first show of  Inför ESC during which the audience had the chance to votes for the qualifying countries for the second and  final show. The show was hosted by  Christer Björkman and the comedian David Sundin.

Once all votes were in the 19 countries with the most votes advanced to Thursday’s final round where they will be joining the Big 5 countries and the host ESC 2020 nation.

Here are the entries that made it to the next round:

1. Azerbaijan (Efendi – Cleopatra)
2. United Kingdom (James Newman – My Last Breath)
3. Denmark (Ben & Tan – Yes)
4. Estonia (Uku Suviste – What Love Is)
5. Australia (Montaigne – Don’t Break Me)
6. Lithuania (The Roop – On Fire)
7. The Netherlands (Jeangu Macrooy – Grow)
8. Spain (Blas Cantó – Universo)
9. Poland (Alicja – Empires)
10. Germany (Ben Dolic – Violent Things)
11. Belgium (Hooverphonic – Release Me)
12. Iceland  (Daði & Gagnamagnið – Think About Things)
13. Norway (Ulrikke – Attention)
14. Ireland (Lesley Roy – Story Of My Life)
15. France (Tom Leeb – Mon Alliée)
16. Malta (Destiny – All Of My Love)
17. Finland (Aksel Kankaanranta – Looking Back)
18. Bulgaria (Victoria – Tears Getting Sober)
19. Georgia (Tornike Kipiani – Take Me As I Am)
20. Greece (Stefania – Supergirl)
21. Switzerland (Gjon’s Tears – Répondez-moi)
22. Austria (Vincent Bueno – Alive)
23. Israel (Eden Alene – Feker Libi)
24. Italia (Diodato – Fai Rumore)
25. Russia (Little Big – Uno)

The next round is set for this Thursday during which we will this year’s Sweden’s Eurovision 2020 acts, The Mamas, perform live their ESC entry, Move.

Eurofans radio had the honor to participate in the alternative online press confrence held today by ERT, in order to inform fans and the press on the alternative show : 'Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light'.  The conference was joined by the Greek ESC 2020 hopeful, Stefania and the composer of the Greek entry, Dimitris Kontopoulos while the session was hosted by Head of Press Ioanna Niaoti. 

The show 'Eurovision: 'Europe Shine a Light'

During the first part the Heald of ERT's International Relations and Head of Delegation , Maria Koufopoulou, elaborated on how EBU was examining, after the coviid-19 outbreak, several alternative solutions. However the escalation that followed left no options than to cancel the contest.  Therefore since the restrictions on movement were enforced the ideo of the show Eurovision: Shine A Light started winning ground as an alternative show. 

The whole concept is based on the idea: the national broadcasters will take care of  producing, editing the photo and video material while the Dutch ESC 2020 host broadcasters will distribute the pictures through this special show. ERT has already sent four videos of the Acropolis illuminated, from which the Dutch broadcasters will choose the most fit for them. A small snippet of the videos was shared during the online press conference, showcasing impressive shots of the historical monument. 

Althought ERT won't air any additional preview show, it will launch an online voting for this year's entries  through its Eurovision facebook page. The show 'Europe Shine A Light' , won't see Helena Paparizou featuring the show but will include several surprises with past participants working as a bridge among the past and present times of the contest. 

Maria Kozakou the Greek Commnetator of the show 

Maria Kozakou is no stranger to the Eurovision family as she has been commentating the contest for several years. This time she'll be alone but the remarkable element this year is the collaboration between the Greek national broadcaster and the Estonian one (ERR) , as Maria will be commenting on the show from Talin while the picture on our screen will be coming from The Netherlands. A really modern way of covering the show that seems to bringing together national broadcasters in order to serve the same purpose. 

Stefania's Eurovision 2021 entry

Maria Koufopoulou confirmed that ERT will head to next year's contest with Stefania and the same team. Eurofans radio asked Stefania if she has any preference on the type of song she would like to perform next year with the young talented act responding:

"No i don't have any kind of preference when it comes down to the type of song. On that subject i trust my composition team and Dimitris (Kontopolos) that i am sure will find the best song for me" 

Further on Dimitris kontopoulos was asked if this year's feedback for the ESC 2020 entry has helped them to approach some things differently or take into account  additional factors.

Dimitris Kontopoulos went on saying regarding next year's entry: 

"Already we have started making the first steps in our search of next year's entry for Stefania. This year the feedback we received for the song "Supergi!rl was positive. We want to continue working on the same direction taking in mind  the  music trends and Stefania's age along with her outstanding positive attitude. For me it is really important the act you work with to be positive and harworker. Stefania is all that and much more."

Working for Eurovision 2021 to take place. 

Maria Koufopoulou confirmed during the press conference that EBU is working with the national broadcasters with the propsect of holding next year's Eurovision Song Contest. However the next contest is a year away and no one knows how the Covid-19 pandemic will develop and if a vaccine is found and concluded saying,

"Who imagined three months before that this press conference will be taking place online instead of all us being in Rotterdam getting ready for the Semi finals?"

In addition to the special show ‘Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light’ the EBU is broadcasting on the official ESC Youtube channel two more special shows that are replacing the two semi final shows of this year’s canceled Eurovision. The first part was released last Tuesday, May 12 and today the second is released today. All the songs are played out in the official Semi-Final running orders decided by this year’s producers.

This evening, the EBU spotlights the songs that would have competed in the second Semi-Final including the 3 of the Big 5 countries: France, Spain and United Kingdom .

Tonight’s show  features exciting interval acts.  The songs will be presented in the running order decided by this year’s organisers while the ESC 2020 give their top 3 favorites. Snippets of an alternative version of the entries  hit our screens.

You can watch the the second part of “Eurovision Song Celebration 2020” on the official ESC Youtube channel.

Following this year’s cancellation of Eurovision several broadcasters are airing special alternative Eurovision shows in the place of the cancelled ESC 2020. Among those broadcasters is NRK, Norway’s broadcaster, that will be broadasting the show ‘Norge Bestemmer’ during which a total of 12 entries will compete for the Norwegian top ranking. The competing songs were selected based on polls, betting odds, fans’ opinion, stream etc etc.

The show will be presented by Marke Stokstad and Ronny Brede Aase while this year’s hopeful Ulrikke will join the show as a guest. The show is set for Friday and the audience will able to vote three time their favorite entries through a online voting.

The Top 12 songs are :

1. Bulgaria – Victoria (Tears Getting Sober)
2. Italia – Diodato  (Fai Rumore)
3. Switzerland – Gjon’s Tears (Repondez-moi)
4. Azerbaijan – Samira Efendi (Cleopatra)
5. Germany – Ben Dolic – (Violent Thing)
6. Iceland – DadI Freyr & Gagnamagnio (Think About Things)
7. Malta – Destiny Chukunyere  (All Of My Love)
8. Russia – Little Big (Uno)
9. France – Tom Leeb – (Mon Alliee)
10. Sweden – The Mamas – (Move)
11. Romania – Roxen (Alcohol You)
12. Lithuania – The Roop- (On Fire)

The German vierwers had the opportunity to watch all 41 ESC 2020 entries and vote for their TOP 10  during a special show last week. 10 finalists qualified to the alternative show Das Deutsche Finale which is scheduled to hit the screens this Saturday, May 16, live from Hamburg. The top 10 entries were determined by a 100 membered jury panel and televoting.

The 10 countries that will compete in order to receive the maximum points by the German audience are :

1.Denmark – Ben & Tan –Yes

2.Russia – Little Big – Uno

3.Italia – Diodato – Fai Rumore

4.Azerbaijan – Samira Efendi – Cleopatra

5.Malta – Destiny – All Of My Love

6.Switzerland – Gjon’s Tears – Repondez-moi

7. Sweden – The Mamas – Move

8.Bulgaria – Victoria – Tears Getting Sober

9.Norway – Ulrikke – Attention

10.Lithuania – The Roop – On Fire

Among the qualifiers is  the band The Roop for Lithuania.  The German national broadcaster has invited The Roop to Hamburg in order to perform their Eurovision entry live during the final show which will be aired live from a studio Hamburg without any audience. Additionally, the show will feature  Ben Dolic performing his ESC 2020 entry Violent Thing like he would had delivered  in Rotterdam while  Gjon’s Tears will present us an alternative recorded version of his ESC 2020 entry Repondez-moi.

The show will be hosted by Barbara Schoneberger will be aired Saturday 16 May on ARD at 20.15 CET

During the previous days RÚV, was broadcasting the show ‘Alla Leid’ during which a jury panel and the public cast their votes for their favorite ESC 2020  entries. Fifteen of them advanced to the alternative Eurovision show ‘Okkar 12 stig’ through which the final Icelandic top 10 will be determined.

The countries that made it to the show ‘Okkar 12 stig’ are:

1.Demark – Ben & Tan -Yes

2.The Netherands – Jeangu Macrooy – Grow

3.Germany – Ben Dolic – Violent Thing

4.Russia – Little Big – Uno

5. Italia – Diodato – Fai Rumore

6. Azerbaijan – Samira Efendi – Cleopatra

7. Malta – Destiny – All Of My Love

8. Switzerland – Gjon’s Tears – Repondez-moi

9. Romania – Roxen – Alcohol You

10. United Kingdom – James Newman – My Last Breath

11. Sweden – The Mamas – Move

12. Bulgaria – Victoria – Tears Getting Sober

13. Austria – Vincent Bueno – Alive

14. Norway – Ulrikke – Attention

15. Lithuania – The Roop – On Fire

The alternative Eurovision show “Okkar 12 stig” will be aired tomorrow evening , May 14.