The year is coming to an end and that means we’re looking back on the year. For all of the artists entering the Eurovision Song Contest, the rule goes that there is a life after Eurovision. Sometimes, these artists release some pretty good stuff in their after-Eurovision life.
So we want to ask you, our reader, who you think had the best single in 2015. We’ve selected eight of our favourite tracks by former Eurovision participants and it’s your job to select your favourite of these eight. You can vote on our Twitter!
The qualifiers
First we’ll need to look back on which songs we had and in which semifinal they were. The first semifinal consisted of Anggun (ft. Florent Pagny), Il Volo, The Common Linnets and Ruth Lorenzo. Below you can see which two songs topped our vote and have qualified for the final:
- Ruth Lorenzo – 99: 46%
- Anggun ft. Florent Pagny – Nos Vies Parallèles: 22%
- The Common Linnets – We Don’t Make The Wind Blow: 17%
- Il Volo – L’Amore Si Muove: 15%
It’s a convincing victory for Ruth Lorenzo, but Anggun also had her fans going for her. Two singers from the Big Five qualify for something – that’s a new one!
Yesterday the second vote was launched. This time with Emma, Nicki French, Lena and Mørland. The results for this semifinal are listed below:
- Lena – Wild & Free: 51%
- Nicki French – This Love: 17%
- Emma – Occhi Profondi: 16%
- Mørland – No Firewall: 16%
This one was, as you can see, an easy victory for Lena, but behind that it was genuinely too close to call. Eventually, Nicki French managed to edge out both Emma and Mørland and that means she’ll qualify for the final.
The final four
Ruth Lorenzo – 99
A few months ago, Ruth Lorenzo dived back into history and decided to sing a song about 1999. It’s her first song in English in quite a while. According to my colleague Nathan, this sounds like Taylor Swift’s Out of the Woods, which I think is quite a good comparison. Ruth is still a fan favourite in the Eurovision world and this song was received very well in her fan world as well. Definitely worth a listen.
Nicki French – This Love
We loved it when Nicki French released her new single. The 2000 UK entrant left an impression with Eurovision fans and that showed in her latest single This Love. She’s not new to the business and neither is Mike Stock, who was involved in this song. He was also involved in Josh Dubovie’s That Sounds Good To Me, but we’d like to say: Mike, this sounds much better to us. Nicki, please play this song again!
Anggun & Florent Pagny – Nos Vies Parallèles
One of the more recent tracks on our list comes from Indonesian-French singer Anggun. Despite a terrible finish in Eurovision (who doesn’t remember her televoting 0 points despite touring all of Europe), Anggun is still going strong in both France and Indonesia. She teamed up with Florent Pagny, a singer whose last twelve albums all went top three in France. Nos Vies Parallèles is a haunting mix of cultures and languages which certainly deserves a listen.
Lena – Wild & Free
There were a lot of options for this last of our eight choices, but we eventually went with Lena’s Wild & Free. After winning Eurovision, Lena built a decent career for herself in Germany. That career got another highlight this year when she was asked to sing the soundtrack to Fack Ju Göhte 2, a film which broke the record for best opening weekend for a German film of all time. The track shows who Lena really is, having moved on from both Satellite and Taken By A Stranger.
Now vote!
Go to the escXtra.com Twitter account to cast your vote. You can only vote once and the idea is to vote for your favourite. Tomorrow, we’ll tell you which of these four songs has managed to win our competition. We expect it to be close, so don’t forget to cast your vote!
