It was a packed evening (and night, even) with all sorts of Eurovision shows. It’d be understandable if you’ve lost the overview of everything that happened. So that is why we, in the (early) morning, bring you the escXtra Super Saturday Round-Up!
Denmark
Denmark has a one show only format. That meant we sat down at 20:00 CET and as soon as the show was over, that was the last bit of DR television we’d see for the year. Favourites with bookmakers were DMGP stalwart Simone, The Voice of Australia winner Anja Nissen and Danish language duo Muri & Mario. No one quite expected things to turn around like they did…
Muri & Mario missed out on the superfinal, with both Anja and Simone making it. The third superfinalist was Lighthouse X. Here’s the result:
- Lighthouse X – Soldiers of Love: 42%
- Anja Nissen – Never Alone: 36%
- Simone – Heart Shaped Hole: 22%
Quite the surprise in Denmark as they’ve gone for their second boyband in a row over the two big favourites. You can listen to the Danish entry below:
Switzerland
No such surprises in Switzerland. After an online selection, an expert selection and a disqualification, Switzerland reached its climax last night. Three acts from the German language broadcaster, two acts from the French and one act from the Italian took the stage to perform six covers. We saw everything from Hello to Video Killed The Radio Star and Love Me Like You Do. That’s not what mattered though. What mattered were those six songs. Pre-contest favourites included Canadian-born Rykka and Vincent Gross, who had a song composed by Charlie Mason, who had also composed Rise Like A Phoenix.
Here’s the result:
- Rykka – The Last Of Our Kind
- Bella C – Another World
- Vincent Gross – Half A Smile
- Stanley Miller – Feel The Love
- Theo – Because Of You
- Kaceo – Disque D’Or
Italy
If you watched Italy last night, you still don’t know who’ll be representing them in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. As RAI announced, the winner of the Festival di Sanremo had first refusal to go to Eurovision. After a marathon of over five hours, RAI announced that the winners, Stadio, had indeed declined the opportunity of going to Eurovision. Don’t worry, we’ll hear the entrant soon and Sanremo gives you good look into Italian culture, so you didn’t waste your evening.
Here’s how the Festival di Sanremo final ended:
- Stadio – Un Giorno Mi Dirai
- Francesca Michielin – Nessun Grado Di Separazione
- Giovanni Caccamo & Deborah Iurato – Via Da Qui
- Enrico Ruggeri – Il Primo Amore Non Si Scorda Mai
- Lorenzo Fragola – Infinite Volte
- Patty Pravo – Cieli Immensi
- Clementino – Quando Sono Lontano
- Noemi – La Borsa Di Una Donna
- Rocco Hunt – Wake Up
- Arisa – Guardando Il Cielo
- Annalisa – Il Diluvio Universale
- Elio e le Storie Tese – Vincere L’Odio
- Valerio Scanu – Finalmente Piove
- Alessio Bernabei – Noi Siamo Infinito
- Dolcenera – Ora O Mai Più (Le Cose Cambiano)
- Irene Fornaciari – Blu
RAI will soon announce who they’ve chosen to go to Eurovision. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the runner-up, Francesca Michielin. We can only, still, advice you to stay tuned!
Sweden
Melodifestivalen, a fan favourite by numbers. And then we even have a semi-final where fans got excited about quite a few acts: last year’s pop princess ISA, Melodifestivalen veteran David Lindgren, Ding Dong Krista Siegfrids, victim of the app vote Molly Pettersson Hammar and Eurovision participant Tommy Nilsson, with a guest appearance of Charlotte Perrelli.
There were plenty of reasons to watch Melodifestivalen and we’re sure that many of you indeed tuned into SVT last night. The result may not come as a surprise for you, in that case:
- Direkt till Finalen:
– David Lindgren – We Are Your Tomorrow
– Wiktoria – Save Me - Andra Chansen:
– Molly Pettersson Hammar – Hunger
– ISA – I Will Wait - 5th: Krista Siegfrids – Faller
- 6th: Victor och Natten – 100%
- 7th: Patrik, Tommy & Uno – Håll Mitt Hjärta Hårt
So Krista is out, as well as Tommy Nilsson and Victor och Natten. ISA’s failure to get to Finalen directly was a surprise to some of us here at escXtra.com, including myself. Next week, we’re travelling to Norrköping, where we’ll see acts like Swingfly, Lisa Ajax and Oscar Zia.
Estonia
Estonia had a really nice and simple format for us. Ten songs, five qualified and five did not. Two of the Eesti Laul favourites, Laura and Cartoon ft. Kristel Aaslaid, were in last night’s semi and it won’t surprise you: Both of them managed to qualify for the Eesti Laul final.
The qualifiers:
- Cartoon ft. Kristel Aaslaid – Immortality
- Kati Laev & Noorkuu – Kaugel Sinust
- Kéa – Lonely Boy
- Mick Pedaja – Seis
- Laura – Supersonic
That means we’ve said goodbye to Indrek Ventmann, WINDY BEACH, Zebra Island, The Jingles and Würffel. Another ten acts will take the stage next week including favourites Jüri Pootsmann and Grete Paia.
Hungary
In Hungary, we’ve reached the second stage. After twelve songs were eliminated in the heats, we’ll now kick out another ten in the semis. That will leave us with eight entries for the final, which will take place on 27th February. Many of the favourites were in this heat, including Kállay Saunders Band and Petruska.
The jury said they’d be paying attention to ‘other things’ now, as they will now look for the song that will best represent them in Stockholm, unlike the last weeks when they were just looking for a good song. The jury+app combination would bring three qualifiers, with televoting selecting the last of the four qualifiers. Here’s how it all ended:
- Petruska – Trouble In My Mind: 43
- Gergő Oláh – Győz A Jó: 42
- Kállay Saunders Band – Who We Are: 41
- Szilvia Agárdi – It Is Love: 39
- Mushu – Uncle Tom: 39 (Televoting qualifier)
- Karmapolis & Böbe Szécsi – Hold On To: 35
- B The First – You Told Me That You Loved Me: 35
- Reni Tolvai – Fire: 33
- Benji – Köteltánc: 33
It’s interesting to see that there’s very little room between the top three and they go in various directions, with many genres being represented there. Next week, we’ll see the second and last semi-final, with runaway favourite Freddie.
Iceland
The buzz around Greta Salóme’s performance from last week hasn’t even half died down or we’re moving on with the second semi in Söngvakeppnin 2016. Among last night’s bunch, we had another Greta composed entry, a Eurovision 1986 entrant and an Iceland’s Got Talent winner – a promising field and Iceland delivered.
Here’s who qualified:
- Alda Dís – Augnablik
- Elísabet Ormslev – A Ný
- Þórdis Birna & Guðmundur Snorri – Spring Yfir Heiminn
That means it’s a sad end for Pálmi Gunnarsson, who was in Bergen when Iceland first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. It also means Greta Salóme will once again have two songs in the final, just like in 2012.
In the past few years, Iceland always had a seventh wildcard to give out for the final. RÚV has however confirmed to escXtra.com that such a wildcard will not be in place this year.
Lithuania
Things are moving on in Lithuania now. We started the night with eight contestants and now we only have five left. Basically, there are three favourites who keep claiming first place as the shows go on: Rūta Ščiogolevaitė, Erica Jennings and Donny Montell. Last night, victory went to Rūta. The televote/jury breakdown is in brackets, with the first number being jury, the second televoting:
- Rūta Ščiogolevaitė – United: 22 (10+12)
- Erica Jennings – Leading Me Home: 20 (10+10)
- Donny Montell – I’ve Been Waiting For This Night: 19 (12+7)
- Valdas Lacko – Stay Tonight: 15 (7+8)
- Catrinah – Be Free: 14 (8+6)
Eliminated: - Ištvan Kvik & Ellada – Please Don’t Cry: 12 (7+5)
- Eglė Jakštytė – Let Me Show You: 10 (6+4)
- Petunija – Tomorrow: 9 (6+3)
Don’t worry, there’s not just five acts left. Don’t be so silly! There’s another pool of participants, eight to be precise, and it’s assumed that they’ll go through the same procedure next week. Three of them will be eliminated and then we’ll have ten acts in total left. When we’ll have ten left, there will be three more shows in Eurovizijos 2016.
Finland
Finland had its semi of death last night with three of the main favourites for the UMK victory fighting with three other acts for three spots in the final. The question before the show was whether Annica Milán & Kimmo Blom, Mikael Saari and Cristal Snow could live up to the expectations and qualify. See for yourself, the qualifiers are below:
- Annica Milán & Kimmo Blom – Good Enough
- Mikael Saari – On It Goes
- Cristal Snow – Love Is Blind
So yes, the favourites lived up to the expectations and they all qualified. That means it’s over for Rafaela Truda, Attention 2 and Ylona.
Next week we’ll see the last semi in Finland, where another six acts will hope to get one of those last three tickets for the final of UMK 2016.
Ukraine
The night was started by Ukraine. It’s hard to imagine how these acts must’ve felt, knowing that Jamala is such a massive favourite to win. Is there anything left to play for?
Three out of nine acts qualified again and the jury and televoting actually agreed for once! Here’s the full result. In brackets you see the televote/jury breakdown. 9 points went to their first place, one point to their last:
- SunSay – Love Manifest: 18 (9+9)
- NuAngels – Higher: 15 (8+7)
- Pur:Pur – We Do Change: 15 (7+8)
- Pringlez – Easy To Love: 10 (5+5)
- Arkadiy Voytyuk – Vse V Tobi: 10 (4+6)
- Alloise – Crown: 8 (6+2)
- Peaks of Kings – Last Hope: 6 (3+3)
- Viktoria Petryk: 6 (2+4)
- Japanda – Anime: 2 (1+1)
Well have you ever, Jamala will get a run for her money. Where she had nearly 50% of the televote last week, SunSay now has way more than 50%: 53,03%. Next week’s final (which will be on Sunday!) will definitely be worth watching.
Ireland
Meanwhile, Nicky Byrne had his first live performance of Sunlight. Check it out here:
What’s yet to come?
First, we’ll hear Italy’s entrant today. Also taking place today is the second heat in Latvia’s Supernova. During the week, we’ll also get two more songs. Georgia will reveal the song for The Young Georgian Lolitaz tomorrow and Bosnia-Herzegovina will present their entry on Friday.
Then on Saturday, we’ll have a final in Iceland. There will also be semi-finals in Finland, Hungary, Sweden and Estonia, with also another show in Lithuania. On Sunday we’ll then get Latvia again, as well as Ukraine’s final.
