OGAE Second Chance Contest, Warsaw 2017

Every year since 1987 the OGAE, Eurovision fan clubs, have chosen songs for the OGAE Second Chance Contest. That is a competition between songs from national finals, which came short of qualifying for Eurovision. Hence some people´s favorites have a chance of redeeming themselves.

OGAE Second Chance 2016

Last year, the Polish OGAE entry, “Cool me down”, won. Margaret, who performed the song, has a big fan base and the song got quite popular both in Poland and across Europe. The fact that the official video has more than 15 million views is evidence of it’s popularity.

OAGE Second Chance 2017

There are 22 acts in the contest this year, a lot less than in the Official Eurovision Contest. Logically, since quite a few countries do not hold a national selection contest. Following is a list of the entries. Some of you might already know them.

1. Albania (Dilan Reka – Mos Harro)
2. Belarus (NUTEKI – Take My Heart)
3. Denmark (Ida Una – One)
4. Estonia (Kerli – Spirit Animal)
5. Finland (Zühlke – Perfect Villain)
6. Georgia [Rest of the World] (Maliibu – We Live Once)
7. Germany (Axel Feige – Wildfire)
8. Greece (Demy – When The Morning Comes Around)
9. Hungary (Gabi Tóth & Freddie Shuman feat. Lotfi Begi – Hosszú Idők)
10. Iceland (Daði Freyr – Is This Love?)
11. Italy (Paola Turci – Fatti Bella Per Te)
12. Latvia (My Radiant You – All I Know)
13. Lithuania (Greta Zazza – Like I Love You)
14. Malta (Janice Mangion – Kewkba)
15. Norway (Ella – Mama’s Boy)
16. Poland (Carmell – Faces)
17. Portugal (Pedro Gonçalves – Don’t Walk Away)
18. Slovenia (BQL – Heart Of Gold)
19. Spain (LeKlein – Ouch!)
20. Sweden (Mariette – A Million Years)
21. Ukraine (Tayanna – I Love You)
22. United Kingdom (Holly Brewer – I Wish I Loved You More)

For those of you who are not familiar with them yet, I recommend watching the videos.

Furthermore, if your are member of OGAE, remember to vote for your favorites. The deadline for the votes differ from one club to another, so check your club and see when you need to hand in your votes by. The final deadline for the national OGAEs to hand in their results is 15th of July. Please note that some OGAEs have already submitted their results. In early September a spokesperson from each club will announce the points from their country, Eurovision style. This will be done in a video, that we can watch on their website.

My second chance thoughts

I think this contest is a really interesting idea and, in addition, it gives somewhat more depth into the Eurovision Song Contest. First of all, it gives the artist a second chance. Secondly the heartbroken fans will get a small redemption for the song. Thirdly you can sometime understand why some of the weirdest songs make it Eurovision! Because I ask myself sometimes: “Was this the best song they had to offer?”

I made this small list of 3´s; my own thoughts about the second chance entries. It would be interesting to see if more people have thoughts on it as as well. If so, you are very welcome to share your opinion on it in the comments’ section below, or on our Facebook or Twitter.

Three that I think would have done better

• From the Spanish pre-selection I much prefer LeKlein’s entry – “Ouch”! I believe that would have saved Spain from the dreaded last place.
• I think calmer song like “All I Know” with My Radiant You, would have done better for Latvia this year. It might possibly even have made it to the final.
• Tayanna with the song “I love you” and her wonderful performance would have secured a higher placement for Ukraine at the final.

Three good calls

• I believe Norway made a good choice with picking JOWST, since I don´t think “Mama´s Boy” would have placed anywhere close to the top 10.
• In my opinion “Hosszú Idők” is not nearly as captivating as “Origo”.
• I find it really unlikely that Portugal would even have reached the final with “Don´t walk away“.

My Second Chance contest top 3

Starting with my third favorite at Second Chance this year; Axel Feige with the charming song “Wildfire”. I also think this one could have done better at Eurovision than Levina’s “Perfect Life”.

My second favorite in the Second Chance contest is the Italian entry, “Fatti Bella Per Te”, performed by Paola Turci. It has the classic Italian charm but is still fresh and contemporary. Never the less I dont´think it would have done better than “Occidentali´s Karma” and all the fan hype that surrounded Francesco.

Daði Freyr and his entry ” Is this love?” is by far my favorite out of the competing songs in the Second Chance contest. I might be more than slightly biased, given I was at his birthday concert last Friday, but regardless of this I think it’s a brilliant song. Daði is a genuine artist, and you can see that he loves performing this catchy song. He even adds a comical and charming appearance with silly dance moves and matching sweaters, which only makes me love it more. Sadly I can´t vote for it, since I am a member of OGAE Iceland. Therefore I have to appeal to those of you who can; Pretty please!!

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this article. Did your favorite national final song make it to the Second Chance Contest? If so; which one is it? And if it didn’t; let us know which one you would have preferred. (Unless of course, it was in the actual Eurovision, that is…) What are your thoughts on the Second Chance contest and the competing entries this year? Feel free to let us know.