Due to the…generosity of the EBU’s parameters of ‘Europe’, “Tonight’s” action will be bleeding into tomorrow morning for most of us! That means by the time our next ‘Super Saturday’ kicks off, we’ll have two more confirmed acts and songs for Tel Aviv! Get the low-down on all tonight’s (and tomorrow morning’s) national selections right here!
🇬🇧 The United Kingdom – Eurovision: You Decide
Show: Eurovision: You Decide – Final
When: 20:30 – 22.00 (CET)
Where to Watch: BBC Two or the official stream
The country that will be revealing their Eurovision entry next (that we know of) will be the United Kingdom! This marks the forth consecutive year that the BBC have opted for a national selection for their entry. However, this year, the format will be a little different…
As previously revealed, the UK will be a new…but also rather familiar format for selecting their entry this year.There are six participating artists, but only three songs The songs will all be presented in two different ways by the competing artists. With three rounds of song-offs (yes, like sing-off but with the same song) to decide the ‘favoured’ version of each song. These three acts will then face a 100% televote round to determine which act will snatch the ticket to Tel Aviv.
You [and the jury] Decide…
Earlier this week, it was announced that the Jury Panel, who will determine the winner of each song-off, will consist of three members: Mollie King, Marvin Humes and Rylan Clark-Neal. The latter is no stranger to the Eurovision circuit, having been one of the judges for last year’s You Decide. This hear, however, rather than merely give opinions on each of the acts’ performances, they he (alongside King and Humes) will be deciding the acts the public will be picking from.
Once again, the acts competing this evening (alongside their songs) are:
- Michael Rice – Bigger Than Us
- Holly Tandy – Bigger Than Us
- Jordan Clarke – Freaks
- MAID – Freaks
- Kerrie-Anne – Sweet Lies
- Anisa – Sweet Lies
These six acts will be joined by guest performer Netta, the winner of Eurovision 2018, who will be performing in the interval!
🇮🇹 Italy – Sanremo Music Festival
Show: Festival di Sanremo – Night Four
When: 20:35 – 01:10 CET
Where to Watch: RAI or the official stream
Tonight Sanremo continues in Italy for night four of the renowned five-day festival. The 24 artists will all perform duets with guest singers tonight. The voting for tonight and tomorrow’s final will be as follows: 50% televoting, 30% jury of the press room and 20% of the expert jury.
Some familiar faces among duet partners
Notable duet partners include 2018’s Fabrizio Moro and Ermal Meta and 1993’s Enrico Ruggeri. Two international artists will also be present: Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet) and Jack Savoretti. Il Volo, who placed 3rd at Eurovision 2015 with ‘Grand Amore’, will duet with violinist Alessandro Quarta.
As previously reported, here is the line up duet guests, alongside the artists and songs competing this evening:
- Fabrizio Moro / Ultimo – I tuoi particolari
- Ermal Meta / Simone Cristicchi – Abbi cura di me
- Brunori Sas / The Zen Circus – L’amore è una dittatura
- Manuel Agnelli / Daniele Silvestri – Argento vivo
- Beppe Fiorello / Paola Turci – L’ultimo ostacolo
- Neri Marcorè / Nek – Mi farò trovare pronto
- Paolo Jannacci & Massimo Ottoni / Enrico Nigiotti – Nonno Hollywood
- Rocco Hunt & Musici Cantori di Milano / BoomDaBash – Per un milione
- Gué Pequeno / Mahmood – Soldi
- Irene Grandi / Loredana Bertè – Cosa ti aspetti da me
- Syria / Anna Tatangelo – Le nostre anime di notte
- Bungaro & Eleonora Abbagnato / Francesco Renga – Aspetto che torni
- Enrico Ruggeri & Roy Paci / Negrita – I ragazzi stanno bene
- Nada / Motta – Dov’è l’Italia
- Tony Hadley and Kataklò / Arisa – Mi sento bene
- Noemi / Irama – La ragazza con il cuore di latta
- Giovanni Caccamo / Patty Pravo con Briga – Un po’ come la vita
- Jack Savoretti / Ex-Otago – Solo una canzone
- Morgan / Achille Lauro – Rolls Royce
- Cristina D’Avena / Federica Carta e Shade – Senza farlo apposta
- Sottotono / Nino D’Angelo e Livio Cori – Un’altra luce
- Diodato & Calibro 35 / Ghemon – Rose viola
- Biondo / Einar – Parole nuove
- Alessandro Quarta / Il Volo – Musica che resta
Want to learn more about the 24 competing artists ahead of tonight, check out our comprehensive guide to the Sanremo 2019 participants!
🇦🇺 Australia – Australia Decides
Show: Australia Decides – Final
When: 10.30 – 12.00 CET
Where to Watch: The show will be broadcast globally and un-geoblocked on the SBS Facebook page and their Twitter on Saturday 9th February at 1:30am PST, 4:30am EST, 9:30am GMT (UK and Portugal), 10:30am CET (France, Spain, Germany, etc), 11:30am (Eastern Europe) and 1:30pm around Azerbaijan etc.
To the delight of many Eurovision fans, Australia announced that they were going to organise their first national selection in their participation history at the contest. This comes the Australian delegation selected their four Eurovision entries so far, all of which appeared in their respective grand finals.
This week, the broadcaster revealed that they initially received 700 songs, which was eventually whittled down to ten songs. Much like more established national finals such as Melodifestivalen or You Decide, one key objective was to showcase musical diversity. Paul Clarke, producer of Australia Decides, explained to tvtonight.au that he felt he could ‘hear the show come together’ as more entries were submitted and filtered through.
Ten acts, showcasing the diversity of Australia’s music scene
From ‘popera’ to high-energy electronica with Pitjantjatjara-language lyrics; this is due to be an unforgettable debut for the show. Here is the running order for tonight/tomorrow morning:
| Draw | Artist | Song |
| 1 | Ella Hooper | “Data Dust” |
| 2 | Electric Fields | “2000 and Whatever” |
| 3 | Mark Vincent | “This Is Not the End” |
| 4 | Aydan Calafiore | “Dust” |
| 5 | Courtney Act | “Fight for Love” |
| 6 | Leea Nanos | “Set Me Free” |
| 7 | Sheppard | “On My Way” |
| 8 | Alfie Arcuri | “To Myself” |
| 9 | Kate Miller-Heidke | “Zero Gravity” |
| 10 | Tania Doko | “Piece of Me” |
The format
There a few familiar faces in the five-strong jury:
- Christer Björkman, Eurovision and Melodifestivalen producer
- Fifa Riccobono, former CEO of Alberts
- Milly Petriella, Artist Service director of APRA
- Josh Martin, Commissioning Editor, Entertainment SBS
- Paul Clarke, Head of Delegation
The jury will have equal weighting to the televote (50%), with the combined scores determining who will be flying the Australian flag in Tel Aviv. Dami Im, the runner-up from Eurovision 2016, will be the interval act during the voting sequence.
Will you be tuning in to any of these selections? Who are you rooting for? Let us know! Be sure to follow @ESCXTRA on Twitter, where we will be live-posting the show and like our Facebook page, where the results article will be posted after the respective shows!
