Eurovision

Serbia’s Nevena Božović has revealed the official music video for her Eurovision Song Contest 2019 entry, “Kruna”. This comes a week after the announcement of who will be accompanying her on stage in Tel Aviv. She had previously released an acoustic live version and revamped studio version of the song. Previously, the main video for the entry on the official Eurovision YouTube channel was of her winning performance from the Beovizija final. Keeping it consistent, Nevena is rocking the same dress she wore for said performance in the official video. The video features an emotive delivery of the song from Nevena, complete with dynamic camera cuts. Could this be a hint of what we can expect from her staging in Tel Aviv? Prior to the video’s release, she had also released a revamped studio version of her entry, which features more ethnic Serbian elements. Following that, she released an intimate acoustic version of Kruna, showcasing her beautiful vocals. You can see the official video for Kruna below: Nevena Božović at the Eurovision Song Contest This is not the first time that Nevena will be competing in the Eurovision world, in fact, she’s basically a veteran at this point. Nevena competed in the Junior …

The German broadcaster NDR finished their preview show tonight. The show was aired online in four parts, where ESC experts, guests, and fans discussed each entry for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv. The readers of Eurovision.de had the chance to get involved and rate every song between 1 and 12. The average of each song was 50% of the result. The other 50% came from the two hosts of the show Alina and Stefan. Italy won this preview show followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland. Full result of “Songchecks 2019”: #CountryCandidate / SongPoints User (50%)Points Alina (25%)Points Stefan (25%)Points in Ø1ItalyMahmood – “Soldi”9.7121010.352NetherlandsDuncan Laurence -“Arcade”9.5101210.253SwitzerlandLuca Hänni – “She Got Me”9.51089.254CyprusTamta – “Replay”7.610108.85MaltaMichaela Pace -“Chameleon”8.2888.16NorwayKEiiNO – “Spirit In The Sky”8.57887SloveniaZala Kralj & Gašper Šantl – “Sebi”7.41077.958RussiaSergey Lazarev -“Scream”6.78107.859SwedenJohn Lundvik – “Too Late For Love”7.66107.810Czech RepublicLake Malawi – “Friend Of A Friend”6.61087.811SpainMiki – “La venda”7.41067.712GreeceKaterine Duska – “Better Love”7.8877.6513IcelandHatari – “Hatrið mun sigra”6.93106.714AzerbaijanChingiz – “Truth”7.6576.815BelgiumEliot – “Wake Up”7.3756.6516FranceBilal Hassani – “Roi”6.8586.6517AlbaniaJonida Maliqi – “Ktheju tokës”6.6676.5518PolandTulia – “Fire Of Love” (Pali się)5.4876.4519ArmeniaSrbuk – “Walking Out”6.7566.3520United KingdomMichael Rice – “Bigger Than Us”5.7866.3521AustraliaKate Miller-Heidke -“Zero Gravity”6586.2522DenmarkLeonora – “Love is Forever”5.9856.223North MacedoniaTamara Todevska -“Proud”5.6766.0524PortugalConan Osíris -“Telemóveis”5.558625HungaryJoci Pápai – “Az én apám”6.3655.926San MarinoSerhat – ” Say Na Na Na”6.6555.827IrelandSarah McTernan – “22”5.563528IsraelKobi Marimi – “Home”4.9554.9529RomaniaEster Peony – “On A Sunday”5.8444.930SerbiaNevena Božović -“Kruna”4.9634.730AustriaPaenda – “Limits”4.9454.732LithuaniaJurijus – “Run With The Lions”4.9434.233EstoniaVictor Crone – “Storm”5.7234.134BelarusZena – “Like It”5.2334.135LatviaCarousel – “That Night”4.8333.936FinlandDarude – “Look Away”4.6423.837GeorgiaOto Nemsadze – “Keep On Going”2.9443.4538MontenegroD Mol – “Heaven”3.7312.8539CroatiaRoko – “The Dream”3.2322.8540MoldovaAnna Odobescu – “Stay”3.9212.7 All the videos for “Songchecks 2019” can be viewed on YouTube. There are also videos …

Cinesa partners up with the Spanish broadcaster RTVE to bring the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in a total of 41 cinemas across Spain. This is already the third year, that Eurovision fans in Spain will have the chance to watch the final of Eurovision on a big screen. Participating cinemas are in: A Coruña Barcelona Castellón de la Plana Guipúzcoa Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Málaga Marratxí – Mallorca Murcia Oviedo Santander Santiago de Compostela Valencia Valladolid Vizcaya Zaragoza Tickets for the Eurovision broadcast in a cinema across Spain can be found on Cinesa. This year Spain will be represented by Miki and his song “La Venda”. He was chosen by winning the OT Eurovision Gala back in January and as one of the big five, he will perform directly in the grand final. Will Spain have something to celebrate this year? “La Venda” is currently in the Top 5 most streamed songs on Spotify in the past week. If you would have the chance, would you watch Eurovision in a cinema or do you prefer your own party or watching on your own? Let us know on social media @ESCXTRA! Tomodo

A short sneak peek of the Eurovision 2019 postcards was uploaded today on the official YouTube channel of the contest. This year’s postcards include lots of dancing and Israel’s beautiful landscapes. Eurovision 2019 postcards The artists from the 41 participating countries have travelled to Israel over the past months to film their postcards. This year’s postcards combine presenting the competing artists with promoting the host country. On the sneak peek we can see Spain’s Miki dancing on a football field, Israel’s Kobi Marimi tackling more traditional partner dancing and Finland’s Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman celebrating in front of Tel Aviv’s skyline. The video also includes a part of Israel’s Eurovision 1978 winning entry “A-Ba-Ni-Bi”. What do you think about this year’s postcards? Let us know on social media @ESCXTRA!

In a press conference today, the Eurovision 2019 host broadcaster Kan revealed a lot of details about the guest acts of next month’s contest. Among these revealations are the confirmation of the appearance of last year’s runner-up Eleni Foureira, as well as a strong confidence in Madonna’s presence for the Eurovision Final. Many guests have been announced, with at least a dozen of acts being either revealed or confirmed, spread across semi-finals and the final. Semi-Final 1 – Israeli winners The first-semi final, on May 14th, will be opened by the woman who brought the contest to Tel-Aviv: Netta Barzilai. She will sing a new version of her winning song “Toy”. She will not be the only Israeli winner to appear in the semi-fnal, however, since Dana International, who won Eurovision in 1998, will also appear, probably as an interval act, as she had announced last week during Eurovision in Concert. The song she will sing has not yet been revealed. Semi-final 2 – #DareToDream For now, only one act has been confirmed for the second semi-final : Shalva. This band was formed 13 years ago, as a group of singers with special needs and disabilities. They took part in …

Is it going to be Mahmood? Luca Hänni? Or Duncan Laurence? That’s the question we need to ask ourselves for the OGAE Poll this year. The OGAEs in Hungary and Ireland have cast their votes and the top three is coming together. Just four different twelves With twelve countries now having voted in the OGAE Poll, we can see that the distribution of twelves is not as spread out as in previous years. Just four countries have managed to pick up a douze points so far. These four are Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and more surprisingly, Denmark. Even more remarkable is that Denmark’s total is currently twelve – only Slovenia’s top score has helped them to the scoreboard. The top three however have picked up points from almost everywhere. Switzerland and The Netherlands are now tied in second, on 104 points. However, as OGAE Slovenia decided not to award any points to Duncan Laurence, Luca Hänni still hangs on to second place. OGAE Hungary have increased the lead for Italy’s Mahmood by giving him their douze points. Meanwhile, OGAE Ireland have given points to every song currently placed in the top ten. Their top marks to go “Arcade”. OGAE HungaryOGAE …

Details of staging teams have began to emerge in the run-up to rehursals starting next month. Malta’s Michela becomes the latest to announce the team that will be putting her staging together. The all-star team includes Ambra Succi and Front Pictures, who between them have two Eurovision-winning performances in their portfolios. Having remained relatively quiet since the release of “Chameleon” back in March, Michela has shared some very exciting news about her staging for Tel Aviv! She has revealed that she will be working with Ambra Succi, who worked with Loreen on her performance of “Euphoria” back in 2012 and Poli Genova for her performance of “If Love Was A Crime” back in 2016. Both are still remembered for their excellent choreography, so we have high hopes! To add to the hype, it has also been revealed that the graphics have been designed by Ukraine’s Front Pictures. The design studio had previously produced Jamala’s LEDs for her winning performance of “1944”, including THAT tree. The 18-year old star had recently cancelled her pre-party appearances in London and Amsterdam to focus on preparing for Tel Aviv. She has been rehearsing in Sweden of the past week, once again cementing that “Chameleon” …

The next country to cast their votes in the annual OGAE Poll is Bulgaria. After OGAE Slovakia’s vote yesterday, they are the second non-participating country to take vote and also the second ones to award their douze points to “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence. Four douzes now The Netherlands have now picked up their fourth top score. Earlier, Slovakia, Armenia and Albania already gave twelve points to Duncan Laurence’s song. It brings him to third place with 82 points, just four points behind Switzerland’s Luca Hänni. The OGAE Bulgaria votes have brought two new countries to the scoreboard. With their four points, Srbuk now claims nineteenth place in the poll for Armenia. Just behind her, the Albanian entry “Ktheju Tokës” picks up its first two points. Jonida Maliqi is in a shared twentieth place with Hungary and North Macedonia, as Tamara Todevska also picks up a point from their Bulgarian neighbours. OGAE Bulgaria12 pointsThe Netherlands10 pointsItaly8 pointsSwitzerland7 pointsCyprus6 pointsMalta5 pointsFrance4 pointsArmenia3 pointsRussia2 pointsAlbania1 pointNorth Macedonia “Soldi” still leading The lead is still in the hands of Italy. Mahmood picks up another top three score, meaning that, so far, only Croatia have not ranked him in their top two. His gap to …

Although details of staging is hardly ever announced before rehearsals, news of who will be joining acts on stage have began to trickle out. Now, Greece’s Mikrofwno has revealed the team that will be joining Katerine Duska on stage in Tel Aviv. She will be joined by two backing singers and two dancers. Erasmia Markides and Eleni Pozantzidou will be joining Katerine as backing singers, whether they will appear as part of the visual performance or not is unknown. Erasmia has previous Eurovision experience, having accompanied Demy for her performance of “This is Love” in Kiev in 2017. Also, Dimitra Vlachou and Fania Grigoriou will be joining Katerine on stage as dancers. This confirms that we can expect some choreography from “Better Love” next month. Although it may just be a classic case of interpretive dancers with a stationary singer, which Eurovision fans are certainly familiar with. The staging director behind the performance is Efi Gousi, who also directed the official music video for the song. Gousi’s team will be working collaboration with Minos-Emi/ Universal and ERT to produce the staging. About Katerine Katerine Duska was born and raised in Montreal. She started composing music when she was a teenager and moved with her …