Sanna released her latest album last week, titled in tribute to the number of attempts it took her to get to Eurovision. Over the course of said seven attempts, Sanna has crafted a bit of a dual image for herself, flitting between schlager diva and power ballad queen with relative ease. However, more devoted fans will know that outside the world of Melodifestivalen, her sound is much more mid-tempo and middle-of-the-road, and it’s this vibe that characterises much of Sanna’s latest offering. Of course that’s not to do a disservice to the progression she shows on the album; although it’s all in very safe territory, the production is more electronic than in previous albums, with many of the songs foregoing strings in favour of synths. The opener, ‘Skydivin’ is a good marker of what is to come on the album; it’s a pop mid-tempo whose double-tracked vocals, heavy percussion and general sound puts one in mind of Timbaland’s output at the end of the last decade. Whilst ‘Skydivin’ has a bit more bite than many previous Sanna Nielsen album tracks, it isn’t the best example on the album of the sound it is going for. ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Trouble’ are both …

1. While the stage at the B&W Hallerne took three months to build, it took just 17 hours to pull down. The removal of the stage commenced right after the show on the Saturday night, and was finished by the Sunday afternoon. 2. 195 million people turned into the Eurovision Song Contest this year. This figure was around ten percent higher than last year’s viewing figures and at home in Denmark, a whopping 89% of TV viewers turned into the show. 3. The preview video of Rise Like A Phoenix on the official Eurovision YouTube channel has been watched over 16 million times. The next most watched video is from Poland’s Donatan and Cleo, with over 5.5 million views! 4. Over 1200 people were involved behind the scenes to bring the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 to life. This was comprised of around 700 people involved in the production and event crews and over 500 volunteers assisting in areas such as transport, accreditation and monitoring the press centre. 5. The top and bottom place in the voting were the same in both the televote and the jury vote. Austria blitzed the televote with 311 points, and a more modest, but still winning, …

The Eurovision voting always gives us some memorable moments, and here were a few of our favourites…. 1. Russia leading after the first three countries That awkward moment when the entry everyone booed ends up in the lead – even for a short time…. 2. No one attempting any Danish Save for everyone’s favourite Israeli spokesperson and a few polite “god aften”s, there were few attempts by anyone to woo the hosts with the native language this year…. Is anyone surprised? #potato 3. So-lay-oh, so-lay-oh There’s always one artist looking to relive their former Eurovision glory, and we even got *that* hand movement. 4. With these crossed arms, they mean business! They’re taking it seriously in Italy and Albania. 5. Happy Hungary They really do have their own blend of enthusiasm down there….. 6. Nikolaj mispronouncing Alsou’s name as Alsow Ooops. 7. LATVIJA No one can accuse Ralf Eilands of not being relaxed. 8. And yet another returning artist…. Just Sophie and Nodi looking awkward….. 9. So this happened…. Don’t worry about us, we just want to know the votes! 10. This.

Emmelie de Forest brought the contest back to Copenhagen and now she wants to know how you celebrate Eurovision every year. If you have any fun traditions, you can let her know and have the chance to win one of the three Eurovision 2014 DVDs, officially released today, that she has signed. Winners will be drawn on Tuesday 17 June at 12:05 p.m. CEST. You can tell her how you and your friends and family live the event on her facebook page, and answers should be provided either en English or Danish. Message sur le mur by Emmelie de Forest.

The BBC has kept faith with Molly Smitten-Downs, announcing that she will be among the acts to perform on the ‘BBC Introducing’ stage at Glastonbury 2014. In the presentation show back in February, Molly was introduced to the UK public as an unsigned artist from the ‘BBC Introducing’ list, and stated her dream to was perform at the legendary festival, stating, “Get me to Glastonbury, that’s the dream!” To give you a sense of the event, in 2013 the ‘BBC Introducing’ stage hosted The XX, Rizzle Kicks and US fraternal group, Haim. The Glastonbury Festival takes place 27-29 June 2014.  Molly will perform a 30-minute set at 17:30BST after sets from BBC Radio 1 DJs Pete Tong and Annie Mac. She performed her debut single, Children of the Universe at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, finishing in 17th place and charting at number 23 in the UK, plus top 40 sales releases in Denmark, Sweden and Ireland.

Cyprus will be returning to Eurovision next year according to sources at London Greek Radio. After a one year hiatus, the Mediterranean island will return for the contest’s 60th anniversary in Austria, with sources claiming an official announcement will be made shortly. Detailed rules are expected to follow, with suggestions that only Cypriot singers will be eligible to participate. Rumours have been rife regarding Cyprus’ imminent return, especially after the broadcast CyBC reluctantly withdrew from this year’s contest citing drastic cuts in spending on programmes. Small breaks from the contest have been rather popular of recent, with Armenia, Georgia, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland and Portugal all having employed them over the past five years for differing reasons. It is also suspected the Croatia and Serbia’s withdrawals will not be permanent. Whilst the news of Cyprus’ return hasn’t been official announced by CyBC, it is at least encouraging to hear that plans for a return are in progress.

After a week of speculation in Dutch media, one half of The Common Linnets, Waylon, has now released a statement regarding his participation in the project. Speculation started when Waylon didn’t attend a small European tour the group did this week. During concerts and promo events in Austria and Germany, The Common Linnets consisted of Ilse DeLange, JB Meijers and Jake Etheridge. Waylon, without explanation, did not attend any of the events. This morning, he posted a long explanation on his Facebook page regarding his absence. Waylon states that the success the duo got after Eurovision has come as a surprise to both of them. He has already postponed his album, Heaven after Midnight, until after Eurovision, but he cannot make any more room in his agenda in the upcoming weeks and months. He also stated that The Common Linnets is a project started by Ilse DeLange only and that she is free to do what she wants. On the commitment to the group, he said: I would have been able and willing to make more time for The Common Linnets, if this would’ve happened based on creative equality, also abroad. Ilse and I have spoken about this for a long …

Yesterday, Austria’s national broadcaster ORF presented the group of people responsible for preparing the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Here is the line up for the main people with the important roles for the 2015 event;   Edgar Böhm (Head of Entertainment at ORF) – Executive Producer Stefan Zechner – Producer of the TV Show Martin Szerencsi – Legal Advisor Stefan Wöber – Line Producer Claudio Bortoli – Technical Manager (had the same function for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing) Roman Horacek – Head of Press An event manager is yet to be appointed, they will be responsible for logistics, hospitality, and security among others. Jon Ola Sand responded to this saying With this team, ORF laid a professional foundation for the organisation of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. We are looking forward to working with them for the year to come. With the main production and organisation team in place, hopefully it won’t be long now until ORF will inform us on the decision on the host city.

Being a Eurovision fan isn’t easy, especially when you realise it determines what you do all year round. Try as much as you want, but you wont be able to deny that these seventeen things are you in a nutshell. 1. Your Facebook News Feed is basically just videos and statuses about Eurovision all year round. It’s a wonder you actually know anything about current affairs and can still function in social situations with normal people. Source: Facebook / EBU 2. You suddenly care about everything that’s happening in the country you’re supporting in a particular year. History of Belarus: fascinating, Belarusian cuisine: the yummiest, politics in Belarus: love them! Source: marketing.by 3. Likewise, you plan your summer holidays around your personal top five – yep, always wanted to go to backpacking around Italy and Armenia, definitely not because they had good songs this year. Source: abeautifulmess.com 4. You already have a playlist on iTunes called Vienna 2015, and it’s just waiting for the sixteen minute long first-draft from Albania. Source: Apple iTunes 5. Activities in January, February and March are all determined by when national finals take place. Greece are choosing their song on Wednesday, so can you have …

This morning YLE announced a revamp of UMK. UMK is now coming into it’s fourth year and the producer promises big changes. Anssi Autio revealed that the major changes will be that all UMK programs will now be broadcast live and there will be no jurors at all. UPDATE It has become apparent that there are several ways in which this information could be interpreted. While it may indeed be that there will be no jurors, another way of interpreting it as suggested by some of our Finnish readers is that they may just not be present during the show, suggesting that they may still be a part of the voting. A new director for the show will also be introduced; Juha-Matti Valtonen who previously directed Channel Four’s Dancing On Ice series. YLE also announced the dates for song enteries, to be sent between September 1st – 8th! Here are the list of rules published for those interested in entering: Piece must be unpublished Songs by an artist must be 16 years of age or older by 05/16/2015 At least one copy of factors/musicans must be in Finnish citizenship or permanent residence in Finland Contestants will be accepted up to one …