#love the eurovision 2021 artists!

[tuituipupu]

some cute moments i captured from go_a’s livestream tonight 🤍

[chrisis-averted]

Eurovision 2023 Songs ABRIDGED

Yes, I’m doing that again. You’re welcome!  😙 Once again, this is for humor purpose, don’t take it too seriously.

Albania: treasure your family, it’s not going to be there forever 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧

Armenia: I want to meet my soulmate 🥺

Australia: dare to try new things 🤩

Austria: yeah, fuck the music industry, it just exploits artists 👻

Azerbaijan: we broke up but I still think about you 🥺

Belgium: you got me to love myself 🥰

Croatia: yeah, fuck Russia 😈

Cyprus: you’re toxic as hell, girl 😠

Czechia: yeah, fuck gender inequality 🧕

Denmark: I’m afraid of starting a relationship because it might go bad 😥

Estonia: I want to connect with people 🤗

Finland: it’s Friday, I’m tired as fuck, I just want to party and get drunk 🥴

France: I have changed, for good and for ill 😌

Georgia: I have faith there will be better days 😌 

Germany: we are made of beautiful and ugly things 🤩

Greece: it’s those who are broken that help others more 🥰

Iceland: I got out of a toxic relationship and I’m euphoric 😃

Ireland: treasure your uniqueness 🌈

Israel: I’m rare and precious, like a mythical creature 🦄

Italy: I’m a hopeless romantic 🥺

Latvia: I lost hope in this world 😔

Lithuania: I got out of depression thanks to you 🥰

Malta: I’d rather stay at home than get out and party 😴

Moldova: I shall marry you in the forest under the sun and moon 🦌

Netherlands: I lost fascination with life and I’m scared I’m wasting time 😥

Norway: I’m a goddamn queen 👸

Poland: I slept with half the jury because sure as hell I can’t sing I am sexy and want to party 🥴

Portugal: oh fuck I’ve fallen in love and I’m a mess 😵

Romania: I’ve fallen head over heels for a girl who’s toying with me 🙃

San Marino: oh wow, you’re sexy, wanna come home with me? 😍

Serbia: the world is severely fucked up 😡

Slovenia: our generation sees no hope in the future, so we at least we enjoy the moment 🙃

Spain: I love you, my child 👩‍👧

Sweden: I want the only man I cannot have 🥰

Switzerland: our generation feels trapped in the wars caused by people who don’t care about us 😡

Ukraine: we are stronger than they think 😡

United Kingdom: I got cheated on, so now I’m having fun without him 😏

Eurovision Songs Abridged 2021 | 2022

[vogelmeister]

Eurovision 2024: my experience as a fan

One thing about me is that I love Eurovision. I have all the winners plastered on my door at home, I can beat anyone and everyone at European geography. Each year for a week in May, I am people’s go to for anything and everything Eurovision, from explaining the big five to promoting my favourite songs. I willingly get up at 5am to tune in live, I have written two academic essays on Eurovision, and both essays have a sense of passion running through them where you can tell I love the topic- may or may not have been called out once on that. I knew so much about the topic that neither essay required much research. When I lived in the Netherlands, I attended Het Grote Songfestivalfeest, probably killing my seat neighbours with my singing and poorly articulated Dutch when De Diepte came on. As well as that, my friends and I took a trip to Rotterdam and visited where the contest was held in 2021. Having me, an Australian, alongside a Dutch person and a Greek, exploring Rotterdam highlighted to me exactly what Eurovision should be about. Unity. 

Being in a room of Eurofans gave me joy that is unexplainable. I just remember realising, ‘hey I found my people’

However, I always knew ESC 2024 was going to be a hard watch for me, even before the boycotts begun. About a year ago I went through a massive friendship breakup with one of my closest Eurovision friends, and their villianisation of me meant that watching with them wasnt an option. I didn’t want to watch alone. That’s all I will say on that. I had a year to deal with that, anyway, and even when people were boycotting the event after October 7th, I thought, theres actually no way that Israel is actually competing this year. They surely will send something too political and get dq'd, right? Most of the knowledge I have of Palestine and Israel comes from my year 12 modern history class, which as my friend and I discussed today, was taught neutrally- and it’s not in Israel’s favour. I was there when Hatari spoke out in 2019 and did the banners, and I remember the shock and understanding what a big deal this was.

I toyed with the idea of boycotting myself. I had my reasons. I auditioned for a play, which didnt work out for me, as I was too distracted by Eurovision week to care. I was less invested in Eurovision as a whole, and I would get sleep. But in the end, I decided not to. My friend (who found out I liked Eurovision after I bitched about my ex friends not enjoying that I had other interests asides from Taylor Swift) was already coming around to watch.  I decided my mental health came first, before boycotting and before being an activist. If I could save this one piece of my mental health, I would be fine. Stupid delusional me, well she had hope. I wanted to support Joost, and the other artists who were stuck in this shitshow of a year. I staunchly boycotted Isreal’s song, I have only heard it in full once, and that was against my will. I even blocked her on Spotify. 

I looked at it all positively- this all meant I was going in more blind than ever. I bought my 2024 CD, but I also broke a lot of traditions- I didnt do my predictions like I do every year on my whiteboard, I didnt film the first semi qualifications with the caption ‘im in spain’ and put it on my story, and I hardly watched the NFs. I liked Eurovision, but this year, with all going on, I felt guilty and ashamed. I have been ashamed of being a eurofan before, but not on this level. I felt like I was trapped in a glass box, kicking and screaming at the ebu but they had airpods in. The answer was so obvious. Ban Isreal, like you did with Russia. People were harassing artists for competing, especially Olly, who I realised had no choice in the matter anyways. I ended up thinking “just get through the week, soon it will be over, and you’ll have fun with your friend.” I have never wanted Eurovision week over in my life. I just wasnt excited.  Europapa basically became my ride or die, built upon my love for the Netherlands, and the genuine good vibes of the song. Joost was charismatic, and the song had a nice story. Another one of my friends, who realised I was eurofan after I posted a video on my story where you could see my Dowue Bob poster (I have my reasons for keeping it), found a watch party and it was free. She had her drivers license so she could get us there, and my other friend and I agreed. It would be fun, I would bring my Dutch flag and my orange beanie and wear my Sam Ryder shirt. 

The first semi happened. My friend came over, we slept on the couch. I enjoyed myself, the qualifiers werent shocking though and I guessed 9/10 of them. It was pretty mid, but it was fun. The only issue was Poland being robbed and the Australian commentary on SBS being dicks to Portugal, which they backtracked in the final. It was insufferable, but the worst was yet to come.  

The second semi. I was so excited to see Joost perform and bonded with my Dutch coworker over him and his song, which honestly was beautiful. If she didnt know how much I love the Netherlands before, she does now. I did notice that when Israel qualified, all the sickness in my stomach just exited the room, as the worst that could happen, happened. But sadly, I knew it would happen. Seeing the videos, however, of Palestine protesters and the booing and shouting, despite attempts to silence us, was beautiful. It showed exactly where the fandom stood, what we thought. And my mum was even happy about Israel being treated like bullshit. 

And then shit started to go down. 

The second semi press conference. The kaarija video. Joost being followed around for propaganda content by Israel. Joost’s “why not” and throwing the Dutch flag over his head.  Marina falling asleep (queen). Bambi being dehumanised by Israel’s delegation and asshole of a commentator. Zionists kept making excuses and I got a few threats on TikTok of all places for supporting a bully manchild. Well, fuck you, at least I am not suporting genocide. It was a mess. My friend asked me for my opinions on the qualification while at work and i basically told her I didn’t want to talk about it. I looked so sad on break my coworker offered me a banana. 

“Treat Eden Golan as human! She’s only 20” I wondered, how could I? How could I treat someone as human when they were basically a puppet, a face for a genocidal nation. How could I do that when that same genocidal nation was tearing apart the one thing I loved?  Her delegation certainly didn’t treat Joost Klein as human; certainly just as another tool they could use to promote their propaganda machine. I felt sick. He wasn’t the only one. I was so proud of Joost, and I will always be proud of him, I think. What he did during the press conference after semi 2 took guts.  Normally I would be pissed at a delegation getting mistreated like this, but not today. As far as I was concerned, this was good riddance. Get the fuck out, you’re not wanted here. 

On Saturday, I started to realise I had this heavy feeling in my chest and it wasn’t leaving. I felt on edge, and yet I was a world away in Australia. I listened to “I can do it with a broken heart” fifty times on my way to work that day, confident that maybe I could power through this matinee shift without cracking. My favourite thing in the whole world was falling apart before my eyes, and it was easily avoided. I felt sick at work, there were points when I was thinking “I can’t do this.” But I could. I would. I would get through this shift. I messaged one of my friends in NL asking her how she was and she said she also wasnt having a good time, to which I confessed not wanting to get out of bed that morning because I was so sick with discomfort. 

People were continually asking my thoughts, if I enjoyed the shows, the memes were sent and I had to put on a brave face because crying over a song contest is stupid and im a coward and hate being an outspoken activist.

The final straw for me was Joost Klein getting disqualified. This would have been a devastating blow for me no matter which nation it was, but it being the Netherlands, the one country I love more than anything else, the one song that was basically my ride or die in this shitshow of a year: well it felt personal. It showed the double standards of the EBU- how could an incident, hardly worth a fine, get Joost kicked out of ESC when Israel waltzed in with a smugass grin and a kill count. If it was about Joost's parents, I hope he hit them hard. the misleading information, the lack of transparency, and AVROTROS's discomfort over the whole ordeal was the cherry on the cake and really, actually showed me in full colour who the EBU were and that they didn't give two shits, bending the rules for Eden and using everyone else as scapegoats. That Joost, or any of the other artists were not allowed to have boundaries. Instantly I messaged my friend,  and went “I am not fucking going to this watch party.” She agreed with me, the vibes would be off and probably zionist. My other friend, who was staying the night, was still keen to watch ESC. Instead of going to the livestream in Hurstville, we all  came to mine at 5am and we elected to watch together.  To finish what we started. As my friend said, “it could be the last one.” 

I saw myself witnessing the death of Eurovision.  All because someone wouldnt fucking kick out a country. When I woke up in the morning, I saw that Bambi had posted a statement saying they had issues with Israel and the delegation, and even the EBU fully admitted that Israel had broken rules. Yet where was the punishment?

I will confess the 5am start time hurt more this time around. Normally I would be bounding down the stairs, box of chips in hand, and excited to see the memes. Today, it just hurt. Dancing around to Europapa didn’t hide the emptiness in my soul about the disqualification, about the double standards enacted by the EBU this year.  The interval acts were mid. Petra talking about the rules, saying shit like “it’s apolitical” stung with irony I had never felt before. I put on a brave face and I had as much fun as I could but in reality, I was sad and angry. Wishing I had gotten into that play. That I had the guts to boycott and explain to people why. That Joost wasnt disqualified for shit Eden Golan would have gotten away with. 

After the show, I felt empty. Switzerland won, and congrats to them obviously, I like The Code. But after the shitshow of this week, all I felt was free and relieved. Israel still came top 5 and it confirmed what was sickeningly true. People still support Israel. People were still pulling the “Croatia robbed” game, unaware how tone deaf that feels in the current circumstances. It didn’t matter who won, as long as it wasn’t Israel, but it never felt like Israel lost. All I wanted to do was cry. My friend was showing me Eurovision memes probably unaware that I had been through the worst Eurovision of my life, and just wanted to cry and be left alone. No hate to her obviously but I was fucking trying to hold it together all morning, but I couldn't express my emotions on the matter. I hope AVROTROS sue the shit out of the EBU. I hope Joost gets a hero’s welcome home in the Netherlands. I hope past artists speak out. I hope Isreal gets banned. 

I will be celebrating the small wins this year. I will be streaming the artists that stood up to the ebu, streaming the ones that spoke out, and of course, continuing to support Joost Klein. I will never forget watching Ukraine sail past Israel in the televote, a win of itself. I am thankful to those in the arena that spoke out against the EBU and booed both Israel and Osterdahl.  To those who smuggled in flags, to those who refused to be silent. I will get over this, I will, but seeing the outcome of this week leaves little joy. I hope this isnt the end of Eurovision, but wherever we go now, I think a part of me did die this week.

[cant-get-worse-than-this]

Introduction post!

Basics

Hi!!!

My name is Kesar (or any other variant of the name Caesar is fine to call me!) and I am 14. I am neurodivergent. I am an Asian-European (India and Sweden!), Hindu, and my pronouns are he/they!

Interests and Likes

I have a hyperfixation/special interest (I don't know which to use because I'm in denial about being autistic LMAO) of the Mediterranean, mostly Italy and Spain but also France, Portugal, Egypt, Greece, etc!

Languages

Due to my interest, I have taught myself Italian all on my own and I study Spanish at school since 2020, so I can speak them both at a good level.

All of the languages I speak as well as some more info on my history with them:

Swedish, I speak it every day and a bit at home

Hindi, I speak it every day at home with my family

English, I speak it here and I consume a lot of English media. Also I went to an international school for a couple of years.

Spanish, I've been learning it at school. Ever since I started learning it I've been the best in the class (this is very much a flex, I am very proud of the fact). I speak it at a very good level but I'm not close to fluent.

Italian, I am very proud of that I speak it because I learnt it all on my own using primarily music. I started learning it in 2021 but then took a LONG break for almost 2 years and in 2023 I got back on track and learnt it so well I'm almost at the same level at it as I am at Spanish hahaha

French, as I speak Spanish and Italian it wasn't that hard for me to get a grasp at French. I'm definitely not good at it and am best at written French, not spoken, but I understand enough to say I know it. Also, I can carry a conversation in French so. Yeah. I also really like Lupin.

Urdu, as I speak Hindi I understand Urdu well. Of course there are words I don't know, but since I understand so much of it and I speak it better than I speak Spanish or Italian I had to include it.

Music

My favourite song artists are Marco Mengoni and MIKA. They are my top 2. I love them so much.

I also listen to Mahmood, Måneskin, Queen, The Lonely Island, Lady Gaga, Kali Uchis, Megan Thee Stallion, Veronica Maggio, Shreya Ghoshal, and a lot more.

Apart from that I like English music from 2000 to the late 2010s. I also like Hindi music, rap (i listen to a LOT of Megan Thee Stallion, she's such a queen), Eurovision (although I am not supporting them this year due to them including Israel, Free Palestine🇵🇸), Hispanic music, Francophone music, Italian music and Swedish music. I also enjoy classical, both South Asian and European.

TV

I love TV! My favourites are dramedies. I like comedy a lot. My favourite type of show would be sitcoms because I understand them and I grew up with them and I like their humour. Here are TV shows I very, very strongly like in no particular order:

Psych, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Community, 1899, Mythic Quest, Lupin, Monk, and probably more that I just don't remember right now.

I have also watched a lot of other things, but this is all that comes to mind.

There are films that I really like, and most of them I have watched more than a few times. Like there were literally periods when I would just keep rewatching these:

The Kung Fu Panda film series, The Hotel Transylvania film series, The Lorax (specifically the Italian dub), The Shrek film series, and once again probably many more.

Other stuff I like:

Doraemon, Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse & Across The Spiderverse, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhaan (2020), Smiley (2022), Saiki K (TV series, I haven't been able to read the manga :/), etc.

Books

Mostly I read fact books, in middle school the librarian hated me for (metaphorically) eating up all the books on ancient Egypt, but I also have a few books I really like!

I love Rick Riordan. My favourite from him is definitely The Kane Chronicles but I also like PJO. I'm TKC all the way, though.

I also like Geronimo & Thea Stilton as well as Diary of a Wimpy Kid. They give me comfort.

I have a lot of queer books I bought for the sole reason of them being queer but I haven't read them yet hahahaha. I'm almost finished with Friday I'm In Love by Camryn Garrett!

I am also reading Babel by R. F. Kuang and Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón!

Playlist time!

My Marco Mengoni playlist:

My Brad Bakshi playlist:

My Trobed playlist:

My Braddavid playlist:

My StottleMonk playlist:

That is all I can really come up with right now, but I will probably edit this soon! I'm not very good at stating what I like and all of that because I'm always scared I'm not telling everything or that people won't understand how I like it and stuff LMAO so don't be surprised if I take this post down :( I'm trying to get better though, so I'll keep it up!

[because-its-eurovision]

was listening to käärijä on spotify and another finnish artists (kuumaa) was in the queue after him and so now i’ve started listening to a bunch of other finnish artists. eurovision and käärijä have introduced me to a whole new world of music. also your language is beautiful.

That is very nice to hear! One of the reasons I love Eurovision is being introduced to new artists and even genres on languages I might never run into otherwise 🥰

I don't know if you know this already, but Kuumaa also competed in the Finnish national Eurovision selection this year with the song Ylivoimainen. Other Finnish-language songs people really liked in our selection were Hoida mut by Benjamin in 2023, Ram pam pam by Bess in 2022 and Kelle mä soitan by Ilta in 2021, so maybe you'd like to check out those as well ❤

[roweclementine]

Getting ready to end my Spotify subscription when it expires at the end of the month but I’m keeping the account up so here’s all of my playlists that I’ve made since I joined back in summer 2020

Downloads (the Big One)

2023:

March 2023 (v proud of the cover for this one; can’t believe I’ve been doing these for a whole year)

April 2023

May 2023

June 2023

Fourth Of July 2023 (Rowe’s Version)

august 2023

September 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December 2023

March-December 2023

2024:

January 2024 (platonic breakup season woooo)

February 2024

March 2024

The monthly playlist idea was stolen from @trenchcrows. Each playlist has as many songs as there were days in that month (except when they don’t because some of them used to have Lovejoy/Wilbur songs in them). They were my favorite/most listened to/most looped songs from each month. It was a fun project and I think that it’s cool that I can look back and figure out exactly when I got into certain songs or when certain things were happening to me. November-January was certainly A Time.

Queer Playlists:

Aspec (aro and/or ace songs)

🏳️‍⚧️ (trans/nb songs)

🏳️‍🌈 (gay gay homosexual gay)

Podcast Adjacent Playlists:

Favorite SFBO Episodes

Favorite Podcasts

Songs from Let’s Learn Everything!

Playlists For Specific Artists/Albums:

GLOOM DIVISION (new idkhow album go stream it)

We’re Not Panicking! At The Disco Anymore (by Fall Out Boy)

Everything by Jon Walker (all of the songs/bands mentioned in Everything)

Jon Walker favorites

Waterparks songs named after colors

Waterparks Songs Named After Pixar Quotes

Sparrow Sleeps

Infinity on High but it's my favorite parts (by fall out boy)

Local Dreamers (the Wait I Need to Listen to Twenty One Pilots More So They Show Up on My Wrapped playlist)

American Beauty/American Psycho, but with 9% more Demi Lovato

Razzmatazz, but with 9% more Tessa Violet

Playlists For Specific Situations:

Songs to listen to at the end of the year

Beachy

Therapy :( (Rowe is not having a good time)

Therapy :) (Rowe is not having a good time but she’s trying to be optimistic now)

✨ Seasonal Depression ✨ (Rowe is not having a good time part 3, now with more Christmas)

Christmas Songs That I Actually Like (We’re going to ignore the fact that Every Snowflake is Different isn’t technically a Christmas song ok?)

Relationships:

Breakup songs

Show Me The Door (break up songs; a playlist dedicated to my mother)

/ (love songs)

Hopeless Romantic Bittersweet Yearning (more love songs)

& (songs about friendship)

Spotify Wrapped:

Rowe’s 2020 Wrapped

Rowe’s 2021 Wrapped

Rowe’s 2022 Wrapped

Rowe’s 2023 Wrapped

Rowe’s Wrapped 2019-2023 (I had Spotify in 2019 but was using a different account at the time)

Minecraft:

Fallen Kingdom Saga

Minecraft Songs

The Minecraft Archives:

TMcA

tmca!Tommy

(The Minecraft archives was a mcyt (dsmp/Hermitcraft season 8) tma au that I was working on which I am no longer writing because of Current Events)(I also had a TMcA!Wilbur playlist but I deleted it back in February along with all of my other Lovejoy playlists because fuck Wilbur)

The Rest Of Them:

Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday (sometimes you just wanna listen to songs with Saturday in the title; here’s a playlist for that)

Favorite Covers

Walmart Radio but it’s the songs I actually like

# (songs with numbers in the title)

Duets & features

Inside you there are two wolves (aka Fall Out Boy are liars)

Eurovision Favs

and finally,

Some Songs That Aren’t Lovejoy:

When did this happen why are there so many of them this post took like an hour to make

[eurovision-facts]

Do you know if there ever was any ace or aro artist on Eurovision?

Eurovision Fact #372:

While there have been no asexual or aromantic Eurovision contestants, there have been many openly gay contestants and contestants who later came out as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Paul Oscar was the first openly gay Eurovision contestant. He performed for Iceland in 1997. The winner of that year's contest, Katrina and the Waves, also had their lead singer (Katrina Leskanich) come out many years later.

In 1998, Dana International made waves as she became the first trans contestant, and winner of the competition.

Israeli representative in 2002, Sarit Hadad, came out in 2021.

Representative of Bosnia & Herzegovina in 2004 and 2006 Deen has never come out explicitly, but openly posts about life with his boyfriend.

Winner of the 2007 contest, Marija Serifovic, came out as a lesbian in 2013 during the premiere of her film Confession.

Members of the group Blue -- who represented the UK in 2011 -- Duncan James and Lee Ryan have come out as gay and bisexual, respectfully. Ryan also admitted to sleeping with Duncan James often.

Winner of the 2012 contest, Loreen, came out as bisexual in 2017, stating that "love is where you find it."

Ireland's 2013 representative Ryan Dolan came out as gay the year following his Eurovision performance.

Thomas Neuwirth, otherwise known as winner of the 2014 contest Conchita Wurst, is openly gay.

In 2016, the Israeli representative Hovi Star was openly gay, and the Dutch representative, Douwe Bob, was bisexual.

Montenegro's 2017 representative Slavko Kalezić is openly gay.

In 2018, the Finnish representative Saara Alto was a lesbian, and Ukrainian representative Mélovin came out as bisexual in 2021.

In 2019 winner of the contest, Duncan Laurence, came out as bisexual at a Eurovision press conference. Additionally, France's contestant that year, Bilal Hassani, was queer. Moreover, member of the Norwegian band Keiino is openly gay. Finally, Italian contestant Mahmood has spoken out in support of LGBT rights, especially in Egypt, but does not like to label himself in any way.

Many of the contestants in the 2021 contest were members of the LGBT community: members of the Italian band Måneskin (winners of the 2021 contest) Victoria De Angelis and Ethan Torchio are openly bisexual and "sexually free" respectively. Australian representative Montaigne uses they/them pronouns and came out as bisexual. Spanish contestant Blas Cantó is also bisexual. Lesley Roy of Ireland is a lesbian. Vasil Garvanliev (North Macedonia), Jeangu Macrooy (Netherlands), and Jendrik Sigwart (Germany) are gay. Romania's Roxen is nonbinary, and member of the Icelandic group Daði og Gagnamagnið, Hulda, is pansexual.

2022 also saw a large number of LGBT contestants. Member of the Icelandic group Systur Elín is a genderfluid lesbian, and Michael Ben David of Israel and Sheldon Riley of Australia are both gay.

Finally, 2023 will also see many LGBT performers take the stage. Belgium's Gustaph and Serbia's Luke Black are gay, and Norway's Alessandra Mele is bisexual.

[Sources]

Please let me know if I missed anyone!

Eurovision: All LGBT Entries (1956-2022), YouTube.com.

INTERVIEW: Katrina Leskanich, Thegayuk, Archive.org (Archived).

Paul Oscar, Wikipedia.org.

Participants of Dublin 1997, Eurovision.tv.

Birmingham 1998, Eurovision.tv.

'Conchita Wurst: 'Most artists are sensitive and insecure people. I am too',' TheGuardian.com.

'Dutch Eurovision contestant Duncan Laurence comes out as bisexual,' gaytimes.co.uk.

'I Am A Lesbian! – Marija Serifovic Opens Up In Her Film “Confession”,' inserbia.info.

'Eurovision winner Loreen comes out as bisexual,' sbs.com.au.

'Sanremo 2021, i Maneskin si spogliano e parlano di libertà sessuale,' eg.zone, archive.org (archived).

"לא נגעו בי שנים כמו שבי נגעת": שרית חדד יוצאת מהארון וחושפת את בת זוגה, walla.co.il.

'Fuad Backović Deen s dečkom Willom Phearsonom na rođendanskoj zabavi,' avazi.ba.

'Deenov dečko na Instagramu: Svi osmijesi s mojom ljubavi,' klix.ba.

''Celebrity Big Brother' Star Lee Ryan Says He Sleeps With His Blue Bandmate Duncan James 'All The Time',' huffingtonpost.co.uk.

'Duncan James ‘proud to be gay’ as he reveals new boyfriend Rodrigo Reis,' Standard.co.uk.

'Eurovision star Ryan Dolan comes out as gay,' independent.ie.

'Israeli entrant to Eurovision says humiliated at Russian airport for being gay,' timesofisrael.com.

'Netherlands: Douwe Bob Comes Out As Bi,' Eurovoix.com.

'Slavko Kalezić,' Wikipedia.org.

'Saara Alto opens up about her sexuality as she poses in stunning new photo shoot,' thepinknews.com.

'Ukraine: “I showed my essence” – MELOVIN comes out, kisses a woman and a man on stage at Atlas Weekend festival,' wiwibloggs.com.

'Le youtubeur Bilal Hassani, idole queer des jeunes, représentera la France à l’Eurovision,' lemonde.fr.

'Congrats to “Tom Hugo” Married His Partner Today,' escbeat.com.

@ actualmontaigne on Twitter.

'it's me...' @ actualmontaigne on Twitter.

'Salir del armario para alcanzar la felicidad,' lavanguardia.com.

''I pushed being gay deep down inside me' - Eurovision hopeful Lesley Roy,' independent.ie.

'Eurovision's Vasil is ready to be a voice for LGBTQ people in North Macedonia and the Balkans, attitude, archive.org (archived).

'Jeangu Macrooy: 10 facts about the Netherlands’ Eurovision 2021 singer,' wiwibloggs.com.

'Jendrik Sigwart privat: Mit Freund Jan in Rotterdam? Das ist unser ESC-Kandidat 2021,' news.de.

'Eurovision star Roxen comes out as non-binary in powerfully frank chat with fans,' thepinknews.com.

'Iceland’s Eurovision entry warms queer hearts as singer Hulda waves pansexual flag during semi-final,' metro.co.uk.

'How a Eurovision star's song about coming out became a gay anthem,' yahoo.com.

'LGBTIQ+ artists at Eurovision 2022,' aussievision.net.

'Gustaph from Belgium: "My Eurovision performance will be very different",' eurovisionworld.com.

'Alessandra Mele: “My song was written especially for Eurovision”| Exclusive interview |,' Eurovisionfun.com.

'"JA SAM GEJ" Srpski predstavnik na Evroviziji Luke Black objavio snimak sa drugaricom jutjuberkom - UZBURKALI MREŽE (VIDEO),' blic.rs.

[shanti-ashant-hai]

song recs for my bestie @mrunmione except some of yall can also take tips and enjoy these

im going with popular songs from great artists here ok?

meg white is THE drummer of all time (apart from josh dun) go argue with a wall

THEY 👏🏽 WON 👏🏽EUROVISION 👏🏽 2021👏🏽 need i say more? (their english songs are horny but with great instrumentals, and their italian songs make me wanna cry so theyre amazing)

how could i not mention them? icons.

my dad's favourite band, AND FOR GOOD REASON!!!!

everyone talks about sweet child o mine but THIS IS A CLASSIC YO

again. classic.

MY CHILDHOOD DREAM WAS TO LEARN THE GUITAR RIFF IN THE BEGINNING OK THEYRE FKN AMAZING

how could i not mention fall out boy???

icon. nuff said.

ending this with the woman, the myth, the legend, BRITNEY SPEARS

[lageografiademicamino]

UMK 2024 Song Review - Jesse Markin

The hype is very real around Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the Finnish national selection for Eurovision and the race to Malmö continues with another entry!

Jesse Markin - Glow

Jesse Markin is one of the most promising upcoming Finnish indie artists who released his debut album Folk in 2019 and was widely awarded for it for example with an Emma (Finnish Grammy) as the best newcomer in 2020. He released his follow-up album Noir in 2021. Musically he would be categorized as a rap artist but his music is greatly influenced by other genres which shows also in his UMK 2024 entry.

He is one of the rare UMK artists taking a stand announcing that in case of winning UMK he would not go to Malmö if Israel participates ESC 2024.

Glow written partly in Finnish toilets but also in the streets of Ghana, is definitely something else. A fresh summer breeze in the middle of cold January - this is a song that no one expected to receive from Finland.

This ain't a simple track, instrumentally rich, would even call it noisy - a lot is going on in here. I hear reggaeton, afro-beats, hip hop / rap, electro / house well, smoothly produced urban sounds - musically this reminds me of Black Eyed Peas a bit. Chorus is memorable and uplifting with "you're gonna make it" where the verses tend to remain a bit flat.

The song doesn't have really a proper bridge and I don't think the rap section in the halfway of the song should be considered as such. And I don't think it's giving the correct energy here but this might be a personal preference. The track seems then a little long and repetitive. Visually this is on of the weakest of UMK video clips this year. Even though the lama is kind of cute!

However, there's a lot of love for this song out there. For those into this kind of genre, the track is an instant earworm but for others it has a risk of disappearing in the background as.. well background music. When speaking about views on YT and streams on Spotify Glow is losing in both lists for its competitors (being 7th and 6th). But Glow does serve a strong feel good vibe and I'm so glad it's here! It does bring light and different perspective to the 2024 UMK line up.

What do you think of the fourth UMK24 track and would you vote for Jesse Markin to go all the way to Malmö? UMK final takes place on February 10th!

[just-two-blokes]

Part one of sharing songs of small artists that I really love: Today, two songs that hold a very special little place in my playlists:

TW for cancer

THE ROOP with 'Simple Joy'

THE ROOP is a Lithuanian band from Vilnius who participated in 2021's Eurovision Song Contest with their song 'Discoteque'. To me, their songs are always so cheerful and uplifting. 'Simple Joy' is one of their newest songs and it made me value the little things in life and told me that your life just has to be enough for yourself.

Cat Janice with 'Dance you outta my head'

Cat Janice is a young mother who is currently fighting her battle against cancer and all the revenues from this song go directly to her seven year old son. Despite these circumstances, this song is so uplifting and just a bop to listen to. And while listening to it, you can also support her and her son.

[tuituipupu]

so we know you love kaarija, he's an icon, like who doesn't love him?? anyways i wanted to know your opinion on the following esc artists:

go_a

vesna

konstrakta

maruv (controversial ooh)

gjon's tears

natalia gordienko

dadi freyr

have a great day/night!

heyyy !! thank you for this ask omg ☺₊◜·°˖˚

yes yes i luv käärijä ^_^ did i mention it once or twice ?? heheh

but yes ok to answer this mini list:

go_a : ICONS. i saw them perform live at the eurovillage 2 weeks ago and i got to join the shum circle !! it was spiritual honestly ~ kateryna is such a queen like she fascinates me so much and she's SO FUNNY too 🇺🇦💙💛

vesna : loved my sister's crown - it was in my top 10 before the shows !! the staging for it wasn't really my thing - i adore pink but i thought the colour palette with the LEDs was too stark in a weird way- loved their braids when they held hands and spun tho ! super effective & emotional - all in all a lovely group of women they seem like !! ♡

konstrakta : another eurovision QUEEN - i would love to talk to her for hours on end and pick her brains. on first listen i didn't get in corpore sano but i came to love it. she's such a treasure.

maruv : well i didn't keep up with national finals when she competed - their song was ok i guess i was never wild about it. i don't really know the situation? so i'll just leave it there -

gjon's tears : aaaaa honestly in 2021 i didn't really like tout l'univers all that much but it only randomly clicked with me last year lol. i much prefer his other music (his song 'pure' is my favourite !!) haven't heard his new album in full yet but i went through a short-lived phase of obsessing over his music at the end of last year & he's on my radar hahah.

natalia gordienko : kind of indifferent on this one tbh like sugar was... ok?? it was better than her 2020 song. yeah.

dadi freyr : LEGENDDDDDDD. i wanna just talk to him for hours on end too! he seems like such a smart guy and not to mention funny of course! in my mind he won esc 2020. also i adore his new atomic kitten cover of 'whole again' that he performed in the eurovision interval this year ~ that went straight on my playlist heheh <33

thank you so much for these again !! 💖

[rosesandalfazemas]

What are your thoughts so far on the Eurovision entries?

Hello Anon! Well I'm not a frequent viewer, I only know what I see in social media and my friends in the fandom; but the presentations and preparations of the contestans are outstanding! Viral songs and lot of artists were born in there; I know it's a kind of initial path for musicians and singers. I mean, I know sometimes has its controversial episodes (here we have talent shows and happens the same), but Maneskin won in 2021 from there, and I'm so glad and thankful to the gods for that (and I blame @greengreekeyes25 because I did her fall into Hetalia, she did the same to me with the italian band)~. They came to Argentina last year and they're my fav rock band nowadays.

I'm in love with all of them. Their italian songs are he best, and the punk!!!! oh the puuunk!

And there're so much european material you can take there for the nations; my headcanon is that music, songs and their children into music are universal messages from and to other nations through history and time. Within them, they share their emotions and feelings, like silent hymns of love and hate and hope.

[melien]

8!

8. The National ft. Taylor Swift - The Alcott

This song is so underrated, we never sing it at the Taylor karaoke and I really want to request it someday! Also one of my favourite memories of this year was when I was visiting a certain festival and saw a photoshoot from you that you did for me to this song and I knew everything is finally right with the world.

Also no one asked but I want to give my entire top 10 under the cut with comments (it's mostly just Taylor and my favourite eurovision artists)

10. Pearl Jam - Future Days

i first heard this song in a wedding video of someone i know irl and now it's my go to lennias wedding song

9. Fyr og Flamme - Hvem Tror Du Egentlig Du Er?

still obsessed with the danish band from eurovision from 2021. jesper is everything i think he alters my brain chemistry

7. Cornelia Jakobs - Hold Me Closer

like i said in another ask it was my number one last year and i still love it!

6. Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha

peak eurovision madness

5. Fyr og Flamme - Øve Os På Hinanden

hey megs it's our song

4. Taylor Swift - Bejeweled

I reclaimed the land

3. Loreen - Tattoo

oh yeah the song I was actually rooting for won this year

2. Taylor Swift - I Can See You

I still think of The Conference when I listen to it (haha it's a very specific headcanon about certain characters that may or may not be revealed on my ts2 premades blog)

Taylor Swift - Midnight Rain

Absolute Mel-core, I even made a whole list of my characters grouping them according to who'd be sunshine, midnight rain, sunshine-coded midnight rain, or midnight rain-coded sunshine.

Also I thought I was midnight rain but now I feel more like sunshine🌞

[void-magician]

RUSH! - Måneskin album review

pretty fresh drop here, fellas! i will say that personally i've been looking forward to this album since the first single dropped wayyyy back in october 2021, and it absolutely does not disappoint. since being introduced to these guys by their eurovision win, i've come to love their hard-hitting instrumentation, cutting lyricism, and generally hard-rock-angry-horny vibe, and this record delivers all of that without missing a beat! overall, i'm ranking this one a 9/10, because it is a FANTASTIC record, and i think you all should listen to it. track-by-track review under the cut.

Track by Track review:

OWN MY MIND - strong opener. love the crunchy guitars and the drumline, and putting the lo-fi effect on damiano's already gravelly vocals is a beautiful sonic touch on the rest of the track. the bars in this track cut deeper than i was originally expecting, given that this track is in english, but you won't hear me complaining.

GOSSIP feat. Tom Morello - lord already knows i'm gonna love something that known That Guy Tom Morello puts his guitars on, but this track is TRULY something else. as usual, damiano's fast-paced vocals make this a high-octane banger with a sweet message to boot - i really love the note of cutting out all the instrumentation in the first two lines of the chorus before everything comes crashing back together.

TIMEZONE - the tonal whiplash of the previous track into this one hit me like a truck, so already i'm partial to it. the slow, dragging bassline helps carry damiano's swooning vocals to that place of distant longing that he's clearly in. i love how his voice loses its grittiness in this track, because. he's sad, and longing. no need for those rough edges. definitely a fav from this record.

BLA BLA BLA - this one's silly, and i do like it for that. the opening verse with just the drums behind it is a great starter, followed in by this mildly crunchy bassline to lay the foundation of a brain-off, hands-in-the-air banger. it's not my favorite off the record, but it's definitely fun as just a noisy song.

BABY SAID - this one's FUN you guys. this one definitely hit for me, telling this story about wanting even a slightly involved connection and only running into someone who wants something raw and physical and not much more. the swimmy guitars in the bridge really help take us to this place of unfulfillment before grounding us back between this lover's legs. definite fav.

GASOLINE - ngl, kinda shocked this track wasn't the tom morello feature, because it feels like it's following in RAtM's footsteps. bold, cutting commentary about the world state of affairs over these crunchy guitars and aggressive drums makes for a fantastic expression of rage at totalitarian regimes and selfish dictators. another definite fav.

FEEL - ooooooo baby when i say i like horny rock this is what i'm TALKIN about! every part of the instrumentation on this feels like it's lifting damiano's vocals as he sweet-talks the listener into his bed. or the nearest closed door. i'm getting distracted. solid banger, very fun.

DON'T WANNA SLEEP - another fantastic high-energy, quick lyrics-focused banger, and i love the drive on this one. the sentiment of not wanting to sleep is particularly relatable to me, as is the drive to do irresponsible shit just to feel something.

KOOL KIDS - as a fan of the mountain goats, "white boy mad as hell screaming into the mic" is a favorite niche category of songs, and this one is no exception. love this on-top-of-the-world vibe with damiano just screaming down the mic. according to artist interviews, he was near-blackout drunk recording this one, and i think that just makes the vibe so much better.

IF NOT FOR YOU - i'm always a sucker for a good power ballad, and this one checks all the boxes. extremely yearny lyrics, pithy but cutting chorus, and smooth, weepy guitars.

READ YOUR DIARY - evocative imagery about a fucked up kind of person really send this track home. you can feel the obsessiveness rolling off of damiano's delivery of these lyrics, repeating those key phrases and slurring some of the chorus. loved this one a lot

MARK CHAPMAN - fast-paced banger in their native italian means this one was an immediate fav. lyric translation really locked this one in as a fav, and the chorus is a complete earworm. definitely top fav from this record.

LA FINE - hands down, without question, my favorite track off this album. another earworm, but of a much more righteous and angry bent. everything hits the gas on this track, and doesn't let off till the end, and i LOVE it. imo, best track on this record, and one of their best songs in a while.

IL DONO DELLA VITA - this one slows down the flow of the album, a welcome respite after three hard-driving tracks back to back. the vocals start on this one sounding kind of tired, but it picks up into a robust exaltation of life and joy. fantastic message for the times we find ourselves in, and an all around fantastic track.

MAMMAMIA - gotta be honest, i didn't listen to this one when it dropped as a single, but i LOVE it. another real horny song and this one definitely feels like it was written for the kind of guy that i am. it's a little crazy, a little bit fast, and a whole lotta hot. another big fav.

SUPERMODEL - the sound and the single cover of this song are obviously meant to evoke thoughts of Nirvana, and that's never gonna go wrong. i like the slightly peppier, slightly cleaner sound of this song in contrast to the rest of the grunge and the crunch on this album, but don't take that to mean this song isn't grungy itself. it knows its inspirations and pays beautiful homage to them.

THE LONELIEST - holy mother of god. early 2000s sad rock ass song and boy does it hit you like a truck. this one's a really fantastic endcap to this whole album, even if it did nearly make me cry.

[because-its-eurovision]

hey !! i was thinking about whether this year’s esc winner is already set in stone and the likelihood that käärijä could still manage to bag the win with a majority televote score …

i was feeling kind of nervous about it all but then i thought back to 2021 - (i haven’t watched it in a while so correct me if i’m wrong,) but did måneskin get that many high scores from the jury? I don’t think they got many 12 points there at least? (maybe just enough to get a rather average jury score i can’t remember)… they had some 12’s tho i think.

… obviously måneskin absolutely dominated the televote so i was wondering if there could be a similar situation in 2023 as to 2021, as 2021 had some hugely competitive acts and it was a nail biter up to the last minute ✨ (i’m tryna remain positive to manifest this win ahahah 💆🏻‍♀️)

This is one of those asks that lighted me up with need to answer with a thousand-word essay 😄 My take on why these cases are different and why Sweden is the winner Eurovision 2023 under the cut 👇

How to win with televote

Your arguments about Måneskin winning are correct. Italy got a set of 12 points from the Slovenian (neighbour), Croatian and Georgian juries but their average jury score was only 5,42. Both Italy 2021 and Ukraine 2022 won thanks to televote despite being only fourth in the juryvote. Here’s my explanation.

In 2021 the differences between jury favorites weren’t that big. Switzerland had 267 points, France behind them 248 points, Malta 208 points and Italy 206 points. Juries tend to go for artistic ballads but televote rarely shares that sentiment, so Switzerland’s “flop” was predictable. Malta is the biggest jury favorite in Eurovision history so their lower placing in televote wasn’t a surprise either. France did well in both components, deservedly so, and over all placed second behind Italy by only 25 points.

In 2022 Ukraine landslided the televote by getting exactly 200 points more than Moldova who came in second. They got an astounding average of 11,26 points from every country’s televote, and I don’t think we’re going to see a result like that for a while if ever. I believe that Ukraine would have won last year anyway, but understandably the war had a huge effect on televoters.

Sweden vs. Finland

Juries love Sweden. Or rather, Sweden has learnt to send entries that fit to the jury taste. These are the Swedish results from the last ten years: 2012: jury 1st, tele 1st 2013: jury 3rd, tele 18th 2014: jury 2nd, tele 3rd 2015: jury 1st, tele 3rd 2016: jury 9th, tele 6th 2017: jury 3rd, tele 8th 2018: jury 2nd, tele 23rd 2019: jury 2nd, tele 6th 2021: jury 17th, tele 11th           2022: jury 2nd, tele 4th

Eight times of ten, jury has loved Sweden more than televoters. Of those eight, they have placed Sweden in their top-3 seven times. Of those seven, they have won three times.

However, the juries' attitude towards Finland is very different. Since the juries came back in 2010, Finland has failed to make it to the final thanks to juries three times (2010, 2015, 2017) when the televote would have been enough for qualification. In comparison, here are our results from the last ten years.

2012: jury 12th, tele 12th in semi (NQ) 2013: jury 18th, tele 20th 2014 jury 7th, tele 17th 2015 jury 16th (last), tele 10th in semi (NQ) 2016 jury 12th, tele 15th in semi (NQ) 2017 jury 12th, tele 10th in semi (NQ) 2018 jury 24th, tele 21st (in semi jury 15th and tele 7th, thanks to televote 10th combined and qualified) 2019 jury 16th, tele 17th (last) in semi 2021 jury 11th, tele 4th (in semi jury 6th and tele 1st) 2022 jury 22nd, tele 16th

Why Sweden is the frontrunner

Just going into the contest, Sweden is almost guaranteed jury support. By looking at the results from previous years it is safe to say Loreen is going to be the jury winner. There is a slight possibility that we get a surprise jury winner like Austria in 2018 and North Macedonia in 2019. However, that would require there to be a clear jurybait song with great vocals, most likely a powerful ballad with innovative staging, and as far as I see, there are really no contenders for that this year. Who could surprise us? Switzerland, Spain, Estonia? Maybe Ukraine because their entry this year is so much slicker and more modern?

I'd also like to point out that in 2021 the jury winner placed sixth in the televote and in 2022 fifth. That is not going to happen in 2023. Loreen is a former Eurovision winner, fan favourite, charismatic, great singer and performer, the staging shows something never before seen on Eurovision stage (assuming they’ll bring the led screens with them to Liverpool) and Tattoo is already a huge hit so it’s not going to be too artistic or boring for the casual viewers. Sweden isn't even a country anyone would vote against for political reasons. I can’t see Loreen placing outside televote top-3. She can easily get over 300 points from the juries (average of 8,34).

Can we trust the odds?

There are years when neither the betting odds or fans have no clear idea which country is going to win, but those are in the minority. We’ve had some out-of-nowhere winners like Austria 2014 and Portugal 2017, who only begun to shine during the rehearsal week, but the way I see it that 2023 is going to be like 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2022 when the odds got the winner right weeks or months before the contest. As far as I can remember, the odds have always managed to predict a Nordic winner 😄

People have been pointing out to me that the odds might be wrong and Finland still has the chance to win despite being second in the odds. I do worry that the betting odds are failing us this year, but for a different reason. My concern is that thanks to the Käärijä hype that has been going on in Finland since January has made lot of Finns bet for their own country. In 2015 the night before the first semi final Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät was sixth in the odds to win the whole contest, only to end up in last place of their semi.

It is not often that Finland believes in their own chances in Eurovision, but when we do it sometimes makes us blind for what is realistic. Not everyone making Eurovision bets is familiar with how the juries usually vote and how that might effect the overall result. Not to mention that despite Finland being second in the odds behind Sweden, their winning chance is now 40% and ours only 15%.

Personal prediction

Please keep in mind that I’m not an expert of betting odds nor Eurovision, just a fan with a love for statistics 🙃

As for Finland, just qualifying let alone a placement in top-10 is of course an amazing result for us – hell, we’ve never even qualified more than twice in a row! My wish is that we could somehow crack into top-5 for the first time ever (2006 not taken into account). There is a possibility that we could win the televote (depending on running order) but juries are going leave Käärijä outside top-10, which means our placing is around 6th/7th in the overall results. Juries rarely care about silly upbeat songs especially if they are sung in native language and based on that I see Finland going the same route as Moldova 2022 (2nd in tele, 20th in juries, 7th combined) or Norway 2019 (1st in tele, 18th in jury, 6th combined).

Sweden wins. Loreen either wins both the juries and televote or placing in second/third in one or both of them. We might have a different jury winner (Spain? Switzerland?) or televote winner (Finland? Norway? Czechia?) but it doesn’t matter because they both flop in the other component (still placing in top-10 though).

You can quote me May 14th 2023 🙂

[aijamisespava]

One Final ESC 2023 Thought: Favorite Songs From Each Country (participating AND non-participating)!

AAAAA I'M SO SORRY FOR DISAPPEARING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH FOR A WHILE! I just...never got around to my finale before we get to some fun Junior Eurovision 2023/Eurovision 2024 stuff! So here is my finale: Where I share my favorite songs from each country in Eurovision from 2009 to the present.

So, how is this going to work? I'm going alphabetically because it's easier to do it like that. I'm giving you my top 2 from each country, but not the placements. If you want those, they're on the Eurovision website (I will put the year down though). Now, let's get to it!

Albania: "World" by Lindita (2017)/"Ktheju Tokës" by Jonida Maliqi (2019)

Andorra: "La Teva Decisió (Get A Life)" by Susanne Georgi (2009)

Armenia: "Future Lover" by Brunette (2023)/"Not Alone" by Aram MP3 (2014)

Australia: "Promise" by Voyager (2023)/"Sound Of Silence" by Dami Im (2016)

Austria: "Who The Hell Is Edgar?" by Teya & Salena (2023)/"I Am Yours" by The MakeMakes (2015)

Azerbaijan: "Hold Me" by Farid Mammadov (2013)/"Fade To Black" by Nadir Rustalmi (2022)

Belarus: "Forever" by Alekseev (2018)/"Eyes That Never Lie" by Petr Elfimov (2009)

Belgium: "Rhythm Inside" by Loïc Nottet (2015)/"The Wrong Place" by Hooverphonic (2021)

Bosnia & Herzegovina: "Korake Ti Znam" by Maya Sar (2012)/"Ljubav Je" by Jalal & Deen/Ana Rucner/Jala (2016)

Bulgaria: "If Love Was A Crime"/"Na Inat" both by Poli Genova (2016 & 2011 respectively)

Croatia: "Guilty Pleasure" by Mia Dimsic (2022)/"Tick Tock" by Albina (2021)

Cyprus: "Alter Ego" by Minus-One (2016)/"El Diablo" by Elena Tsagrinou (2021)

Czechia: "Lights Off" by Domi (2022)/"My Sister's Crown" by Vesna (2023)

Denmark: Øve Os På Hinanden" by Fyr og Flamme (2021)/"Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest (2013)

Estonia: "Goodbye To Yesterday" by Elina Born & Stig Rastä (2015)/"Rändajad" by Urban Symphony (2009)

Finland: "Something Better" by Softengine (2014)/"Jezebel" by The Rasmus (2022)

France: "L'enfer et moi" by Amandine Bourgeois (2013)/"Évidemment" by La Zarra (2023)

Georgia: "Warrior" by Nina Sublatti (2015)/"Echo" by Iru (2023)

Germany: "Taken By A Stranger" by Lena (2011)/"Ghost" by Jamie-Lee (2016)

Greece: "Die Together" by Amanda Tenfjord (2022)/"Aphrodisiac" by Eleftheria Eleftheriou (2012)

Hungary: "What About My Dreams?" by Kati Wolf (2011)/"Running" by Andra Kallay-Saunders (2014)

Iceland: "Hear Them Calling" by Greta Salome (2016)/"10 Years" by Daði Freyr (2021)

Ireland: "Playing With Numbers" by Molly Sterling (2015)/"That's Rich" by Brooke (2022)

Israel: "Same Heart" by Mei Finegold (2014)/"Rak Bishvilo" by Moran Mazor (2013)

Italy: "La Mia Città" by Emma (2014)/"ZITTI E BUONI" by Måneskin (2021)

Latvia: "Aijā" by Sudden Lights (2023)/"Love Injected" by Aminata (2015)

Lithuania: "Stay" by Monika Linkyte (2023)/"Discoteque" by The Roop (2021)

*can't wait to see Luxembourg next year!!!*

Malta: "This Is The Night" by Kurt Calleja (2012)/"Je Me Casse" by Destiny (2021)

Moldova: "O Mie" by Aliona Moon (2013)/"Run Away" by Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira (2010)

Montenegro: "Adio" by Knez (2015)/"Breathe" by Vladana (2022)

Netherlands: "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence (2019) *CONGRATS ON 1B SPOTIFY STREAMS!*/"De Diepte" by S10 (2022)

North Macedonia: "Crno I Belo" by Kaliopi (2012)/"Jas Ja Imam Silata" by Gjoko Taneski (2010)

Norway: "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak (2009)/"Queen Of Kings" by Alessandra (2023)

Poland: "Flashlight" by Kasia Moś (2017)/"River" by Ochman (2022)

Portugal: "Amar Pelos Dois" by Salvador Sobral (2017)/"Vida Minha" by Filipa Sousa (2012)

Romania: "Playing With Fire" by Paula Seling & Ovi (2010)/"Amnesia" by Roxen (2021)

*I would like to look into which artists do NOT support the war before sharing my favorites for Russia*

San Marino: "Adrenalina" by Senhit & Flo Rida (2021)/"Stand By" by Senhit (2011) *yes...same artist 10 years apart*

Serbia: "Samo Mi Se Spava" by Luke Black (2023)/"Goodbye (Shelter)" by Sanja Vučić ZAA (2016)

Slovakia: "Horehronie" by Kristina Pelakova (2010)/"Don't Close Your Eyes" by Max Jason Mai (2012)

Slovenia: "Carpe Diem" by Joker Out (2023)/"No One" by Maja Keuc (2011)

Spain: "Quedate Conmigo" by Pastora Soler (2012)/"Dancing In The Rain" by Ruth Lorenzo (2014)

Sweden: "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw (2015)/"Popular" by Eric Saade (2011)

Switzerland: "Tout l'univers"/"Répondez-moi" both by Gjon's Tears (2021 & 2020 respectively)

Turkey: "We Could Be The Same" by maNga (2010)/"Dum Tek Tek" by Hadise (2009)

Ukraine: "Under The Ladder" by Mélovin (2018)/"Time" by O. Torvald (2017)

United Kingdom: "I Wrote A Song" by Mae Muller (2023)/"Never Give Up On You" by Lucie Jones (2017)

Thank you so much for joining me this year! Looking forward to the new year of Eurovision stuff!