Adrian Kavanagh's Blog

First posted by Adrian Kavanagh on 9th January 2018

Towards the end of 2017, it was confirmed that 43 countries will take part in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place in Lisbon in early May – the Final will take place on Saturday 12th May, with the two semi-finals to take place on Tuesday 8th May and Thursday 10th May. The line up of countries is very similar to that for the 2017 contest, which involved 42 countries. Following their controversial late withdrawal a few weeks ahead of the 2017 contest, Russia will return to the contest after a one-year absence.

At this stage, we already know all forty three of the acts that will be taking part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and have heard all forty three of the songs. (See the table below for more details).

Eugent Bushpeppa won the Albanian selection (Festivali i Këngës) on 22nd December 2017 with Mall, which is the only song that we have heard to date, although Mall may well be reworked over the coming weeks/months (and might also be performed in the English language).

On 27th January, France became the second country to select its Eurovision act and song, after Monsieur Madame won a very close Destination Eurovision selection contest with Mercy.

On 29th January it was confirmed that Yulia Samoylova would represent Russia at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, having missed out on the previous year’s contest when Russia withdrew from the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in March 2017. He song, I Won’t Break, was released on 11th March.

On 29th January it was announced that Mikolas Josef (with Lie To Me) had won the Czech selection contest.

On the night of 29th January Alfred and Amaia won the Operación Triunfo Eurovision Gala in Spain with Tu Canción.

On 31st January it was announced that Ryan O’Shaughnessy would be the Irish representative at Eurovision, with a song called Together, which is to be released later.

On 1st February it was announced that Eleni Foureira would represent Cyprus at Eurovision, with a song called Fuego, which is to be released later.

Christabelle won the Maltese Eurovision Song Contest selection contest on Saturday 3rd February with Taboo.

On Sunday 4th February Zibbz won the Swiss Die Entschiedungsshow national selection contest with Stones.

On Wednesday 7th February Surie won the United Kingdom’s Eurovision You Decide national selection contest with Storm.

On Saturday 10th February Rasmussen won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and will represent Denmark at Eurovision with Higher Ground. On the same night, Non mi avete fatto niente by Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro won the Festival di San Remo 2018 and will represent Italy at Eurovision.

On Tuesday 13th February it was announced that Franka Batelić  would represent Croatia at Eurovision with Crazy. Her entry, Crazy, was released on 6th March 2018. On the same day, it was revealed that Eye Cue, with Lost and Found, would represent FYR Macedonia in Lisbon. Their entry, Lost And Forgotten, was released on 11th March. Later that evening, Netta Barzilai won Israel’s The Next Star for Eurovision 2018 selection contest and will represent Israel in Lisbon. Her song, Toy, was released on 11th March.

On 16th February, after the national selection final was cancelled, it was confirmed that Yianna Terzi would represent Greece at Eurovision with Oneirou Mou. On that same night,  ALEKSEEV won the Belarus national selection contest, Евровидения 2018, with Forever. On the following night (17th February), Vanja Radovanović won the national selection contest for Montenegro with Inje.

On 20th February Sanja Ilic & Balkanika won Serbia’s Beovizija Eurovision selection contest with Nova Deca. Michael Schulte won the Unser Lied Für Lissabon selection contest on 22nd February with You Let Me Walk Alone and will represent Germany at Eurovision 2018.

On 24th February, five national selection finals took place. In Moldova, the DoReDos won O melodie pentru Europa 2018 with My Lucky Day.  In Slovenia Lea Sirk won EMA 2018 with Hvala, ne! In Ukraine, Mélovin won Vidbir 2018 with Under The Ladder. In Hungar AWS won A Dal 2018 with Viszlát nyár. Finally, in Latvia Laura Rizzotto won Supernova 2018 with Funny Girl. On the following night, there were two more national selection finals. In Armenia Sevak Khanagyan won Depi Evratesil 2018 with Qami. In Romania The Humans won Selectia Nationala 2018 with Goodbye.

On 9th November 2017, it was announced that Waylon would represent The Netherlands at Eurovision 2018. After presenting five potential entries in late February/early March 2018 as part of the De Wereld Draait Door talkshow, it was announced on 2nd March that his entry for Lisbon would be Outlaw In ‘Em. On the same day, Fuego, the song for Cyprus’s act, Eleni Foureira, was released – it had been confirmed earlier (on 1st February) that she would be representing Cyprus in Lisbon, as noted above.

A number of national selection finals took place on Saturday 3rd March 2018. In Iceland Ari Ólafsson won Söngvakeppnin 2018 with Our Choice. Gromee feat. Lukas Meijer won Krajowe Eliminacje and they will represent Poland with Light Me Up at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. It has been announced that Saara Aalto would be Finland’s act on 7th November 2018. On 3rd March 2018, she performed three different songs at the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 selection contest and the song, Monsters, won out at this. In Estonia, Elina Nechayeva won Eesti Laul 2018 with La Forza. Finally, in San Marino the winning song in the 1 in 360 selection contest was Who We Are, sung by Jessika and also featuring Jenifer Brening.

On 4th March 2018 Cláudia Pascoal won Festival da Canção and will represent the host country, Portugal, at this year’s contest with O Jardim.

On 8th November 2017, it was announced that AISEL (Aisel Mammadova) would be Azerbaijan’s act at Eurovision 2018. Her song, X My Heart, was released on 4th March 2018.

On 28th September 2017, SENNEK (Laura Groeseneken) became the first confirmed artist for Eurovision 2018, after it was announced that she would represent Belgium at the contest. On 5th March 2018, her song, A Matter Of Time, was released to the public.

On 11th December 2017, it was confirmed that Australia’s representative at Eurovision 2018 would be Jessica Mauboy. On 8th March 2018, her entry, #We Got Love, was officially released.

On 5th December 2017, it was confirmed that Austria’s representative at Eurovision 2018 would be Jessica Mauboy. On 9th March 2018, his entry, Nobody But You, was officially released. On that same day, Ryan O’Shaughnessy’s  Together was released – he had earlier been confirmed as Ireland’s entry for Lisbon on 31st January 2018.

The final national selection finals took place on 10th and 11th March. In Norway, Alexander Rybak won Melodi Grand Prix 2018 on Saturday 10th March with That’s How You Write A Song. On the same night, Benjamin Ingrosso won Melodifestivalen 2018 with Dance You Off. The last national selection final – the final of Eurovizijos atranka 2018 – took place in Lithuania on 11th March. This was won by Ieva Zasimauskaitė with When We’re Old.

On 12th March 2018 it was revealed that EQUINOX would be representing Bulgaria at Lisbon with Bones.

On 13th March 2018, the final Eurovision 2018 entry to be released proved to be the Georgian entry, Iriao’s For You – it had been announced some time earlier (on 1st January 2018) that they would be representing Georgia at Eurovision.

Details on which semi-finals the 37 countries, who do not directly qualify for the Final, are taking part in have now been added to this list, following on the holding of the semi final allocation draw on 29th January 2018.

At this stage, we already know all nineteen of the acts that will be taking part in Eurovision Song Contest Semi Final 1 and have heard all nineteen songs, while we know all of the eighteen acts that will be taking part in Eurovision Song Contest Semi Final 2 and have heard seventeen of the songs. (We also know all six of the acts for the “Big 5″/Host countries and have heard all six of the songs (for all of the “Big 5” countries).)

According to the official Eurovision Song Contest website, national selection contests will take place in a number of other countries in late February, including the upcoming selection finals in Armenia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Latvia and San Marino.

Tags: Eurovision, National Selections

This entry was posted on January 9, 2018 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Eurovision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.