Firebird

How beautiful is the new logo for Eurovision in Moscow?!? It's called Firebird and I love it. Usually it takes a while for me to adjust to the new logo but this time I instantly liked it. Not like the Finland 07 logo which I thought looked awful until I got used to it and changed my mind completely.

Tonight: UK, Finland and Denmark are selecting songs. It's all very exciting! Come back for updates tomorrow.

Your country needs you to avoid nul points

On Saturday the British public will decide which one of these three acts is going to represent them in Eurovision with a song by Webber/Warren. Who would you pick?


Jade


Mark


The Twins

Get that song out of my head

Montenegro is one of those countries you don't notice very well when it comes to Eurovision. Sure, they haven't competed as their own country more than twice but the entries have been bland and boring. Stevan Faddy in 2007 was just plain rude and full of himself on top of that yawn of a song he sang. I kind of giggled that time he fell flat on the stage during one of his rehearsals...

But this year Montenegro is sending something completely different. Something you'd expect Slovenia or Croatia would come up with on a good day. I fear I will grow tired of "Just get out of my life" after a few months since it is no understatement saying it's repetitive. But at the moment the song is stuck in my head and I'm very happy for Andrea and her country. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a live performance of the song but my hopes are high that she'll give a good performance in Moscow.


Montenegro. Andrea Demirovic - "Just Get Out Of My Life"

Tricky Tricky

Just finished watching last night's MGP show from NRK where the first semi took place in Kongsvinger. Good show. No beating around the bush or long segments just hello and welcome, songs 1-7, tribute to Kate Gullbrandsen, results. A semi final doesn't need to last longer than 1h 10min. Well done NRK! Mixed bag of songs and performances, not all to my liking but I don't mind since my big favourite won. Yay!


MGP 2009 semi 1 - Velvet - "Tricky"

The style of the song is like something you'd get by blending Kylie, Britney and Girls Aloud together. Not bad at all. I hope Velvet walks it in Spektrum, Oslo in February.

Thomas Bröndbo will go with them to the final while Espen Hana and Surferosa will meet again in Siste sjansen.

Suomi on the move

You all know that Euroviisut is the reason Becks is unfaithful to me this year. But did you also know that Finland has quite a good selection of songs in 2009? And what more, 3 out of 12 acts have made music videos to accompany their entries BEFORE the final! Well done!


Waldo's People - "Lose Control"


Signmark feat. Ismo Ikonen - "Speakerbox"


Remu - "Planeetta"

Check Beck's new place to hear all songs. I'm saying Waldo's People to win on Jan 31. What are you saying?

Hallelujah, BBC is trying!

• How do I live
• Because you loved me
• If I could turn back time
• Un-break my heart
• I don't want to miss a thing
• Can't fight the moonlight
• Don't turn around

What have all of these songs in common? Other than having been big hits?! Any guess? No? Diane Warren of course. This miracle woman of songwriting has been a favourite of mine since the early 90s. The first time I fell in love with her words (I think) was when I heard Celine Dion singing "Water from the moon" from her 1992 album "Celine Dion" also containing "If you asked me to" and "Love can move mountains" (by - surprise surprise - Warren).

In 2009 Diane Warren will compete in Eurovision! This is a dream come true for Posh. I was happy enough to have Andrew Lloyd Webber compose a song for the contest. Yesterday I found out that he will have Warren by his side writing the lyrics for his song. I'm in heaven! Some of my absolute favourite singers have recorded songs by Diane Warren. Celine Dion, Dusty Springfield, Elaine Paige... The list goes on and on. Now let's hope the Brits vote for Jade in Your country needs you and this could be a future ESC-classic!

Your country needs you (heat 1). Jade - "Deja vu"

More Diane Warren songs that I love is:
"Wherever would I be" - Dusty Springfield
"Heart don't change my mind" - Elaine Paige (in this clip Barbra Streisand)
"Any other fool" - Dusty Springfield (in this clip Patti Austin)

With Terry Wogan gone and a production team that actually give a damn this could be the turning point for Britain in the big ES of C. Good luck BBC!

Voi voi

NRK has now put sound clips up on all the songs in MGP 2009. It's pretty harsh to give a fair judgement based on 30 seconds but you do get a feel for a song. You can probably tick a "yes", "no" or "maybe" in the like-box. When listening to all entries at once like this there were four songs that stood out from the rest. The others seem ok enough and some will probably improve when you see the whole act together, others will fall flat.

• Velvet - Tricky


• Chicas del Coro - Men, men, men


• Espen Hana - Two of a kind


• Wenche Myhre - Alt har en mening nå
  

They are extremely unlike - pop, schlager, 60s and 40s sound - and I suppose that is why they stand out from the middle-of-the-road-pop-singer/songwriter-material. If I may be so bold I'd say already at this stage that the Norwegians should select "Tricky". I can't wait to hear the whole song and see the girls on stage. I hope to God that they can sing live but based on their CVs that shouldn't be a problem.

Also, I'm thrilled to have good ol' Wenche back in the game. Perhaps the song isn't as strong as I'd hoped for but she's Wenche for Godness sake! That makes up for almost anything in my book... However, 1992 is the year she was totally and utterly robbed of victory. Schlager at its best!


MGP 1992. Wenche Myhre - "Du skal få din dag i morgen"

Sofia's Choice

These two songs are dedicated to my dear colleague Sofia. She had the exquisite taste of picking these as two of her favourite ESC-songs. I couldn't agree with her more. "Stad i ljus" is one of the very best entries Sweden has ever sent to Europe and anyone who followed this blog last year knows how much I loved "Hold on, be strong". Sit back, relax and enjoy...


Sweden 1988. Tommy Körberg - "Stad i ljus"

English version HERE called "Unchained Lights". Beautiful lyrics by Py Bäckman (I presume?!).


Norway 2008. Maria Haukaas Storeng - "Hold On Be Strong"

I would also like to add this video that I found on YouTube. Here's Maria in Norwegian Idol 2004. She finished 6th. What a voice that woman has. Amazing!

The Phantom of the Euro-stage

To start the ESC-year for real dear old Eurofivestar and I had a kick off on Sunday. We watched the first episode of BBC-produced "Your country needs you" which will follow a few British hopefuls on the way of representing UK with a song penned by none other than the Lord himself. Andrew Lloyd Webber. I'm not just a sucker for Eurovision I'm also a sucker for musicals and that Lordi-guy has written some masterpieces through the years. It will be exciting to see what he comes up with for Moscow. Dear Andrew, just know that you are allowed to compose a killer popsong for this event. A bombastic ballad might do the trick but a killer popsong sung by Jade WILL trick the viewers of Europe to finally vote British. Of that I am sure. Good luck Webby!

€5* and Posh continued the evening by going down memory lane watching Eurovision 2003. A year voted the best ESC-week ever by us who were in Riga. The fun we had. Crazy. The parties we went to. Crazy. The people we hung out with. Crazy. Ah, those were the days. I had forgot a lot of songs and some I wish never would have surfaced my consciousness again (hey Cyprus! hey Israel!) but also some gems that I really like. This is one of them. I didn't rate it at the time but afterwards it grew and grew on me and the singing is perfection to the last note.

I give you Portugal 2003.


Rita Guerra - "Deixa-me sonhar"

To hear the whole song in English, called "Keep the dream alive", click HERE.

Posh New 2009

So here we go again. Another year. Another Eurovision season. Where does the time go etc. etc... I'm not ready for all of this but what can you do, hey?! It feels awfully lonely running this blog on my own this year without Becks. But Posh is going to push through the good and bad songs leading up to May. Please walk with me in the valley of Eurovision!

Two countries have already choosen their entries - Albania and Turkey. I'm not convinced on Albania yet but the Turkish song has potential. Let me know your views!



Albania. Kejsi Tola - "Me Merr Ne Enderr"


Turkey. Hadise - "Tüm Tek Tek"