Eurovision Song Contest 2023 - 13th May - Liverpool

[SholasBoy]

I've started to update the country pages now we have confirmation of 37 countries and 2 artists.

[Mainshow]

I've started to update the country pages now we have confirmation of 37 countries and 2 artists.

Thank you for putting so much work into it!

Just make sure that you leave some extra posts.
Apart from 2020, the official list of participating countries have been changed for more than a decade:

2022 - Russia got disqualified
2021 - Belarus got disqualified
2019 - Ukraine withdrew
2018 - North Macedonia was added
2017 - Russia withdrew
2016 - Romania got disqualified
2015 - Australia was added as a "one-off"
2014 - Slovenia was given some extra time and was added
2012 - Armenia withdrew
2011 - Slovakia withdrew but was added again (after realising they had to pay a fine)


Ironically, the list didn´t change back in 2020 but the whole contest got cancelled.

Thus, make sure to leave some space for a "surprise"

[flopho]

Benidorm Fest 2023 artists revealed!

https://eurovoix.com/2022/10/25/beni...-participants/

Having previously announced that 16 artists would be competing in the competition, it has now been revealed that 18 artists are competing. The participants in Benidorm Fest 2023 are:

1. Agoney – Competed in the Spanish selection for Eurovision 2018
2. E’Femme
3. Fusa Nocta
4. Blanca Paloma – Returning participant in Benidorm Fest
5. Aritz Arén
6. Rakky
7. Alfred García – Represented Spain at Eurovision 2018
8. Sofía Martín
9. Alice Wonder
10. Famous – Competed in the Spanish selection for Eurovision 2019
11. Megara
12. Vicco
13. Twin Melody
14. José Otero
15. Karmento
16. Sharonne - competed in Drag Race Espana
17. Meler
18. Siderland

Kinda surprised that I don't know anyone except Alfred, Blanca and Sharonne. nympho what do you think about the lineup?

[nympho]

Benidorm Fest 2023 artists revealed!

https://eurovoix.com/2022/10/25/beni...-participants/


Kinda surprised that I don't know anyone except Alfred, Blanca and Sharonne. nympho what do you think about the lineup?

Yep. The list is… underwhelming.
On one hand, if we learned something with Chanel last year is that a complete unknown participant can win and smash hard… So it shouldn’t be a problem that vast majority of these are not famous/established singers…
But on the other hand, watching the success of Benidorm Fest last year and everything achieved by Chanel afterwards, it was rumoured (or almost confirmed) many big names from Spanish music industry would be participating this year… so this feels like a letdown.

Agoney, Alfred and Famous are all “Operación Triunfo” contestants. Famous even won… although he flopped badly with the music he released after winning. He’s now in “The Lion King” musical…
Agoney had a #1 album and he participated and won the last edition of “Tu Cara Me Suena”. He’s now in another musical show in TVE, “Dúos Increíbles”. So he’s the biggest name out of those in terms of general public popularity.
Alfred 1st album was #2 and Platinum. But his 2nd album flopped staying only 2 weeks on chart. He’ll be a contestant on the next edition of “Tu Cara Me Suena”, which will air at the same time than Benidorm Fest… which could help him.

Sharonne not competed but WON Drag Race Spain S2… So she would probably have all the gay public vote and it’s a famous face for all the international fans of the Drag Race franchise. She’s very very talented and can sing live. But I’m not sure if her song will be good enough…

Twin Melody are also famous faces in Spain. They’re huge on YouTube and TikTok and appear regularly on “El Hormiguero”… but musically speaking, their only album did nothing on charts. I really really dislike them.

Aritz was a contestant on a Spanish Dancing TV show (Fama), and, apparently, he’s huge on TikTok. Never heard him singing…

The remaining acts… I don’t know them.

[Nost]

Tomorrow we will have the French junior representative!

[greek_boy]

Benidorm Fest 2023 artists revealed!

https://eurovoix.com/2022/10/25/beni...-participants/


Kinda surprised that I don't know anyone except Alfred, Blanca and Sharonne. nympho what do you think about the lineup?

Disappointing. After the success of the 2022 edition and Chanel's success, I would've expected known artists... Apart from Agoney, Alfred and the drag queen, who else is well-known? Yes we know Blanca from the last edition of Benidorm fest but she's not well-known...

Who knows, maybe there are some really good songs there.

[Benjamin]

[Colbie]

^ Never heard of them, so don't know what to expect. Let's hope its good. He is hot though!

[Mainshow]

It´s crazy to think that we already know 3 contestants and it´s not even mid-November yet.

I don´t know what to think about Duncan being involved in the Dutch and Belgian preselections this year.
Personally, I think that he´s freaking talented and as a beautiful voice but his latest releases have been quite underwhelming. Instead of foccusing on melodies as well as way to make his fantastic and stunning voice shine, he goes for artsy-fartsy mid-tempo tracks with a lot of vocoder effects. The quality of his music has significantly dropped since he started to work with his fiancé and I´m not really fond of the fact that the upcoming Dutch entry has been written by Duncan and his fiancé - I just hope that Duncan remembers that a song needs a memorable hook or chorus to truly shine on the Eurovision stage.

[flopho]

https://eurovoix.com/2022/11/08/belg...ates-revealed/

Belgium: Eurosong 2023 Artists and Dates Revealed

VRT, the Dutch-language Belgian national broadcaster, has revealed the artists and dates for Eurosong 2023.
After searching within the Belgian music industry, VRT has revealed the seven artists that will participate in Eurosong 2023. The selected artists are:

• Ameerah
• Chérine
• Gala Dragot
• Gustaph
• Hunter Falls
• Loredana
• The Starlings

One half of The Starlings is Tom Dice, who represented Belgium in 2010. Ameerah and Loredana both took part in previous editions of Eurosong, in 2004 (as Astrid) and 2014 respectively.
Each artist will compete with two songs. The songs will be presented daily from January 9. The live final will take place in Paleis 12 / Palais 12 in Brussels on January 14. A combination of an expert jury and public voting will choose the Belgian entry for Eurovision 2023. Tickets for the final will go on sale soon.

[Mainshow]

UKRAINE just announced the 10 finalists/contestants who will compete in Vidbir:

1. 2TONE - «Kvitka»
2. Angelina - «Stronger»
3. DEMCHUK - «Alive»
4. FIINKA - «Dovbush»
5. Jerry Heil - «WHEN GOD SHUT THE DOOR»
6. KRUTЬ - «Kolyskova»
7. Moisei - «I'm Not Alone»
8. OY Sound System - «Oy, tuzhu»
9. Tember Blanche - «Ya vdoma»
10. TVORCHI - «Heart Of Steel»

source: esctoday

Dymtro Shurov, Head Producer of Vidbir 2023, commented:

“I am very grateful to all the musicians who managed to do this important work under really difficult circumstances, both emotional and everyday, often under sirens and shelling, in basements and in the absence of light. The task is difficult, because in addition to writing a good song that touches people, record it in the studio and perform it live at the auditions, the finalists had to fulfill all the rules of the selection. As a result we have the great joint work of the UABC team and the musicians who submitted their songs for participation in Eurovision 2023. This year in the final we will hear a lot of interesting new Ukrainian music of very different styles, and I am sure that every listener will find their favorite there. Beyond these ten, there are still many bright musicians who, I believe, will soon have their say in Ukrainian music. It gives me hope and confidence.”

source: Eurovoix

[SholasBoy]

There has been a lot of issues with the Ukranian selection in recent years. Hopefully these artists won't be subject to the same mess as Maruv or Alina Pash.

[Mainshow]

There has been a lot of issues with the Ukranian selection in recent years. Hopefully these artists won't be subject to the same mess as Maruv or Alina Pash.

According to the producer of Vidbir, all contestants "fulfill all the rules of the selection" (see above).

Let´s hope that they double-checked everything this time and made the participants sign contracts before the actual show.
We don´t need circumstances like last year when Alina Pash´s team committing a crime by submitting forged documents (she immediately fired her manager after learning about it) or Maruv (who´s sharing Kremlin propaganda now and didn´t sign the contract partly because of her ego).

[SholasBoy]

Agree completely. Have whatever rules you want to pick your act, but double check they fulfil everything first before you select them otherwise it gets awkward!

[Mainshow]

Albania have also already announced their particpants. There´s huge changes coming up because the jury members won´t decide on the winner anymore.

ALBANIA:
DATES: 19th to 22nd Dec.
Final: 22nd December, 2022
Artists/Songs:

2 Farm (Bandë muzikore) – Atomike
Alban Kondi & Lorela Karoshi – Melodi
Albina Kelmendi – Duje
Anduel Kovaçi – Malli
Aris Bako – Sonte dua të jem me ty
Melodajna Mancaku – Gjysma e zemrës sime
Elisa Lila – Evita
Enx-hi Nasufi – Burrë
Erma Mici – Kozmosi i dashurisë
Evi Reçi – Ma kthe
Fabian Basha – Një gotë
Fifi (Filloreta Raçi) – Stop
Franc Koruni – Në pritje
Genti Hoxha – Ajër
Gjergj Kaçinari – Dje
Luna Causholli – Jetën ta fal
LYNX – Nëse ke besim
Manjola Nallbani – Dua
Permit of Stay – Fobia
Petrit Çarkax-hiu – Emri yt mirësi
Rezarta Smaja – N’Eden
Rovena Dilo – Motit
Sara Kapo – Para teje
Serx-hio Hajdini – Vështirë
Urban Band – Në çdo hap
Vanesa Soni – Aroma jonë


Changes:
- 100% televoting (text messages/SMS)
- The jury will only award some special awards (Best Young Artist, Best Alternative Group, a Career Prize

Eurovoix - Page 2 of 1476 - Made for Eurovision fans, by Eurovision fans.

[Mainshow]

According to Swedish press, LOREEN is about to return and is about to compete in Melodifestivalen with a song penned by the composers of "Euphoria"!!!!

[SholasBoy]

Exciting! She’s been very hit or miss since. I thought her “Statements” entry was so good though, and different enough to “Euphoria” to compete on its own merits.

[Mainshow]

Exciting! She’s been very hit or miss since. I thought her “Statements” entry was so good though, and different enough to “Euphoria” to compete on its own merits.

I completely agree with you - For her sophomore album, she fully went independent and that´s when she started to make use of a lot of autotune and vocoder (and started to mumble most phrases)... but her Melodifestivalen entries are pop masterpiece ("My Heart Is Refusing Me", "Euphoria" and "Statements") + I really love her singles when she was still signed to a major label ("Paper Lights", "We Got The Power", "Heal", "I´m In It With You")... hopefully, she´s coming back with a strong entry.

"Statements" was such a dark-electro anthem with a strong message.. but I guess it was "too dark" for the average Swedish TV viewer....

[jordi_89]

According to Swedish press, LOREEN is about to return and is about to compete in Melodifestivalen with a song penned by the composers of "Euphoria"!!!!

Ok this is actually very exciting. Euphoria is still one of the most iconic songs to win Eurovision.

[Tansike]

It crazy how it‘s been over a decade since Euphoria won!

[flopho]

apparently this was supposed to be Montenegro's entry for 2023
super basic but a bop with potential, poor Montenegro (literally)

[croatiaxtina]

Today is the last day to submit the song for Dora 2023, Croatian national selection, soon we’ll find out who send their entry.

[Affillate]

Australia is reverting to Internal Selection and not doing Australia Decides on the Gold Coast in February as it' did for 2019, 2020 and 2022:

SBS not proceeding with Eurovision: Australia Decides in 2023

SBS will revert to choosing Australia's official Eurovision act through an internal process.

Published by David Knox on November 14, 2022
Story: https://tvtonight.com.au/2022/11/sbs...s-in-2023.html

I'd like to see us send Samantha Jade with a dance banger written by DNA or someone that is a similar vibe to her 2013 song 'Firestarter'. I think a song like that could go well at Eurovision.

[jordi_89]

apparently this was supposed to be Montenegro's entry for 2023
super basic but a bop with potential, poor Montenegro (literally)

Pretty basic but could have gotten votes from Southern Europe and maybe some Eastern European countries.

[flopho]

https://eurovision.tv/story/voting-c...g-contest-2023

Absolutely horrible news, back to the 00s cheese it is I guess.

Voting changes announced for Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Major changes to the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 voting system have been announced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).





Details were shared in a press release after the new format was approved by the Contest's Reference Group earlier today.

• Viewer votes will decide countries qualifying from Semi-Finals
• Viewers in non-participating countries will be able to vote online
• Jury votes will be combined with votes from the global audience to decide final result

Next year, the countries that qualify from the Semi-Finals will be decided solely based on the votes cast by YOU the viewers, rather than a combination of a jury and public vote as has been the case since 2009.




The professional music industry juries will remain for the Grand Final, but complete control of who gets there from the Semi-Finals has been handed over to the viewing public.

And, for the first time ever, viewers from non-participating countries will be able to vote for their favourite songs too!

Martin Österdahl, the Eurovision Song Contest’s Executive Supervisor, said of the changes:

'Throughout its 67-year history the Eurovision Song Contest has constantly evolved to remain relevant and exciting. These changes acknowledge the immense popularity of the show by giving more power to the audience of the world’s largest live music event.

In 2023 only Eurovision Song Contest viewers will decide which countries make it to the Grand Final and, reflecting the global impact of the event, everyone watching the show, wherever they live in the world, can cast their votes for their favourite songs.

By also involving juries of music professionals in deciding the final result, all the songs in the Grand Final can be assessed on the broadest possible criteria. We can also maintain the tradition of travelling around Europe and Australia to collect points and ensure a thrilling voting sequence with the winner only revealed at the very end of the show.'

Those watching in the rest of the world will be able to vote via a secure online platform using a credit card from their country, and their votes, once added together, will be converted into points that will have the same weight as one participating country in both of the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.

Audiences in all participating countries will still be able to vote by SMS, phone or via the Eurovision Song Contest app.

I don't care about the global thing, but PLEASE FFS don't abolish jury votes completely.