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Brand new song and video by Loïc Nottet (Belgium 2015)

BELGIUM – Loïc Nottet is a Belgian singer, who finished second in the third season of The Voice Belgique in 2014 and represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 which was held in Vienna, Austria, where he placed fourth with 217 points. On 3 November 2014, Belgium’s French language state broadcaster, Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF), announced Nottet as the Belgian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 to be held in Vienna, Austria. On 10 March 2015, “Rhythm Inside”, his entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, was presented (co-written by his Voice mentor). The song went to number one on both the Flanders and Wallonia Ultratop charts. Performing in the first semi final of the competition, Nottet was successful in progressing to the final, coming second in his semi final with 149 points. During the Jury Final (following Australia), he could be barely seen on stage due to heavy use of smoke machines and pyrotechnics from the Australian Act. His delegation was rumoured to have lodged a complaint about this, saying that it would affect part of their final score. While they requested to perform again, this was apparently denied, instead telling juries to disregard the smoke. In the Grand Final, the Belgian entry scored a total of 217 points leaving “Rhythm Inside” in fourth position overall, giving Belgium its first top five placement since 2003. It received the maximum 12 points from three countries; Netherlands, France and Hungary. The song was certified Platinum for selling 30,000 copies in Belgium. Nottet has released three different music videos for Rhythm Inside (including one called the “Alice in Wonderland” version). After the contest, “Rhythm Inside” reached the top ten in the Austrian, Lithuanian and Russian Music Charts, achieving top 20 in Finland, Iceland and Sweden and also charting in Australia, UK, France, Switzerland and many more European countries.

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Brand new song and video for The Hardkiss (Ukrainian NF 2016)

UKRAINE – The Hardkiss is a Ukrainian progressive-pop band. They are known for their original sound and unique fashion style. The Hardkiss participated in the Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song “Helpless”. The band placed 2nd in the national final. The Hardkiss were formed in 2011 by lead singer Yulia Sanina and guitarist Valeriy Bebko. In September the band presented their debut video “Babylon”. They were the opening act for Hurts on October 20 and Solange Knowles on November 18 in Kyiv.

In 2012, The Hardkiss were nominated for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Ukrainian Act. The band performed at MIDEM festival on January 29. In 2013, The Hardkiss won two awards – “Best New Act” and “Best Music Video” (to producer Valeriy Bebko for clip Make-Up) – of the national music award YUNA. On May 18 the band presented their first show in the Green Theatre in Kyiv. They opened the Muz-TV Music Awards on June 7. That year The Hardkiss became “voice and face” of the Pepsi in Ukraine. The band took part in a tour Pepsi Stars of Now (16 cities).

In 2014 The Hardkiss performed at Park Live Festival, and shared the stage with The Prodigy, Deftones, and Skillet. In 2015, the band was nominated for the music award YUNA again, having won in two nominations — “The best music album” (album Stones and Honey) and “The best song” (single Stones). In 2016, they took part in the Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Yulia Sanina is one of four judges on the current seventh series of The X Factor Ukraine.

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Are you ready to fall in love this year? Sirusho invites you to her brand new singe and video

ARMENIA – Two-time World Music Awards nominee Sirusho, who represented Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and SEBU, the lead singer of Grammy nominated American indie-pop duo Capital Cities came together-from LAX to Yerevan -to create a fun summer love song called “Vuy Aman” (Oh Alas!). Recorded in LA, the lyrics describe the complexities that any passionate pan-national relationship can experience. The cinematic and colorful portrayal of the theme through the camera lens of the track’s music video, will have you wanting to start collecting your own summer memories, Alas! Shot both in Armenia and USA, the music video, released recently, incorporates Armenian and Bohemian elements.

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Cyprus 2015 NF runner up, wins X-Factor Greece 2017

GREECE – Panagiotis koufogiannis just won the Greek X-Factor Final. No surprise that a Cupriot singer wins once again a Greek reality / talent show as it is the trend since the introduction of tele voting to both Greece and Cyprus and Cypriots are very into casting their votes unlike Greek viewers. Panagiotis wins on a big day for Cyprus as it is the sad anniversary of the Turkish invasion in the island back in 1974.

Panagiotis Koufogiannis was many times nominated for elimination in the show, saved by the jury all the time and made it to the final also under the jury call. Tonight he won his fellow contestant (also from Cyprus). It is no secret that Panagiotis Koufogiannis has set his eyes for Eurovision 2018. In 2015 he ended up as runner in up in representing Cyprus in Eurovision as he got 5th place by the jury although he topped the public voting.

Most Eurofans in Greece and Cyprus, consider already that Panagiotis is and should be (why not) the next representative of the island of Aphrodite in Portugal’s Eurovision Song Contest edition. When you see his video you might say that vocally needs a lot of work to stabilise the talent he has but you have to admit he has strong star quality, baby face and hunk looks.

Congratulations Panagiotis!

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OMG, amazing brand new video and song by Maltese goddess Ira Losco

MALTA – Malta’s Ira Losco has just released her brand new music video “OMG”. This is the fourth single from her new album, which will be released later in 2017. The latest single follows “We Are the Soldiers” earlier this year. “OMG brings back my fun side with a fair share of attitude. I wanted to release a single which reflected my current frame of mind” says Ira about her new single. The single, about heart break and revenge, features rap vocals from YouTube sensation Shyli. We can only wonder why Malta doesn’t send this kind of songs to Eurovision and win the whole thing!

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RTE cost for Eurovision 2017 revealed and brings reactions

THESUN.IE REPORTS / IRELAND – A massive 331,482 Euros was spent by RTE on this year’s Eurovision flop with the singer, backing vocalists and tour manager spending two weeks in Kiev, the Irish Sun can reveal. The broadcaster sent a team 16 people to Ukraine including ex-Hometown star Brendan Murray who represented the nation. And we can also reveal Louis Walsh, who used to manage the lad’s former band, was paid for his service as a consultant.

Brendan, 20, was attempting to get us into final for the first time since 2013 but the entry, Dying to Try, did not hit the right notes. The Galway heartthrob was pipped by Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, Denmark, Israel, Romania, Norway, Austria and The Netherlands. The total cost will come to more than €331k, according to the response to our Freedom of Information request.

The broadcaster stated: “RTE incurred a cost of approximately €331,482 in delivering Eurovision Song Contest television programming to Irish audiences. However, please note that as the RTE annual accounts for 2017 are not yet been finalised, that these costs do not include charges for RTE labour and support costs, as these will only be finalised once the annual accounts have been completed.”

An RTE spokeswoman added: “This compares with last year’s figure of €337,000. “Along with the participation fee the overall figure includes artist and designer fees, the cost of staging the performance including full dress rehearsals, graphics, props, pyrotechnics, costumes, choreography, postcard filming and song recording.”

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Brand new song and video for Marco Mengoni

ITALY – Marco Mengoni is an Italian singer-songwriter. He rose to fame in 2009, after winning the third series of Italian talent show X Factor. His debut extended play, Dove si vola, was preceded by the single with the same title, which reached the top spot of the Italian Top Digital Downloads chart and also served as his coronation song. In February 2010, Mengoni competed in the 60th Sanremo Music Festival with the song “Credimi ancora”, placing third in a field of fifteen. The song was included in his second extended play, Re matto, which debuted at number one in Italy. The EP was promoted through an Italian tour, which yielded the live album Re matto live.

Mengoni’s first full-length studio album, Solo 2.0, was released in September 2010, and it was certified gold by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry. In 2013, Mengoni won the 63rd Sanremo Music Festival with his song “L’essenziale”. During the competition he was internally selected by RAI to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, where he performed “L’essenziale”. The song also became the lead single of the album #prontoacorrere, which became his fourth number-one on the Italian Albums Chart. In 2015, Mengoni released the albums Parole in circolo and Le cose che non ho, which were part of the same artistic project, also including the live record Marco Mengoni Live.

During his career, Mengoni has received several awards, including two TRL Awards, nine Wind Music Awards and nine MTV Italian Music Awards. In 2010 and 2015, he won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best European Act, becoming the first Italian artist to win that prize. In 2013, he also won the MTV European Music Award for Best Southern European Act.

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Vitalii Sediuk sentenced to only 285 Euros fine for his prank

UKRAINE – Ukrainian prankster, Vitalii Sediuk, sentenced to pay a fine of 8,500 UAH (285 Euros approximately) for flashing on stage during Jamala’s performance in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final. The Ukrainian court recognised in favour of Vitalii his apology to the singer and the audience.

Vitalii Sediuk entered the stage of the Grand Final during Jamala’s performance and arrested by the police afterwards detained for 72 hours and charged with aggravated hooliganism, a crime which could bring up to five years in prison for him. Jamala openly accused the organisers for lack of security.

It is not the first time an intruder enters the stage during a performance as Jimmie Jump interrupted the Spanish performance back in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest Final.

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