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Switzerland 2018: God Apollo worked his miracle; record of submissions reported

SWITZERLAND – High submissions in Norway, Sweden and now in Switzerland. SRF is excited to announced that 670 songs submitted to them for the 2018 national selection for the Lisbon Eurovision Song Contest.

It is no secret that the national broadcaster is eager to do better than the previous years and this is why SRF recently held a meeting with SVT’s Christer Björkman and Martin Österdahl to adjust the national final format into a successful outcome for the country in the Eurovision Song Contest.

International authors are now allowed and the emphasis is given to the singer. The broadcaster is also able to adjust the combination between song and singer if they wish to. International jury is also an option for them. Well in the very end it’s all about Melodifestivalen.

Out of the 670 submissions, the expert jury membered of 20 judges will decide the six finalists which will be added to the seventh wildcard chosen by the SRF producers. Then, on February 4th there will the national final, Entschiedungsshow in which the jury and tele voting will decide the winner.

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Eurovision in Concert 2018: venue changes, concept goes XL for its 10th anniversary

THE NETHERLANDS – Organisers of Eurovision in Concert began the preparations for the 2018 edition of the annual Eurovision party. Their huge announcement is the XL project. This means that a new venue is selected to get more people in and therefore rise the excitement to the next level.

The 2018 edition of Eurovision in Concert will take place at the AFAS LIVE which is considered one of the best venues for music events in the world. There is good transportation access to the venue and the organisers are optimistic that more than 6,000 autitors will enjoy the event more than ever.

Change from Mwlkweg arena in the city centre after many years is surely welcomed by most of us as the demand for the event was huge and somehow we struggled every time during the multi hour show we needed simple things like an extra drink or the bathroom.

The even will take place on April 14th and the ticket sales will begin next week (September 29) via regional ticket sales website.

The hosts of Eurovision In Concert 2018 will be Edsilia Rombley & Cornald Maas. The duo already hosted the event in 2015. Edsilia represented The Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 (“Hemel & Aarde”) and in 2007 (“On Top Of The World”)

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et finalement le clip: Amir presents États D’Amour

“États d’Amour” is a song performed by French-Israeli singer Amir Haddad. The song was released as a digital download on 25 August 2017 by Warner Music Group as the lead single from his upcoming third studio album Addictions (2017). The song has peaked at number 40 on the French Singles Chart.

An official lyric video to accompany the release of “États d’Amour” was first released onto YouTube on 24 August 2017 at a total length of three minutes and thirty-eight seconds. An official music video to accompany the release of “États d’Amour” was first released onto YouTube on 20 September 2017 at a total length of three minutes and forty-six seconds.

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Seems like everyone’s shouts out “bring Dora back”

CROATIA – Artists across Croatia, including the Croatian Composer Society, headed by the country’s former Head of Delegation, are calling for the national selection Dora to be reinstated by broadcaster HRT.

Dora was used as the country’s Eurovision selection process from 1993 until 2011, when HRT decided to select its representative internally. Despite some results in the 1990s, Croatia had a lacklustre Eurovision run during the 2000s, leading to Dora’s eventual cancellation.

HRT has not commented on the selection method for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. Rumours suggest the broadcaster may choose the artist internally, with former 1998 representative Danijela Martinović being considered.

There have also been calls for HRT to invite singing sensation Lorde to represent the country, since she is of Croatian heritage and is also a Croatian citizen.

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Berlin Eurovision Workshop determines Lisbon preparations on track

GERMANY – The fifth annual workshop dedicated to the Eurovision Song Contest has taken place in Berlin, Germany. The workshop was attended by delegations from around Europe and beyond and a diverse range of topics from politics to performance were discussed. The event provides a valuable opportunity for broadcasters to share knowledge and experience from the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Reference Group, the governing body of the Eurovision Song Contest, met following the workshop in Berlin. The group oversees the organisation of the Eurovision Song Contest and take important decisions concerning the format of the programme. Representatives from Host Broadcaster RTP provided the group with detailed plans for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest including the proposed venues for the Euro Club and Eurovision Village.

The theme artwork and slogan for the forthcoming competition were also discussed.
The deadline for EBU Members to apply for participation in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest has now passed. The full list of participants in the 2018 competition will be released later in the year. The Reference Group are satisfied that plans for the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest are progressing well. The next Reference Group meeting will take place in Lisbon in November.

In short, when it comes to Lisbon 2018, it’s a case of so far, so good!

SOURCE: EUROVISION.TV

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Amir performs brand new song for the 2024 Olympics tribute

FRANCE – Amir has Benn proven one of the most recent successful French participants in the Eurovision Song Contest and everyone simply loves him (we do as well). In the meantime Paris is about to be officially announced as the host city of the 2024 summer Olympic Games after reaching an agreement with IOC and Los Angeles, CA got the 2020 ones.

Thus, Paris held “Paris A Nous Les Jeux” (Paris, The Games Are Ours!), a special concert where various French artists paid a tribute to the the hosting of the upcoming Olympic Games.

Amir performed his brand new single making the audience enthusiastic but they also loved other artists such as the 1993 Eurovision entrant Patrick Fiori, Shy’m and One Direction’s Liam Payne.

What a great and healthy way for Amir’s brand new album “Addictions” to start its promotion. more than 600,000 viewers watched the concert and almost half a million attended the open air concert in Paris.

Amir surely enjoys seeing the Parisians as enthusiast as he is. He still recalls his memories from the 1998 World Cup Triumph when his country topped the world by winning the trophy.

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Salvador Sobral reported to be in the hospital awaiting heart transplant

PORTUGAL – Salvador Sobral, winner of Eurovision 2017 for Portugal has been hospitalized as he awaits a heart transplant. The latest news is that he was taken to a Lisbon hospital suffering from cardiac deficiency which can only be corrected via a heart transplant. He is currently in the Santa Cruz hospital in Carnaxade as he awaits the transplant operation.
He is being controlled with machines which take the actions of his heart and is under constant observation.

Salvador was rumoured to be in need of a transplant prior to his Eurovision appearance with everything aimed at the end of the year, this has however been pushed forward as he cancelled a series of concerts last week amid his unavailability to perform in public. It appears that we now know the reason why.

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Alex Larke wants to represent Greece; we are absolutely sure who’s laughing right now at ERT headquarters

UNITED KINGDOM – Greek descent representative of the United Kingdom in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest expressed his wish to represent Greece in the Lisbon Eurovision edition. We are absolutely sure the old blond lady at ERT is laughing right now (she needs a joke to sparkle her empty life anyway).

During an interview to Greek fan site he expressed his wish to represent Greece in Eurovision despite his 2015 venture didn’t end up quit well and he is totally unknown to the Greek audience / viewers. Of course when you are interviewed by a Greek Eurovision fan club it’s one of the natural things to say and Alex is anyway keeping ties with Greece by visiting many times a year.

Of course such a scenario wouldn’t get Greece in Lisbon with a vintage tune as the singer is going into sounds of the 60s and 70s which are quite fashionable to Europeans (not really to Greeks, which you need them as supporters in the very end, you know).

Alex Larke is a British singer/songwriter that represented the United Kingdom with duo, Electro Velvet, in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song “Still in Love with You”. For the majority of his career, Alex has been a solo artist, although some of his other musical endeavours have been varied, working with British rock bands, X and Manimal, before later collaborating with electronica act, Teflon Child and Big Beat pioneer, Cut La Roc. Larke has released two solo singles, Shine On, and Belladonna.

Born in Welwyn Garden City, Larke was raised, with his sister Anna, by father Jerry, a motorcycle racer, and his Athens, Greece born mother Penelope, a seamstress. Living in a council house, Larke had a very modest, but happy working-class upbringing in a home that forever had music playing on the stereo. Bands such as The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Police and Elvis Presley, would provide him with the basis of his musical influences that would endure through his career.

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Sweden 2018: SVT gets record of submissions for Melodifestivalen

SWEDEN – Lisa Ajax, Anna Book, Charlotte Perrelli, Oscar Zia? Who is entering the 2018 Melodifestivalen edition? Only the MF Man Christer Björkman knows as the submissions ar enow officially closed for the top national selection in Europe.

2771 entries submitted in SVT for Melodifstivalen’s 2018 edition, 2324 of them via the open submission process and 447 via the record labels, directly.

Swedish national broadcaster and its Eurovision team are aware that their country is one victory behind the record of Ireland in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest and they don’t hide the wish to surpass it and become the new Queen of Eurovision in Europe.

This year submissions break a record since 2012.

“We are very keen to start working with the selection process and are delighted that the interest of both the public and the music industry is still high” said Christer Björkman.

Karin Gunnarsson and her team will now evaluate the songs submitted and will proceed to selection of 14 by the open submissions and 13 by the record label proposals.

Already P4 Nästa, Stiko Per Larsson has gained a spot in 2018 Melodifestivalen, anyway.

As usual in a special press conference the names of the participants will be announced later this year in a special press conference and then another press conference for the qualifying rounds allocated in various cities of Sweden.

It would also be anticipated to hear about the 2018 hosts of Melodifestivalen.

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