Saturday 11th February was dubbed Super Saturday, as Eurovision fans around Europe watched to see 7 more countries confirm their artists & songs for Eurovision in May.
In Estonia the final of Eesti Laul took place. After the results of the first round of voting, which was decided by a 50/50 split between televote and international jury, three acts proceeded to the super final: Ollie, Bedwetters & Alika. The winner of the superfinal was then decided by 100% televote with Alika coming out on top with 42% of the total votes. This means Alika has the honour of representing Estonia in Liverpool in May with her song Bridges.
The Dansk Melodi Grand Prix final took place in the Arena Næstved in Denmark and history was made on Saturday night. After the initial public vote three acts advanced to the superfinal including: Reiley, Micky Skeel and Nicklas Sonne. Then a 50/50 jury & televote decided the winner, with Reiley topping the leaderboard with 43% of the total votes and thus becoming the first person from the Faroe Islands to represent Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest. Reiley, whos real name is Rani Petersen, will sing Breaking My Heart.
Latvia brought us the final of Supernova and it was the band Sudden Lights that have won the right to represent Latvia in this year’s Eurovision. The band had previously competed and come second in Supernova 2018. After the results of the jury & televotes were announced Sudden Lights were declared the winners ahead of Patrisha who came second with her song Hush. Sudden Lights will sing the lullaby song Aija In May which will see the Latvian language sung at Eurovision for the first time since 2014.
In Romania there was a reverse of last years Selectia Nationala final where the jury vote made up 83% of the decision, this year the public had 100% of the say on who should fly to Liverpool and sing for Romania and the public wanted Theodor Andrei. Theodor gave the audience an eclectic performance which ended with him taking off this shirt to reveal the words ‘Make Love Not War’. The final results were close but Theodor just beat fan favourite Andreea D Folclor Orchestra who came second and X Factor Romania star Andrei Dutu into third. Theodor will go to Liverpool in May with his song D.G.T (Off and On).
The final of Dora, Croatia’s national competition to select its Eurovision entry, was also held last Saturday and the run away winners on the night were Let 3, who will represent Croatia with the song Mama SC. They won the jury & televote ahead of Harmonija Disonance who finished in second place. Let 3, Flight 3 in English, are a modern rock band from Rijeka, Croatia formed in 1987. The band are known across the former Yugoslav republics due to their original approach to rock music and their obscene live performances. Sounds like a perfect fit for Eurovision!
The Busker won the Malta Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday and will sing their funky song Dance (Our Own Party) in Liverpool. However, in typical Malta style the song could potentially change. Malta has been known to change the song that wins their national final and send a different song to Eurovision. The Busker won after topping the televote and came joint second with the jury vote. The band consists of David Jr. Meilak (vocals, guitar); Jean Paul Borg (drums); & Sean Meachen (saxophone).
Italy have also cast their votes & selected previous Italian Eurovision representative Marco Mengoni to try again at Eurovision. Marco won the Sanremo Music Festival, the festival which inspired the Eurovision Song Contest, for a second time. He previously won Sanremo in 2013 & went on to the Eurovision final in Malmo and finished a very respectable 7th with the song L’Essenziale. This time around Marco was the clear winner taking home 45.5% of the votes and he will once again represent Italy at Eurovision with the song Due Vite. The X Factor Italy winner is a big star having sold nearly 3 million records & released 7 albums.
