Sergey Lazarev Katerine Duska Eliot Luca Tamta Zena Keinno

Every morning between now and the grand final in May, the team from wiwibloggs will be rounding up the latest titbits from the world of Eurovision 2019. We’ve trawled through Instagram, Twitter and elsewhere so that y’all don’t have to. Whether you’re on the morning commute, sitting on the school bus or still tucked under the covers, this is the Daily Digest for Thursday 21 March.

Katerine Duska studio sessions

Greek-Canadian singer Katerine Duska is feeling blessed. She shared a behind-the-scenes video of her recording “Better Love” in London. The clips conveys just how laid-back and down-to-earth the singer is and gives a nice sense of her voice. It needs no re-mastering. In fact, you might argue she sounds even better live! Enjoy. (William)

Sergey Lazarev sings “Scream” live in Bremen

“We are getting ready to Scream along in Berlin”. Those are the words of Insta user @lazarev.worldwide after watching this clip of Russia’s Sergey Lazarev singing his Eurovision 2019 song live in Bremen. Currently working his way through Germany, Sergey proves he’s more than capable of tackling his number live. We’ve reposted the clip on our Insta. It’s via the user @jxgrekow. Spasibo! (William)

The Prime Minister of The Netherlands loves Duncan Laurence

They say Eurovision isn’t political. But politicians sure do love Eurovision. The Netherlands has come down with a major case of ESC Fever owing to the hype surrounding their act Duncan Laurence — and even the nation’s Dear Leader has a temperature. Today the Prime Minister said it’s time that Holland snatched the crown once more. He’s ready. (William)

Eliot hits seven-figures on YouTube

The music video for Eliot’s “Wake Up” has clocked up one million views since its 27 February release. In celebration, the Belgian singer shared a short “making of ” video. He explains how the clip captures the song’s atmosphere, yet emphasises that it’s not an indication of what his performance will look like in Tel Aviv. Previous behind-the-scenes teasers featured the video’s actors singing along with Eliot. You can catch all the clips here. (Jacintha)

Switzerland’s Luca Hänni takes us to Berlin

Swiss broadcaster SRF shared behind-the-scenes footage from the “She Got Me” video shoot. Recorded in Berlin, we get to see the dance rehearsals.  Both Luca and his troop of dancers have some slick moves. He got us dirty dancing. (Jacintha)

Rewind to the “Replay” video shoot

Wednesday seems to have been the day for behind the scenes videos. Cyprus’ representative Tamta also gave us a glimpse into the making of the “Replay” music video. From inside the studio, to outside in the wilderness, and even in the shower, we see the singer and her back-up performers working all the camera angles. It takes a lot of work to create the final product, but the effort definitely paid off. (Jonathan)

Zena wants fans to “Like It” with her

Belarusian popstress Zena has launched a competition to promote her song “Like It”. She wants fans to upload a video singing the chorus to “Like It”. The winner — we assume the one she likes the most — will get to make an appearance in the upcoming “Like It” music video. (Robyn)

Filming in a winter wonderland

KEiiNO might prefer joiking to sleigh bells, but the “Spirit In The Sky” music video looks set to channel all kinds of festive realness. The Norwegians haven’t revealed much in terms of visuals, but they did post Instagram stories from a set containing several white artificial Christmas trees and lots of silver tinsel. What could they possibly have in store for us? (Padraig)

Ester Peony is dancing in the snow

A steady stream of Eurovision acts have been making their way to Tel Aviv for postcard filming duties. Among them is Romania’s Ester Peony, who flooded her Instagram with pics from the trip. The “On A Sunday” songstress took us from Tel Aviv’s skyscrapers to the seaside to the dance studio to snowy mountain slopes. In between, she found time to model a crown and squeeze in an impromptu rendez-vous with Duncan Laurence. (Padraig)

View this post on Instagram

Dancing in the snow? #Telaviv #postcard #eurovision

A post shared by Ester Peony (@ester.peony) on

More names for Amsterdam’s Eurovision in Concert

The line-up for Eurovision’s biggest preparty expands by the day. Yesterday saw three more signup. Eurovision in Concert officially unveiled Georgia’s Oto Nemsadze and Belarus’ ZENA while Ireland’s Sarah McTernan announced her participation on Instagram. The Irish starlet also has plans to go to London and Moscow. (Padraig)

Release dates set for “Sister” and “22”

Most songs from the class of 2019 are available to stream and download on all the major music platforms. However, there remain a stubborn few who have yet to pop up on Spotify and the likes. For those of you keeping track, Germany’s S!sters have confirmed that their song will get its international release this Friday. Meanwhile, Ireland’s Sarah McTernan is not releasing “22” on 22 March, but rather on 5 April.

Additional contributions from William, Robyn, Jacintha and Jonathan.

Are you excited for the “Spirit In The Sky” music video? Will you be entering ZENA’s competition? Let us know in the comments.

Follow all our Daily Digests for Eurovision 2019.

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Grftn
Grftn
5 years ago

Who is doing the Greek staging?

Pateritda
Pateritda
5 years ago
Reply to  Grftn

Efi Gousi she is a theatre director

Nicky91
Nicky91
5 years ago
Reply to  Pateritda

yasss a true performance expert then

Irina
Irina
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicky91

Guys if you see Efi’s Gousi work on Instagram, you will be amazed. Her work is a piece of art. The staging will be in the same vibes, like in the official video clip that Efi directed, so i am not worried at all 😀

INAMOO
INAMOO
5 years ago

I knew that Katerine will rise up and be liked even more by many. Her song is already good to begin with.

Ffs
Ffs
5 years ago

Greece definitely Top 5.

Liam Lindsay
Liam Lindsay
5 years ago

Top 10:
Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain, Cyprus, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belarus, Hungary, Switzerland

Russia will end up in Top 13
Sweden will be a borderline qualifier but, in my opinion it won’t qualify
Iceland will finish LAST in its semi

Thoughts

yom124
yom124
5 years ago
Reply to  Liam Lindsay

You are drunk

Liam Lindsay
Liam Lindsay
5 years ago
Reply to  yom124

No I was very sober when writing this.

Alex
Alex
5 years ago

didn’t eliot hit 7 figures?

Serge
Serge
5 years ago

Just goes to show that the NL already bought the jury. Go on tell us a little more about Amsterdam2020.

Daan
Daan
5 years ago
Reply to  Serge

Yesss! We totally did mate! First we gave them free stroopwaffels. Oh my did they love it, Especially Azerbaijan, who immediatly yelled “Pays Bas Douze points”. After that, we went to De Keukenhof en Austria and Moldova nearly weeped at the sight of so many tullips. We didnt even have to buy our votes from them! For Belarus and San Marino we went to The Wallen. Oh my, they were happy! Yes, immediatly they claimed to give us twelve points. Oh and Sweden couldnt get enough of our fried points. Yes, easy twelve points. But dont worry. We got enough… Read more »

Nicolas
Nicolas
5 years ago
Reply to  Serge

You see on the picture above, Duncan already met an expert of it.

ESC2019TLV
ESC2019TLV
5 years ago
Reply to  Serge

Amsterdam 2020, free weed for everyone !!

uwu vision
uwu vision
5 years ago

april 5th? that’s so long awayyyy 🙁

Aria
Aria
5 years ago

Katerine will slay everyone’s existence

ESCFan2009
ESCFan2009
5 years ago

Love that category! Exciting news and gossip are coming until May 😀

Fun or ban?
Fun or ban?
5 years ago

Oh! Ester + Duncan = sweet

Nicolas
Nicolas
5 years ago

She will sing on stage. What a leak. It has just to do with the live teasing on Instagram.
Just imagine when the bookies will hear Michela’s first live. Goodbye Top 5 for Sweden or Italy.

Henry
Henry
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicolas

I watched Michaela’s performances also and i was really NOt impressed at all..

funkerman
funkerman
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicolas

Greece will never say yes to winning as they don’t have the funds to host. They will simply come top 5 in the Grand Final. Shame because this song is much better than the whiny Dutch one.

Nicolas
Nicolas
5 years ago

For one moment I fought Keiino singer was Zena lol.

Sam
Sam
5 years ago

Greece will top its semifinal and that is likely to help them reach the top 5 or even 3 in the final

Fair
Fair
5 years ago

I can see Greece winning the whole jury voting…

Joe
Joe
5 years ago
Reply to  Fair

It all depends. Sweden will throw points their way if they have a strong enough bop. They’ve even given them top marks twice (granted, both times were for Helena Paprizou, who’s half-Swedish). But the jury’s (usually, mostly) not as biased by geography or diaspora as the televote. Ireland and Belarus aren’t anywhere near Cyprus, Portugal’s got almost nothing to do with Estonia, and Ukraine’s not that tight with France, but they liked their songs the best.

Joe
Joe
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe

The Baltics are interesting cuz they’ll either vote for their neighbors or they’ll vote totally randomly. Their vote never really swings toward the Mediterranean, though. Can’t tell if it’s a cultural thing or whatnot, but they’re also slow to vote for anything Balkan or Mediterranean (save for France, sometimes Italy). Estonia was the only country that didn’t give Israel anything in either its jury or televote last year. (Then again, they also gave Cyprus a very good mark, so I don’t know).

someooone
someooone
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe

It’s called prejudice, trust me. Many of people from Visegrad or Baltics consider southern europeans lower class people. Have experienced it to my bone.
Funny thing is how people still keep on blaming Romania-Moldova and Greece-Cyprus, while their block voting is extremely ineffective, compared to the USSR one.

Joe
Joe
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe

Doesn’t explain other years where Sweden’s 12 went elsewhere. Portugal got their 12 in 2017, after all, and that had diddly to do with Swedish involvement.

David
David
5 years ago

What did you hear about her staging?

kalisi97
kalisi97
5 years ago

For some reason, the last day the odds of Greece going down ….well done Greece!

Kkar
Kkar
5 years ago
Reply to  kalisi97

Ikr and I don’t even know why. But let’s wait for the pre-parties, I hope Greece will start going higher on the odds

Kkar
Kkar
5 years ago
Reply to  Kkar

Y

Marios
Marios
5 years ago
Reply to  kalisi97

They’re extremely going down. It’s a matter of time to pass Iceland

Rita
Rita
5 years ago
Reply to  kalisi97

Are their finances strong enough? I mean ESC is expensive…and with the history of Greeces economy i am worried…

Nicky91
Nicky91
5 years ago
Reply to  Rita

of course they are, otherwise they wouldn’t participate at ESC in the first place

kalisi97
kalisi97
5 years ago
Reply to  Rita

The ERT(National Broadcaster of Greece) said that they are going for the win,so do not worry….do not forget even Portugal eventually held the Eurovision…which is not a rich country at all

Joe
Joe
5 years ago

Netanyahu definitely wasn’t paying attention to Netta until she won (thank goodness).

Jonas
Jonas
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe

It’s funny that Bibi was also the leader of Israel when they won back in 1998…how did he react then?

someooone
someooone
5 years ago

And we found the best vocals of the year from Greece. Hopefully she will get a top10.

Nicolas
Nicolas
5 years ago
Reply to  someooone

Wait until you hear Malta live.

kalisi97
kalisi97
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicolas

total different voices which can not be compared….they are both strong and unique though

Kkar
Kkar
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicolas

Nicolas lmao you can’t be serious. Katerine’s voice is the best female voice in eurovision this year by far. Great range and so unique

Stef
Stef
5 years ago

Nevena Bozovic from Serbia released new version of her song ‘Kruna’, it is improved when it comes to instrumentation..

PP77
PP77
5 years ago

New version Serbia for ESC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArMg80OsZ2M

Rainer1
Rainer1
5 years ago

the king and the queen of the netherlands also think duncan is great.

Rainer1
Rainer1
5 years ago
Reply to  Rainer1

Ironie off

Idan Cohen
Idan Cohen
5 years ago

Watch out Duncen. you can be Franccesco, you can be Netta.
Don’t bite more than you can chew at this point. wait for the rehearsal week before your country starts waving itself as winner. your burning your hype/making people have unrealistic expectations

Nicky91
Nicky91
5 years ago
Reply to  Idan Cohen

he will just be himself in tel aviv, and not a gabbani or netta or salvador

i’m sure Duncan isn’t himself having these unrealistic expectations

wherever he may finish at whatever position, i will love arcade and listen to it many more times after esc too

Nicolas
Nicolas
5 years ago

Does someone knows the exact reason why Malta has cancelled their appearance at the London preparty ?
Scheduling issues ? What’s more important than promoting your song ???

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicolas

These preparties are more like a “fan event”, they have no impact on the final results.

David
David
5 years ago

Oh Gosh!Katerine Duska what a voice!I see really big things coming for Greece!Great singer!

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago

Better love better win the jury voting in semi1

Veta
Veta
5 years ago

In that video on her Instagram, Zena didn’t say anything about the music video, she said she will post the winner’s video on her Instagram profile, that’s all.

Simon Spark
5 years ago

Love the idea of daily digests!

Anita
Anita
5 years ago

Daily digest is a very good idea and I enjoyed reading it and watching especially Katerine Duska.

frysk
frysk
5 years ago

Can you pleaseasease stop calling my country the Netherlands, Holland???? Hooland is just divided in 2 provinces there are 10 more!

James
James
5 years ago
Reply to  frysk

In some languages, the name of the Netherlands defaults to “Holland”. In my country, it’s “Olanda” and its people “Olandes” for the Philippines, taken from its original Spanish name although Spanish has since switched to “Paises Bajos”.

Calling your country “Mga Mabababang Bansa” in my native language sounds weird and unappealing to the ear.

dutchie
dutchie
5 years ago
Reply to  frysk

Come on, I didn’t grow up in ‘Holland’ either but the fact is nobody cares if you call the whole country by that name. Unless you’re really petty.

RoboESC
RoboESC
5 years ago
Reply to  frysk

Oh pls.. everywhere in The Netherlands the Dutch call their country Holland. And everybody knows that when u say Holland.. you’re talking about the whole country. You’re the first person in my life to make a big deal out of this, ever.

Marios
Marios
5 years ago
Reply to  frysk

well here in Greece the Netherlands are called “Ollandia”

Lolo
Lolo
5 years ago
Reply to  frysk

It’s Hollanda in Turkish too

Vladimir
Vladimir
5 years ago
Reply to  frysk

Dont worry, in Russia, many people think that Amsterdam is a country :). Or we dont know where it is.
In Russian, your country sounds “Niderlandi” (Netherlands) or “Golandia” (Holland)

INAMOO
INAMOO
5 years ago
Reply to  frysk

I notice that there are lots of Dutch people who would react the same thing you do when non-Dutch call your country as Holland. Very understandable yet funny at the same time.

Aris
Aris
5 years ago

Cyprus
Replay THE SLAY

Mari
Mari
5 years ago

I like daily digest articles, good idea 🙂

Nicky91
Nicky91
5 years ago

Netherlands the confirmed winner of 2019 contest then, King Duncan Laurence no one is better than him 🙂

we love him, his sam smith/kate bush like voice and style WOW bringing the class to esc #MakingEurovisionGreatAgain

dutchie
dutchie
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicky91

You have to be the most annoying Dutchman on the internet. Congratulations.

stommie
stommie
5 years ago
Reply to  dutchie

You should have a look at escforum and read what the people there think of him.

Nicky91
Nicky91
5 years ago
Reply to  stommie

what, i Always liked Arcade, definitely up there as one of all time best dutch eurovision entries 🙂

stommie
stommie
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicky91

You were really born in 1991? Because you act like a pre-teen. And don’t lie. You alone made the Dutch thread on escforum unbearable to read.

dutchie
dutchie
5 years ago
Reply to  stommie

Maybe it’s his IQ.

Marios
Marios
5 years ago
Reply to  dutchie

that’s a compliment for him

Joyce
Joyce
5 years ago
Reply to  stommie

Like a baby you mean! I think he lost something whene he was born

Paul
Paul
5 years ago

I’d let the Dutch prime minister back me!

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
5 years ago

wtf we have to wait until april 5 to have ireland on spotify ??? electric leprechaun

voix
voix
5 years ago

Katerina is slaying that note omg

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
5 years ago

Nice, though I’m still wondering how is the snow falling from the cloudless sky (Romania).