Welcome to the first super Saturday of 2022! After a nice warm-up in Italy and Ireland on Friday, we’re now facing into an evening of eight selection shows. Norway and Lithuania continue to chug along, Italy, Israel and Estonia carry on from their runs throughout the week, Latvia and Slovenia get serious after their wildcard rounds, while Sweden finally gets the ball rolling.
Before the night is out, we should have two new entries for Turin.
Here are all the details you need for 2022’s fifth Saturday of national selections.
You can follow all the results on wiwibloggs (and via our Twitter: @wiwibloggs and Instagram: wiwibloggs) throughout the day. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s happening, when it’s on and how to watch.
Saturday 5 February: Eurovision 2022 Selection Shows
Estonia’s Eesti Laul 2022
Semi-final two
Time: 18:30 CET to 20:00 CET and 20:30 CET to 21:15 CET
The newly expanded Eesti Laul 2022 launched back in November with four quarter finals. We had to wait almost two months for the semi-finals, and in the space of just three days they’re already nearly over. Thursday saw five acts qualify, including Ott Lepland, Elina Nechayeva and Stig Rästa. Now, Jaagup Tuisk, Anna Sahlene, STEFAN and seven others will sing it out in semi-final two, all vying for the last five places in the grand final.
Click to Watch Eesti Laul 2022 semi-final two
Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix 2022
Semi-final four
Semi-Final 4 — 5 February 2022
Time: 19:55 CET to 21:10 CET
This is the last of the “first-look” semis, as the fifth and final semi will comprise of previously eliminated acts seeking a second chance. Tonight we’ll see Alexandra Joner, Maria Mohn, Kim Wigaard and Sofie Fjellvang duel it out for a direct ticket to the grand final. Meanwhile, automatic qualifiers Subwoolfer will finally debut their fruity anthem “Give That Wolf A Banana”.
Click to Watch Melodi Grand Prix 2022 Semi-Final 4
Lithuania’s Pabandom is naujo! 2022
Semi-final two — 5 February 2022
Time: 20:00 CET to 21:40 CET
We’re on the home straight! After three heats and a semi-final, Lithuania’s Pabandom iš naujo! 2022 is almost ready to reach its climax. But first there’s the second semi-final to get through. Nine acts will perform in this semi, including Ieva Zasimauskaitė and Monika Liu. Only four will make it to next weeks final, joining the qualifiers from the first semi.
Click to Watch Pabandom is naujo! 2022 semi-final two livestream
Alternatively, you can watch the show via the official LRT YouTube channel.
Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2022
Heat one | Deltävling 1
Time: 20:00 CET to 21:30 CET
It’s arguably the kingpin of national final season. And, tonight, Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2022 returns for a new six-week run. The opening show will see seven acts perform, including former winner Robin Bengtsson and Netflix star Omar Rudberg. Keep an eye out for the slightly tweaked format. The winner of the heat will be made known after the first round of voting, while a second round of voting will determine the second direct finalist and two qualifiers for the semi-final (formerly andra chansen).
Click to Watch Melodifestivalen 2022 heat one
Latvia’s Supernova 2022
Semi-final
Time: 20:05 CET to 22:10 CET
It started with an online wildcard vote back in January. But now Latvia’s Supernova 2022 is ready to hit TV screens. The grand-final is just one week away but, before that, there’s still a semi-final to get through. There are plenty of familiar faces including Eurovision 2015’s Aminata and Supernova regular Markus Riva. Newcomers Citi Zēni have also been generating a lot of interest with their vegan anthem “Eat Your Salad”. A total of 17 acts will compete tonight, with ten progressing to the grand final.
Watch Supernova 2022 on LTV.LV
Israel’s The X Factor for Eurovision 2022
Grand Final — 5 February 2022
Time: 20:15 CET to 21:30 CET
On Thursday we saw eight songs whittled down to four. Tonight, that number will be cut to just one as Israel picks its next star for Eurovision 2022 during the X Factor final. The X Factor final will consist of two rounds. Round one will see the four finalists — Michael Ben David, Eli Huli, Inbal Bibi and Sapir Saban — perform a cover track. One will be eliminated at this stage. The three finalists will then perform their potential Eurovision entries. The end result will be determined by the public (50%), X Factor judges (25%) and another panel of experts (25%).
The show will air on Reshet’s Channel 13. It’s not yet clear whether there will be a geoblock in place for international viewers.
Watch Israel’s Eurovision 2022 song selection show online.
Slovenia’s EMA 2022
Semi-final one
Time: 20:20 CET to 21:40 CET
It was a long and winding road, but Slovenia’s EMA Freš 2022 is finally done and dusted! And that means it’s time to shift focus to the main event — EMA 2022. After a two-year break, the semi-finals are back with the first one taking place this evening. Ten acts will compete in tonight’s first semi with six going on to the final in two weeks’ time.
Click to Watch EMA 2022 semi-final one
Italy’s Festival di Sanremo 2022
Fifth evening: The final | Quinta serata: Finale
Time: 20:45 CET to 01:45 CET
After four long nights, Italy’s iconic Sanremo Music Festival 2022 comes to an end this evening. And, hopefully, before the night is out, we’ll know Italy’s next Eurovision representative. Going into the fifth and final night, Mahmood & Blanco top the rankings with “Brividi”. The track has already cracked the top five on Spotify’s Global chart, but with the public, a press jury and a demoscopic jury to press, anything could change. They face stiff competition from the likes of Gianni Morandi and Elisa.
Watch Sanremo 2022 on RAIPlay.
Which show will you watch? Let us know below.
An expected result, but a good one nonetheless. Easily my 1st so far chosen entry. I think that their overwhelming win in televote means that Italians are mostly open to gay romances now, and that’s a great thing. It’s a really good song, and I’m positive that Italy will avoid the dreaded bottom 5 spot of most host entries. In fact, this could go in top ten.
Sanremo keeps being kind to me, since I started watching, one of my favorites always won. 🙂
That was expected. Even if they were not among my favourite songs they are my first place right now in my ESC 2022 top. Congrats Italy for an amazing festival. And good night 😀
YES!
Massimo Ranieri won the critic’s award.
Gianni Morandi won the press room award.
Fabrizio Moro won the award for best lyrics.
Elisa won the award for best musical composition, decided by the orchestra.
Irama was almost in top 3… almost. Great result in any case, but I was hoping for a surprising win. No matter. Three good songs remain. I am expecting the win of Mahmood and Blanco, but I won’t be disappointed if it’s Elisa or Gianni. It’s nice seeing how performers of different generations can still do well in televoting.
If Irama or Sangiovanni made to the top 3, I suppose the press would rank them quite low. But with Gianni Morandi, this gets more unpredictable. Mahmood & Blanco tend to win the televote, but the others can take the press vote and the demoscopic jury.
Let’s see, but I think we’ll have a returnee from Italy.
Elisa, Gianni Morandi and Mahmood & Blanco in Sanremo’s superfinal.
4) Irama
5) Sangiovanni
6) Emma
7) La Rappresentante di Lista
8) Massimo Ranieri
9) Dargen D’Amico
10) Michele Bravi
Well, what a surprise 🙂
I cheer for Gianni Morandi now!! Let’s goooo! One uptempo song against two ballads. I see a chance.
Ah Irama 4th. Tough luck he was very close once again.
Don’t know how much more I can stay awake but I am so anxious as to who is gonna win Sanremo.
Don’t worry, it will take just one more hour. 2 hours top. Probably not more than 3!
I just love Sanremo. Amadeus announces that there’s only one more act to perform and… they go to another commercial break.
It’s really amazing. My favourite national final! It’s 2 in the morning here in Greece I am exhausted but still trying to keep my eyes open lol
You are anxious? Why? What do you fear? That Mahmood won’t win? Don’t worry. his victory is sure as eggs is eggs.
I am actually hoping that Irama or Elisa will win. I know that Mahmood&Blanco will probably be the winners but I am hoping for a surprise winner.
Nice for finding time. Has anyone told the Icelandic delegation that today is the worst timing possible to grab anyone’s attention? Ha ha ha 🙂
I guess I’ll listen to them tomorrow or the day after that.
I still want to listen to the Icelandic entries and watch the performances in PIN. This Super Saturday won’t ever end. 😀
What going on with Israel? Its geo blocked for me. Did anyone won already? The show was supposed to have finished already.
Yeah I’m getting radio silence from Israel. I know not to keep checking for Italy because knowing them they’re probably only like five songs in.
Michael WON!!!!
That good? I haven’t heard the songs.
Noo, i was craving Marionette so much. What can you do i guess.
Full composition of the Grand Final for PIN is known:
There are 4 joke entries in Supernova (I mean, unless of them is actually serious and pretty bad). “Eat Your Salad” is miles ahead of the other 3 in terms of entertainment and music quality.
Massumo, YES!
Massimo gave his best performance tonight.
Melfest results shocked me. Omar went home! Robin and Cornelia Direct to final. Hullaballo and Theoz I think go to what used to be called Andra Chansen? Yeah, I know, what?
Bermudu divsturis from Latvia most hilarious song ever. This must go through. I love ‘No socks theme’ haha
Monika Liu, August?, R?ta Loop and Ieva Zasimauskait? in PIN final!
MGP: Sofie in the final! I hope Maria wins the last chance thing to be there too.
If she sounds like this with a flu, from her living room, imagine what she can do on the stage.
One can test positive for Covid yet be asymptomatic?
Cornelia directly to the final . Yeeees!
Well I’m watching Sweden’s Melfest. There has been some issue with the voting, apparently. My favourites were Omar and Cornelia tonight.
Monika Liu – winner vibes. <3
Was it LUMA? Really liked their EMA Fres’ performance.
I’m still with Latvia, 5 songs to go. Then I’ll try to catch up on Sweden and Slovenia when my favorites aren’t performing in Sanremo.
Give that Wolf a Banana is a top ten spot in Turin if chosen. Mark my words!
If only Maria could make it tonight. The song is difficult to sing. I hope she can blow us away in the golden duell 😉
omg Maian better qualify in the second round PLEAASEEEE. I can’t have her eliminated
Congrats to Stefan and Jaagup! 🙂
I hope that televoting picks Maian!
I can’t believe this…
I’m massively enjoying EMA, it has a quirkiness which is right up my street.
Those names that were announced in eesti laul just now, were they the jury qualifiers?
Morland, you did it again. I’m always impressed about how his songs can make a good vocalist shine. Hoping Sofie will get to the final.
Wow, Kim! He just blew both of Cezar’s songs out of the water with one glimpse of this. Let’s see how Sofie does. This duel should be good.
Oh yeah, Sofie was amazing! Another well deserving finalist!
By the way, is only Anna-Lisa singing as an AQ act, or are the Subwoolfer guys able to perform too?
I mean, if he stages it drastically better than Sofie… never say never. 😉
Maria did it! 🙂
News from Latvia: “Eat Your Salad” is very entertaining on the stage. And they haven’t said that word, the led screen did the dirty job. 😀
Sure, Alexandra is a gifted singer, and a beautiful woman who could make this kind of song work the best it can. The instrumental also isn’t that bad. A notch up from any Alvaro Estrella’s songs. But I just cannot with these lyrics… 😉 Fly all the way! 🙂
If I understand it correctly, start of the Israeli X-factor is postponed to 20:30? Also I’m curious if the geoblock will be lifted or not…
Thursday’s show wasn’t geoblocked, I watched it.
Fly is flawless! Maria looked and sounded like a goddess from Asgard, and I’m not saying that lightly. Might be my MGP winner, and one of my favorites of this whole NF season. If she loses to a song which cannot differentiate between mamacita and senorita, I swear…
Voted for Maria thrice just now!
Me too. Let’s hope for the best.
“It’s arguably the kingpin of national final season.”
Lol. Time for a reality check-in.
Fly has a pretty good live performance. Her vocals were really good imo
I saw this one too, but it turned out the official is different from it and from another I saw on Corrie della Sera.
The official running order in Sanremo: https://twitter.com/manosullapancia/status/1490036277764407296
One of the biggest newspapers in Italy published a wrong running order, so there’s no reason at all for you to be sorry. 🙂
I’m loving the quality of the staging in Eesti laul, however almost all performances felt pretty static to me tonight. Maiain, Jaagup and Stefan stood out though. Jaagup’s staging was immaculate and the vocals were amazing as well. Stefan’s vibe in the song was nice, although I think the standoff was a little extra lol. Maian just radiates positive energy. I’m hoping they all make it.
Stefan or Jaagup, Estonia has a winner. Please, televoters, be in sync. 😉
I second that, both would do a good job representing Estonia. And I hope Maian qualifies to the final, at least.
Me 2, Meeletu is among my top five in EL semis.
Yeah… But I guess she would depend on juries anyway, so it won’t make much difference.
somehow she qualified with juries but not with televoters… idk how that works
Stefan’s performance was cool and he nailed the vocals as usual. Though I would still prefer Jaagup, I suppose he’s the one to beat in Eesti Laul.
Stefan’s song is my favourite of the selection. The performance was as western as it can get xD. With some improvements though I can see this doing good at ESC if selected.
Just tuned in to Eesti Laul. Sad that Minimal wind can’t perform live, since I kinda like this song and now it will lose a lot of ground.
I’m team Jaagup in Eesti Laul. Everything about the performance was beautiful.
The camera work was insanely good. I wonder if they could use the same tricks in Eurovision.
The famous scaletta di Sanremo isn’t out yet, it seems.
Watching Eesti Laul, then trying to watch MGP, Supernova and my favorites in Sanremo at the same time (LTV could give me a pause option to help!). Let’s see how much of this plan I manage to accomplish.
I’ll watch Sanremo on the tv, Mello on my computer and MGP on my phone haha
And end up missing most of all of them
Madness incoming but i love it,we waited so long for busy Saturdays!