For Team Wiwi national selection season is the most wonderful time of the year! All of Europe gets to werk and serve up the hottest talents from across the continent. Sadly not everyone can get a golden ticket to Eurovision. Sami, our Finland correspondent, has put together a list of peeps that NEED to come back for the 2014-15 season and go all the way…
1. E.M.D (Erik Segerstedt, Mattias Andréasson, Danny Saucedo)
Erik, Mattias and Danny were Swedish idols for reason! E.M.D have tried to divide and conquer with limited success: Danny did it twice, in 2011 with “In The Club” and in 2012 with “Amazing“, the same year Mattias participated with “Förlåt mig“. Erik took part in MF 2013 (which Danny hosted!) together with Norwegian singer Tone Damli, singing “Hello Goodbye“. Boys: the secret is getting back together. Didn’t anyone tell you the comeback is totally en vogue?
2. Tim Douwsma
Tim Douwsma, “Hot Dutch Guy”, received A LOT of attention from women all over Europe when he announced the Netherlands’ votes in Eurovision 2014. This wasn’t his first contact with Eurovision though. In 2012 Tim took part in Nationaal Songfestival, with cheesy pop song “Undercover Lover”. The Netherlands has made an internal selection ever since, but we already know which Dutchie we want. Who could not vote for this cute and talented guy?!
3. Lauri Mikkola
Lauri Mikkola was one of the finalists in The Voice of Finland and took part in UMK 2014 with the power-ballad “Going Down”, but Finns sent a group of cute boys instead. Lauri delivered a beautiful song, but also made everyone swoon with his charisma. We simply can’t forget that red suit.
http://youtu.be/6K-ZyIlaeC8
4. Bryan Rice
Bryan Rice has taken part in Danish Melodi Grand Prix twice. In 2010 he came second with “Breathing” and he literally got wet (and so did we). He returned to the Danish selection in 2014 with “I Choose U”. Bryan also hosted Euro Village in Copenhagen and Team Wiwi was in the front row every single day. Bryan is not just a sweet face – he’s also a great singer and songwriter.
5. Eddie Razaz
Like so many others on this list, Eddie Razaz made his first appearance on a talent show, in this case Swedish Idol. After placing sixth in the contest, Eddie has been recording with the group REbound!, and modelling in advertisements. In 2013 he participated in Melodifestivalen with the perfect dance track “Alibi”, but didn’t advance from his semi-final (BOOO!). Recently he’s been very active on his Instagram-account, where he posts pictures of his life and (mostly shirtless) selfies.
6. Mark Evans
Back in 2009, British singer Mark Evans came third between Francine and Nicola Gleadall and the UK’s winner Jade Ewen in “Eurovision: Your Country Needs You”. He has been an actor ever since. He showed us his dance moves while performing “Rock Your Body” and his vocal skills in “It’s My Time”. He’s currently touring the States with The Book of Mormon.
7. Chen Aharoni
Chen Aharoni has taken part in TV talent shows in his home country Israel, but also in the United Kingdom. In 2013 he took part in British X Factor and totally nailed his arena audition. Sadly he didn’t get to the finals (what were they thinking?!). But even before that in 2011 Chen came fourth in Kdam Eurovision with the song “Or” when Dana International took the trophy (and later failed to reach the grand final in Düsseldorf, #sadface).
8. Klodian Kaçani
Klodian Kaçani got the silver medal behind Hersi Matmuja at the 52nd Festivali I Këngës, Albania’s national selection for Eurovision 2014. After that his beautiful ballad “Me ty” was sent to the OGAE’s Second Chance contest. It’s not all about his face, as Klodian also has very great, strong voice.
9. Markus Riva
Earlier this year Markus Riva told us that he works out for his voice (and it shows on his body) and that his big dream is to represent his country in Eurovision. Sadly, when he took part in Eirodziesma 2014 with “Lights On” he only reached eleventh place in the final.
10. Kostas Martakis
Kostas Martakis is one of Greece’s biggest pop stars and he has taken part in their Eurovision selections twice, but finished second both times. In 2008 he sang “Always and Forever”, finishing behind Eurovision legend Kalomira. He returned to the Greek final in 2014 and sang “Kanenas de me stamata” in Greek, but Freaky Fortune feat. RiskyKidd won the ticket to Copenhagen. We hope Kostas believes in third time lucky…
11. Viktor Kiràly
New York-born Viktor Kiràly has participated in A Dal as a soloist and together with his twin brother and sister as The Kiralys. Their song “Untried” reached the superfinal in A Dal 2012, but the Hungarian people wanted Compact Disco to sing in Baku. Viktor returned to Hungary’s selection for Eurovision in 2014 with “Running Out Of Time”, but only placed fourth.
12. Rui Andrade
Rui Andrade is one of the biggest Eurovision fans in Portugal and he has participated in Festival Da Canção three times in the past four years, placing third every time. His first attempt was in 2011 with the song “Em Nome do Amor“. He also represented Portugal in the OGAE Second Chance Contest that year. His second try was with “Amor a preto e branco” in 2012 and in 2014 he sang “Ao teu encontro”. Russians noticed his talent and invited him to be a backing singer for the Tolmachevy Sisters, but he still hasn’t sung on the Eurovision stage as a solo singer.
13. Niko
Latvia’s answer to Eric Saade, Niko reached the final of Dziesma twice in a row, in 2013 with “One” and in 2014 with ‘Here I Am Again’. He didn’t get enough votes either time. As you can see from our interview, he’s totally adorable and we just can’t get his songs out of our heads.
Oh I love Mark Evans! I saw him in Wicked and Ghost The Musical in London, he’s fantastic, and a really nice guy too!! Don’t know if he’d be too cheesy for a UK entry now though, think we need to continue down the BBC introducing route.
A little confused by this list… surely there were better male soloists around in the last couple years of NFs? Klodian Kacani is fine – I really wanted him to represent Albania this year – but it seems odd to have a lot of these guys over the likes of Mikko Pohjola, Ralf Gyllenhammar, Mikael Saari and Unheilig’s Der Graf.
Eddie Razaz (I still don’t understand why he failed to qualify), Mark Evans, Chen Aheroni, Niko – all of these guys would be great representatives for their countries! Hope they come back!
Ott Lepland! 😀
Viktor Kiraly had my favorite song in Hungary’s final this year, actually, and Rui my favorite song of Portugal’s final. Niko and Markus Riva also had great songs, and the members of EMD have all brought wonderful music to the table in recent Melfests… I liked Razaz’s Alibi too. Not a big fan of Lauri or Kostas though. Pretty good list overall 🙂
I agree with some of these, they were great and they were in fact my favourites from their respective national finals, like Martakis, Niko and Andrade, I also liked Markus Riva, but his live performance wasn’t great… however I can’t help to think anything would’ve been better than Cake to Bake 😛
I also love Lauri Mikkola, I wanted either him or Hanna Sky to win UMK.
But my top favourite from this list is definitely Eddie Razaz, he deserved at least a spot in the final, Alibi was awesome, one of my favourites from MF last year.
I only wanted Dmitry Malikov to represent Russia for ESC 2015 In Vienna. (I Don’t want a golos winner this time. Golos winner 2014 = Russia’s Rodney Gifry).
No Tim Douwsma for the Netherlands. Never. Ever. Please. xD
Pretty much like the hidden approach showcased while addressing Danny Saucedo’s “slutty” track in a previous article … here is a another “we’re getting aroused and wet in our boxer briefs just by looking at these guys” which showcases how much we are so connected to the musical essence of Eurovision … our eyes and genital are everybody’s ears now apparently. But let me keep this short or Conchita will slap my face reminding me that “we are unity bla bla bla bla and unstoppable bla bla bla” … and I’ve lived quite a bit to know what’s under the… Read more »
Martakis tries to be like Sakis Rouvas, but will never be able to sing like him!! This guy’s looks are great but his voice when you hear him live… is at least dissappointing.
YES to Rui Andrade. Like Catarina Pereira, he was robbed in FdC this year.
Missed Mans, Darin and Auryn in this list.
I definitely agree with Viktor Kiraly, but the others were more just eye candy for me (not all of them though) that I could live without. Kostas Martakis is definitely pretty hot, but him representing Greece would be my nightmare.
All of the above proves that in general good looks hardly get combined with good singing skills. Niko did not even hit one note right! Actually only Bryan Rice is OK to the ears but lacks the looks. So as far as I am concerned 12 out of 13 stay home. Eurovision should not be about hotness bbut about real songs, real voices and true performers.