Sound the trumpets. Blast some “Te Deum”. Let wiwivision 2016 commence! After yesterday’s launch party, it’s time to kick-off the first semi-final in our alternative song contest. The country list is the same as Eurovision 2016, but this time the songs and acts have been chosen by the wiwibloggs team. The 21 entries below all want a spot in the grand final. However, we can only let 13 progress.
Who goes and who stays will be determined by a 50/50 split between readers and the Wiwi Jury. For more details on the voting rules and song selection criteria, click HERE.
You can listen to the first 21 semi-finalists below. This isn’t a TV show, so we’ve decided to move away from the producer-led running order favoured by the EBU. The draw is completely random. Obviously, y’all can ignore it and pick and choose who you want to hear first. It’s up to you!
Once you’re ready, vote in our poll. You can vote for as many entries as you like, but you can only vote ONE time. Be sure to check the box next to every entry you want to support before submitting your votes. Voting ends early on Monday 13 June and the 13 qualifiers will be revealed on Tuesday 14 June.
Of course, y’all can do more than just vote. We have a comment box for a reason – what do you think of our choices? Would you have chosen differently? Who would you have picked instead? And how do our choices rate compared to the “real” Eurovision entries? Let us know!
1. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Anabela “Nocna patrola”
Selected by Edd.
wiwivision history: Bosnia & Herzegovina are debuting at wiwivision 2016.
2. Finland: Evelina “Sireenit”
Selected by Sami.
https://youtu.be/52F1zF_DcJE
wiwivision history: In 2015, the country was represented by Miriam Bryant with “Dragon”. The Swedish singer of Finnish descent placed seventh in the grand final.
3. Malta: Lauren Aquilina “Kicks”
Selected by Patrick.
wiwivision history: Malta finished 24th in the 2015 grand final. The island nation was represented by Red Electrick featuring MPO with “Young Again”.
4. Austria: Flowrag “Helden”
Selected by Andy.
wiwivision history: Austro-Icelandic singer Thorsteinn Einarsson represented the Eurovision 2014 winners. He came 17th with “Leya”.
5. Spain: Fuel Fandango “Salvaje”
Selected by Luis.
wiwivision history: Spain finished 21st in the 2015 final. Xoel Lópes sang “A Serea E O Marineiro”.
6. Hungary: The Biebers “Sun Is Shining”
Selected by Judit.
wiwivision history: Freddie took Hungary to the top ten in 2015, finishing eight in the grand final with “Mary Joe”. He went on to represent the country at Eurovision 2016.
7. Sweden: Zara Larsson & MNEK “Never Forget You”
Selected by Josue.
wiwivision history: Zara Larsson first represented Sweden in 2015 with “Weak Heart”, coming ninth in the grand final. She has since gone on to become a global superstar.
8. Estonia: Merlyn Uusküla “Raju reede”
Selected by Kristín.
wiwivision history: Estonia just missed out on the top ten in 2015, placing 12th in the grand final. They were represented by NOEP with “Move”.
9. Iceland: Milkywhale “Birds of Paradise”
Selected by Steinunn.
wiwivision history: Iceland have never qualified for the grand final. In 2015, AmabAdama finished 15th in semi-final two with “GAIA”.
10. Moldova: Carla’s Dreams “Sub Pielea Mea”
Selected by Bogdan.
wiwivision history: Moldova came 26th in last year’s grand final. Nicoleta Nuca sang “Nu sunt”.
11. Croatia: Maja Suput “Ne lomi mi srce”
Selected by Mario.
wiwivision history: Croatia are debuting at wiwivision 2016.
12. The Netherlands: Eva Simons feat. Sidney Samson “Bludfire”
Selected by Mike.
wiwivision history: Kensington and “Riddles” earned 10th place for the Netherlands in the 2015 grand final.
13. San Marino: IROL “Il Mio Futuro”
Selected by Robyn.
wiwivision history: The microstate has yet to reach a wiwivision grand final. In 2015 they were represented by Italian hardrockers Helia with “No Future”, finishing 14th in the second semi-final.
14. Montenegro: Ana Milenkovic “Budalo”
Selected by Maria.
wiwivision history: Montenegro failed to qualify from semi-final two in 2015, placing last with Anita Popovic and “Dotakni Me Vjetrom”.
15. Cyprus: Giorgos Papadopoulos “Na Na Na”
Selected by Billy.
wiwivision history: In 2015, the island nation was represented by the British singer of Greek-Cypriot descent Tulisa. She placed 15th in the grand final with “Living Without You”.
16. Czech Republic: Jakub Ondra “On the Menu”
Selected by Mikhail.
wiwivision history: The Czech Republic just missed out on qualification in 2015. Lukas Landa finished 11th in the second semi-final with “This Is This”.
17. Russia: Leningrad “Eksponat”
Selected by Dayana.
wiwivision history: Qualification eluded Russia by the narrowest of margins in 2015. Nargiz Zakirova placed 11th in semi-final one with “Ya Ne Tvoya”. She was just nine points off making the grand final.
18. Armenia: Sofi Mkheyan “Hamadzayn Em”
Selected by Denise.
wiwivision history: Armenia have yet to reach a wiwivision grand final. Last year, they finished last in semi-final one with Christine Pepelyan and “Anavart Trichq”.
19. Azerbaijan: Dihaj “Geceler Kecir”
Selected by Gökhan.
wiwivision history: Azerbaijan has never made the wiwivision grand final. In 2015, Gunay Ibrahimli came 16th in semi-final two with “Huzur”.
20. France: Olivier Dion “De Mes Propres Ailes”
Selected by Zakaria.
wiwivision history: France finished 23rd in the 2015 final. They were represented by Shy’m with “La Malice”.
21. Greece: Demy “Tha Meineis Feugontas”
Selected by George.
wiwivision history: This is Demy’s second time singing for Greece at wiwivision. In 2015 she came 20th in the grand final with “Rodino Oneiro”.
wiwivision 2016 semi-final one YouTube playlist
wiwivision 2016 semi-final one Spotify playlist
Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Armenia and Azerbaijan not available.
wiwivision 2016 semi-final one poll
Voting for semi-final one is now closed! Check out the results.
Keep voting in semi-final two.
[polldaddy poll=9438834]Check back on Thursday, when we’ll open the voting for semi-final two.
Nataly 🙂 I knew it’s not from a movie but I meant, if it was, then I would go see it 🙂
Aremnia
My bad. I forgot they were taking 13. Here were my next 3: (11) Russia, (12) Bosnia/Herzegovina, (13) Azerbaijan.
my faves are
1. The Netherlands (just amazing its my type of music!!<3)
2. Sweden(Zara=BAE and the song is just AMAZING!!)
3. Spain (wow i <3 this so muchh)
4. Finland (great song and amazing for the radio)
5. France (i fell in love straight away with this one!!<3)
6. Armenia (wow armenias back with a bang!)
Here are my 10 qualifiers: (1) Malta, (2) Sweden, (3) France, (4) Montenegro, (5) Spain, (6) Croatia, (7) Greece, (8) Austria, (9) Finland, (10) San Marino.
Emoji flags don’t work on here I guess… they appear as ??????, lol
My Qualifiers:
1. ???????? Azerbaijan
2. ???????? Sweden
3. ???????? Malta
4. ???????? Austria
5. ???????? Czech Republic
6. ???????? Spain
7. ???????? Greece
8. ???????? Finland
9. ???????? The Netherlands
10. ???????? France
11. ???????? Cyprus
12. ???????? Bosnia & Herzegovina
13. ???????? Estonia
My Non-qualifiers:
14. ???????? Armenia
15. ???????? San Marino
16. ???????? Iceland
17. ???????? Montenegro
18. ???????? Hungary
19. ???????? Croatia
20. ???????? Moldova
21. ???????? Russia
Greece is the best here.
Never stop making Wiwivision. This is brilliant, some of the songs are really worth coming to Eurovision Song Contest. The songs perfect for me are France and Austria. Except these two there are 5 worth mentioning: Czech Republic, Malta, Azerbaijan and Croatia. Most of all the song I do like.
Wow so much negativism. Enjoy people. About Anabela, her father is Bosnian, she was born in Bosnia and has lived in Sarajevo also, so there is no problem.
Top 3: Moldova, Sweden, Czech Republic
also good: France, Cyprus, Austria
Kinuyo, song of Russia not the soundtrack. It is because of the creative clip, the song became so popular.
1-Armenia
2-Sweden
3-Russia
4-Spain
5-France
6-Greece
8-Finland
9-Netherlands
10-Iceland
11-Estonia
12-Montenegro
13-Malta
1-Iceland
2-Sweden
3-Russia
4-Finland
5-Malta
6-Azerbaijan
7-Czech Republic
8-Spain
9-Montenegro
10-Armenia
11-Estonia
12-Netherlands
13-France
14-Croatia
15-Bosnia
16-San Marino
17-Greece
18-Moldova
19-Austria
20-Cyprus
21-Hungary
Sami choose the worst song that you could pick.
Olivier Dion isn’t even French :((
Anabela and Ana Milenkovic are serbian singers.
Finland, Spain, Montengro, Cyprus and Armenia are my favourites.
I like this idea!
I found myself mesmerised by Iceland’s video clip, so sweet and innocent. I really like Malta’s song-a similar theme to Serbia’s entry in the ‘real’ eurovision. I can’t really remember Russia’s song but the clip is a gem-very Bridget Jones! I’d like to see a movie on this character! Netherlands-just very cool.
Waiting for second demi finale…
Today, no???
solo impatient ^^
My ranking would be:
1- Netherlands
2- Sweden
3- France
4- Malta
5- Greece
6- Spain
7- Austria
8- San Marino
9- Armenia
10- Czech Republic
11- Cyprus
12- Hungary
13- Azerbaijan
14- Moldova
15- Croatia
16- Bosnia Herzegovina
17- Estonia
18- Finland
19- Russia
20- Iceland
21- Montenegro
@LucyP I agree, Swedish music scene is much more than Zara Larsson. There are plenty of unknown, but great singers that can be found of Scandipop.
Ermmmmmmmm…”Never Forget You” is by MNEK…featuring Zara Larrsson. MNEK is British, that song is from the united Kingdom?!?! Surely y’all should’ve selected something actually from Sweden, there’s plenty to choose form, jeez.
1)Armenia
2)Greece
3)France
4)Spain
5)Russia
@Padraig, since when is Wikipedia a better source than her official FB page, where she is in charge?! And for the record, “Sun?ane skale” is an international festival in Montenegro, where even some Azerbaijanian singer won several years ago. Does it mean he can represent Montenegro?! Like I said before, a better investigation NEVER killed anyone.
Spain’s song reminds me of the Ukrainian song, at first I didn´t like but in the end I can´t remove that song from my head. They are very original, more songs like this in Eurovision 2017 please. The other songs are very normal and commercial. Muy 12 points go to Spain
My 12 points to the netherlands and 10 to Sweden
Azerbaijan has to win!
I wasn’t listening songs, but I would give 12 points for Poland.
Greetings from every country xD
Hi everyone,
Yoann, from France!
Awesome selection Wiwi! Thx for making us discover all this talents!!!
My top:
SPAIN 12pts (this song dancing inside my skin, I think!)
GREECE 10pts (Beautiful ballad, powerful)
MALTE 8pts (Catchy an modern, radio friendly!)
PAYS BAS 7pts
ARMENIE 6pts
RUSSIE 5pts
HONGRIE 4pts
AUTRICHE 3pts
FINLANDE 2pts
SUEDE 14 1pt
01] Spain (Voted For)
02] Azerbaijan (Voted For)
03] Greece (Voted For)
04] Austria
05] France
06] Iceland
07] Estonia
08] Bosnia & Herzegovina
09] Croatia
10] Sweden
11] Moldova
12] Finland
13] Malta
14] Montenegro
15] Russia
16] Hungary
17] San Marino
18] Armenia
19] Czech Republic
20] Cyprus
21] Netherlands
My top:
1.- The Netherlands (9,7) > Great song! I just love it????????????. Great forma the summer????????????
2.- Spain (9,5) > I can’t stop listening to it. I ???? the “English Rock Flamenco” thing they have.
3.- Sweden (9.2) > Just love Zara.
4.- Azerbaijan (8,8) > I don’t know why but I love all the sounds the song has.
5.- Austria (7.75) > It just makes me happy. It reminds me like Finland 2010.
Girl from Greece is beautiful with wonderful voice <3
In my opinion:
1. Spain – 12 points
2. Russia – 10 points
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 8 points
4. Croatia – 7 points
5. Montenegro – 6 points
6. Cyprus – 5 points
7. Armenia – 4 points
8. Azerbaijan – 3 points
9. Greece – 2 points
10. France – 1 point
Armenia just rules the house!!! DONE!!!
There are some really kool songs on here. The Armenian song is the perfect summer jam. Also love France, Sweden and Greece.
Olivier Dion is from the same Canadian province as Céline Dion (Quebec) and the song is taken from the French musical “Les 3 Mousquetaires” / “The three Musketeers” and another anecdote, he partcipated in the same season of Dance with the Stars as Loïc Nottet!As far as I can remember, Loïc won and Olivier Dion came 3rd.
1 – Armenia(10/10)
2 – France(9.5/10)
3 – Sweden(9/10)
1. Armenia
2. France
3. Sweden
4. Finland
5. Austria
6. The Netherlands
7. Greece
8. Montenegro
9. Czech Republic
10. Cyprus
11. Croatia
12 Spain
13. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Please include Romania in this contest. 🙁
I agree with you Jolien
France should send Olivier Dion to Eurovision. I like de mes propres ailes but I like Je t’aime c’est tout more. vote for france!!
My favourite is Greece! 😀
A la canción española no la van a votar ni los españoles de lo mala que es, porfavor que el proximo año otra persona con mejor gusto elija la canción de España, que este país tiene buenisimas canciones y artistas que podrían ganar. La cancion gallega del año pasado era aun peor.
Un saludo desde Argentina
I thought Ana Milenkovic was from Serbia, not Montenegro. Wasn’t she a Serbian jury member this year?
Moldova as always something different . It with Sweden are my winners . ( vote for them )
For me, Greece wins this semi with a score of 7.5 / 10. My scores: Bosnia & Herzegovina: 4.5 / 10 Finland: 4 / 10 Malta: 4 / 10 Austria: 4 / 10 Spain: 3 / 10 Hungary: 4 / 10 Sweden: 5.5 / 10 Estonia: 4 / 10 Iceland: 4 / 10 Moldova: 0 / 10 Croatia: 2 / 10 The Netherlands: 3 / 10 San Marino: 3 / 10 Montenegro: 4 / 10 Cyprus: 4 / 10 Czech Republic: 4 / 10 Russia: 2 / 10 Armenia: 4 / 10 Azerbaijan: 4 / 10 France: 4 / 10… Read more »
Spain
Russia
Cyprous
Malta
Greece
About the spanish song, I think there are many better songs that you could have chosen, that song isn’t know anything in Spain. At least it is better than the Galician song last year. You could have chosen other songs like “Sofia” Alvaro Soler, I hope the next year will be better.
First session:
Netherlands: 8/10
Azerbaijan: 8/10
Sweden: 7.5/10
Moldova: 7.5/10
France: 7/10
Austria: 6/10
Iceland 5/10
Czech Republic 5/10
Greece: 4/10
Russia 3.5/10 (*Great* video though!)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 3/10