Wednesday Wishlist Maitre Gims Marina Satti Sonata Arctic

mOff-season is tough for Eurovision fans. The PED (Post Eurovision Depression) cloud is just beginning to lift, but the contest is still the guts of a year away. The nearest national final is in December and the junior equivalent won’t be for months. 

Despite the sunshine, summer can be bleak. It would be easy to mope until November, but the wiwibloggs team has a better plan. It’s time to dream!

For the next few Wednesdays our correspondents from across the world will be bringing you their ultimate wishlist for Israel 2019. And as this is all fantasy, we’ll also be taking a look at absentee countries, both long and short term. Because in our ideal contest everyone comes to the party.

To make sure that no one gets left out, we’ll be going through countries in alphabetical order, so this week we’re starting with Croatia and working through to Greece.

Croatia: Damir Kedzo

Antony: He’s one of the country’s biggest rising stars. Handsome with a mellow voice, a Damir Kedzo love ballad could certainly get Croatia back to the Eurovision final. Not to mention melt all of our hearts in the process! Recently, Kedzo won the annual summer Splitski Festival with young singer Domenica and “Mi Protiv Nas”. However, one of my favourite songs from Kedzo is “Vojnik Ljubavi”, a beautiful love ballad released earlier this year.

Past wishes: Franka Batelic (wish granted), Luce, Lana Jurcevic and Petra Kovacevic

Cyprus: Polina Christodoulou

Pablo: The island nation that brought us “La La Love” and “Fuego” has pretty much found its calling: sweltering summer pop. And in a Panik-controlled world, there is no shortage of prime candidates. Enter Polina Christodoulou. A local Cypriot diva coming from the X Factor season that gave us Ivi Adamou, Eleftheria Eleftheriou and Hovig (and outlasting all three!). Her brand is versatile yet modern, and lends for various tempos and genres. Polina would fit the summer sensation formula perfectly. Her sophisticated presence sets her apart from Cyprus’ past efforts, assuring her offering would not be a copy. It would 100% slay and the chance of doing so in Greek is a great bonus!

Past wishes: Valando TryfonosKyriacos Georgiou, Nikolas Metaxas, and Sophia Patsalides

Czech Republic: Emma Smetana

Mikhail: She is one of the most unique artists on the Czech music scene. Emma Smetana began her career as a TV news presenter, before forming her own band. Not only does she sing, she also plays the piano and guitar. Her music is calm yet sensual. You can drown in it, enjoying the moment. In 2016 she released her first album What I’ve Done. The most successful single to come out of it was “No Fire” where she combined her voice with her husband Jordan Haj’s, a fellow musician and a songwriter. Other songs to note are “Waiting” and “Can’t Give You Up“. Emma would be a great follow up to the best Czech Eurovision result ever.

Past wishes: VeronaVeronika Stýblová, Lenny, and Mikolas Josef (wish granted)

Denmark: Malte Ebert

Kristín: Despite his young age of 21, Malte Ebert is already well established in Denmark. He was formerly known under his alias Gulddreng and topped charts time and time again in his home country with songs such as “Ked af det” and “Se mig nu”, all sung in his native language. However, in 2017 Malte  ditched the moniker and started releasing music under his real name. His first single “Rather Be” currently sits comfortable in the Danish top ten singles chart. Malte might be miles away from the epic viking ode of “Higher Ground”, but he is fresh, different and would certainly bring a completely new sound from Denmark to the Eurovision table.

Past wishes: Ida CorrStine Bramsen, Turboweekend & Oh Land, and Lukas Graham

Estonia: Cityflash and Laura-Ly

Lukas: An Estonian DJ and music producer, Cityflash has a lot of experience. His music style is filled with a mix of dirty pop, electro and house beats. Combining it with Laura-Ly  — who herself has a unique and quirky style — gives us a very interesting duo. They’ve already enjoyed a number of strong hits on the Estonian music charts. Having a DJ on the Eurovision stage can be hit or miss. JOWST did very well back in 2016 and brought Norway into the top ten. By contrast, Poland’s last entry with Gromee failed to make the final. But Estonia with Cityflash and Laura-Ly can bring something new and daring to the song contest.

Past wishes: Jaan LehepuuLiis Lemsalu, Iiris, and Jana Kask

Finland: Sonata Arctica

Steinunn: Finland has tried almost every musical genre when it comes to Eurovision, but the only time they were victorious was with the monster rock of Lordi back in 2006. The Finns are known for their abundance of metal bands but they haven’t really sent us a proper metal number since 2008. So it is high time they send another one. Sonata Arctica are a power metal band originating in the northern town of Kemi, located in the Lapland region and not that far from Lordi’s hometown Rovaniemi. Their music can be described as melodic power metal and according to the band members their biggest musical influence is the legendary band QueenSonata Arctica have released nine studio albums since 1999 and a compilation album of their work between 2007 and 2017 will be released in July. So why not celebrate that by representing Finland in Israel 2019? Rock might not be the most popular or productive genre at the contest, but the melodic power rock of Sonata Arctica could be just what Eurovision needs. The contest should be a celebration of every single musical genre out there. And honestly, you can never have too much rock at Eurovision.

Past wishes: Laura NärhiAnna Abreu, Niila, and Alma

France: Maître Gims

Julia: Maybe France needs to look into former boy band members to find its next Eurovision megastar. Congolese rapper and singer Maître Gims (Master Gims) could be France’s answer to Justin Timberlake in terms of standout boy band icon. Breaking away from former hip hop band, Sexion d’Assaut, Maître Gims forged his own solo career with the release of the ground-breaking album Subliminal. His talents are considered legendary amongst French rappers with him being the mastermind behind hits including “Sorry,””Golden Disc,” “My Direction” and “Adult Problems.” Not only popular in his adopted country of France, his musical talents have spread far and wide including collaborations with Australian artist Sia and American rapper Pitbull. With his music taking inspiration from his home continent of Africa, his inclusion could add new flavour to the Eurovision stage by marrying African beats with French hip hop.

Past wishes: Mylène FarmerAmel BentBrigitte, and Christine & the Queens

Georgia: Nino Katamadze & Insight

Rezo: It’s very difficult to choose an act for Georgia which has never participated at Eurovision before or competed in a national final — so many talented Georgian acts have strived for song contest glory through the years. Anyway, I’ve opted for the genius that is Nino Katamadze & Insight. Admittedly, I may be a little biased since I’ve worked as their PR manager for almost a year. They create original compositions, combining Georgian and modern world music to produce surprising results. High quality musical arrangements are supported by strong, emotional and deep vocals. Nino’s voice creates a wave of feelings that envelops the audience. You don’t need to speak or understand the Georgian language to enjoy Insight’s music. The music transcends lyrics and includes improvisations which are free of words. Nino sings her feelings.

Past wishes: Katie MeluaBERA, Nini, and Salio

Germany: LEA

Florian: Germany has always seen success at the contest when sending artists with different backgrounds and a creative vision. Lea’s first steps into music began at the age of 15. Similar to Michael Schulte, she started uploading videos on YouTube. Her music always takes a very personal approach and manages to drag the listener into her very own perspective. In 2017, she had her breakthrough when her song “Leiser” reached number 13 on the German charts and stayed in the top 100 for 29 weeks. Moreover, guess what – she lives in Hannover, the same city where Eurovision winner Lena is from!

Past wishes: Mandy CapristoOonaghGlasperlenspiel, and Mogli

Greece: Marina Satti

Jordi: Well we know that Greece has properly served Eurovision pleasure throughout its history: from Helena Paparizou to Eleftheria Eleftheriou to Sakis Rouvas, long live the Greek gods and goddesses. But since 2014, the Mediterranean nation’s performance in the contest has been in a consistent decline. Marina Satti has the modern flare and essence needed to make it big at Eurovision and stop the rot. Both traditional and contemporary sounds join Marina’s soul in her artistic attitude and music. Her hit “Mantissa” is the perfect taste of a pleasant upbeat mixture of Greek traditional rhythms and Bollywood elements. Described as the Greek-Sudanese emerging star who represents hope, Marina studies at Boston’s Berklee Music College and collaborates with international and domestic music industry stars. She’s managed to break away from the crowd, provoke reactions and build bridges with people of all ages – her video hit five million streams in just one week. Eurovision? “I’m not ready, but it can be done in the future”. Wooho! The world needs your attitude and swagger!

Past wishes: Eleni Foureira (wish granted for Cyprus), Tamta, Kings, and Nikos Ikonomopoulos

What do y’all think? Have we chosen the best of the best? Or would you have chosen differently? As always, let us know below.

Next Week: Hungary to Malta >>

<< Last week: Albania to Bulgaria

CHECK OUT OUR PREVIOUS WEDNESDAY WISHLISTS.

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CyxCy
CyxCy
6 years ago

The problem of Maître Gims is that even if basic, he has an excellent voice (he could have done opera if he wanted), in his songs he uses and abuses autotune and other software. I don’t really see him singing live without any artifice to support him. This does not detract from the fact that he can write and compose very good songs.

Yellow
Yellow
6 years ago

Maître Gims? Come on we can do better than that. Right now we have no many talented artists: Eddy de Pretto, Hoshi, Juliette Armanet, Lili Poe… HER would be great but they sing in English and sending them would thus be against the rules ?????

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago

CZE: Lucie Vondrá?ková.

DEN: Nabiha!

EST: Sandra Nurmsalu (would be interesting to see what she could do, 10 years after her last appearance).

FIN: Mikael Saari (who is WAAAAAAY overdue) or Sara Forsberg.

FRA: Gims, good choice. I’d also consider Léa Castel.

GER: Madeline Juno! If she had given “Error” priority over “Like Lovers Do”, she would have made it to the ESC 2014 stage and quite probably would have finished top-5. Oonagh’s artistry would be a plus for them on an ESC stage.

kostas
kostas
6 years ago

Konstantinos Argiros for Greece!

Lurpak
Lurpak
6 years ago

Yaasssss Sonata Artica please! Finland have so many interesting metal bands, and Sonata Artica is one of my favorite!

The mad professor
The mad professor
6 years ago

“Another wish will get granted. The cake is already half baked but the fire heating the oven is not where it seems to be”

beccaboo1212
6 years ago

My wish list:

* Croatia – Dino Jelusic
* Cyprus – Sophia Patsalides
* Czech Republic – Diana Kalashova
* Denmark – Anne Gadegaard
* Estonia – Tanja (wish granted in 2014)
* Finland – Sandhja (wish granted in 2016)
* France – Anguun (wish granted in 2012)
* Georgia – Mariam Kakhelishvili
* Germany – LaFee
* Greece – Chloe Sofia Boleti

noone
noone
6 years ago
Reply to  beccaboo1212

Oh yes LaFee, I loved her as a kid 🙂

Kyna
Kyna
6 years ago

Although I do like Maître Gims, but I don’t think he suits for this format. What I wish is Slimane to represent for France. His performane in Destination Eurovision with Emmy Liyana was SO good.
Tbh any french (pop) artists could go, I literally enjoy all of them.

Astrelle
Astrelle
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyna

Slimane ??

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyna

Slimane; good one. I heard one of his solo tunes and his duet with Léa Castel.

M_K
M_K
6 years ago

How about making another wishlist that only contains former NF participants?

noone
noone
6 years ago

Croatia: Nina Kralji? again this time maybe with a more folk-pop song (go listen to Zaljuljali smo svijet) or Mia Dimši?, the band Seine or Severina again
Germany: so much to choose from, honestly the best would really be LEA or Madeline Juno, my wish would be Drangsal (amazing artist) but also Bands like Juli, Schnipo Schranke, Die Heiterkeit etc.
Georgia: Katie Melua obviously, why didn’t they ever send her???
Finland: Alma
Estonia: Ariadne, Elina Born, Kerli

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago
Reply to  noone

I’m all in for Drangsal(I wonder if you’re possibly from Prinzblog since they had an article about him there)! I think maybe Katie Melua just doesn’t want to take part in Eurovision. It’s not like she’s THAT famous, but established artists that received a certain amount of fame are often just not interested in Eurovision.

Jo.
Jo.
6 years ago

I’m over the pop/dance tracks in English, to be honest. I hope more countries try something different next year, as some did in Lisbon.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

I’m still saying Rammstein for Germany lol. For real tho, we have some really good artists in Germany. Alice Merton would be my favourite… Well, one of my favourites. I still want to see Alligatoah at Eurovision SO badly! He makes satirical music, his songs are always critical and really fun most of the time. But I guess Eurovision is not his kind of format…. And we wouldn’t succeed with it anyway, but whatever :/ Check this song out tho (one of my personal faves): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stYO0zpvJ0s

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

Lol, Looks like some People here really don’t like Alligatoah xD

eurofan
eurofan
6 years ago

Anne Marie for the UK, easy win

Antxo
Antxo
6 years ago

Maitre Gamin?? Just no. Louane Emera for FRANCE! She could be the new Lena, i hope a songwriter will call her for destination eurovision.

Catriona Colville
Catriona Colville
6 years ago

Finland should absolutely send Mikael Saari. He has been robbed twice and it’s now his time. But obviously my dream would be Nightwish.

Lemanic
Lemanic
6 years ago

Myd for France, please ?!

Miguel
Miguel
6 years ago

my top 3 from this list:
Cyprus: Polina Christodoulou
Czechia: Emma Smetana & Jordan Haj
Denmark: Malte Ebert

my wishlist
Croatia – there are a couple of people, but I would like to see Severina back
Czechia – Barbora Polakova or Jakub Ondra
Cyprus – Ivi Adamou
Denmark – FRUM
Estonia – Elina Born
Finland – Kristiina Brask or Jenni Vartiainen
France – Kendji Girac or Lea Castel
Georgia – Katie Melua or Cira
Germany – Alice Merton or Pamela Falcon
Greece – Konstantinos Argiros

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

Interesting looking back at some of the earlier picks in addition to the (largely agreeable) new ones. I will say that Denmark should only send Lukas Graham if they want nul points.

ESCFan2009 (male, 22, German)
ESCFan2009 (male, 22, German)
6 years ago

France: Louane
Germany: Alice Merton
<3 <3

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

Louane would be amazing for France!

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

OMG HEY!!! <3 #PrinzblogGang 😀

ESCFan2009 (male, 22, German)
ESCFan2009 (male, 22, German)
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

Heyyyyyy! 😀 (Information for everybody: The “Prinz Blog” is the biggest German ESC fanpage! And @Weißbrot and me are regular commentators there 😉 #PrinzblogGang)

Sabrina
Sabrina
6 years ago

Emma Smetana, Malte, LEA and Marina Satti would be interesting choices for their countries. With some wise editing, “Mantissa”, would be a great Eurovision song, by the way.

joe
joe
6 years ago

if I was French, I would choose POLO & PAN

Meeh
Meeh
6 years ago

WE WANT L E A!!!

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago

I want ALEKSEEV back, under Ukrainian flag.. with the men or the girls from the Freedom Ballet. 🙂

Eurovisionfan12
Eurovisionfan12
6 years ago

My wishlist:
Croatia – Zsa Zsa
Cyprus – Louis Georgiou
Czech Republic – Pink Angels
Denmark – Bladtkramer
Estonia – TRAD.ATTACK!
Finland – Nova Miller
France – Tal
Georgia – New One
Germany – Oonagh
Greece – Matina

Pancake
Pancake
6 years ago

My picks for Eurovision 2019 (part 2)
Croatia – Nina Kraljic
Cyprus – Christiana Louizu
Czech Republic – Jakub Ondra
Denmark – Sada Vidoo
Estonia – Kerli
Finland – ALMA
France – Tal
Germany – Madeline Juno
Georgia – Nina Sublatti
Greece – Tamta

CharlieChan
CharlieChan
6 years ago

Rosalía for Spaiiiiiiin

Hrvatska
Hrvatska
6 years ago

Kedzo indira Forza Zsa Zsa Luka Nizetic

Denis
Denis
6 years ago

That guy for Croatia? He is a bit meh, to fluff!
Marko Kutlic is a better choice and has a more rock sound to him

Marc
Marc
6 years ago

For France it should be the current French queen Aya Nakamura.
Her song Djadja is so good and it’s charting in France, Belgium and Netherlands. It’s also in the Top 100 Spotify in Sweden.
And her video has already over 100M on youtube. Slaying.
Not gonna happen since Destination Eurovision is back I guess. Same with Maitre Gims. I like him as well.

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago
Reply to  Marc

I would love to see Indila for France.

CyxCy
CyxCy
6 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

Aya Nakamura, I have nothing against her but she does not know how to articulate. We do not understand what she’s saying, we deserve better than that anyway. When in Indila she totally disappeared in France, two tubes and then goes, no one thinks of it. And by the way I do not understand what people find in Lea Castel. on the other hand there are many artists and groups that could do the job: Hyphen Hyphen, Jain, Hoshi, Pomme, Shaka Ponk, Black Rain, Cécile Corbel, Vianney …

Yanis2Y
Yanis2Y
6 years ago

i’m French and…Maitre Gims ? really ?? We have so many talented singers in France and you pick Gims ? eww

FanESC
FanESC
6 years ago

For France, I would prefer Eugénie, Sasha, or, as you said it, Christine and the Queens (not very likely).

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago
Reply to  FanESC

How about Indila? If she comes with a Dernière danse-like song will win it all.

FanESC
FanESC
6 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

Why not, but she already said that if she were asked to represent France at Eurovision, she would probably say “no”, because it’s a lot of pressure and she wouldn’t want to disappoint people. And, above all, she doesn’t like the medias, etc.
Here’s the link, if you want to read her answer :
https://lepetitjournal.com/culture/indila-si-me-proposait-de-faire-leurovision-je-refuserais-153950

FanESC
FanESC
6 years ago
Reply to  FanESC

But she said that more than 4 years ago, when we were really bad at Eurovision. Anyway, I don’t think she’ll say “yes” one day.

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
6 years ago

IDK if you know (or care for that matter) but we have 19 countries for JESC this year including the debut from Kazachstan and Wales and the return of Israel France and Azerbaijan.

finnishgirl
finnishgirl
6 years ago

I really want Sunrise Avenue or Alma to represent Finland!! I doubt we would win with metal music again..

Branko
Branko
6 years ago

How can Rezo work as PR manager? He is only 28 years old? Where did you study? Turbo fast PR University with degree???