Every day 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. This is the Daily Digest for Tuesday 9 April — (and Sunday and Monday too).
Darude defends Madonna’s Eurovision appearance
Shortly after we tweeted that Madonna had been confirmed as the interval act for Eurovision 2019, the shade brigade took to Twitter to explain why she was a horrible choice for the interval. Among the common gripes? That she’ll steal the limelight from contestants and leave them feeling lesser during what should have been their moment. Well, Finland’s Darude isn’t having any of it. Replying to a comment that described her as “an unnecessary distraction”, the “Sandstorm” hitmaker argued in a series of Tweets that she’ll actually be doing everyone a favour. (William)
Nah. I know what you’re saying, but I don’t see it that way, it’s not a competition with Madonna, but I see it as a GREAT profile lift for Eurovision, both sides of the pond! ❤️🔥😍
— Darude (@Darudevil) April 8, 2019
Rehearsals in Stockholm
Last month Sasha Jean Baptiste came to her, now Tamta is off to Sweden. The Cypriot rep is currently in Stockholm for an intense round of rehearsals. She’s working on both choreography and vocals. And as this clip shows, “Replay” writer and producer Alex P is keeping an eye on proceeedings. (Padraig)
Let the intensive rehearsal program begin #TeamCy #TeamReplay
Posted by CYBC: Eurovision Cyprus on Sunday, April 7, 2019
Roko in concert with Marija Šerifović
On Friday night, Roko joined the Eurovision 2007 winner Marija Šerifović for the Zagreb leg of her latest tour. He sang his Eurovision song, but not the Dora version. This rendition was fully in Croatian and called “Heroj”. The performance further fueled rumours that this could be the version destined for Tel Aviv. Unphased by his starry company, Roko delivered an exceptional performance while Marija cheered him on via her Instagram stories. (Antony)
Publika u Ciboni pjevala? u glas Heroj s Rokom. Šerifovic molila za Heroja. Roko Blaževi?, Marija Serifovic, JACQUES HOUDEK, Moj HRT, Eurovision Song Contest,Eurovision Song Serbia,
Posted by Eurosong HRT on Saturday, April 6, 2019
The dream dancer
By Monday, Roko was back focusing on Eurovision 2019 with the announcement of his backing dancer for Tel Aviv. He will be joined on stage by Endi Schrotter, who Croatian TV bills as “one of the biggest millennium teenage stars”. Eurovision followers will know him best for his appearance in the music video for Jacques Houdek’s “My Friend” remix. (Padraig)
London calling
Most Eurovision 2019 stars won’t be landing in London for another few days, but Australia’s Kate Miller-Heidke has already been and gone. The “lightning-fast” promo trip took in a visit to BBC Radio 6 Music studios and an interview for the broadcaster’s Eurovision podcast. (Padraig)
Conan Osíris delivers another take on “Telemóveis”
Portugal’s Eurovision star recently performed “Telemóveis” at a Lisbon night club, and as always, it was unlike any of his previous live performances. The instrumentation had been given a slightly more Middle-Eastern sound, and Conan kept things easterly by delivering the opening line in Hebrew. Conan channelled Conchita by wearing his hair long and a black kimono-style robe. He was accompanied by his usual dancer, who delivered more avant-garde moves. (Robyn)
This shoot is bananas
John Lundvik might have skipped Amsterdam, but he certainly wasn’t taking any time off. The Melfest winner was in Tel Aviv to record his postcard. And the shoot was bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S! It took 12 hours and involved rollerskating in intense heat. And yes, it all took place on the city’s Banana Beach. This pizza-shaped hat may or may not have made the final cut. (Padraig)
Bilal live in Lyon
He sensationally withdrew from Saturday’s Eurovision in Concert at quite short notice. Instead of flying to the Dutch capital, he kept things domestic and travelled to France’s third-biggest city Lyon. He was there as part of the NRJ Music Tour, along with British pop star George Ezra and Destination Eurovision alums Lautner. The bewigged singer performed “Roi” to an adoring crowd. His new singles “Fais beleck” and “Jaloux” also got an outing. (Padraig)
Nevena: From Amsterdam to Tel Aviv
She has a busy May ahead of her – as we learned this weekend – but that doesn’t mean she’s taking it easy in April. And fresh from slaying the stage at Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam, Nevena Bozovic has touched down in Tel Aviv to shoot her postcard. The star shared a message for fans in dressed-down glam on Serbian broadcaster RTS’ official Twitter page. (Angus)
Nakon nastupa i sjajne atmosfere u Amsterdamu, Nevena je u Izraelu na snimanju razglednice za Srbiju! Pogledajte šta nam još novo najavljuje. ???
Finally, we are in Israel. ?? We just can’t wait to start recording postcard for Serbia! ???? @Eurovision @kaneurovision pic.twitter.com/hWT5Sqd0vm
— RTS | Serbia ESC (@SerbiaESC) April 8, 2019
Behind the truth
The flow of BTS clips for this year’s crop of Eurovision music videos continues. The latest to climb aboard the bandwagon is Azerbaijan’s Chingiz. While we don’t learn much, it is fascinating to see how they created such a rich world using such a small space. (Padraig)
Eliot does Beyoncé
The Belgian representative had a busy week of live performances. But after three renditions of “Wake Up”, and before Eurovision in Concert, Eliot got to stretch his artistic muscles by tackling some Beyoncé. Listen below to “Crazy In Love” as you’ve never heard it before. (Padraig)
Hatari inspire future generations
In Iceland, Eurovision is considered a family gathering. And this year will be no exception. Now, some might deem Hatari to be inappropriate for youngsters. But that’s certainly not the case in the land of ice and fire. These three boys recreated the trio’s Söngvakeppnin 2019 winning performance, proving that “Hatrið mun sigra” really is for all ages. Just look at those moves y’all! (Steinunn)
Additional contributions from William, Robyn, Antony, Angus and Steinunn.
Do you agree with Darude? Can you lip sync as well as Icelandic children? Let us know in the comments.
Actually, Marija even predicted success for him on Esc…
Conan!
oh my god. that little boy in the background pretending to be Einar is killing me lmao
for some reason every clip shown is after their true piece, so i cant see Hatari. (btw it starts in the paragraph about Bilal) (UPDATE: ITS FIXED)
If Croatia sticks with this simple performance in Croatian it will do really well. The jury will love it. He has a great voice.
Conan! <3 <3 <3
Tamta is from Georgia, she lives in Greece, she’s representing Cyprus in a contest in Israel and she’s doing rehearsals in Sweden.
My head is spinning (; LOL
Don’t want to go full-on cheerleader but….stunning acoustic version of Kruna.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbiiddr9Kro
Nobody’s talking about it but Eliot completely slayed with this cover of Beyonce’s song! Perhaps he will surprise in May. Sad he doesn’t have a better song :/
Hatari and Conan are both so different from all the others…I hope they do well because they really deserve it for thinking out of the box.
Dare to Dream, Dare to Dare !!!
Love Conan as well
Go Darude, respect for you defending Madonna against all hate
Roko’s dancer Endi is really a great dancer, the guy goes to the Academy of Contemporary Art and I think the performance will be really good. With that, Roko is an excellent vocal! Good job Croatia!
Have you heard the news from Sweden? Charlotte Perrelli will be in the commentary booth for SVT this year, alongside Edward af Sillén. Amazing way of celebrating the 20th anniversary of the victory of “Take Me to Your Heaven” at Jerusalem in 1999!
Sweden having food in their postcard once again 🙂
I mean they won my vote once again! LOL
Darude has a point, though. I mean, she’s not even competing! Beside, this is good publicity to have Eurovision going global considering there’s going to be an Asian edition.
Now that Chingiz released the acoustic version of ‘Truth’ composed by himself… It should’ve been that acoustic way, isn’t it? 🙁
How can these kids be so cute while singing about hatred?
If you want you can see another video of Duska Katerine singing that for me is really really better. I think that her voice is soo unique that if videos arent in good quality can really sound more strange than it really is. She did mistakes but i think that were only 2-3 voice mistakes really. In this video is more near and sound really clear. I think that they underestimated her voice my friends and i was sooo sad cause i love her and her voice sooo much!!! you can watch it and write opinion if you want. i… Read more »
Am I the only one wondering whether Eliot could do a sleek and touching version of ‘City Lights’?
Roko was really great, the best concert, his live performance was amazing!!!!!
Fighting capitalism while wearing a nike sweatshirt lol…
Wow! Those kids from Iceland are super talented, congrats!!! How could you memorise all those lyrics haha
Portugal is slowly fading in betting odds, it will flop and become Finland 2018 at the best.
Madonna’s performance will elevate Eurovision but also her status as she hasn’t been relevant since 4 Minutes.
You mean Cyprus 2018. Who cares of betting odds before the real things begin in may.
@Nicolas
Im so tired of your hate speech. Enough is enough!!!
You should explain where you see hate on that comment ????????
Just don’t be afraid of the charismatic Conan who will run. Don’t speek too early you will certainly be surprised. Even if you don’t like the song it doesn’t mean others don’t like as well. Actually many people love it and many more will because it is a masterpiece, a uniqueness art that grows each day on us. I am from France and I will vote for Portugal!
In your house maybe. In my house (Barcelona) 20 votes to Portugal BB
Justo because he is not going to the pre Esc parties and he is not going every club around Europe, it doesn’t mean he will not be a potential winner. “Fading in betting odds”…Fortunately! We saw, in the other years, the higher ranks in the betting odds are the first to be boycotted by the national juries.
So many people concerned about betting odds….why don´t we all vote now and forget about THE CONTEST??? I really miss the time when ESC was about THE CONTEST and NOT THE ODDS!!! This is becoming very annoying now…
I 100% agree. Downvoters should chill out.
I’m moving to iceland to raise my kids there.
Very nice rubric, wiwibloggs! I just realised that Eliot has actually a very beautiful singing voice. I hope everything will go well for him in Tel Aviv!
Wow Eliot!
Roko is so talented, wow
Those Icelandic kids are great at rolle play. 😀
easy…Marija is not an a-hole and a bully like you are 😉
Sorry Croatia! But no….. Great voice though!
Can you please ask Roko when you interview him, why they decided to call their song “The Dream”, when it’s “Hero” in Croatian?
Czu the English version in Croatian would seem more silly…
Roko and hot dancer should be interesting lol
Conan is a god! adore him:)
Guys is there the list of artists who will be in London pre party this weekend?
I only know Duncan, Mahmood, Michael and Sarah are in, but who else?
Victor Crone, Darude with Sebastian Rejman and our Tulia also will be in London
Roko brilliantly performance…wow!
And dancer…. ok… this might be interested…
Conan… love it!
I would love to see Hatari sing something from the Icelandic folklore with traditional dresses. They are so cute
Iceland, if you’d ever like to come back to Junior Eurovision, you know who to call.
Well since we’ve never competed we can’t be back hahah. I’d love it if we competed in JESC tho
Ah, true – my bad! I always wondered why Scandinavian nations were so unwilling to take part in JESC.
Child Labour
Conan Osiris is delivering amazing performances one after the other and is getting ignored by the ESC fan base
When was ESC fan base driven by music quality?
Since when that song is “quality”?
Grow up.
Actually the song is growing up in lot of people. We must not have the same definition of quality
Being in a lot of people’s top 10 is being ignored now?
Anyone saw Liamoo’s reply towards John Lundvik’s Instagram pic? Very hilarious.
Wow… so Daily Digest still exists! 😀 Keep it up, and don’t ever let it go through your fingers again, @William Lee Adams, because I love it! 😀
Ester is the best this year! will the big drums be on stage?
Don’t forget that Romania’s best place ever was with drums involved (2005). i will surely watch what you proposed!
This song will remain with me much long time after the eurovision..
thanks for your detailed answer!
Thanks Rob! We will try our best not to skip it again. I was overwhelmed with deadlines and a bad cold the last 2 days and the other editors are occupied with other projects. But so glad you enjoy reading it! 🙂
A dancer with Roko ? How on hell this song needs a dancer on stage ?
It becomes more and more terrible. Like Belgium 2014.
Belgium 2014 was great. Those dancers doing the chicken dance made it stand out.
best answer in years.
Conan is like a chameleon always changing his appearance … impressive!
Chame Chameleon
yalla yalla yalla la la la
If only he could change how bad his song sounds.
Christopher for you maybe not for lot of people who really appreciate this pure song
No matter how Conan’s gonna sing…….He will not qualify
Indeed 🙁
He will qualify.
Better one Conan in semi-final than all the rest in the final.
Rita my dear… We’ll see my dear 😉
Oh please…live and let live.