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 Friday 12 April.
“Sebi” in English
Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl took to Instagram yesterday to share a small part from the English version of “Sebi”. We hear a few lines of the chorus with the lyrics “You can’t always see the stars / Just stay true to who you are / Stop apologising to me”. Fans of the original version needn’t worry though, as the Slovenian duo confirm that the song will stay in Slovene for the actual contest. “This is just a short part for those who don’t speak our language. The message is a very important part of the song and we wish for everyone to be able to understand it.” (Jonathan)
Katerine rehearses with her backing singers
Katerine Duska may have had a shaky performance at Eurovision In Concert, but it’s clear that the Greek singer is making sure her live vocals will be perfect for the contest in Tel Aviv. We see her practising with three backing vocalists – Evgenia Liakou, Eleni Papli and Erasmia Markidi. The harmonies already sound strong, but no doubt the four of them will continue to gel as we get closer to May. (Jonathan)
Leonora the ballerina
When she’s not singing she’s an ice skater. But for the purpose of her postcard, Leonora has become a ballerina. The “Love Is Forever” songstress didn’t share much, but thankfully her makeup artist Karin Dekel was more forthcoming. Her Instagram story was filled with scenes from the shoot, including one where the Danish singer is overrun by a swarm of ballerinas. In another, the swarm fall in line and follow the Eurovision performer’s lead. (Padraig)
Paenda goes acoustic
Like a lot of Eurovision artists, Paenda is keen to show off the depths of her entry. The Austrian artist has released an acoustic version of “Limits”. Paenda performs the song on a grand piano, showing the strength in the song’s simplicity. (Robyn)
“Home” remixed
In the world of Eurovision, even the tamest of entries can become bangers. As is the case with Kobi Marimi’s “Home”. The Israeli entry has been remixed for the Euroclub dance floor courtesy of dj PM, Tomer Maizner and Tomer G. They have plenty of remix experience between them. The first two reworked Imri Ziv’s “I Feel Alive” while Tomer G is the one responsible for the iconic “Te Deum” remix. (Padraig)
12 points from Montenegro go to Montenegro!
Rizo Feratović from D mol has shared his top ten favourite acts from Eurovision 2019. And unsurprisingly, his 12 points go to his own group. Rizo’s other top picks echo fan favourites such as Michela, Luca Hänni and Mahmood, and he also has some neighbourly love for Nevena Božović. (Robyn)
Drag queen in the sky
After Courtney Act’s appearance in Australia Decides, the worlds of Eurovision and RuPaul’s Drag Race are set to meet once more. On Saturday night, in between their gigs in Riga and the London Eurovision Party, Norway’s KEiiNo will join Monique Heart in the famous G-A-Y venue. Today also sees the trio release their acoustic “Spirit In The Sky” on streaming platforms. (Padraig)
(Shocking?)News: We're going to Heaven – London! We'll be joining Monique Heart (from RuPaul's Drag Race) on stage…
Posted by Keiino on Thursday, April 11, 2019
Eliot and Miki sing across borders
The Eurovision pre-party circuit is a way that acts can get to know each other and stay in contact before the big show in May. And it seems that one friendship has already formed. Spanish star Miki joined his Belgium counterpart Eliot in an Instagram live stream. Eliot even got Miki to sing along on the chorus of his Eurovision song “Wake Up”. (Robyn)
miki singing wake up ft eliot lol pic.twitter.com/leOLT1ObL8
— robin ???????????? (@SecretlyAnElf) April 11, 2019
Bilal to gig with Bebe Rexha
You might recall that France’s Bilal Hassani pulled out of last weekend’s Eurovision in Concert to perform at the NRJ Music Tour with George Ezra in Lyon. The tour continues this week, landing in the western city of Nantes. Bilal is still on the road, but this time he’s swapped George for the Albanian-American pop star Bebe Rexha and a plethora of French acts, including Eurovision 2016’s Amir. The free gig takes place tonight. (Padraig)
DEMAIN on se retrouve pour le NRJ MUSIC TOUR de Nantes omg ??
Jvais être sur une scène avec des gens HUGE ça va être fou, hâte de vous voir mes vies ??????
Révisez bien vos paroles on va leur montrer les queens that we are ? https://t.co/tJzj0mR2EE
— Bilal Hassani (@iambilalhassani) April 11, 2019
Jurij pays tribute to “Arcade”
Lithuanian singer Jurijus Veklanko took a break from running with the lions and paid tribute to a competing Eurovision song. Jurij shared a short clip on his Instagram stories, singing the chorus of Duncan Laurence’s “Arcade”. He wrote “This is why I love Eurovision. There are just so many good songs!” And we agree! (Robyn)
Meanwhile…?? Lithuania’s Jurijus loves the ?? Dutch song by @dunclaurence. pic.twitter.com/axspq38EXt
— Febry ?????????? (@bESCpositive) April 12, 2019
Have some Ar-cake!
Earlier in the day, Jurij tried on a party hat and wrote: “Happy Birthday to me”. Seemingly unbeknownst to the man born on 6 July, it was actually Duncan’s birthday! The Dutch singer is currently on songwriting duty in Stockholm, but he did mark his 25th with a rather tasty looking Ar-cake. (Padraig)
Piece of arcake, anyone? #arcake #bday pic.twitter.com/hXsLThHtjK
— dunclaurence (@dunclaurence) April 11, 2019
Stream and download the Eurovision 2019 album
For those of you still into downloads, or even CDs, the Eurovision 2019 album is now available to purchase. The album isn’t released on streaming platforms, but luckily for y’all we’ve added all 41 songs (plus “Siren Song”) into one playlist. And we’ve even arranged it by the running order! If you’re looking to sing along, the official karaoke album is available everywhere. (Padraig)
Additional contributions from Robyn and Jonathan.
What do you think of “Sebi” in English? Would you rather see KEiiNO and Monique or Bilal and Bebe? Let us know in the comments.
Follow all our Daily Digests for Eurovision 2019.
When is Jurij gonna film a music video for “Run with the Lions”? Maybe after Eurovision like Emmelie de Forest and Jamala?
Where can we watch the full stream of Eliot and Miki’s collab video?
There is a youtube video with the entire chat. You can only search Eliot Miki in Google. Its cool.
Why is the Eurovision albums never released on Spotify? I thought Eurovision was modern and up wit the times, not clanging on to the past. Streaming is a thing now..
What’s the difference if all the individual songs are in ?
Because it’s nice to have an album with all the songs. for those who want it. Like Melodifestivalen. Yes you can get all the songs individually but an aIbum is better. I mean if they can make CD, then getting them on streaming services shouldn’t be difficult.
But then again it’s ESC, They have yet to embrace Blu-Ray discs, so why expect streaming..
(Side talk: so apparently the Eurojury result from Australia has been released and I almost died seeng North Macedonia being in the 8/10/12 range.)
Bella Paige is on the jury and she is of Macedonian descent so that could explain why.
And, of course, Tania Doko is Albanian 😀
I actually really like Sebi in English… oops?
That reheareal video sounds great tho
Ouch! Greece is very, very high in my ranking, but I am still a bit worried about the live performance. Katerine does not sound as confident as she should yet…
Are you deaf?
No, probably you are
Watch more videos of Katerine. Don’t just rely on that Eurovision in Concert performance.
No, Kobi, just no.
Brown cow, STUNNING!
Queen Katerine is coming for revenge
I would like the live performances in both SFs and the Grand Final to be subtitled in the language of the channel broadcasting . I mean, adds subtitles in a way that they don’t affect the visuals. This way, casual viewers would be able to understand songs in foreing languages and, therefore, be more willing to vote for it. This will encourage more countries to send more songs in their national language. I love English and I mostly listened to song in English but it would add a bit more diversity.
I would stop watching the dutch broadcast and switch to the youtube livestream if that happened. I don’t want to read like 34 times the sentence ” ja, je gaat het leuk vinden” under the belarusian performance xD Entries with cheesy lyrics will be very exposed if you read them along the performance. and you can always do it like italy did last year with using the lyrics into the performance, or you just sing one verse/ sentence in english to bring over the message.
I do not think it is a good idea because how can you find, for example, someone in Latvia to accurately translate the Slovene lyrics of Sebi into Latvian? It would end up having very bad translations (or even jokes) for originally good songs. Translating through English would also change the original meanings. Everyone knows how google translate does its job.
Finland actually does this, and the translations are usually hilariously bad 😀
OK “Home”‘s remix made me believe in miracles, now I’m waiting for the EDM version of Latvia.
Paenda: Goosebumps! Dark Horse Alert.
When Zala sings in english she sounds like Lorde. They better keep it original.
Eurovision Version of Soldi is out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeCDq8r1CIo
There seems to be less “Come va” in the song now. That sounds kinda abrupt to me because I’ve listened to the original version for hundreds of times. I guess I need some time to adjust to this. But overall, the song still sounds good. Thank God!! It’s my winner and I was so afraid that the shorter version might ruin it.
Yeah.They have cut the right parts. Song sounds the same even with less come va
The intro is slightly shortened and there is at least one missing “sai già come vax3”.
My guess though is that there will be a few changes during the final, he said he wanted to change some elements in the song but he probably doesn’t feel like spoiling it now (I think Bilal is doing the same, iirc)
I”d love to hear a full English version of ‘Sebi’!
Pænda’ acoustic version is fantastic! Goosebumps!
Should be worth an extra arcticle, not just a daily digest mentioning.
Maybe Padraig wanted to prevent William from getting his back pain again. So let’s hide it.
WOW!What a voice Katerine-i am sure she will slay in Tel Aviv and Madrid!Such a unique voice!Top 5!
That’s it !!! Top 5 for Greece this year <3
I find the guy from D mol so so cute, for me he saves the group but he is not fair play at all…..it’s sad.
For sure Katerina has to work a lot even if she was sick in Amsterdam.
Keino Miki Bilal Eliot keep slaying!
leonora is lookin like zara larsson there…. a glo up !
1. Katerine, SLAY!
2. PAENDA, SLAY!
3. Duncan, I want a piece of that cake.
4. Monique, BROWN COW STUNNING
5. Rizo, is that San Marino or is it just me?
I told you Katerine can sing.
Slay girl!
There’s another rehearsal video btw, check it out
https://youtu.be/1Nw0gTEYwU8
I remember last year and the year before that and the year before that when almost all the greeks said their artist could “SLAY” and win it so this year is not an exeption. Its not the reality with them. In that case Greece should have won 15 years in a row now.
It could also go the way of Eleni Foureira, people were doubting her vocals before the first rehearsal, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Plus most of the times greeks are the biggest haters when it comes to our own entries and this goes for this year too since most Greek people are hating on the song and Katerine. Which as well proves your comment ain’t a fact
We never said that demy and Argo would slay I mean helloooo! Last year was different Greece had a great song but a bad staging we will see!
Bitter swede strikes again, send kisses to uncle christer
Jurijus‘ voice is just so annoying to me, sns