Eurovision April 21

Every weekday, between now and the contest in May, the team from wiwibloggs will round up the latest titbits from the world of Eurovision 2021. We trawl through Instagram, Twitter and elsewhere so that y’all don’t have to. In today’s Daily Digest Hooverphonic and Tusse go acoustic, Albina sings “Lo Malo” and other Eurovision songs and San Marino and Poland meet their “Waterloo”. But first…

Eurovision news: 21 April

Multiple special guests to appear at Saturday’s #ESPreParty

Armenia and Belarus are not participating in this year’s Eurovision. However, they will both be at the #ESPreParty. Eurovision-Spain.com – the organisers of the event – have announced that Belarus’ Naviband (2017) and Armenia’s Sirusho (2008) will perform. Several more guests have been added to the roster, including Australia’s Dami Im, Norway’s KEiiNO, Spain’s Miki and Junior Eurovision’s Soleá. The #ESPreParty is scheduled for April 24 and will take place online on YouTube. (Jordi)

Efendi introduces us to Chip and Dale

Throughout the preview season, we’ve become more familiar with the class of Eurovision 2021… and their pets too! After Elena Tsagarinou’s dog Poo and Roxen’s seven cats, Efendi became the latest star to introduce her animals to the world. Meet Chip and Dale. “Since childhood, I have had a great love for animals, so pets have always lived in our house. And today I want to introduce you to my parrots Chip and Dale! Aren’t they so sweet?”, she writes.

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Sixteen countries vote for Eurovision top 50 on Dutch radio station Radio 2

NPO Radio 2 will broadcast an International Song Contest Top 50 on Saturday 22 May, with sixteen countries voting for it. Voters can choose from a list of fifteen hundred Eurovision songs, NPO reports. The list will be broadcast on the day of the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam, from 12:00 to 16:00. In addition to the Netherlands, the participating countries also include Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Israel, and Greece. The list will be revealed on Saturday, May 15 during a broadcast of NPO Radio 2. Last year, NPO Radio 2 also broadcast a top 50 that could be voted from the Netherlands. That list was topped by ABBA’s “Waterloo”. Dutch Eurovision fans can vote from 10 to 14 May via the NPO Radio 2 website. (Esma)

Hooverphonic perform acoustic version of “The Wrong Place”

The next act to release an acoustic version of their Eurovision 2021 entry is Hooverphonic. The group’s current singer Geike Arnaert stands in front of an extensive set of bookshelves and is accompanied by Alex Callier on a grand piano. The pair perform a shortened version of “The Wrong Place” that predominantly includes the first verse and chorus. Geike’s smoky vocals are the highlight of the acoustic rendition. (Jonathan)

Tusse releases acoustic “Voices”

Sweden’s Tusse is also aboard the acoustic train. He’s released a stripped back version of “Voices” on all major streaming platforms.

Blas Cantó to perform during Spain’s Rocío documentary

Telecinco’s love for Eurovision has brought Gjon’s Tears and Barbara Pravi to Spain. Despite having used VICTORIA’s “Growing Up Is Getting Old” for a new promotion, VICTORIA won’t be the next Eurovision star to appear on the network. Instead, that honour will go to Spain’s own Blas Cantó! He will feature in the last episode of the documentary series Rocío, contar la verdad para seguir viva. Surprised by the amount of Eurovision songs appearing in the documentary, RTVE’s Entertainment Director had wondered when the channel would call Blas. Well, it seems they listened! (Jordi).

Albina sings “Lo Malo”

Albina is a “Lo Malo” stan. In a recent live chat on the Eurovision Instagram, she talked about Spain’s selection for 2018 and said that though Amaia and “some guy” were selected, her favourite was Aitana and Ana Guerra’s bop “Lo Malo”. And she sings a bit. Elsewhere in the chat, she sings parts of “Set Me Free”, “Je Me Casse”, “Mata Hari” and a mashup of “Loco Loco” and “Tick-Tock”. (Robyn)

Manizha sends her love to hospitalised backing singer Artemiy

In a post on Instagram, Russia’s Manizha has sent a get well soon message to her backing vocalist Artemiy, who performed alongside her in the national final. The backing vocalist was hospitalised, but his current condition is stable. On Instagram, Manizha writes in Russian: “This is Artemiy. That very same curly-haired beauty, who lit up the national final stage with me. A talented vocalist, for whom it’s the not the first year I worked with him, who I respect and value very much. For a few days, our loved Tyoma was on IC care. It is a big blow to our whole team. The doctors have stabilised his situation, and a few hours ago, he was moved to the continuing care unit. We surely know: he will be fine, and we will definitely return to the Eurovision stage with him. It all will be good and even better. Artemiy, we love you very much! We are eagerly awaiting you! I want that Tyoma sees and feels our support. It will definitely give him power and it will help his situation. Let’s give him even more good words below this post. He is a sensitive person, cheerful, real. I would really like it, that he would quickly replenish his emotional resource and – thanks to you – smile with all his soul.” The team at wiwibloggs wishes Artemiy a speedy recovery. (Renske)

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James Newman gets Rotterdam ready

Moldova’s Natalia Gordienko told fans about her gruelling Eurovision preparations yesterday, comparing them to astronaut training. But the “Sugar” songstress isn’t the only one working up a sweat for Rotterdam. The UK’s James Newman is in the boxing ring. A mural behind him reads “no guts, no glory”.

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Lesley Roy launches a covers competition

Ireland’s Lesley Roy has launched a once in a lifetime competition for her fans. Entry is relatively simple — record a cover of “Maps” and email it to [email protected]. And the prize? Well, the lucky winner will get to take part in a songwriting session with Lesley Roy herself. You’ll join an elite group of people that have written songs with her, including Max Martin and Katy Perry.

Rafał goes live with Tulia

Poland’s 2021 and 2019 acts came together on Instagram, when Rafał and Tulia held a joint live stream. They exchanged Eurovision anecdotes over the course of 45-minutes. Fan questions were also answered. The Tulia ladies gave Rafał some important advice on dealing with criticism: “Just stay calm!”. (Renske)

Rafał and Senhit’s “Waterloo” drops

As we’ve previously reported, Senhit recently paid a whistle-stop visit to Warsaw to record some performances with Rafał. While most of these won’t be aired until mid-May, their interpretation of “Waterloo” is already available for your viewing pleasure. The official Eurovision channel claims that they give the Abba number a “true disco vibe”.

The Black Mamba perform on The Voice Kids

The Black Mamba were on Portugal’s edition of The Voice Kids to perform their Eurovision entry ahead of next month’s contest. Mia Benita, one of the competitors, joined the group on stage to give a special duet version of “Love Is On My Side”.

Additional contributions from Jordi, Renske, Jonathan, Esma and Robyn.

What do you make of all the acoustic versions? Will you enter Lesley’s competition? Let us know in the comments.

Read more Daily Digests for Eurovision 2021.

22 Comments
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Alex
Alex
2 years ago

Geike and Belgium will be a dark horse if they get right the staging (more like Netherlands 2014 and less than Netherlands 2015 and Belgium 2018).

Rafa? is getting a lot of hate from Polish fans, is there something we’re missing? I find him unauthentic when it comes to his style (it’s like he put lots of styles and 80s performers in a blender with some Swedish recipe). Also, his face looks a bit weird and fake.
Love the Black mamba song, quite sweet but they need to change their outfits, very oldfashioned.

Tom Ripley
Tom Ripley
2 years ago

Croatia :)))))

Mr X
Mr X
2 years ago

Belgium – so underrated ! One of the best songs this year.

lololol
lololol
2 years ago

OMG Albina is so beautiful

just an esc fan
just an esc fan
2 years ago

here’s the thing

im not saying that belgium has to qualify (even if its my winner)

but im saying that it’ll be a HUGE shame if they dont.

MALTESER
MALTESER
2 years ago

Albina sings Lo Malo in 700 different keys, and Eurofans orgasm. *Rolls eyes like Debanaderemiwiwibloggsdotcom*

Kas
Kas
2 years ago

This is true.

Yikes
Yikes
2 years ago

Since pets are told to remind their owners, you’d expect Efendi to have snakes.

Kas
Kas
2 years ago
Reply to  Yikes

Black mambas…

Jonny
Jonny
2 years ago
Reply to  Yikes

What fo do you have against her? Why are you so hateful?

btw
btw
2 years ago
Reply to  Jonny

because she is hateful

Sot
Sot
2 years ago

Rafal + Tulia = the most disastrous Eurovision collab

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago

Geike wins because she knows how to act the song the best, not just sing it.

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Tatanka, Damiano and Barbara also…

Sot
Sot
2 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Oh God, not Tatanka

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago

I hope Artemiy gets better soon and makes it to Rotterdam. I hope it’s not Covid, and I hope people in Russia are being more careful than their selection final suggested.

Teddie
Teddie
2 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

I can only speak for Moscow but here masks are still mandatory in closed spaces e.g. shops, public transport, etc. and most people do wear them. Events, on the other hand… That’s another case altogether. Somehow nobody expects to catch the virus at arenas and cinema theaters. However, a large share of the city population has antibodies, either from the previous infection or via vaccination, and so far the new Covid varieties haven’t reached us. It’s all temporary though, of course, and the epidemic forecast is already pessimistic.

Eurovision2016>
Eurovision2016>
2 years ago

the acoustic version of voices is way better. i don’t even dislike it. they should use it for Eurovision because it’d have more staging potential as well since they could make it intimate. could do well as something similar to kedvesem. the lyrics are still bad but maybe it could qualify and finish above twenty you know. it’s way off what eric saade could’ve done but it’s still a qualification yeah.

Last edited 2 years ago by Eurovision2016>
Sabrina
Sabrina
2 years ago

Yesterday I wrote in the WiwiJury post that I trust Geike to bring the spontaneity the studio version of “The Wrong Place” lacks. Her performance in this acoustic version is exactly what I want! Let her play with the words, because she’s awesome.

Kas
Kas
2 years ago

The portugal guy has a snake as oet ?

WannaEatMySpaghetti
WannaEatMySpaghetti
2 years ago

Hooverphonic is so going to be a dark horse. I love The Black Mamba too. Those 2 bands are really underrated if you ask me.

Kas
Kas
2 years ago

Almost impossible