Eurovision 2023 news - Finland's Käärijä (Main, right), Norway's Alessandra (Inset)

Your daily Eurovision news bulletin has landed. In the build up to the song contest kicking off in Liverpool this May, the team here at wiwibloggs is bringing you all the latest news from the world of Eurovision 2023.

In our 1 April daily digest, Käärijä pranks his fans for April Fools’ Day, and Mimicat teases new staging for Liverpool. But first…

Eurovision 2023 news: Saturday 31 March

Remo Forrer reveals his dancers for Eurovision

We now know that Remo Forrer won’t be alone on stage in Liverpool. The Swiss singer has revealed he’ll have four dancers with him at Eurovision 2023: Lovisa Bengtsson, Marco Wihlborg, Kenny Lantz and Ellinea Afroditi Aina. All four of them hail from Sweden and are working with Sacha Jean-Baptiste, who is the stage director for Switzerland’s Eurovision 2023 performance. Melodifestivalen fans will recognise Kenny Lantz as one of the house dancers from the national final this year. (Jonathan)

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Remo Forrer (@remoforrer)

Mimicat retools “Ai coração” staging for Liverpool

In March, she won Festival da Canção whilst dancing around a brown leather sofa. But Mimicat has big plans to change up her Eurovision stage show. In an interview with escYOUnited, the “Ai coração” songstress said the couch won’t be coming to Liverpool. Instead, she’s preparing a “modern cabaret”. She said: “We’re gonna have a lot of glamour”. 

Käärijä runs for Mayor in April Fools’ Day prank

Amidst the chaos of April Fools’ Day, Finland’s Käärijä pulled the wool over fans eyes as he announced his intention to run for City Mayor of Vantaa, his hometown. On 1 April, Vantaa City reported they had received a new application for the City Mayor elections from none other than Finland’s Eurovision 2023 representative. The council said Käärijä’s running was “a historic opportunity to combine a career as a musician with the duties of the city mayor and to put Vantaa on the viral lists”. Alas, it was just a joke. (Dayana)

La Zarra films France’s postcard

France’s La Zarra is up next to shoot her Eurovision postcard. In a short teaser clip, the “Évidemment” songstress showed off her equestrian skills. Donning an elegant black gown complete with shoulder pads and a statement hat, La Zarra galloped on the back of a black stallion.

Pasha Parfeni greeted with fanfare at Moldova airport

On his travels from Moldova to Warsaw for the Polish Eurovision Party, Pasha Parfeni was greeted with a surprise. The Poliția de Frontieră a Republicii Moldova marching band greeted Pasha at the airport whilst playing a fanfare version of his Eurovision 2023 song “Soarele si luna”. 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Pasha Parfeni (@pashaparfeni)

Polish Eurovision Party kicks off in Warsaw

The class of Eurovision 2023 embark on another adventure. Today, the Polish Eurovision Party takes place in Warsaw. Our Cinan is on scene bringing all the action from the show, meeting with the artists ahead of their promo performances in the Polish capital. The show features performances from Latvia’s Sudden Lights, the UK’s Mae Muller, Czechia’s Vesna and more. 

Alessandra’s “Queen of Kings” surpasses 30 million streams

Another milestone for “Queen of Kings”. Alessandra’s viral TikTok hit has surpassed 30 million streams on Spotify. The Norwegian entry is the second Eurovision 2023 song to hit the 30 million mark following Marco Mengoni’s song for Italy “Due Vite”. 

Additional reporting from Jonathan Vautrey and Dayana.

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Anonymous91
Anonymous91
11 months ago

30 million streams, sure qualifier in the weak semi 1

also with best running order position, show opener

no one has ever nq’d from show opener of semi1

Jack
Jack
11 months ago
Reply to  Anonymous91

How is it the best position as Austria 2013, Moldova 2015, Finland 2016, Azerbaijan 2018, Albania 2022 all failed to qualify. Norway will qualify as it is a strong song and a great opener this year. I think this is a very strong semi final.

Daniel
Daniel
11 months ago

Horses shoudn’t be use for riding, maybe we’ve always done it, but Slavery, oppression of women, discrimination against LGBT people, cruelty to animals, etc. All these things people have been doing forever. But just because we’ve always done it forever, it isnt an excuse for us continuing to do so in the future.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  Daniel

Oh my lord, you must be shocked to see Kaarija holding two women and two men as if they were on a leash during his performance, it’s slavery! Lol come on! If you say that about the horses you clearly don’t know what is the relationship between a horse and a horse rider, mutual respect and love, it’s not slavery at all, reciprocal learning to get to know each other well, they learn to tame reciprocally, with a lot of time….where is the slavery and the oppression? Moreover when we can see that the horse feels happy and proud. People… Read more »

Daniel
Daniel
11 months ago

I know what you mean but the horse doesn’t tell you if it’s happy or not, and the “slavery” in käärijäs Performance is based on the voluntary of the women and men,

I didnt say that riding a horse is slavery.
after my Englisch ist Not the best you might have missunderstood what I meant

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  Daniel

Ok but then what was the purpose of your comment precisely under this article ?

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  Daniel

If the horse isn’t happy, angry, stressful, mistreated or anything else, knowing the horses, you can see and feel that easily.

Jonas
Jonas
11 months ago

If I was a horse, I’d rather be wild. Not used as entertainment, and a commodity for wealthy people to prop up the evil gambling industry. I would not like to exist to service humans, I would tell them to go eff off and keep that whip away from me.

Jonas
Jonas
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

I would also take my olympic medals and prize money away from the jockey, who do they think they are?

Jimmy
Jimmy
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

I thought you liked a good jockey with a whip?

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  Jimmy

I though too lol, as a human to be ride by a good jockey with a whip, it’s something 🙂

Jonas
Jonas
11 months ago
Reply to  Jimmy

I think the horse should have a safe word. Versatility and equality are also key. The horse should also get the chance to saddle and whip the human, should the need arise.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

it’s not the same at the mass level and we can’t do anything to change that.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

You guys are really searching issues everywhere….
Did La Zarra mistreat the horse here? No.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago

And that’s the main thing.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

You’re not a horse… maybe it’s better for them to receive love, cares and food from humans rather than to be alone outside without security and without being sure to have food when they need it…maybe they feel useful and proud to have humans riding them.
To use a whip is a mistreatment for me and it shouldn’t be allowed.

Jonas
Jonas
11 months ago

Horses are the superior species, like so many others, they would be better off without us.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

There are horses attached to humans…
maybe because all the humans are not bad and mistreating no?

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
11 months ago
Reply to  Daniel

Good point. You made me think. I have also seen humans love and care for horses more than other humans though, so that would be the other side of the point.

Nikki
Nikki
11 months ago

As someone who loves side saddle riding, love to see Zarra channelling her inner Victorian? (well, she’s Canadian) lady.

Sol Stevia
Sol Stevia
11 months ago

OT: I just checked out some of the Polish party performances and Mae was indeed bad live again.

Vesna sounded awful as well my goodness….I’m hoping this won’t translate to the ESC stage but at this rate Czechia might actually NQ…

SF1 is a death semi, there is no room for mistakes. Especially a huge vocal disaster.

Syl
Syl
11 months ago
Reply to  Sol Stevia

I’ve been saying from the beginning that Czechia will NQ….the song just doesn’t translate well to stage, they don’t have the charisma and vocals to pull it off, they look like a bunch of schoolgirls at a karaoke bar.

Dani
Dani
11 months ago
Reply to  Sol Stevia

I’m a bit worried for Vesna as well but I wouldn’t base all my expectations on pre-parties. Patricie’s vocals were still alright, the two other singers weren’t as good, that’s for sure. So far, Blanca Paloma and Iru have been the gems (vocally) of Barcelona’s pre-party while Alika probably had the best performance in Warsaw. I’d argue that Albina Kelmendi also was really good actually and if they nail the staging I can see Albania compete for a qualification slot.

ThorBeta
ThorBeta
11 months ago
Reply to  Sol Stevia

I’m not worried at all about Vesna at this stage. They are vocally fine and this is just a concert. We need to wait until rehearsals start to have a better impression of what they are bringing to the stage. We Are Domi were doing worse at this stage last year and they still finished 4th in their semi (3rd in televoting alone).

Panna
Panna
11 months ago
Reply to  Sol Stevia

Albania was a televote qualifier last year. Even with not the greatest vocals Czechia could qualify. Let’s remember that you can use pre-recorded backing vocals and the production of the show in Liverpool is much much higher than in Czech selection and the pre-parties.

Sol Stevia
Sol Stevia
11 months ago
Reply to  Panna

Yea I’m not writing Czech off or anything I’m just concerned is all.

paars
paars
11 months ago
Reply to  Sol Stevia

I’m hoping Mae isn’t actually bad liven otherwise she might end up on the right side of the leaderboard when her song deserves the left side…

Sol Stevia
Sol Stevia
11 months ago
Reply to  Sol Stevia

Ireland qualifies. Imagine? Malta qualifies? Imagine?

To be honest I’d be more shocked if Azer Q’ed lol

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago

La Zarra / The Zarra is such a character lol! Unavoidable literally.

Mati
Mati
11 months ago

Oslo 2024 !

Truth Speaker
Truth Speaker
11 months ago

Least deluded ESC fan.

ThorBeta
ThorBeta
11 months ago

In a year full of Queens La Zarra is this year’s true Ze Queen. I hope she slays in Liverpool.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
11 months ago
Reply to  ThorBeta

Queen of Queens

Jimmy
Jimmy
11 months ago

These postcard promos have given us some nice extra snippets of time with the performers. Nice to see La Zarra’s personality and humour as she interacted with us via the camera, and with her beautiful horse companion.

Bernard
Bernard
11 months ago

Loreen and Kaarija not attending Polish ESC Party despite Ryanair tickets from Scandinavia to Poland being like 10 Euros doesn’t give a good impression about what they think about the Eurovision community and the values and ideas behind it. Is it only about promoting your single and selling as many copies as possible? Is it about the delusion that they’ve got the Eurovision trophy “in the bag”? My respect for both of them is now like 90 per cent down. Actions speak more than words, so there we go.

Pat
Pat
11 months ago
Reply to  Bernard

Damn… you really went through the trouble of googling airline rates to back up your unreasonable anger towards them not being in Poland right now…

Vendela58
Vendela58
11 months ago
Reply to  Bernard

They are attending other ones. No need to jump to conclusion.

Jonas
Jonas
11 months ago
Reply to  Bernard

You thinking they owe you something does not give a good impression of you.

Panna
Panna
11 months ago
Reply to  Bernard

There are no 10 EUR RyanAir flights this season. Cheapest ones are around 20 EUR, but only one way. Return flights will cost you a minimum of 60 EUR. That is without a luggage, just a bag you can place under the seat. As they are performers, they definitely need luggage as well. Although I am sure that is not the reason for them not attending. They have other work to do, related to Eurovision or not. As someone who works in tourism, I can confirm that this is actually causing a decrease in tourism this spring in Poland, Czechia… Read more »

Bandido
Bandido
11 months ago
Reply to  Bernard

Don’t know about Loreen, but Käärijä is performing in Finland. There’s too many pre-parties this year.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
11 months ago

I wouldn’t make ANY assumptions until we’ve seen the final performance. They could be used in ANY way!

Bernard
Bernard
11 months ago

Hey wiwibloggs, when are we getting the poll on “Who had the best performance at Polish Eurovision Party?

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
11 months ago

Wow, a great round-up. I love the postcard footage of La Zarra, so classic!

Jimmy
Jimmy
11 months ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

Giving me a touch of Bridgerton! Very chic!

Sol Stevia
Sol Stevia
11 months ago

Oh nice Switzerland lowering their already low chance of qualifying how lovely.

XOOOD
XOOOD
11 months ago
Reply to  Sol Stevia

why exactly?

Benito Camelo
Benito Camelo
11 months ago

Just heard that about Switzerland and it feels like a parody of itself at this point. It will be a trainwreck xd

Tulilintu
Tulilintu
11 months ago
Reply to  Benito Camelo

So SJB is sabotaging other entries huh. At least Georgia is not working with her anymore.