Your daily Eurovision news round-up 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 today’s Eurovision daily digest, Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper get their skates on, plus Let 3 unveil a golden tractor. But first…
Eurovision 2023 news roundup: Wednesday 5 April
Piqued Jacks release studio cut of “Like An Animal”
Our Eurovision 2023 playlist is now complete. San Marino’s Piqued Jacks are the last act from this year’s contest to officially release their song on streaming services. There’s doesn’t appear to be any major changes in terms of a revamp.
Let 3 presented with golden tractor
Let 3 will be travelling to Liverpool in style. The Croatian band have been presented with a golden tractor, built by Zoran Drnjević from Kastav. It’s an electric tractor, with Let 3 noting they no longer wish to use fossil fuels but instead fight for the preservation of nature. It might be a bit of a squeeze to fit all of them on, but the group plan on using this “symbol of transhumanism” as their transportation to Eurovision 2023:
“We intend to go to Liverpool with it for the Eurovision Song Contest. We will go by road and teleportation. And we heard that some people are already hitchhiking, so we hope to catch up with them, to get on board together.”
@let3.mrle THE GOLDEN TRACTOR 🚜 ŠČ! #let3 #eurovision #eurosong #mamasc #aspaceodyssey #sc ♬ 2001 (A Space Odyssey) – Royal Symphony Orchestra
Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper get their skates on
Today it was the turn of Dutch duo Mia and Dion to share a little behind the scenes footage of their Eurovision postcard. The pair put on their rollerblades and skated around the colourful streets. Mia and Dion also showed us the tech that had been brought for the filming – including drones and smoke machines – but we’ll have to wait until Eurovision to see exactly how they were used.
Get your skates on, we're going to the Netherlands with Mia and Dion! ?? #Eurovision2023 pic.twitter.com/r6eQvQUsbk
— BBC Eurovision (@bbceurovision) April 5, 2023
Joker Out are reunited with their luggage
Slovenia’s Joker Out have been jetting all over the place for this year’s pre-parties. But following their visit to Tel Aviv, the nightmare of any flyer occurred – they got separated from their luggage. Whilst they themselves made it safely to Ljubljana, the luggage of Jan, Nace and Bojan got stuck on transit in Istanbul. But we’re thankfully happy to report that the three of them were reunited with the clothing today.
Touchdown in Ljubljana. Thank you Tel Aviv, we had a blast! Jan, Nace and Bojan got their suitcases stuck in Istanbul and they’re getting them tomorrow so they might be a little stinky in Madrid if they don’t manage to wash everything ?
— Joker Out Official (@JokerOutBand) April 4, 2023
Got our luggage back!
— Joker Out Official (@JokerOutBand) April 5, 2023
Eurovision songs rack up the streams
We’re still over a month away from Eurovision 2023, but this year’s entries are still receiving a lot of repeat plays. Wednesday saw several key milestones for some acts on Spotify: Loreen’s “Tattoo” passed 30 million streams; Blanka’s “Solo” reached 6 million streams; La Zarra secured 4 million streams for “Évidemment”.
"Tattoo" by Loreen has now surpassed 30 million streams on Spotify. #Eurovision ??
— Eurovision Charts (@esc_charts) April 5, 2023
Mama š?!
Yeah I was reading that this morning and it very well thought and written. It all seems plausible, maybe a bit too plausible, so I would expect some predictions to be off, as it always happens. I mainly hope he’s wrong with Slovenia and Germany, since they are both in my Top 10 and I want them to do well. I think he’s overrating Spain, since imho a Top 3 place is far from guaranteed and I have a bad feeling about the UK finishing bottom 5 tbh and I have an equally bad feeling that Poland will qualify to… Read more »
If the results were based mostly on artistic merit, Spain would be a guaranteed top 2 and probable winner, but the ESC representing not much more than a novelty contest as it is, we all know too well that’s just not how things work, unfortunately.
Artistic merit is something very subjective. Art doesn’t have definite measurements. If you want to speak about her technical vocal skills then I agree that this is rather objective but all the rest has multiple variables.
It is, but in such a limited field of only around 40 songs each year, I personally find it much easier to say who really deserves to do well and it’s not just a matter of taste either because I’m sure mine is diverse enough at this point.
Fair, that makes total sense to me. Yes, I agree then that it’s a quality music entry, although I don’t personally enjoy it, and if we want to reward that then it should do very well. That’s not the purpose of the contest though and other songs will most likely end up much higher, especially in the televoting.
I don’t like “I wrote a song”. I just don’t want it to finish very low because I want the UK to keep trying. A mid-teens placing would be fine imo. “Blood and glitter” has grown loads for me, having started already from a good place in my ranking. Germany has a very interesting and diverse music scene and I’m glad that they are sending finally something like that and I want it to get a good result – I think it will do well with the televoting but not with the juries so I hope that it can have… Read more »
I think BBC wanted a radio friendly song this year to build up the interest prior to the contest – if it fails completely I’m worried things will go south again. No “Blood and glitter” is definitely not “Hatrid mun sigra”, but as you might have figured out already I count multiple variables in my preferences and I really like what Lord of the Lost are bringing to the contest. And do you really understand what Victor is singing?!? I still don’t have the slightest idea what he’s singing especially in the verses and I have already read the lyrics… Read more »
Oh trust me, BBC won’t keep trying if things don’t go their way. I do think that getting TaP music on board was the best thing they’ve done in ages and I don’t want them to quit that collaboration. Regarding Greece – seriously I just listened to it again and I put a lot of effort to understand the words he’s singing (I’m not a native English speaker btw) to the degree that it distracts me from the song and I lose interest after the first minute. If the average viewer needs to put the same effort to understand the… Read more »
PS. And next is Poland which is the worst possible for Greece and pretty much the last nail in their coffin. “Solo solo down down down”. Fun…
Mark Savage BBC Music correspondent made a review of all the songs after BBC received all the 37 songs finalized with new lyrics and revamps and gave HIS predictions. It’s only a subjective opinion about how could finish the songs, don’t take this too seriously : Azerbaidjan, Switzerland, Malta, San Marino, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Romania, Denmark: not qualified Albania, Belgium, Estonia, Moldova, Slovenia, Latvia, Portugal, Croatia, Georgia, Slovenia: lower half of the scoreaboard The Netherlands, Iceland : in the low teens Australia, Italy, Germany: mid table in the Grand Final Israel: upper half of the learderboard Lithuania, Serbia: just outside… Read more »
Thanks. N.B. Ari already mentioned this below, where you can find our little discussion about it.
Oops, sorry for the recurrence then I didn’t see that, ok thank you I’m going to read this 😉
The last 10 years the host entries ended like this ( I’m a data sucker I plead guilty 🙂 ) : 2012 Azerbaidjan : 4th 2013 Sweden: 14th 2014 Denmark: 9th 2015 Austria: 26th out of 27 2016 Sweden: 5th 2017 Ukraine: 24th out of 26 2018 Portugal: 26th out of 26 2019 Israel: 23th out of 26 2021 The Netherlands: 23th out of 26 2022 Italy: 6th out of 25 During 4 years in a row the host entry ended in the bottom 5 it has been broken by Italy last year so let’s see if it continues. The… Read more »
Portugal finishing last in 2018 is an absolute joke and Netherlands 2020 is also one of the greatest ever host entries, but sadly it never got the chance to compete.
Not wrong… nobody deserved the last places but it’s the Esc game, at the end there’s a ranking so forcefully there’s a first, a last, a top, a bottom, it’s inevitable.
Yeah, and the ESC game is so confused and infantile that a sterile radio ballad like Germany finishes top 4, absolute gimmick entries like Denmark and Moldova finish top 10 while one of the best of the year by far like Portugal 2018 finishes dead last, which is exactly why I can never take the results seriously…
Again it’s subjective some people must be happy of Denmark and Germany placements, I can understand your disappointment if this song was your fav but don’t be angry or disappointed if you don’t take the results seriously.
Of course the Esc results have to be taken with a pinch of salt, they are unpredictable and surprising and often doesn’t reflect the exact musical quality and that’s why it’s fun to see more than anything else imo.
Well, that’s quite a measured response, so fair enough. BTW, there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll be voting France for the 3rd year in a row, still one of my favorites even tho I don’t like it as much as Voila or Fulenn.
You voted for Fulenn last year! Thank you for them but you must be one of the few seeing their results unfortunately.
Portugal will have my vote this year, Mimicat is on my radar since the beginning of the season.
Personally I prefer Évidemment over Voilà and Fulenn even if I loved them, Voilà was classic emotional french chanson, Fulenn was more modern with these beats, Évidemment is “kind” of mix of the two.
Please bring the Golden Tractor on stage!
Either that or in their postcard.
Why are yall acting so gassed over a song which you already disliked just because they finally did the bare minimum of making a studio version.
*cough* san marino *cough*
At first I thought too if it’s appropriate, but then I started thinking that many countries have preview shows where people comment on the competing songs and so on. So yes, it’s appropriate and we all hear the same songs differently, that’s why we all have different rankings.
I know it’s likely that the correspondent reads this blog sometimes, so hello Mark. Should I be nice? 🙂 Honestly, I like Mark’s review this year; he has found quite a lot to draw on from the music and the lyrics, and not relied too much of cultural satire. In terms of placings, I don’t know if there’ll be any surprises this year compared to the odds, so it’s refreshing to see Mark having good vibes from France. Plus we both love the despondent moment in Estonia’s song! (I’ll probably have to re-write mine now to acknowledge Mark.) As for… Read more »
Haha, thanks.
Don’t know why Mia wears those silly bits of braids. They do nothing for her look.
more like last place in the semi, for these clowns with their generic nonsense message, and disrespect for the hot daddy Putin
Please tell me you’re a troll, because if you’re a troll you must have a twisted sense of humour. If you’re not, then just twisted sense (and mind) I guess.
Croatia needs to flop that stupid anti-russia troll act, poor russia
Youth Power: Loreen, how many contests will she win in her entire career, i predict 10!
if you don’t support Loreen, u know nothing about music
At first I thought you are being sarcastic but not so sure. However, I sincerely hope that Loreen will end up somewhere in the middle of the finals. Except her fame coming from previous win, she does not offer anything special. There are at least 10 performances that are overall better then her.
I mean, a song doesn’t need to be special. It needs to hit your feeling. Whether it is sad feelings or happy feelings, it doesn’t matter.
I agree, but the thing is that people tend to praise Tattoo as if it is something out of this world. IMO successful ESC act is combination of a good song, interesting performance and a bit of uniqueness.
Tattoo is the best song in the universe, such a strong ethnic bop, good we throw swedish language in the trash bin, english is everyone’s number one language
vote for Sweden or else
Yeah, I see there is a party for one in your head. Enjoy
Get lost.
It is not anti-Russia, but rather anti-Putin.
EXACTLY! : )
Someone who’s already on this site decided to make another account to comment one of the most brain numbing comments I’ve seen on this site.
Love it or hate it, but Let 3 will definitely make the wildest performance, bot on and off stage!
Let 3 is what Zdob si Zdub was last year: an entry the majority of the fandom claims to dislike yet ends up doing “surprisingly” well.
Zdob si Zdub aren’t a joke act though
Let 3 are more like Czechia’s Gypsy.cz, hopefully they will also get a similar 0pt result, and a withdrawal for good from croatia
True, it’s a very serious song about a train trip between Kishinau and Bucharest. I would even say it’s a balad with deep heartbreaking meaning.
yes a very serious political entry 😉 very nationalistic, patriotic
Yes, and I can understand that you are upset Croatia is mocking your secret crush Vladimir 😉
My bias for supporting the Putin family, because i like his daughter Maria and her dutchie husband
Come on. No need to make excuses now. We all know that you enjoy looking at that shirtless photo of Vladimir more than anything else. ?
Well, if I remember well it was reported that Zdob si Zdub are supporters of the unification of Moldova and Romania and the lyrics of the song represent that exactly, so yes it is actually political. Same with Let 3 – there’s an obvious anti-Putin message hidden in the lyrics.
Right, after this won I expected that their revamp was supposed to be a major improvement and that that is why the juries voted for the song.
But they really didn’t change anything, just added a little bit of autotune.
They should really have picked the Emma Muscat path.
Wtf is wrong with y’all…
Are you referring to the San Marino studio cut, or something else? (As for what’s wrong with us all, how much time do you have? 😀 )
The studio cut
Croatia is C R A Z Y this year!!! Let´s go Let 3!
Split or Rijeka 2024!!!!! Let’s go!!!!
Croatia is such a vibe this year!!! Omg, I can’t!! I’ll use all of my votes on them!
the only ”vibe” is Loreenmania this year, Loreen vs a bunch of amateurs lol lol
I didn’t feel like there was a revamp per se, but San Marino’s studio version is impeccable imo, definitely worth the wait!
And regarding streams, this year has shown some impressive figures and the show hasn’t started!
Italy: 38 M, Norway: 32 M, Sweden: 30 M, Finland: 12 M, Poland: 6 M, UK: 4,2 M, Czechia: 4,1 M, France: 4 M, Israel: 3,3 M, Spain: 2,5 M.
It’s the top 10 Spotify now, such a big gap between the 3 first and their impressive numbers and the others.
Italy: San Remo effect
Norway: MGP effect
Sweden: Melfest effect
Finland: UMK effect
All these successful Festival/National Finals help to get such big numbers of streams each years I guess. But we also have to take into account that some countries use Spotify more than others.
Even then, an entry in Finnish getting that much traction isn’t that usual
An entry in Finnish it’s not usual for sure, but Finland being among the top Spotify countries in Eurovision it’s very usual
Not sure it is only due to national finals. I mean Tattoo is in The Polish, Dutch and Croatian Spotify charts. They do not have any Melfest there.
I think it simply is due to social media and people from all over watching, listening and likening the song.
Not only but it helps A LOT.
San Marino does have a pretty sick beat if played loudly. I wish they’d gone even harder though.
Maybe we will see this golden tractor on Liverpool’s stage… Mae Muller and Vesna songs have already reached 4 million streams too on Spotify.
Probably we are putting way too much emphasis on these streaming numbers when songs as underwhelming/poor as the UK’s and Poland’s are gaining such traction? Maybe we should actually focus more on Let 3’s (golden) traction instead?
Why? These are still interesting facts to know which songs are the most listened before the contest, underwhelming songs or not it’s subjective.
I was kinda hoping the Like An Animal revamp would actually improve the song, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Goes to show San Marino is better off with internal selections after all, huh?