Your daily Eurovision news bulletin has arrived! Every day in the lead up to Eurovision 2023 kicking off in Liverpool, the team here at wiwibloggs is bringing you all the latest updates — big and small — from the song contest world.
In today’s daily digest, Latvia’s Sudden Lights bounce back at BBC news, and Iceland’s Diljá drops the acoustic version of her Eurovision song. Let’s take a look at what else our Eurovision stars our up to.
Eurovision 2023 news round-up: Friday 7 April
Sudden Lights respond to BBC News’ critique
Following Joker Out’s light-hearted comments yesterday, Sudden Lights are the latest Eurovision 2023 act to comedically respond to BBC News’ review article. Music correspondent Mark Savage wrote that their lullaby “Aijā” sounded like “someone pushing a cupboard of saucepans over a cliff”. Through their TikTok account, the Latvian band revealed how they really composed the song. (Jonathan)
@suddenlights @bbceurovision u got us 🍽️ #eurovision #fyp #bbc #aijā #suddenlights #latvia ♬ original sound – suddenlights
Eurovision artists arrive in Madrid for PrePartyES
The stars of Eurovision 2023 are continuing to touch down in Madrid today as the another pre-party kicks off. A plethora of stars including Luke Black, Loreen, and Spain’s own Blanca Paloma will sing at Madrid’s Sala La Riviera tomorrow night as they showcase their Eurovision songs in the Spanish capital.
HOLA MADRID ?? pic.twitter.com/5Sy3f8JEL0
— Luke Black (@lukeblackmusic) April 7, 2023
Joker Out’s Kris falls ill in Madrid
While most artists celebrated at the PrePartyES launch ceremony, one of the stars was missing from the action. Joker Out’s guitarist Kris Gustin fell ill while in Spain and remained in his hotel room to rest up ahead of the big show tomorrow. We wish Kris a speedy recovery.
Kris is in his room resting as he is pretty sick 🙁 https://t.co/YKwcMZY4Cg
— Joker Out Official (@JokerOutBand) April 7, 2023
Switzerland’s Remo Forrer wins latest episode of Eurovisiooni laulud 2023
Ahead of Eurovision, several countries have review shows where a panel discusses the competing entries. Estonia’s Eurovisiooni laulud 2023 has been running for the past three weeks, with Finland and Sweden topping the first two episodes. In Thursday’s late night third show, hosts Grete Kuld and Tõnis Niinemets were joined by Eleryn Tiit and Rene Puura. The four of them looked at the United Kingdom, Spain, Slovenia, Lithuania, Austria and Switzerland. At the end of the show, the panel decided Switzerland’s Remo Forrer was their favourite of the bunch. (Jonathan)
Diljá releases acoustic version of “Power”
The Icelandic songstress is slowing things down. Diljá has dropped the acoustic version of her Eurovision 2023 song “Power”, turning the high-energy pop track into a mellow piano ballad. It’s out on streaming services right now.
Joker Out record Slovenia’s Eurovision postcard
Pinball on a rooftop? You better believe it. Slovenia’s Joker Out are next to share footage from their Eurovision 2023 postcard clip, which features the boys playing the classic arcade pastime amidst the Ljubljana skyline.
If Slovenia's Joker Out are impressed by pinball machines on a rooftop, wait until they see the stage at #Eurovision2023 ? pic.twitter.com/wPzwAD6Ken
— BBC Eurovision (@bbceurovision) April 7, 2023
Additional contributions by Jonathan Vautrey.
Mark Savage doesn’t write songs. He criticises other people’s song. That is not a real talent. Anyone can do that.
I initially felt disappointed / sad to see the BBC song critique article because so far they (my home broadcaster) seemed to have impressed with their whole ethos towards the contest. Then a friend reminded me that many countries broadcast preview shows with strong critique every year. Particularly the Scandinavian countries. I guess I’m not so bothered now ??????
I still think that as the organising broadcaster it’s somewhat ill judged.
because the scandinavian countries can never flop and nq, they are the elite superpowers of this contest, they are above all other nations
So if Sweden or Spain is not winning eurofans will turn into drama queens for the whole next 12 months. I can see that ?
I can, and I’d enjoy it ngl
We already know all too well from the Eesti Laul about Estonians’ very questionable taste, so it’s no wonder at all that they picked Switzerland as their favorite from that group of songs…
I think the reviewer made the point at the end of the day it’s down to the individuals personal taste and this was his. Is he right are any of us right. We will only know at midnight on 13 May 2023. After watching several reviews lately on this site its worth remembering this is a song contest. Songs. Not peoples personal appearance sexuality or they will win because i fancy them. (watch favourite Baltic Song review).
Exactly. And Spain or Sweden are only 2.of 37 to select from. Well done Estonia!
The person who wrote the article just had the worst takes. I’d much rather watch a Groot reaction video.
Ideally, people like Groot, Alesia Michelle, and Matt from ESC United are those I’d like to see as juries in ESC. Not like many (often, but not exclusively British) reporters who like to take it all as one big joke and leave comments like that. No matter how easily distracted some casual viewers are, 100% televote would be a preferred option to having people with that attitude actually having any impact. Sudden Lights and Joker Out were pretty cool about it.
I’m always back and forth between should it be 50/50 or should televoters get way more (even 100%). Ideally, I’d like an input from people have actually bothered to listen to all songs more than once, both studio versions and live performances, read the lyrics, ect. People who know what’s tempo and key, who know to differentiate between instrumental, structure, and melody. Ideally, they’d be professionals from different generations and different genres of music, in a larger number (10-20, at least), and they’d vote independently and fairly. Many people vote after not being fully concentrated throughout the show, distracted by… Read more »
To account for the ”brainless nationalistic voters” would be one of the main purposes of the juries. Aside from actually knowing a thing or two about things like chords, keys, tempo, ect. But the issue is that some jury members can be equally nationalistic, which is counterproductive. Even when they are not, they are pressured to be. For instance, there were comments from the Serbian press calling out Croatian juries specifically for not giving Hurricane their 12 points. Not Estonian, Moldovan, or Maltese juries. Croatian ones specifically. Imagine why. And frankly, Maneskin, Gjon, and Dadi eclipsed what Hurricane brought by… Read more »
Knowing the ground basis of music is only one of the conditions. This guy is obviously not equipped with handling anything larger than a tea-cup regarding ESC. In fact, true professionals should appreciate the whole package based on many different aspects – lyrics, structure, hook, production, memorability, ect. Only snobs would rank down songs which don’t fit a single scholar box. Which is sadly, what’s sometimes happening. That’s why I feel like there’s sometimes a disproportion between what juries should do and what (some of them) actually end-up doing.
Knowing what some ground terms are doesn’t mean putting them all into the single box and acting like there’s ”good music” and ”bad music” based on the genre or tempo or key the song uses. In fact, that would be opposite of professional. That would be something a quasi-professional would do in order to ”impress” the crowd. For instance, I think I know a thing or two about how movies are made, and I know to define what goes into editing, acting, photography, production design, sound design, ect. Yet, I *love* many blockbuster films, horrors, comedies, ect., and wouldn’t dare… Read more »
PS. I don’t think that the juries have to be scholars or have official degrees, either. That’s not important. But they’d have to be people who are in one way or another familiar with many musical styles, and know the difference between instrumentation, melody, and structure. That they can recognize some instruments, and spot a key change. I don’t need the whole sheet of additional scholar ”credentials” either.
50% televoting, 30% demoscopic juries, 20% Pan-european professional jury selected by EBU and not by corrupt broadcasters. We just need to balance out things and Sanremo knows better 😉
Well, Italy is one of the most successful countries in ESC so I guess the results prove that they do know better. And since Spain decided to copy them in Befest they are also doing extremely better. And Melfest has introduced voting groups by age, and they are being extremely successful. Do you want me to continue? Your reactions are close to being obsessive.
Juries don’t need to be 5 people. They used to be more back in the 80s and 90s. We just need to reform the juries and as I said many times demoscopic juries would be the best way to do that. Add on a proper professional Pan-european jury and we’ve got everything we need. It’s not always black or white. Sometimes we just need to be creative and this is not even close to reinventing the wheel – it’s already done successfully in Sanremo and more recently in Befest.
Or under the influence of alcohol
The BBC’s article felt not like of a ranking, nor review, but rather an opinion piece by like a single person. So that’s what I think made the article feel really off. If they actually did a ranking and explained why they chose the ranking, or even why they think certain acts would/wouldn’t qualify or be on the left of the leaderboard, it would’ve come across more professional
Is there anyone who can translate Eurovisiooni laulud 2023? I wanna know what they said about all the songs, not just their winner.
I think that the problem with the BBC News article is not so much the judgements, but that feeling that no much effort went into them. We’re all used to seeing the most detailed of reactions, good and bad, from fans and fan media. In comparison, this correspondent doesn’t seem to have even listened to the songs, let along form an original opinion. I hope their coverage gets better. My review: sloppy and ill-timed.
Respect for Sudden Lights and Joker Out!! Both great songs and I’m glad they’re being lighthearted about those comments. Hope Kris gets better soon!