In the space of just four days, the number of entries for Eurovision 2016 has almost doubled. From only six on Friday afternoon, we now know 11 of the songs which are likely to compete in the contest next May. We say likely, because Malta’s “Chameleon” currently seems to be residing in some kind of limbo, while Albania is due to undergo a major revamp. Also, Italy hasn’t officially confirmed its song, but more on that below.
Since 13 January, y’all have cast more than 15,500 votes in our weekly favourite act polls. Once again, it’s time to wipe the slate clean and ask you to choose your favourite Eurovision 2016 act so far. You can listen to the new additions and watch our video reactions below. Then vote in our poll. You can vote for as many contestants as you like, but you can only vote ONE time. Be sure to check the box next to every act you want to support before submitting your votes. Voting ends on Thursday 18 February — just ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s song reveal on 19 February.
We will then relaunch the poll to include all the entries that drop that weekend — the aforementioned Bosnia and Herzegovina along with Iceland on Saturday, Ukraine on Sunday and Cyprus on Monday.
Eurovision 2016: Our top 11
Zoë “Loin d’ici”
On Friday, Austria chose Zoë as its Eurovision 2016 representative. The “Loin d’ici” singer didn’t have it easy. After the first round, she was only ranked joint fourth by a jury which included Conchita Wurst and the English speaking “Satellite” songwriter Julie Frost. However, she received enough televotes to face the jury’s favourite Elly V in the super-final. Both performed a second time, with the final result being decided completely by the Austrian public. Despite the overwhelming popular support, her choice to sing entirely in French has proven rather controversial. Will she regret the decision in May?
Lighthouse X “Soldiers of Love”
Boyband Lighthouse X were crowned winners of Denmark’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix on Saturday. Their song “Soldiers Of Love” comfortably won the super-final, defeating fan favourites Simone and Anja Nissen. The Danes clearly love them, with 42% of televoters voting for the group in the final show-down. However, they weren’t met quite so warmly by hardcore Eurovision fans. But this could change over the coming weeks as memories of “Never Alone” and “Heart Shaped Hole” fade away.
Rykka “The Last Of Our Kind”
Canadian-born Rykka emerged victorious from Switzerland’s six song selection on Saturday. Her entry “The Last Of Our Kind” was considered by many to be the country’s only chance of a decent result in this year’s contest. The Swiss clearly agreed, with a 50/50 split of jury and televoters opting for her ahead of runner-up Bella C. Switzerland last won Eurovision with the Canadian singer Celine Dion in 1988, could history be about to repeat itself?
Francesca Michielin “Nessun grado di separazione”
Watch Francesca’s Sanremo performance.
We know that Francesca Michielin will sing for Italy. The Sanremo runner-up received the country’s ticket to Stockholm after winners Stadio passed on the opportunity. Her actual song for Eurovision has yet to be confirmed. But we like to live in the moment, so we’re including her Sanremo entry “Nessun grado di separazione” in this week’s poll. Sources close to the Italian delegation have told wiwibloggs that they are 99.9% certain that this is the song that we’ll hear in May. And given the uncertainty surrounding Malta’s “Chameleon”, that’s good enough for us. If we have to backtrack later, so be it.
Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz “Midnight Gold”
We’ve known that Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz will sing for Georgia since December, but we only discovered their song on Monday evening. The indie outfit presented five songs on 3 February, from which “Midnight Gold” was chosen by a mixture of votes from the Georgian public and an international jury. So far, the band have failed to generate the same levels of interest as their predecessor Nina Sublatti. Will this change now that we have a song?
WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE EUROVISION 2016 ACT SO FAR? VOTE NOW!
[polldaddy poll=9311145]Poll closed. See the results.
PREVIOUS FAVOURITES
Your favourites on 12 February (6 Acts)
- Ireland: Nicky Byrne “Sunlight” 61.31% (4,249 votes)
- Spain: Barei “Say Yay!” 23.88% (1,655 votes)
- Malta: Ira Losco “Chameleon” 5.5% (381 votes)
- Albania: Eneda Tarifa “Përrallë” (Fairytale) 3.3% (229 votes)
- Belgium: Laura Tesoro “What’s The Pressure” 3.28% (227 votes)
- Belarus: Ivan “Help You Fly” 2.73% (189 votes)
Total Votes: 6,930
YOUR FAVOURITES ON 1 FEBRUARY (5 ACTS)
- Ireland: Nicky Byrne “Sunlight” 53.25% (3,083 votes)
- Malta: Ira Losco “Chameleon” 24.08% (1,394 votes)
- Belgium: Laura Tesoro “What’s The Pressure” 8.1% (469 votes)
- Albania: Eneda Tarifa “Përrallë” (Fairytale) 7.89% (457 votes)
- Belarus: Ivan “Help You Fly” 6.68% (387 votes)
Total Votes: 5,790
YOUR FAVOURITES ON 22 JANUARY (3 ACTS)
- Ireland: Nicky Byrne “Sunlight” 42.99% (668 votes)
- Belgium: Laura Tesoro “What’s The Pressure” 31.02% (482 votes)
- Albania: Eneda Tarifa “Përrallë” (Fairytale) 25.99% (404 votes)
Total Votes: 1,554
YOUR FAVOURITES ON 17 JANUARY (2 ACTS)
- Ireland: Nicky Byrne “Sunlight” 58.08% (762 votes)
- Albania: Eneda Tarifa “Përrallë” (Fairytale) 41.92% (550 votes)
Total Votes: 1,312
Best Song of Belarus Ivan. I fell in love with his voice. This guy has a great future.
Sunlight will flop so hard it’ll be hilarious.
Who hacks the vote for Ireland .The only song I pretty like is Austria’s.
I really like Spain this year. Using their song for my physical training. Strong message of personal growth that really motivates me in my difficult times. It also invites me to dance but I don’t know how to dance cool like her, not in million lives 😉
Who knows about the song contest. Song it’s pretty good itself and if she’s able to transfer those motivation vibes onto the platform, others will find a hard time to shadow it.
Waiting to see what my country (Norge) brings to the table and the rest of unknown candidatures.
My favorite so far is definitely Austria. I love Zoe’s voice and how beautifully she sings in French. The song is really catchy and I love listening to it. All they need to do is work on the performance. I hope this song makes it to the final and it probably will since it has the advantage of France voting in Semi Final 1.
I’m going to add my country, why not? 1. DENMARK: Their live performance was a big surprise, just completely different to Ireland haha, 12p 2. GEORGIA: ieeeoooooo ieeeoooooooo something different, yay!! 3. ITALY: nice voice and love their language ———————- 4. SPAIN: It’s ok, but i’m not a super fan like all the spaniards. For me is just OK. 5. BELARUS: I like the song and yep… his personal voice. 6. IRELAND: So dissapointed after i’ve seen his live performance… :s 7. SWITZERLAND: She can’t sing 8. ALBANIA: ZzZzZ… 9. MALTA: Stereotypes everywhere, a low cost euphoria. 10. AUSTRIA: booooooooring… Read more »
I’m from Spain, so i’ll do my top without Barei! 1. Malta (I totally in love with the song) 2. Austria (Really good but I hope she change that awful pink background) 3. Italy 4. Belgium 5. Albania 6. Denmark 7. Belarus (I think I grow fond of the song because I always see it in the bottom of the every top haha, it isn’t so bad!) 8. Switzerland (I don’t understand why this song is in the top of the tops, I feel it very forgettable and nothing special) 9. Ireland (Like switzerland, and after the live performance I… Read more »
It’s quite simple for me.
Songs that keep your attention from the start till the end because they are really good: Italy, Austria, Spain, Switzerland mmm and Malta too.
Songs that lose it in the process: the rest.
How you sell them on the stage it sure can change opinions.
Ireland sounds like British Pop I’ve been listening hundreds of times on radio stations, sorry irish people. Also borders on cheesiness. Could get a spot in the final though. Denmark is your “backstreet boys” entry of the year. I don’t think this idea works nowadays. “Soldiers of looove” is a bit tacky for me.Song doesn’t do much on me. Austria comes very strong this year, beautiful song that gets to your senses. Love the french singing. She has to control the “rose color/flowers/hippie” thing or it could become too sugar-coated. Switzerland is a very actual sound, loved the way she… Read more »
@KV
I also think somebody in Ireland hacks the poll. The same thing happened last year – the song wasn’t very popular but it was at the top of the Wiwi poll. Another country I’m suspicious of is Georgia. The votes haven’t kicked in yet this time but I’m waiting to see if it happens like it did last year for both ESC and JESC at certain times.
Ireland is just a crappier version of Mans last year – it’s actually horrific, I feel like there’s something going on for Ireland to pull out in front. Spain makes sense cause a lot of people love it, but I’ve barely seen any love for Ireland, So I’m confused…
Winner Alert: no one Assured top 10 material: no one Dark horses (could turn into winners): -Switzerland (Great song, live vocals need to be fixed, could look spectacular on stage) -Spain (Great song, rest of things have to come together, need to find balance between the dancing thing and the motivational message thing) Looking good enough to get to the final (possible top 10 material): -Austria (very nice song, could look beautiful on stage) -Italy (very nice song, musical genre that no other country will probably use, that will work into their favor) Rest of songs -> Mix of generic,… Read more »
PLEASE BE HONEST, THIS MUST TO REPRESENT THE REAL PREFERENCES IS NOT A REGIONALISM CONTEST, IRELAND IN LIVE IS NOT GOOD, I LOVE WEST LIFE BUN NICK MUST TO STUDY MORE.
Albania, Austria, Spain and Italy.
Sorry others.
1. Spain
2. Italy
3. Switzerland
4. Malta
5. Ireland
6. Belgium
7. Austria
8. Albania
9. Georgia
10. Belarus
11. Denmark
I think this year Spain can win, Barei is fresh and happy and sings like that, it goes to you and brings you this energy and the wish to dance and move.
Italy elegant and simple, Italian style that works.
I’m waiting for the remaining songs… cos I can’t see a top 10 on the others, sorry.
@Torsten, the performance will be drastically changed.
Austria’s song should be up there right now. Great tune and staging for what’s been seen, but…I foresee a long 3 months period for this song. They could already have shown all they got in staging and singing (she sang pretty good in the NS) I don’t want to mean that staging will look the same on may, but I guess it won’t be something very different, they will have a hard time to find a better idea for this song. Other countries have songs as good as the austrian but still haven’t shown the whole package, not even close.… Read more »
Say Yay yay yay! Come on, sing it lalalala. Go on, sing it lalalala!
My top here (without Spain, my country) :
1.Italy
2.Denmark
3.Belgium
4.Malta
5.Switzerland
6.Ireland
7.Austria
8.Albania
9.Belarus
10.Georgia
Austria and Spain look like potential jury victims to me
1. Ireland
2. Denmark
3. Spain
… the rest
Something dodgy going on with the poll: whenever I checked a box it would place a check next to Spain as well…
Vote your Top10 >> http://eurovisionow.blogspot.com.es/p/sondeo-14.html
1. Spain
2. Italy
3. Denmark
4. Ireland
As for the rest, I dislike them all.
1. Spain
2. Malta
3. Switzerland
4. Ireland
5. Italy
6. Austria
7. Denmark
8. Albania
9. Georgia
10. Belgium
11. Belarus
Mine is Italy. I wasn’t that impressed with her live performance, but having listened to the studio version a few times I realized that I actually really like the song.
@The Anders
They are terrible at reviewing the songs. They gave Ira a 3/12. Wtf!?!?!
1) Switzerland
2) Albania
3) Spain
1. Italy
2. Georgia
3. Ireland/Belgium/Denmark/Albania
7. Spain/Belarus
9. Switzerland/Malta/Austria
To me Italy is still the only good song so far. I really like the fact that Georgia is bringing something really different and a good pop/rock sound. The rest are either equally average or equally bad (Austria, Malta and my country Switzerland are awful IMO).
I’m from Switzerland, but our song doesn’t deserve to be in 5th place. It’ll be a miracle if it doesn’t place last in the semi. And Austria in 3rd place? Come on people…
I share Top 3 with Denise:
1. Spain (has the winner factor)
2. Italy (really cute)
3. Denmark (cheesy but catchy)
I also like Georgia a lot. but waiting for Edyta for Poland and Justs for Latva
Won’t be judging Italy, because we still don’t know anything about Francesca’s song.
My top 10 from Poland:
1. Malta
2. Belgium
3. Ireland
4. Spain
5. Switzerland
6. Denmark
7. Albania
8. Austria
9. Belarus
10. Georgia
Don’t forget you can read reviews of the songs on escsongreviews.com.
Here is the last set of reviews: Austria, Denmark and Switzerland: http://escsongreviews.com/2016/02/16/songcheck-2016-austria-denmark-switzerland/
Well said MFMA
Rtve sound also was horrendous (chorus sounded like cut-throat chickens) as you could check after the ukranian 2nd semifinal act
I anticipate we gonna have a strong “women year” with the always expected “usual suspects” (Russia, Sweden, etc.) and it’s gonna be fun to see how they evolve into their final performances
Watch out the Big 4 and the winner (Sweden) this year because they avoid for first time the disadvantage of flying under the radar until the final which I think it will make wonders for those who look brilliant on stage on May 10th-12th semifinals
1. Italy
2. Spain
3. Denmark
4. Albania
5. Austria
6. Malta
7. Belarus
8. Ireland
9. Switzerland
10. Belgium
11. Georgia
Not difficult given the only decent entry was spain.
It’s nice to see that should UK pick a good song, we won’t be challenged too much for the win so far…
Ireland !!!!
is it true Albania translated their song to English?
My top 3 are:
1. Spain
2. Austria
3. Switzerland
Top5
1. Austria
2. Spain
3.Italy
4. Georgia
5. Malta
Malta is still my favorite, although Austria is very, very close behind.
SNOOZE FEST 2016.
All boring entries,,,,
SOmebody save this year, hopefully some great selection in the next few days
Yeah, I understand Spanish entry may sound annoying until now and I explain why. His performance on National Final is what people mostly now about and she wasn’t really acting properly by that time. You have to consider she had a “life-changing” moment five minutes ago from that performance, achieving what she’d been fighting for 15 years (finally finding his “niche” in the difficult spanish music industry) so she was just in esctasy. couldn’t control her screaming, dancing like crazy and all that stuff. Lots of things got better on her performance for Ukraine’s 2nd semifinal and it’s clear to… Read more »
1. Malta
2. Spain
3. Switzerland
4. Austria
5. Belarus
6. Albania
7. Italy
8. Belgium
9. Ireland
10. Georgia
11. Denmark
My top 4 though are interchangeable and I will often switch them around.
Italy, Belgium, and Spain <3333
Top 3
Switzerland – Belarus – Spain
In order:
Spain, Georgia, Albania, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Belarus, Switzerland, Belgium, Malta
Voted for Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium
1.Albania
2.Georgia
(big gap)
3.Switzerland
4.Spain
5.Italy
6.Austria
7.Ireland
8.Belarus
9.Malta
10. Belgium
11. Denmark
I voted Austria and Italy 🙂