Every day between now and the grand final in May, the team from wiwibloggs will be rounding up the latest titbits from the world of Eurovision 2019. We’ve trawled through Instagram, Twitter and elsewhere so that y’all don’t have to. Whether you’re praying, hitting the shops or just chilling out, this is the Daily Digest for Sunday 24 March.
Carousel’s “That Night” gets an upgrade
We’ve had plenty of revamps throughout the season — Montenegro, Spain, Hungary, to name just three. But perhaps the award for the most low key reworking goes to Latvia’s Carousel. On Friday, the Supernova-winning outfit quietly dropped a new version of “That Night” on streaming and download platforms. With richer instrumentation and enhanced vocals, it’s a lot more polished. The original almost sounds like a demo in comparison. (Padraig)
John Lundvik tops every chart possible
He swept the board at Melodifestivalen 2019, but John Lundvik’s domination extends much farther. For the third-week running, he is number one on the Sverigetopplistan top 100. And that’s not all. As confirmed by the verified Melodifestivalen Twitter account, the “Too Late For Love” crooner is topping every single music chart in Sweden, including iTunes, Spotify and radio airplay. He’s in good company, 19 of this year’s 28 Melfest entries are still inside the Swedish top 100, two weeks after the show concluded. (Padraig)
Congratulations, @JohnLundvik! #Melfest winner "Too Late For Love" is now No. 1 on EVERY pop music chart there is in Sweden: Spotify, Apple Music, Singellistan, Airplay Chart, DigiListan and Svensktoppen! Overview from #Eurovision site @escswedencom: https://t.co/1ULfMEHz9q
— Melodifestivalen (@SVTmelfest) March 21, 2019
Mahmood goes double platinum
Italy’s charts are also awash with the sound of Eurovision. Perched on top, we have Mahmood once again. Now in its seventh week of release, “Soldi” has gone double platinum — combined sales and equivalent streams of over 100,000. The FIMI chart is littered with Sanremo acts, with Boomdabash, Ultimo, Irama and Shade and Federica Carta also inside the top ten. Meanwhile, Mahmood’s Gioventù bruciata is at eight on the album chart. (Padraig)
Miki sings at a friend’s concert
As we saw in yesterday’s digest, Miki is busy rehearsing for “La venda” in Tel Aviv. But the Spaniard is also finding time to write music and hang with friends. Sometimes he even manages to mix both activities, like when he performed at Arnau Griso’s concert on Friday. Arnau Griso are a ska-pop duo from Barcelona who have been writing songs with Miki, as we previously reported. He joined them for a spirited performance of “Desamortil”. (Luis)
? Arnau Griso ft Miki Núñez: "Desamortil". Simplemente brutal. pic.twitter.com/c00CzXsMXN
— Miki Núñez España (@MikiNunezES) March 23, 2019
Maruv teases “Siren Song” video
As we all know, Maruv will not be heading to Tel Aviv. But “Siren Song” lives on. The Ukrainian pop diva is working on a new music video which will be released soon. Earlier Maruv revealed that she prefers Duncan Laurence’s Arcade to Sergey Lazarev’s Scream. (Jacintha)
New music video coming soon !#sirensong #bang pic.twitter.com/a4NVtL8Nk4
— MARUV Official (@MaruvOfficial) March 23, 2019
Kate goes to a Wedding
On Saturday, Kate Miller-Heidke attended the Melbourne premiere of Muriel’s Wedding the Musical. But Kate wasn’t just there to share the red carpet with stars such a Rebel Wilson — she was the guest of honour. Kate and husband Keir Nuttall penned the music and lyrics, turning the Australian comedy classic into an acclaimed musical. And there’s a Eurovision connection: the musical, which centres around ABBA-mad Muriel, also includes a performance of “Waterloo”. (Robyn)
Roko is made over
This week, Roko was told what not to wear when he took part in a celebrity makeover show hosted by Croatian TV personality Boris Kosmac. For one outfit, the fashion guru kitted the “The Dream” singer with a smart green jumper, printed shirt and slacks. He also took Roko to the dentist to have his teeth whitened. Writing on Insta, the Dora winner says “even though I look like I’m dying, I’m afraid nothing hurt!”. We don’t know if he received any advice regarding his angel wings. (Padraig)
PAENDA announces sophomore album release date
Last year, Austria’s PAENDA released Evolution I, her 13-track debut LP. And now the sequel is almost upon us. Spread across nine Instagram posts, the blue-haired songstress revealed the cover art for Evolution II along with its release date — 26 April 2019. You can pre-order the record here, and of course one of the tracks — her Eurovision 2019 entry “Limits” — is already available. (Padraig)
Additional contributions from Luis, Robyn and Jacintha.
Are you surprised by the success of “Soldi” and “Too Late For Love”? Did you catch Roko’s makeover? Let us know in the comments.
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Italy have thr worst song this year
Great summary Padraig!
And, yes, I prefer Latvian new version over the original.
In other exciting news, Srbuk has performed her ESC 2019 song ‘Walking Out’ live for the first time.
I’m worried so much — her pronounciation and she didn’t hit the high note yet. It can be perfected over time, but I hope the stage director didn’t make her dance, else her voice would go even more out of place since she’ll be tired before the semi.
When I listened to the live performance, I didn’t hear any faults, but I understand your concerns. She didn’t dance in the music video though, so I doubt the Stage Director will make her dance. She just moved around a lot. If her staging is as visually arresting as the music video, then I could see this doing really well. Agree?
I do agree that she didn’t really have to dance. Armenia puts a lot of effort on their stagings, even a decent performance can be lifted up by that.
But still. since the song is really energetic and wordful, it had to be done better or gets easily noticed. I listened Srbuk struggled saying the lyrics–the pronunciation was a mess, still reminded me of Melovin last year–and that’s my main concern. I wish she can slay at TLV, but at this rate, I’m doubtful 🙁
Once again, I take your point. However, on the subject of Melovin, he managed to qualify to the final, but got butchered by the jury. He opened the Grand-final and still managed to get 7th with the televote. Maybe Srbuk can pull off a similar thing. Yes, I am using the GF as an example as I believe Armenia will qualify this year.
On another point, do you think Armenia should take inspiration from Serbia’s staging from 2016?
Melovin was quite a favorite last year, has a distinct style and aesthetics and got idolized by the fandom, while I can’t really say the same with Srbuk. She might pull a similar thing, but seems to be harder or easier depending on the atmosphere and the character she has.
About the staging, a black-red combo a la Serbia16 might work, but for atmosphere I would pick Georgia15 or Azerbaijan17 (choices, right?), they’re more mysterious and will lift up the song with power.
I like the ideas of the other staging inspirations you suggested. Serbia 2016 came into my mind because it was a song about female empowerment, and that is what ‘Walking Out is about (in my mind at least).
Mahmood & Roko 🙂
Mahmood looks so damn hot in that insta post.
Just saying!
This just in: Kirkorov is a Yankees fan. Knew there was a reason I didn’t vibe with him. #GoMets
Assuming Pænda doesn‘t have a revamp since the song is going straight to Evolution II?
Probably. It was never written with Eurovision in mind.
The original song is 3:24 long, so she will need to cut 24 seconds and make a ESC Version. @William Lee Adams team Slovenia also did a revamp it´s called Sebi (Dare to Dream Version) and is now 3 minutes, the original was 3:20
Mahboy is Dahman!
I’d only call them ”revamps” if they make any difference, like ”Made of Stars” first being an uptempo and then a ballad. Or if ”Bigger Than Us”was first released in Holly’s version and then redone into Michael’s. These are all just very tiny tweaks which are barely noticeable and make little, if any difference.
With revamps in music, there is a distinct difference between a re-write (like “Made of Stars”) and a re-arrangement or re-edit (like “Never Give Up On You” or “Grande Amore”). In some cases, the actual music has been completely re-written, whereas in others the music has just been re-arranged, re-orchestrated or edited down for length. I hope that helps.
It does, thanks. 😉
Latvia’s revamp get’s my approval 😉
I can’t see the new video of Latvia.
The link for “That Night” seems to be down, at least on my PC 🙁
It is on Spotify
Maruv quote : ‘They are lucky that I’m not participating.’
Imagine if Salvador would have said that.
that’s pretentious af if she was serious. her song is just okay, she sold it well on stage.
She said that humorously, I suppose
I think she wouldn’t win even if she participated, but I believe top-3 would be more than possible . . .
And, of course, she would steal the votes that are now seem to be going to Sergey 🙁
hmm yea i guess she’d come super high, ukraine is real good at making mediocre songs become amazing thru live performances
Does anyone have a calendar for the postcard filming or something? Mahmood is on TV/radio literally everyday (tonight he’s on Swiss tv!), and he’s leaving for the Sanremo Giovani world tour next week… When the hell is he going to Tel Aviv? xD
He’s literally being squeezed dry!
I thought he was not doing the Sanremo Giovani tour. He’s too busy with his promo. His album. He has been also on the studio. He has ESC. Busy successful man tho 🙂
This is from 5 days ago… I guess he’s going?
I just can’t find any postcard shooting calendar, and Mahmood is still not saying anything about Eurovision or Tel Aviv lol
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.lastampa.it/2019/03/19/imperia/sanremo-giovani-world-tour-parte-da-tunisi-e-c-anche-mahmood-lbQ41CHEwXj5n1JWnPpwqK/amphtml/pagina.amp.html
Yesterday he has done a concert in Switzerland and he said that they’re working hard for Eurovision reharsing the 3.00 min song and staging.
note that in italy only sales n premium streams count for certifications (unlike countries like scandinavia where also freemium count at the same rate, or the us/the uk where they count but at lower rates)
So is the revamp the one going to Eurovision ?
What would be the point doing a revamp if not ?