February 5, 2022

Tonight, X-Factor Israel 2022 reached it’s final. The prize for the winner is a ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. It is won by Michael Ben David with the song “I.M.”, written and composed by Chen Aharoni, Lidor Saadia and Asi Tal. He won with one point ahead of Eli Huli, who was the favourite of experts and panel. Here are the ful results: Michael Ben David, “I.M.”, 214 pts Eli Huli, “Blind dreamers”, 213 pts Inbal Bibi, “Marionette”, 173 pts The first duels were: Inbal (29 pts) vs Michael (71 pts) Sapir (35 pts) vs Eli (65 pts) Sapir (31 pts) vs Inbal (69 pts)      

Tonight, the festival of San Remo will come to an end. The winner of the contest can be the Italian representant in the Eurovision Song Contest. That means, if he, she or they want it. All the participants had to inform Italian television (RAI) already about their wish to participate…. or not. The show starts at 20.45 CET and you can watch it here. It is likely that only deep in the night, we will know the Italian representative for Turin. It will be the first question at the winners’ press conference after the show. These are the 25 participants: nr title artist(s)   1 Achille Lauro & Harlem Gospel Choir Domenica 2 AKA 7even Perfetta così 3 Ana Mena Duecentomilla ore 4 Dargen D’Amico Dove si balla 5 Ditonellapiaga & Donatella Errore Chimica 6 Elisa O forse sei tu 7 Emma Ogni volta è così 8 Fabrizio Moro Sei tu 9 Gianni Morandi Apri tutte le porte 10 Giovanni Trupi Tuo padre, mia madre, Lucia 11 Gyusi Ferreri Miele 12 Highsnob & Hu Abbi cura di te 13 Irama Ovunque sarai 14 Iva Zanicchi Voglio amarti 15 La Rappresentante di Lista Ciao ciao 16 Le Vibrazioni Tantissimo 17 Mahmood & Blanco Brividi 18 Massimo Ranieri Lettera di là dal mare 19 Matteo Romane Virale 20 Michele Bravi Inferno dei fiori 21 Noemi Ti amo non lo so dire 22 Rkomi Insuperabile 23 Sangiovanni Farfalle 24 Tananai Sesso occasionale 25 Yuman Ora e qui        

Tonight, we will see the final of X-Factor Israel. The four finalists will all sing their Eurovision entry, as it has been chosen last Thursday. These are the four contestants: nr. title artist(s)   1 Blinded dreamers Eli Huli 2 Marionette Inbal Bibi 3 I.M. Michael Ben David 4 Breaking my own walls Sapir Saban

Two semifinals and a final, that’s what Slovenia’s EMA will be up to. In each semifinal, three songs will be chosen by televoting, three by an expert jury. Tonight, at 20.20 CET, the first semifinal starts. You can watch it here.  These are the competing songs and artists:  July Jones, “Girls can do nothing” David Amaro, “Še vedno si lepa” Le Serpentine, “Tud teb se lahk zgodi” Bowrain & Brina, “Čas je” Luma, “All in” Stela Sofia, “Tu in zdaj” Jonatan Haller, “Obzorje” Batista Cadillac, “Mim pravil” Zala Smolnikar, “V ogledalu” Manouche, “Si sama?” The finalists are in bold letters.   None of the artists took part in EMA before.

Tonight, Latvia starts the search for a song. 17 songs will compete in a semifinal, 10 to be selected for the final. The show starts at 20:05 and you can watch it here. The songs are: Citi Zēni, “Eat your salad” Miks Dukurs, “First love” Linda Rušeniece, “Pay my own bills” Elina Gluzunova, “Es pabiju tur” Raum, “Plans” Patriks Peterson, “Can’t get outta my head” Mēs Jūs Mīlam, “Rich itch” Katō, “Promises” Miks Galvanovskis, “I’m just a sinner” Markus Riva, “If you’re gonna love me” The Coco’nuts, “In and out of the dark” Aminata, “Letting you go” Bermudu Divstūris, “Bad” Beatrise Heislere, “On the way home” Zelma, “How” Bujāns, “He, she, you and me” Inspo, “A happy space”   Miks Dukurs took part in 2009 (semifinal), 2012 (semifinal), 2016 (heats), 2017 (semifinal), 2020 (final)Miks Galvanovskis took part in the 2017 semifinal.Markus Riva took part in 2014 (11th), 2015 (2nd), 2016 (semifinal), 2017 (6th), 2018 (4th), 2019 (2nd) and 2020 (semifinal)Aminata took part in 2014 (5th), 2015 (winner). She represented Latvia in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest and wrote the 2016 and 2021 Eurovision entries for her country.

The famous Swedish national selection Melodifestivalen will start tonight. The show will start at 20.00 CET and you can watch it here. Two participants will go directly to the final, while two others will go to the semifinal (what was previously called ‘andra chancen’). These are the participants:  Malou Prytz, “Bananas” Theoz, “Som du vill” (semifinal) Shirley Clamp, “Let there be angels” Omar Rudberg, “Moving like that” Danne Stråhed, “Hallabaloo” (semifinal) Cornelia Jakobs, “Hold me closer” (final) Robin Bengtsson, “Innocent love” (final)   Malou Prytz became 12th in the 2019 final and ended up in andra chancen in 2020.Shirley Clamp took part in 2003 (semifinal), 2004 (2nd), 2005 (4th), 2009 (semifinal) and 2014 (semifinal).Omar Rudberg took part in the 2019 semifinal.Robin Bengtsson took part in 2016 (5th), 2017 (winner) and 2020 (8th). He represented Sweden in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

Tonight we will see the first semifinal of the Lithuanian national final “Pabandom iš Naujo!”. You can watch it here and here at 20.00 CET. 9 songs will compete; four out of them will go to the final. The songs are: Mary Mo, “Get up” Vilija Matačiūnaitė, “Šimtas vienas” Urtė Šilagalytė, “Running cord” Ieva Zasimauskaitė, “I’ll be there” Augustė Vedrickaitė, “Before you’re 6ft under” Rūta Loop, “Call me from the cold” Titas & Benas, “Getting through this” Monika Liu, “Sentimental” Moosu X, “Love that hurts” The finalists are in bold letters.   Titas & Benas became 6th in 2021.Ieva Zasimauskaitė was 5th in 2013, reached the 7th heat in 2014, 4th in 2016, reached the semifinal in 2017 and finally won it in 2018. She represented Lithuania in 2018 with “When we’re old” and became 12th.Rūta Loop reached the semifinals in 2018, in 2020 she reached the 4th place.Vilija Matačiūnaitė took part in 2005 (7th), 2014 (winner), 2017 (3rd heat). She represented Lithuania in the 2014 ESC but didn’t reach the final with “Attention”.

Tonight is the night of 4th semifinal of the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix. You can follow the show here. It starts at 19.50 CET. Two times two songs will have a duel; both the winning songs will compete for 1 ticket to the final. One other song, that goes directly to the final, will be presented too. This week, it will be Subwoolfer with the song “Give that wolf a banana”. first duel:Alexandra Joner with “Hasta la vista” vs Maria Mohn with “Fly” Second duel:Kim Wigaard with “Melodia” vs Sofie Fjellvang with “Made of glass” Final: Maria Mohn with “Fly” vs Sofie Fjellvang with “Made of glass” Alexandra Joner took part in the 2015 Melodi Grand Prix final.Kim Wigaard and Maria Mohn sang a duet in the 2020 Melodi Grand Prix semifinal.Rumour has it that JOWST is one of the members of Subwoolfer. He represented Norway in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

The first semifinal of Eesti Laul has arrived. The show can be watched live here at 18.30 CET. These are the participants: Jyrise, “Plaksuta” Jaagup Tuisk, “Kui vaid” (jury) Boamadu, “Mitte kauas” Evelin Samuel, “Waterfall” Black Velvet, “Sandra” (jury) Púr Múdd & Shira, “Golden shores” Maian, “Meeletu” Minimal Wind feat. Elisabeth Tiffany, “What to make of this” (televoters) STEFAN, “Hope” (jury) Anna Sahlene, “Champion” (jury)   The finalists are in bold letters! Jaagup Tuisk became 2nd in 2020.Evelin Samuel took part in 1994 (5th), 1996 (5th), 1998 (2nd), 1999 (winner) and 2000 (3rd). She represented Estonia in the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest.Shira became 6th in 2020.Maian took part in 2000 (4th), 2001 (6th), 2017 (4th) and she wrote the 1999 Estonian Eurovision entry.STEFAN was 3rd in 2019 and 7th in 2021.Anna Sahlene took part in 2002 (winner) and thus represented Estonia in the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest.

7-win record holder Ireland has a new representative. The country chose Brooke Scullion to do the job with the song “That’s rich”. The song is written and composed by the singer herself with Izzy Warner and Karl Zine. Here are the full results: Brooke Scullion, “That’s rich”, 28 pts. Janet Grogan, “Ashes of yesterday”, 24 pts. Miles Graham, “Yeah, we’re going to get out of it”, 24 pts. Patrick O’Sullivan, “One night, one kiss, one promise”, 22 pts. Rachel Goode, “I’m loving me”, 16 pts. Brendan Murray, “Real love”, 12 pts.