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Eurovision- Current Faves and Past Contestant Updates

Eurovision is tomorrow and that means it's time for my annual post! I also did a Eurovision round-up last Saturday which you can read here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/05/eurovision-round-up.html

The 62nd contest is held in Kyiv/Kiev, Ukraine this year due to Jamala winning in 2016 with 1944. Jamala's was one of the entries I liked although my favourite was Australia's Dami Im. Watch Jamala's performance at the Semi-Final here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/05/current-eurovision-acts-nostalgia.html

The UK's entry is Lucie Jones with Never Give Up On You. She was an X-Factor finalist in 2009 and also acts. The song wasn't my favourite out of the ones who competed in Eurovision: You Decide in January but it's better than some past entries. I don't think we'll do that well because of Brexit (I voted to Remain by the way!). :( But wishing you luck anyway Lucie! :) Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac5xNUfzCY4

As I mentioned in my Eurovision Round-Up post, I always seem to have something dance related going on on the day of Eurovision! lol. Last year it was my group BD4U's show and I missed some of the contest. This year we have a performance but it's in the early afternoon, so it won't clash, lol.


This year I thought I'd write about my current favourite acts and do an update on past contestants. :)


Current Favourites

Me and my family usually watch both Semi-Finals but this year we chose to only watch one, because it gets a bit boring if you've seen most of the acts beforehand. We watched the first Semi-Final this year and I just had a look at the winning acts of the second one at the end.


Fly With Me- Artsvik (Armenia)

My favourite act in the first Semi- Final was Armenia's Fly With Me by Artsvik. Her full name is Artsvik Harutyuynan and she was born in Armenia before moving to Russia aged 5. She became a member of the Jazz Parking Project in 2012 and also auditioned for Golos, the Russian version of The Voice. Artvisk moved back to Armenia last year and won the national competition to represent the county at Eurovision.

I didn't vote this year because I had my dance class and group meeting that night, so recorded the whole thing and just saw the end live when I came back. This was one of the songs that stood out. It's different and Artsvik has a kind of Delilah vibe.



For more on Artsvik check out these links:


Eurovision profile: https://eurovision.tv/participant/artsvik/info

Official FB:  https://www.facebook.com/artsvikmusic



Skeletons- Dihaj (Azerbaijan)

Dihaj (real name Diana Hajiyeva) is representing Azerbaijan with Skeletons. She is a graduate of the Baku Music Academy in Azerbaijan and also studied at the Insitute of Contemporary Music Performance in London. She is the lead singer of the band Dihaj which she formed in 2014. Their singles include I Break Again and Complain.

Skeletons is quite an unusual song and I don't quite get the subject of it, but it stands out!



For more on Dihaj visit these links:

Eurovision profile: https://eurovision.tv/participant/dihaj/info

Official site: https://www.dihaj.com/

Official FB: https://www.facebook.com/pg/dihajmusic/



Don't Come Easy- Isaiah (Australia)

Australia are taking part for the 3rd year and their entry for 2017 is Isaiah with the song Don't Come Easy. His full name is Isaiah Firebrace, he's Indigenous Australian and he's only 17. Isaiah was a contestant on the Australian X-Factor and went on to release his self titled debut album last December.

Don't Come Easy is more of a traditional ballad, it's the type of song that tends to do well.



You can see the official music video in my Eurovision Post. (See link at top of post).

For more on Isaiah visit these sites:

Eurovision profile: https://eurovision.tv/participant/isaiah/info

Official site: http://www.isaiahofficial.com/

Official FB: https://www.facebook.com/isaiahmusicofficial



Past Contestant Updates


Elena Risteska

Elena entered for Macedonia (as FYR  Macedonia) in 2006. (Wow, can't believe that was 11 years ago now!). You can read more about her entry Ninanajna in this post: http://starsparklex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/3-singers-i-discovered-through.html

Since then Elena's released her first English language single Million Dollar Player and quite a few Macedonian singles includng Millioner (the Macedonian version of Million Dollar Player), Opasno Vreme, Doživotno and Nemas pravo ti da mi sudis. She has brought out 2 studio albums since the contest, Millioner (2008) and  Bez Å minka (2016) and a Best Of album, The Best of ...Elena Risteska (2009).

Here is her latest single Jos Me Plasis with Bosnian band Hari Mata Hari (who were Eurovision contestants themselves the same year as Elena) which came out in March, I think.




Also here's the audio for Nemas pravo ti da ma sudis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg9C31j-sEY

Keep up with Elena on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/elenaristeskam2



Alexander Rybak

In 2015 I posted an update on Alexander Rybak who won Eurovision for Norway in 2009 with the song Fairytale. He performed as the interval act in last year's contest and in June 2016 he released a single called I Came To Love You. He's just recorded a violin cover of Jamala's 1944. Here it is:




Alexander has an active website: http://www.alexanderrybak.com/



Dami Im

I loved Dami's entry for Australia last year, Sound of Silence. I thought she had the best voice in the competition. :) Since Eurovision Dami has released the singles Fighting For Love and Hold Me n Your Arms (with Jack Jones).

 This is Fighting for Love which was released in October.


Follow Dami through her website: http://www.damiim.com/



Hope you enjoyed the post! :) Who are your favourite past and present contestants?

The Grand Final is tomorrow night (Saturday 13th May) at 8pm UK time/9pm CEST. It's showing on BBC1 in the UK.

For more on Eurovision visit the official site: https://eurovision.tv/

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