Countdown to Eurovision 2024!

It's Eurovision season once again! I thought it was earlier this year but the final will be on Saturday 11th May which is around the same time as last year (it was 13th May in 2023)!

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Malmo, Sweden, since last year's winner was Loreen with Tattoo. It was actually the second time that Loreen had won, having previously come top with Euphoria back in 2012! The UK's entry this year is Olly Alexander (from Years and Years) with Dizzy.

I normally write two Eurovision posts, although for the past couple of years, I also did two "mini countdown" posts during April. Here are my posts from last year:

Eurovision Round-up 2 (includes the countdown posts): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/eurovision-round-up-2.html

Eurovision 2023 Favourites: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/eurovision-2023-favourites.html 

I thought for something different I would share the music videos for some of my favourite entries over the years. :)

 

Eurovision Music Videos

 

Gina G- Ooh Aah...Just a Little Bit (UK)

Australian singer Gina G entered Eurovision for the UK back in 1996 (28 years ago now!!). I was 12 back then, lol. She came 8th which is a better result than we've had a lot of the time over the years, lol. (At least until Sam Ryder in 2022 when we came 2nd!)

Ooh...Aah was also released as a single and got to No. 1 here, also doing well in other counties. They still show the music video on music channels these days.

In 2016 I shared Gina's Eurovision performance in the post Current Eurovision Acts + Nostalgia!: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/05/current-eurovision-acts-nostalgia.html

And here's the official music video:

 

 

Sertab Erener- Everyway That I Can (Turkey)

Sertab Erner won for Turkey in 2003 (21 years ago!) with Everyway That I Can. I featured both her live performance and the music video in my post 3 Singers I Discovered Through Eurovision in 2012: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/05/3-singers-i-discovered-through.html

Later on the original music video was removed and I replaced it with the remix one. But here is the album version on Sertab's official channel:

 

Sertab will be making an appearance at this year's Eurovision, during the 2nd semi-final. She will take part in the world's biggest sing a long, along with two other former female winners-  Sweden's Charlotte Perelli (1999) and Greece's Helena Paparizou (2005).

Hadise- Dum Tek Tek

Turkish Belgian singer Hadise entered for Turkey in 2009 with the song Dum Dum Tek Tek. I also  featured her in my 3 Singers I Discovered Through Eurovision post, sharing both the Eurovision performance and the music video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/05/3-singers-i-discovered-through.html

Back then I sometimes had trouble embedding videos on Blogger, so just posted the links. I'm able to update it now though. 

I became a fan of Hadise after seeing her on Eurovison and have followed her career since. I've written updates about what she and other contestants have been up to since the contest and two years ago, I did a post solely about her: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/04/eurovision-countdown-past-contestant.html

Here's the music video for Dum Tek Tek:

 

 

Turkey has not entered Eurovision since 2012, which is a shame since I enjoyed their entries. In my Countdown to Eurovision 2019! post (which featured updates on former contestants including Arash, Hadise and Jessica Mauboy), I shared some links to my fave Turkish entries (see under Hadise section): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/05/countdown-to-eurovision-2019.html

And here is an official ESC compilation of the Top 10 entries from Turkey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNHItnX5X1g

2009 was one of my favourite Eurovision years! The winner was Norway's Alexander Rybak with Fairytale (which I also liked). Here's the music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNcJEebwOuE

 

Dami Im- Sound of Silence

Dami Im was Australia's 2016 entry with Sound of Silence. Despite not being in Europe or a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), ESC superfans Australia have participated in the contest since 2015.  

Sound of Silence was one of my favourites that year (I voted for it). Dami's performance was very popular but she came 2nd to Ukraine's Jamala with 1944 (which I also liked). I featured Dami's performance at the 2nd semi-final in my Current Eurovision Acts + Nostalgia! post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/05/current-eurovision-acts-nostalgia.html

I also did an update on Dami as part of my Countdown to Eurovision 2021! post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/05/countdown-to-eurovision-2021.html 

Here's the Sound of Silence music video:  

 

Kristian Kostov- Beautiful Mess (Bulgaria)

Bulgarian Russian singer Kristian Kostov entered for Bulgaria in 2017 with Beautiful Mess. It was one of my favourite songs that year. I shared Kristian's performance at the final in my Selection of Eurovision Songs post the following year: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/05/selection-of-eurovision-songs.html

I've also written a couple of update posts on Kristian, including in 2021 and liked some of the music he's released since then, most recently Iris, his 2023 single with VOSTOK. 

Here's the music video for Beautiful Mess:

 

The following year, my favourite was Fuego by Greek-Albanian singer Eleni Foureira, who entered for Cyprus. I shared the music video in my first Countdown to Eurovision! post in 2018: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/05/countdown-to-eurovision.html

Eleni came second, behind Israel's Netta with Toy. She will return to Eurovision in 2024, being one of the opening acts in the first semi-final, along with Sweden's Eric Saade (2011 contestant) and Spain's Chanel (one of my favourites from 2022, who came 3rd).

Hope you enjoyed the post! :) I'm planning to do another Eurovision themed one next week, with my fave songs from this year. Who is your favourite from this year's contest? 

Keep up with Eurovision news at the official site: https://eurovision.tv/event/malmo-2024

The 1st and 2nd Semi-Finals will be held on Tuesday 7th and Thursday 9th May at 8pm BST (British Summer Time)/9pm CEST (Central European Summer Time). The Grand Final will on Saturday 11th May at 8pm BST/9pm CEST.

 In the UK the semi-finals and the final will be shown on BBC1.