Category: ESC 2024
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Malta 2024 Review: “Loop” – Sarah Bonnici
I have to commend Malta for trying something new this year, focusing on fewer songs and more of a staging effort in the final, especially compared to last year’s more chaotic approach which also ended up involving Aidan’s preposterous disqualification. What this year ended up lacking then is perhaps a…
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Söngvakeppnin 2024 – ESC Etc. Top 4 Songs from the Icelandic National Final
Everyone who is a die-hard Eurovision fan will tell you they want to see Iceland win this thing at least once in their lifetime. Not only is Iceland the second most successful ESC country yet to win the contest (trailing only Malta), but ESC is deeply embedded in Icelandic popular…
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Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2024 – ESC Etc. Top 2 (?) Songs from the Danish National Final
I put a question mark in parenthesis in the title ’cause, Denmark…what are you doing, Denmark? There was a lot of talk after last year’s missed qualification (the third one in as many years) that Denmark might come back with a real contender to represent them in Malmö (which is…
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Festival da Canção 2024 – ESC Etc. Top 3 Songs from the Portuguese National Final
This is probably the first year I made time to listen to all the FdC entries and I fully own that – historically this has been a selection I struggle with not because the songs aren’t good (they are) but because they’re generally representative of a musical landscape that is…
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Luxembourg 2024 Review: “Fighter” – Tali
When I wrote about the Luxembourg Song Contest, the newly established national selection to welcome Luxembourg back to ESC after 30 years, it was with a mix of excitement and concern. I’m overjoyed to have them back – duh – but I guess I was a bit let down by…
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Pesma za Evroviziju 2024 – ESC Etc. Top 3 Songs from the Serbian National Final
I’ve done it. I’ve waded across the 2024 Serbian selection of approximately 7469563842 entries and lived to tell my story. Now – I do love Serbia at ESC. I do. Few other countries have managed to entertain us with such a mix of ethnic and mainstream over the years, effectively…
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Ireland 2024 Review: “Doomsday Blues” – Bambie Thug
Ireland had one job. Faced with an abysmal qualification record these past 10 years (only two placements in the grand final), a national broadcaster who couldn’t give half a s**t, and the growing frustration of the fandom, the Irish delegation (read: Michael Kealy) knew they needed to hit the reset…
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Das Deutsche Finale 2024 – ESC Etc. Top 2 Songs from the German National Final
So…yeah. I sat on this piece for a few days while I played and replayed these DDF songs trying to find three tracks I could justifiably discuss as viable options for Germany. Sometimes it takes multiples listens for a song to really come into focus, you know? Well…that didn’t happen.…
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Slovenia 2024 Review: “Veronika” – Raiven
When news broke out that Slovenia had internally selected Raiven to represent the country at ESC, the Eurovision fandom more or less entered a state of euphoric meltdown. An eternal fave, Raiven had previously attempted to represent Slovenia at ESC on three different occasions, finishing 2nd, 3rd, and finally 2nd…
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Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2024 – ESC Etc. Top 3 Songs from the Finnish National Final
It’s fair to say that there was an unprecedented level of buzz and anticipation around UMK this year after the outstanding 2023 national final and Käärijä’s, well…everything he was and did at ESC. I remained wary but hopeful – I wasn’t sure how the new lineup would stack up against…
ESC Etc. 