The 10 young artists that will compete for the honor of representing Georgia at this years Junior Eurovision song contest, were revealed over the weekend on First Channel Georgia.
Photo 1TV
For the third year, the show ‘Ranina’ will be used to select the representative – broadcasts are expected to begin in late March.
RTP the Portuguese broadcaster has today released the 16 songs that will compete to perform at the Eurovision song contest in Rotterdam in May.
The Festival da Canção 2020 Final will take place on March 7th
All 16 songs are available to listen at the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLk_Qhdpz4U&list=PLMedIwg0kZw9hoW8XIv4VoadpqMGif87k&index=1
Arilena Ara overcame some tough competition at ‘FEST’ 58 the Albanian national selection show, to book her place in Rotterdam for Eurovision 2020.
Her stunning vocal performance beat the other pre-show favourite Elvana Gjata with her song ‘Me tana’ into second place, with young talent Sara Bejraktari coming in a respectable third with another great vocal performance on the night.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ot7mLma0K8o
Sophia Ivanko joined the ranks of Junior Eurovision stars releasing Christmas singles this year with the release of a collaboration ‘Christmas Miracle’ with Alekander Balabanov and INAKSHI.
Sophie was invited to sing in early December by Alexey Dontsov (OGAE Ukraine) and after being presented with a draft of the song; which received a positive reaction from Sophia and her team, friends, Ukrainian YouTubers Alekander Balabanov and INAKSH also joined the one off project which was recorded earlier this week.
‘On Christmas Eve, each of us is waiting for a miracle when our most cherished dreams come true – Meet the holiday gift from Sophia Ivanko, Alexander Balabanov and INAKSHI: a song that will surely create a New Year’s mood and immerse yourself in the world of Christmas magic.’
Danelya Tuleshova premiered her latest music video ‘Don’t Cha’ on YouTube yesterday (Dec 17th)
Anyone who has followed Danelya since her appearance in Junior Eurovision 2018 won’t fail to notice the maturing of her voice which is clearly evident in the opening bars of the song.
Aside from the impressive vocals, the music video also feature some stunning visual trickery which sees multiple Danelya’s on screen at the same time.
Angélina, who delighted us with her performance of ‘Jamais Sans Toi’ at Junior Eurovision 2018, has re-released her first album as a collectors edition with new artwork and six additional tracks.
An accompanying video for one of the new tracks ‘Qui dit mieux ?’ (Who say’s better?) has also been released.
After delighting us with her enchanting performance of ‘The spirit of music’ in Junior Eurovision in Poland in November, the multi talented Sophie Ivanko (Stage name Sophy Ivy) is starting to work on her first album and hopes to achieve her goal with the help of crowdfunding website Patreon.
The album will comprise the best of more than 17 original, self penned songs which Sophia has written over the past few years.
Fans wanting to support Sophia can subscribe to via her patreon page to receive access to video content updates and other exclusive material.
Full details of how you can support Sophia can be found on the links below and we’ll keep you updated on progress with news as we receive it.
Far from resting on her laurels; fresh from her Junior Eurovision win, Viki Gabor has released two Christmas songs to coincide with the festive season.
First up are two versions of the classic ‘Silent Night’ – One in English and the other in Polish.
The second is a cover of the Stevie Wonder track ‘What Christmas means to me’
Eurovision.TV today announced the three hosts of the 2020 contest in Rotterdam
Eurovision commenter Jan Smit, presenter, actress and singer Chantal Janzen and former Eurovision star Edsilia Rombley have been chosen to host the ceremonies which will kick off with the first semi final on Tuesday 12th May 2020
Photo NPO/AVROTROS/NOS
Full story on Eurovision.TV here: https://eurovision.tv/story/eurovision-2020-presenters-chantal-janzen-edsilia-rombley-jan-smit?fbclid=IwAR2svnm5DOE8avX_0mUNkJ4IWnuHF8_-b-kR1sL-Izt-whrau8_NVXyNqDo
Rumours and counter rumours are flying about who will bid to host the 2020 Junior Eurovision song contest, but currently Poland are the only country to have confirmed a bid, with unconfirmed reports that Spain and Kazakhstan are also considering putting in bids.
A good argument can be made as to why Poland should be allowed to host again:
1: They want to!
2: Poland is convenient for most European’s who would like to travel to see the show in person
3: They have (very) recent experience of hosting the show and therefore the expertise to host again
4: (Although not EBU policy for JESC) They won the 2019 contest and should have first refusal
There are however, a few very good reasons why; this observer believes, allowing Poland to host again under the current voting system could (and I stress could) be very bad for Junior Eurovision in the short term.
Looking at some of this years viewing figures we see:
Poland – 5.5M average 7.7M peak – up from from 2.2M and 2.6M in 2018
Spain – 1.5 Million
France 979,000
Netherlands 252,000
Italy Average 302,000
Portugal 350,000
Russia had the largest audience since 2011 – with viewing figures between 5% and 7% share in larger cities over 100,000, but no total numbers are available.
(Figures from eurovoix.com)
What clearly stands out here is that Poland had by far the largest viewing audience with hosting and their win last year contributing to a dramatic spike in interest in the contest in the country..
Putting aside the fact that both Roksana Wiegel and Viki Gabor would most likely have scored very well and each was a well deserved winner, with a voting system that allows viewers to vote for their own country, the more people you have watching, the more potential voters you have and the voting odds are heavily stacked in favour of the country with the most viewers.
As in sport, hosting or winning an event naturally increases interest, so if the voting system is to remain the same, trying to increase the interest level in other countries; to try and level up the playing field, should really be the EBU’s priority.
The alternative is, we risk ending up in a situation where until Poland decides to send a Turkey (real or literal), or the Polish people get bored of winning, the prospect of Polish winners for the next 5+ years is not beyond the realms of possibility and smaller countries with lower viewing figures who have no chance of reaching near the top of the leader board will not be able to justify the cost of participation and we could see many withdrawing.
So, the ball is most definitely in the EBU’s court and they have a very difficult decision to make. Do they choose another country to host? or this commentators preferred choice, allow Poland to host again (with Roy Van de Merwe favouring a different city such as the Capital Warsaw) but change the voting system?
How they amend the voting system is a discussion I may explore in another post but for now, with the current voting system the question remains, should Poland be allowed to host again in 2020?
