Saturday 11th February was dubbed Super Saturday, as Eurovision fans around Europe watched to see 7 more countries confirm their artists & songs for Eurovision in May.

In Estonia the final of Eesti Laul took place. After the results of the first round of voting, which was decided by a 50/50 split between televote and international jury, three acts proceeded to the super final: Ollie, Bedwetters & Alika. The winner of the superfinal was then decided by 100% televote with Alika coming out on top with 42% of the total votes. This means Alika has the honour of representing Estonia in Liverpool in May with her song Bridges.

The Dansk Melodi Grand Prix final took place in the Arena Næstved in Denmark and history was made on Saturday night. After the initial public vote three acts advanced to the superfinal including: Reiley, Micky Skeel and Nicklas Sonne. Then a 50/50 jury & televote decided the winner, with Reiley topping the leaderboard with 43% of the total votes and thus becoming the first person from the Faroe Islands to represent Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest. Reiley, whos real name is Rani Petersen, will sing Breaking My Heart.

Latvia brought us the final of Supernova and it was the band Sudden Lights that have won the right to represent Latvia in this year’s Eurovision. The band had previously competed and come second in Supernova 2018. After the results of the jury & televotes were announced Sudden Lights were declared the winners ahead of Patrisha who came second with her song Hush. Sudden Lights will sing the lullaby song Aija In May which will see the Latvian language sung at Eurovision for the first time since 2014.

In Romania there was a reverse of last years Selectia Nationala final where the jury vote made up 83% of the decision, this year the public had 100% of the say on who should fly to Liverpool and sing for Romania and the public wanted Theodor Andrei. Theodor gave the audience an eclectic performance which ended with him taking off this shirt to reveal the words ‘Make Love Not War’. The final results were close but Theodor just beat fan favourite Andreea D Folclor Orchestra who came second and X Factor Romania star Andrei Dutu into third. Theodor will go to Liverpool in May with his song D.G.T (Off and On).

The final of Dora, Croatia’s national competition to select its Eurovision entry, was also held last Saturday and the run away winners on the night were Let 3, who will represent Croatia with the song Mama SC. They won the jury & televote ahead of Harmonija Disonance who finished in second place. Let 3, Flight 3 in English, are a modern rock band from Rijeka, Croatia formed in 1987. The band are known across the former Yugoslav republics due to their original approach to rock music and their obscene live performances. Sounds like a perfect fit for Eurovision!

The Busker won the Malta Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday and will sing their funky song Dance (Our Own Party) in Liverpool. However, in typical Malta style the song could potentially change. Malta has been known to change the song that wins their national final and send a different song to Eurovision. The Busker won after topping the televote and came joint second with the jury vote. The band consists of David Jr. Meilak (vocals, guitar); Jean Paul Borg (drums); & Sean Meachen (saxophone).

Italy have also cast their votes & selected previous Italian Eurovision representative Marco Mengoni to try again at Eurovision. Marco won the Sanremo Music Festival, the festival which inspired the Eurovision Song Contest, for a second time. He previously won Sanremo in 2013 & went on to the Eurovision final in Malmo and finished a very respectable 7th with the song L’Essenziale. This time around Marco was the clear winner taking home 45.5% of the votes and he will once again represent Italy at Eurovision with the song Due Vite. The X Factor Italy winner is a big star having sold nearly 3 million records & released 7 albums.

Having won the Eurosong 2023 competition Wild Youth with their song – We are One – will represent Ireland at the competition in May.

We wish them the best of luck and look forward to seeing what they have to offer!!!

From RTE.ie

The six acts who will battle it out to represent Ireland in Liverpool this May at the 67th Eurovision Song Contest have been revealed.

The six songs were selected from hundreds of entries received by RTÉ following a callout for submissions last year. All acts will compete on The Late Late Eurosong 2023 Special in February.

Song No.1: Too Good for Your Love
Performer: ADGY

Too Good for Your Love was written by ADGY (Andrew Carr) as a piano ballad during lockdown and is a collaboration with producer Boksay. The two artists worked together remotely in creating the final version of this song, which is described as “an upbeat, high-tempo dance track”.

ADGY is a singer-songwriter from Co Donegal, whose music career took off in 2020 when he signed a record deal for his release Like You Do with Universal Music Group. Since then, ADGY has accumulated over 10 million streams globally across streaming platforms and radio.

He said: “I’ve been a songwriter for as long as I can remember, and I’ve written for lots of artists, as well as myself. But it’s my dream to perform live on stage in front of a large audience, and I hope to do more of that this year”.

Song No.2: Midnight Summer Night
Performer: CONNOLLY

Midnight Summer Night was written one night during the pandemic when Leitir Meailláin’s Jennifer Connolly was just 17 years old. Currently, in her 1st year of Creative Music Production at IADT / Sound Training College in Dublin, Jennifer says she has had a passion for music since she was a young child, and that this song plays with themes of nostalgia and the passing of time through her vocals.

“The song conveys confusion and overwhelming detachment, but overall the song implies that nothing bad lasts forever, delivering a sense of hope. To be in with a chance to share my song on such a legendary platform as Eurovision is amazing. It would be nothing less than a dream come true to bring Eurovision back home for Ireland once again.”

Song No.3: We Are One
Performers: Wild Youth

Wild Youth are a four-piece band from Dublin, who have a string of top hits in Ireland and have toured with names including Niall Horan, Lewis Capaldi, and Westlife. On top of their own sold-out tours of Ireland and the UK, Conor O’Donohoe from the band has also written a string of top hits for other artists and co-written with Moncrief and The Script.

We are One was written with Grammy-nominated songwriter Jörgen Elofsson.

Wild Youth said: “We are so delighted to be here. Eurovision is something we have always loved and would love to represent our country. We hope that everyone loves the song that we’ve written and believe we can be the band to represent Ireland this year.”

Song No.4: Wild
Performer: Leila Jane

Leila Jane is an indie pop singer-songwriter based in Dublin who was described as ‘”one to watch’” by Late Date‘s Cathal Murray. Imelda May selected her to be the recipient of the ‘Imelda May Scholarship’ at BIMM Institute Dublin, where she graduated with a first-class honours music degree.

“All Eurovision songs need a strong message, and Wild is an empowering song about the strength of a woman’s spirit,” Leila Jane said.

“Wild represents my love of the creative freedom I have here in Ireland. It would be an absolute honour to show Eurovision what Ireland’s got!”

For the track, she teamed up with Liis Hainla, an Estonian songwriter, Finnish producer Arto Ruotsala, and British songwriter Aaron Sibley.

Song No.5: Down in the Rain
Performers: K Muni & ND (Kofi Appiah and Nevlonne Dampare)

Down in the Rain by Longford duo K Muni & ND is described by the artists as a testament to their determination. The song chronicles a difficult period in their careers when their music wasn’t getting the attention they believed it deserved.

Down in the Rain, encourages listeners to never give up on their aspirations no matter how tough the road may seem.

“It would mean the world to us to represent Ireland,” the duo said. “We remember watching Eurovision as kids with our families, so to think we could have the people of Ireland, our people, tuned in to cheer us and our country on is incredible.”

Song No.6: Hawaii
Performers: Public Image Limited

Public Image Limited celebrated their 40 Anniversary in 2018 and are fronted by former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, also known as Johnny Rotten.

Hawaii is a love letter to John Lydon’s wife of nearly five decades, Nora, who is living with Alzheimer’s.

Described as “a pensive, personal yet universal love song that will resonate with many”, the song sees John reflecting on one of their happiest moments together in Hawaii.

According to the band, the emotional ballad is as close as John – whose mother was from Co Cork and father came from Galway – will ever come to baring his soul.

“It is dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most,” John says. “It’s also a message of hope that ultimately love conquers all.”

Michael Kealy, RTÉ Eurovision Head of Delegation, said: “I am really impressed by the quality and standard of the six acts we have in our Eurosong final this year.

“The Eurovision Song Contest is a global phenomenon, and the competition is getting harder every year, but whichever of our six finalists gets to represent Ireland in Liverpool in May, I’ve no doubt they will represent us brilliantly, winning new fans all over the world.”

The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place in the Liverpool Arena next to the River Mersey, on behalf of Ukraine, on Saturday, 13 May.

As many of ye know the voting system has been tweaked for the first time since 2016.

More here on the Eurovision website

One of our industrious elves has complied a list of the countries that would have qualified and those that would not from the semis under the new rules