Eurovision (and other music) Roundup Saturday 2022.10.15

Yeah, it’s heating up, and we got another rundown to get to.

Junior Eurovision 2013 Rewatch

I’m watching Junior Eurovision 2013 to start the second half of rewatching every edition in the lead-up to the 20th edition in December. This one also has 12 countries competing, joining 2012 and 2020 for probably the shortest contest ever, so this should be fun

TOISC Update

I’m also starting to rate the other 40 songs competing in this online contest that I’m taking part in. The voting ends next Saturday, so I’m taking the weekend to give points to my favorites to send to the forum member hosting the contest.

Montenegro, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Bosnia & Herzegovina noped tf out

We’ve reached the deadline to withdraw without paying the fee (the EBU sets a deadline to a date in mid-October for countries to withdraw from Eurovision without paying a penalty. Think of this as a “last chance” call), and within a span of hours, three countries noped out of next year’s contest. Montenegro and North Macedonia because of costs, and Bulgaria because the TV station isn’t interested anymore (they’re still salty about last year when they sent a band fronted by someone with a warrant to Turin. Did they think no one would notice?). Although, North Macedonia had wanted to withdraw anyway because of how their 2022 representative Andrea acted during the opening ceremony. Bosnia & Herzegovina hadn’t participated in several years, so this is a continuation

Eurovision in Concert 2023

My favorite pre-contest party is back for another year and they are now selling tickets for the April 15 show. I, however, am looking forward to watching it online. This is my favorite pre-contest party because usually it attracts about 75% of participants and a few guests to Amsterdam

JESC Stage Design

Earlier this week, Armenia’s TV station released the design for the stage and it’s… beautiful. It fits with the spinning top theme that they have going on. The center stage is a large spinning circle and a standing space. But for those who watched Eurovision 2022, you would know this… no sun of death

Serbia chooses JESC 2022 Singer

Serbia is sending 12-year-old Katarina Savić to Yerevan, and we have the song title (“Svet bez granica” or “World Without Borders”). We’re still waiting for the song, but it will be out soon, so stay tuned. She was chosen internally by Serbia’s RTS after an open call. I’ll be reviewing this song as well as the others when the time comes

Favorite Tracks of the Week

I didn’t get to listen to a lot of tracks, but for the ones I did listen to, here’s the very short list:

• Ronela Hajati — Sekret
• FLO — Cardboard Box