VOXXNEWS WEEKLY ~ Eurovision News Round Up

Swedish Eurovision National Final To Remain The Same

The Swedish broadcaster SVT has confirmed that it will stick to its current format, and that there will not be any changes for Melodifestivalen 2018. This means there will be 28 entries competing for their place in Portugal. In previous years there has been up to 32. Although cities have yet to be confirmed as hosts, there will be 4 semi finals in various cities, a second chance round, all culminating in their Grand Final which is likely to be in March. Of this years competition Christer Björkman, producer of the Meoldifestivalen has said, "With another top five position for Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, we can now look forward to a new season of Melodifestivalen... We want breadth, diversity and variety and that is why we call for songs in different languages, genres and styles". This year any song writers wishing to submit a song have between 1st September until 18th September 2017 to upload their music to the official Melodifestivalen website.

France Are Having A National Final To Chose Their 2018 Representative

France 2 announced that the format to chose the French artist in Portugal, will not be an Internal Selection as they have done in the past 3 years. Since 2015, The French representative is chosen via internal selection. This year, France 2 chose to broadcast a national final for the first time since France 2 is the broadcaster instead of France 3. The production of this National final will be supervised by the ITV studios France, the same production as the French version of The Voice. The details about this National Selection will be revealed in the coming months. We will keep you updated about all the information coming out about it here on the website.

Cyprus Eurovision Plans Well Under Way

According to the website ShowTime-cy, reports have gathered that some of the executives for RIK have met to discuss next years national final. In the meeting they would have discussed time guidelines, along with the format and rules for the show. It is more than likely according to ShowTime-cy that there will be a launch sometime in August for songwriters and composers to pen Cyprus' prospective 2018 Eurovision song. It is believed that Haris Saava will once again be selected as the Artistic Director for Cyprus entry. He has attracted much positive press for the way he Hovig's entry was displayed and portrayed in Kyiv, and it would make much sense for him to return on the 2018 entry. It is early days yet, but more information firming up on details should be released soon.

Could Turkey Be Re-Joining Eurovision 2018?

Although, the national broadcaster gave a definitive "NO" in 2017, it has been recently revealed that the country was very close to participating in 2016. The composer of Turkey's 2009 entry "Dum Tek Tek" has stated in an interview with Alem FM that the 2016 singer had already been chosen by host broadcaster TRT. He stated, that he was going to be the composer, and the artist was to be Atiye. However, we all know that Turkey did not participate in 2016, this was due to a last minute change of mind by TRT. These comments were also echoed by the former Eurovision commentator Bülent özveren, who had also confirmed these reports and was under the same opinion. What is interesting however, is that he believes that Turkey must return in 2018. He added, "The TRT team has changed, and the return must happen". Could 2018 be the year that Turkey finally come back?

Triana Park Reacts To Their Eurovision Result

In a recent interview lead singer Agnese Rakovska commented on how she was disappointed that the group failed to qualify for the final. I n an example that shows how much this competition means to the artists Ms Rakovska responds by saying that she finds it hard to come to terms with this failure. However, although fallen at this first hurdle, she still dreams on conquering the music charts of her European counterparts. Agnese tells Latvian newspaper that, " It was a huge responsibility and you do not want to disappoint the people of Latvia, who voted for you. The feeling is not the most pleasant". She added, "In any event I am satisfied with my performance", and that "taking part in the Eurovision was a dream come true".

Engelbert Has The "Hump" Over His Eurovision Flop

It seems like the seasoned performer is still unhappy at the way his song was received and faired in Baku. In a feature interview with the Britain's metro there is a daily section where celebrities or people of importance are asked questions, and give brief answers. Thursday's edition saw Engelbert Humperdinck take his turn. On being asked whether or not he had watched this year's event he said, "No, I don't watch it. It's very political. The UK will never be up there again because the competition is too controlled. No matter how much talent you send out there from the UK, nothing will come of it". Of politics he blamed that for his result too, saying that a Global artist such as himself who has a record contract, was able to be beaten by a bunch of Russian grannies. He stated, "There was a group of Russian grannies who were cooking when they were singing. How does that make sense? And they came second". Not content with that he also slams the British public for falling into the trap of politics, and blames it for a reason why his single peaked at 60, and the winning entry Loreen's peaked at number 3. Do you agree or think he is a sore loser?

World Pride Celebrates Diversity With The Eurovision Stars.

Madrid held its arms out to the world this weekend to celebrate diversity , and bring everyone together in Spain to celebrate the annual Worldpride event. It commenced on Friday, and has seen a plethora of Eurovision stars come together in the neighbourhood of Chueca to be the home of the biggest LGBTQ+ events of the year. There are several stages which will celebrate the diverse pace of life, and celebrate everyone's difference and individuality. There will be plenty of Eurovision stars such as Azucar Moreno (Spain 1990), Rosa (Spain 2002), Soroya (Spain 2009), Ruth Lorenzo (Spain 2014), Barei (Spain 2016), Baccara (Luxembourg 1978), Kate Ryan (Belgium 2006), Suzy (Portugal 2014), Slavo Kalezic (Montenegro 2017), and Francesco Gabbani (Italy 2017). The Parade is expected to be one of the biggest in history with around 3 million attendees. Let's all come together to celebrate, love, peace and diversity.

Eurovoxx New Releases

It has been a brand new week of music, and a brand new week of former Eurovision artists releasing new material. As reported by Eurovoxx here is a summary of the fantastic new material. Eurovoxx Loves it. Check them out here:

Donny Montell With The Song "Move Your Body"

Barei With The Song "Wasn't Me"

Samra With The Song "Badminton"

Sergey Lazarov And Dima Bilan With The Song "Forgive Me"

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