Eurovoxx's Eurovision Wishlist: Part 4/6

It's been almost two months since Portugal was crowned the winner of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine and many Euro-Fans are still craving for more Eurovision. To quell our need for more Eurovision, we set out to find singers from all over Europe and Australia and compile them into a wish-list for the Eurovision Song Contest. Over this six part series we will travel from Norway to Australia, from Iceland to Portugal and from Finland to Italy in search of our favourite artists from all over Europe!

Kazakhstan - Ayumi

Kazakhstan may not have competed at Eurovision yet but there is certainly no shortage of artists who could fill the position of representing Kazakhstan at Eurovision. One of those is the all girl group Ayumi made up of three girls: Aknaz, Assel and Aidana who all originate from Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty. Translated from the Japanese word for an iris flower, the band's name "Ayumi" is a symbol of friendship that bind these three girls together. Ayumi claim to be different from all the musicians and group on the Kazakh music scene as they don't describe themselves as being glamorous divas but instead, sincere, friendly, young, real and from the people. This approach seems to be working for the girls as they have risen the ranks in the Kazakh music scene and have quickly become the largest girl group in the country with around 10 million views on the three songs they have produced to date. Their first hit, Hey-La is an captivating dance number with an infectious melody especially in the chorus. Dancing in unison, the girls effortlessly perform their song, showcasing why they would be the perfect choice for Kazakhstan and their debut at Eurovision.

Latvia - Katrina Bindere

Katrina Bindere is a Latvian singer and songwriter most notable for her participation in the Latvian National Selection for Eurovision in 2014 and 2015. In 2014 she competed in the TV show Dziesma 2014 - Latvia's National Final - where she advanced from the semi final and finished in 7th place out of 12 in the grand final. In 2015 she attempted again to represent her country this time in Supernova, however, failed to advanced further than her semi final. In the same year, Katrina released "Ka Veji Skrien" (How The Winds Run), after signing to micrecmusic - the leading Latvian record company. The song is a cheerful, summer number, with Katrina taking you on a tour of her country with her delicate and ethereal voice which fits perfectly to the song. To date "Ka Veji Skrien" is one of her most successful songs clocking around 100,000 views on YouTube and led her to release more music in the following years with the same record label.

Lithuania - GJan

Greta Jancyte, better known by her stage name GJan, is a 22 year old singer-songwriter hailing from Lithuania's capital city, Vilnius. GJan began her career in her teenage years when she was a member of the Lithuanian rock group Second Riot" between 2010 and 2011. The group released two songs "Memories" and "Stalk", however after one year, Greta left the group and began to pursue her solo career. One year after leaving the band, GJan released her first single entitled "Not Afraid" in 2012 and has since amassed over 5 million views on her official YouTube channel. In the same year GJan released another single called Tattoo which additionally achieved a lot of success in Lithuania and YouTube. Since then she has released numerous other singles with her most recent one being "Wasn't Easy", which was released earlier this year and is planned to be included in her debut album along with "Wild" - both of which reached number one on the Lithuanian charts.

Macedonia - Magdalena ENA

Magdalena Cvetkoska, stylised as Magdalena ENA is a singer songwriter originating from the northwestern city of Tetovo in Macedonia. In 2004, when Magdalena was just eight she competed in the Apples festival in Macedonia and later she partook in a competition organised by the Macedonian production company M2 - from which singers such as Elena Risteska and Aleksandra Pileva have emerged - whereby the winners formed the girl group 4Play. In 2005 Magdalena and 4Play released their first album, however the group lasted only until 2008 when it disbanded and Magdalena launched her solo career in co-operation with Darko Dimitrov who has been responsible for entries in Eurovision such as "I'm Alive" and "Ninanajna". Magdalena further developed her career and took aprt in numerious festivals and competitions throughout the Balkans and aside from being a performer, is one of the most famous songwriters in Macedonia producing songs not just for herself but for other singers in Macedonia too. Her most recent song "Placat I Najsilni" is a powerful dramatic ballad with breathtaking snippets of Macedonian scenery. The song bears an anthemic quality especially around the two minute mark as well as an unexpected key change which takes the song to another level.

Malta - Kevin Borg

Kevin Borg, is a Maltese pop singer from the town of Floriana, however is currently based in Sweden after he moved there in 2007. Kevin rose to fame after winning the fifth series of the Swedish television singing competition Idol in 2008 and became the first winner in the show's history to have been born outside of Sweden. After winning the competition, Kevin signed a recording contract with Sony BMG and released his first song "With Every Bit Of Me" which instantly became a hit in Sweden, reaching number one in the charts. A year later Kevin released his first album which reached a high ranking of third in the Swedish charts securing a strong start to his career. Kevin has tried twice to represent Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest with his most recent attempt coming in 2017 where he finished third behind Claudia Faniello and Janice Mangion. One of his most recent songs, released around a year ago, "Young At Heart" is an uplifting and motivating song which showcases Kevin's incredbile vocals which began his career.

Moldova - KAiiA

Alina Sleahtitkaia, better known by her stage name as Kaiia, stylised as KAiiA, is a Moldovan singer with heritage additionally in Ukraine and Romania. Kaiia was born in Ukraine in 1990, however moved to Moldova at a young age where she spent most of her childhood and teenage years. In 2008 and 2009 she participated in various festivals across the region most notably in Cahul for the "Faces of Friends" festival and was one of the first contestants of the first reality TV shows in Moldova - Star Factory. Kaiia entered the music scene in 2012 after releasing her album-single "Crazy Love" which was produced in collaboration with the production team MAAN Studio, with whom she is still signed to, and the band Manilla Maniacs. Her most famous song, however is "Uhodi" (Leave) sung in Russian and is a simple yet effective song with highlights of pixel-video-game elements as well as a melody that is instantly memorable.

Montenegro - Ana Milenkovic

Ana Milenkovic is a Montenegrin-Serbian singer born in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade at the beginning of the 1980's. Ana has appeared as a soloist at numerous festivals throughout the Balkans in the early 2000's and after five years of singing as a soloist, she joined the group "Blah Blah Band", which participated at the singing competition Beovizija in 2006 and 2007 and won the "Best Newcomer" award in Serbia in 2006. She is most notable, however, for her role in the girl group "Beauty Queens" who acted as the backing vocalists for Marija Serifovic in the 2007 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki thus making them one of the most popular groups in Serbia after the win at Eurovision. However, a few years later, Ana returned to being a solo artists and has since released numerous songs and singles as well as an album which took over a year and a half to create and produce. Her most recent song on her official YouTube channel is "Budalo" - a colourful and cheeky number which will definitely put you in a summer and cheerful mood.

Netherlands - Rochelle

Rochelle Perts, better known by her stage name of Rochelle, is a Dutch singer who rose to fame after winning the 2011 edition of X Factor in the Netherlands with just 19 years of age. Her subsequent single, a cover of Jordin Sparks' "No Air" peaked at number 1 in the Dutch Top 100 charts and "Shotgun", Rochelle's most successful piece is one of the Netherlands' biggest hits. Produced by Yellow Claw and released by Spinnin' Record, the single features a powerful beat and drop yet is juxtaposed with Rochelle's warm, delicate, yet still edgy vocals. After entering the Dutch charts, it wasn't long before the song was picked up in countries all over Europe ranging from Belgium to Armenia and to date has amassed over 100 million views. One of her more recent numbers is "All Night Long", shown above, which is filmed in Suriname, where her family originates from. The song was quickly picked up by one of the biggest commercial radio stations in the Netherlands and entered the Dutch Top 40 charts where it remained there for 23 consecutive weeks.

If you want to see a recap of all the countries and their respective artists, be sure to take a look at the video on our YouTube channel!

What do you think of our choices? Do you agree with them? Make sure to let us know and check out the next installment of our wishlist next week. In the meantime be sure to follow our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube!

#Kazakhstan #Latvia #Lithuania #Macedonia #Malta #Moldova #Montenegro #Netherlands #Wishlist #Eurovision