Eurovoxx's Eurovision Wishlist: Part 5/6
It's been over four 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!
Norway - Emila
Norwegian singer Emila was born and raised in the small town of Lillestrom, situated in the vicinity of the country's capital city, Oslo. Emila was raised in a musical environment with both of her parents being musicians and despite having spent most of her life outside of the capital, she has now stationed herself in Oslo in an attempt to pursue her career as a solo singer. She burst on the music scene after contacting the Norwegian record label, Layman Music in Autumn 2013 and subsequently released her first song "Mr Perfect" at the age of just 14 years old. Her most famous piece of work comes in collaboration with DJs Martin Tungevaag and Robbin Soderlund wherein she sang the vocals for the song "Samsara" which since February 2015 has amassed around 60 million views. Emila's most recent song comes from April of this year and is entitled Kimura. The song is a real pop song, showing off Emila's powerful vocals tied together with a viciously infectious drop combining together to form an extremely effective pop number
Poland - Ewa Farna
Ewa Farna, born in Trinec, Czech Republic, is a Polish-Czech pop-rock singer who has released nine albums, five in Polish and four in Czech, since beginning her career in 2006. Ewa has been a judge on the Czech&Slovak version of "Superstar" in 2013 and X Factor Poland in 2014 and is currently a judge on Polish Idol. Ewa Farna first attracted attention after winning local talent competitions in both Poland and the Czech Republic in 2004 and 2005 respectively and after being discovered by producer Lesek Wronka, Ewa released her debut album "Mels Me Vubec Rad" in 2006. In the following years, Ewa has released eight other albums which have achieved great success in both Poland and the Czech Republic as well as numerous chart-topping singles in the two countries. One of her most famous songs "Na Ostrzu" which was over 18 million views on YouTube is a great example of her work: Light, catchy pop with tinges of rock in the melody held together with a gritty and explosive voice.
Portugal - Diogo Picarra
Diogo Picarra is a Portuguese singer originating from the southern city of Faro. Diogo began his career in 2006 at 17 years old by forming a band with the name "Fora Da Boia", however in 2009 Diogo decided to go at it alone and auditioned for Portugal's rendition of Pop Idol and reached the piano phase of the competition where he was knocked out. The next year he attempted to take part in another talent competition in Portugal - Operacao Triunfo - but unfortunately didn't have much luck. In 2012, however, he tried for the third time to take part in a singing competition and as the saying goes, third time was the charm as Diogo won the fifth season of Portuguese Idol thus providing the spark to his music career. To date, Diogo has released two albums "Espelho" and "Dos", in 2015 and 207 respectively, both of which skyrocketed to the top of the Portuguese charts. One of his most famous songs, with over 10 million views, is Dialeto, which is a simple song but brought to life by Diogo's passionate voice and intricate sounds that speckle the song throughout.
Romania - Freia
There is something instantly fascinating about Freia, the globetrotting Romanian singer-songwriter who crafts radio-friendly pop music, however, adds her own element of mystery and surrealism to it. Freia spent a large portion of her childhood travelling all over the world and visiting countless new places that have certainly had an effect on her unique music style. She is fearless and edgy, refreshing, spontaneous and blends multiple genres of music together whether it be, electro, pop or tribal sounds, Freia combines them all to create musical mastery. With a stage name inspired by Freyja, the Norse goddess of love and war, it would almost be impossible to imagine that this rising artist's music would be anything but wild and free. Coincidentally, that precise make-up fits exactly to her new single from 2017, " Call My Name" - a feral electronic house-pop anthem featuring energetic tribal drums, bright synths as well as an unconventional horn-driven beat drop during the chorus.
Russia - i-La
Olga Shutova, known professionally by her stage name i-La, is an upcoming Russian singer born and raised in the western city of Penza, however is currently based in the country's capital, Moscow. Olga began her musical career in 2011 while she was attending Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom by performing covers of popular singers' songs such as Katy Perry's "E.T" as well as Miley Cyrus' "Who Owns My Heart". Subsequent to this, i-La continued to perform covers at various events and concerts and took part in numerous talent competitions most notably on Russia's version of X Factor - "Glavnaya Scena", however, she failed to advance very far in the competition. Nevertheless, Olga continued to pursue her music career and in September 2016, she released her first original single, "Hungry", on the YouTube channel ELLO - the largest Russian music channel with over 2.5 million subsribers. The song, which was written and composed by Olga herself, is a gritty and dark pop song with a instantly memorable chorus accompanied with a simple yet sophisticated music video set in a dim room bathed in shades of purple, pink and blue
San Marino - Valentina Monetta
What would a Eurovision wishlist be if the queen of Eurovision and four time representative of San Marino, Valentina Monetta weren't present in the lineup? Every true Euro-Fan has heard of Valentina and holds at least one of her performances, whether it be the comedic "Social Network Song", the dramatic "Crysalide", the iconic "Maybe" or the guilty pleasure "Spirit Of The Night", close to their heart. Prior to her first appearnace at the Eurovision 2012 edition in Azerbaijan, Valentina had tried to represent San Marino before in 2008, however, the Sammarinese broadcaster opted to send Miodo instead, Nevertheless, we still got to see Valentina multiple times at the contests and would love to see her back on the Eurovision stage reprsenting her country once again for the fifth time!
Serbia - Luke Black
Luka Ivanovic, known by his stage name "Luke Black" is a Serbian singer, songwriter and musician born in the central Serbian city, Cacak. Luke began his musical career in 2014 where he performed his first original single "D-Generation" at the Gruvlend Festival for the first time. At the event he was noticed by Universal Music Group - one of the biggest record labels in the world. After being approached by the record company a little bit later, Luke eventually signed a contract with the group in early 2015 and subsequently released a music video to "D-Generation" as well as another single "Holding On To Love" both of which are included in his first EP, "Thorns." His most famous song "Demons", which was released in May last year is an uptempo, contemporary pop song wherein Luke combines an infectious melody, tribal percussion and oriental influences with his powerful and emotional voice. The music video is a simple one but works well with the theme of the song. Featuring a close-cropped shot of solely Luke's face, the unstable camera work and flashing lights and hues are what really make this song come alive.
Slovakia - Lina Mayer
Lina Mayer, whose real name is Karolina Majernikova is a Slovak singer, songwriter and dancer from Slovakia's second city Kosice. Lina made her first musical appearance on the Czech-Slovak version of the TV Talent competition "Idol" in 2009 where she made it to the semi-finals. Additionally, Lina has appeared in the dancing show "StarDance" and is currently competing on the TV show "Your Face Sounds Familiar". Lina began her professional career in 2012 with the release of her debut single "Dream" after which she took a break for a few years without releasing any new music, however did sing the vocals for the soundtrack of the Czech film "This Time". Her return to the Slovak music scene came in 2015 when she released three new songs, one of which being "Personal Sky", her most successful song to date with around 500,000 views on YouTube as well as narrowly reaching the top 10 in the Slovak charts. In 2016, Lina released the song "Nothing", which is to become one of the tracks on her upcoming album. The song begins with mysterious, haunting chimes with camera shots of the insides of a worn down building. The verses start slowly and gradually more sounds and effects are added until the chorus when Lina releases her explosive and jaw-dropping vocals.
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!
#Norway #Poland #Portugal #Romania #Russia #SanMarino #Serbia #Slovakia #Wishlist #Eurovision
