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Well folks, we have finally come to the final country in my series spotlighting the entries competing in the Eurovision Song Contest being held next week in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can go through the rest of the series by clicking here . And now, the last of the "Big Five" countries, who took a 12 year break until 2010 and possibly may win this year... Last year Italy came in fifth place thanks to the huge televote advantage with " Non mi avete fatto niente " ("You Haven't Done Anything To Me") from Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro. It was a complete surprise to me, since the song didn't really grab me before the show, and I thought the staging with the lyrics overlaid on top. It's their sixth top ten finish since coming back to the contest in 2010. This year's selection was again selected at the San Remo Festival national final contest. One of the first songs announced, it's also one of the contenders for the prize according to the boo...

It's time for today's spotlight on the countries and artists taking part in the annual Eurovision Song Contest being held next week in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up with the rest of the series by clicking here . And now we come to another country in the "Big Five", one that had only missed one year since the beginning of the event. Last year Germany had their best showing since winning in 2010 when singer/songwriter Michael Schulte floored me and the Eurovision audience with his sincere ode to his family " You Let Me Walk Alone ". That song finished in fourth place, and I would've been just as satisfied if it had won the whole shebang. This year, as Michael now is part of Germany's national jury that votes in the contest, another act chosen in the country's national final, Unser Lied für Israel . Will Germany be able to carry that momentum this year? Germany - "Sisters" from S!sters The winner of that competition turned o...

It's time for today's spotlight on the countries and singers participating in the Eurovision Song Contest being held next week in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up on all my posts in this series so far by clicking here . Now that I've run down the second semi-finals competitors, all I have left to cover is the last three of the "Big Five" that get an automatic pass to the finals. First up, the country taking part just as its government is trying to leave the EU... Last year the United Kingdom was notable at Eurovision not for the song, the mildly pleasant but forgettable " Storm ", but for the stage invasion that came during her live performance at the finals. Surie, the singer who was bumrushed, was offered a chance to redo, but refused, and ended up in 24th place anyway (so much for sympathy votes). It's been a decade since the once-powerhouse of the contest has even reached the top ten. Can this year's prospect do the trick? Very doubtf...

I'm rolling to the end of the second semi-finals running order in today's Eurovision spotlight focusing on the countries and artists participating in the yearly even being held next week in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up on the rest of the series so far by clicking here . And now we come to the former Soviet Republic that is trying for their second win... Last year was a rough one for the Caucasian country of Azerbaijan, as they failed to qualify for the finals since the first time since they started in 2008. It wasn't the quality of the song that was of question - " X My Heart " by female singer Aisel was a real charmer, but it was first in the running order of a very competitive semi-final and both her and Armenia's entry didn't make the cut. This year, it appears they weren't going to let that happen again. Or will they? Azerbaijan - "Truth" by Chingiz Chingiz Mustafayev, who was born in Moscow and moved to Azerbaijan as a chi...

It's time for today's spotlight on the countries and singers competing in this year's Eurovision Song Contest being held in Tel Aviv, Israel next week. You can check out the rest of the series so far by clicking here . And now we come to a country competing with its new official name for the first time this year... Last year the former Yugoslav Republic was competing under the name FYR Macedonia (FYR=Former Yugoslav Republic) as it had been since 1996. Their entry, " Lost And Found ", had a lot of fans for its striking and adventurous arrangement vacillating from a reggae song to a new wave jam, but in the end horrible staging left it behind in the semi-finals, as it had happened in the five years before. This time the newly-dubbed North Macedonia (after a long-standing feud with Greece was resolved) returns with a singer whose been to Eurovision once before. Can she prevail? North Macedonia - "Proud" by Tamara Todevska Tamara, from the North ...

It's time for today's Eurovision spotlight, focusing on the countries and artists participating in the annual Eurovision Song Contest being held next week in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can check out the rest of the series' posts by clicking here . And now we come to the current bookies' favorite to win this year, from a country who hasn't done so since 1975... Last year the Netherlands had sent in one-half of the act it made second place with in 2014. Waylon, who had competed as the Common Linnets with Ilse DeLange , lost that year to gender-bending vocal wonder Conchita Wurst, and Waylon's return was seen by many as a way to redeem himself and his country. What resulted was a mess, as the song, " Outlaw In 'Em " was an American country music pastiche that seemed more Vegas-ready than Eurovision- ready, and he surrounded himself with dancers that were somehow breakdancing around him. Also, his reported gruff treatment of the press didn't win h...

It's time for today's Eurovision spotlight , focusing on the countries and artists taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest being held this year in Tel Aviv, Israel . You can catch up with the rest of the series by clicking here . Today, we come to the country that is bringing us some joik realness... Last year the Scandinavian country of Norway sent its most successful performer back to the competition, but instead of the glorious "Fairytale", we were left with the dull and banal sing-song pop of " That's How You Write A Song ". Clearly one of the worst entries last year (thank goddess for Russia for that), somehow he one the semifinal, but his finals performance dropped him down to #15th in the end. Can the often-overlooked Scandinavian country turn things around this year? Norway - "Spirit In The Sky" from KEiiNO KEiiNO are the Eurovision -made trio of three separate artists, Tom Hugo from the southern city of Kristiansand, Ale...

It's time for today's spotlight on the countries and artists participating in this year's Eurovision Song Contest being held in Tel Aviv, Israel, in just over a week. You can check up on the rest of the series by clicking here . And now we go to the Balkan country that is known for its powerful female singers... The country of Albania last year did pretty respectably last year with actually a male singer for only the fourth time in its history. And most of those, like Eugent Bushpepa, have been rock musicians, and for Eugent's " Mall " ("Yearning"), which was all in Albanian, to reach #11 in the finals, was quite a feat. Can they improve on this showing, or go back to a pattern of not qualifying with worthy but not flashy enough songs? Albania - "Ktheju Tokës" from Jonida Maliqi This time out in the country's Festivali i Këngës 57 national finals competition, singer and socialite Jonida Maliqi won the chance to represent Al...

It's time for today's Eurovision spotlight, focusing on the countries and singers taking part in this year's Eurovision Song Contest being held in Tel Aviv this month. You can check out the rest of my series so far by clicking here . And now we come to the country with probably the biggest expectations and adversities to overcome... After withdrawing from the contest in the Ukraine in 2017 because their representative, Julia Samoylova, had performed in the disputed region of Crimea where Russia annexed illegally (depending on who you ask), Russia sent her with a new song the following year in Portugal. That ended up a complete disaster, with a lackluster performance and science-fair staging causing the country to fail to qualify for the finals in the first time in history with the flaccid " I Won't Break ". It was really sad, especially seeing the wheelchair-bound singer getting the boot, but there was no way around that show. Anyhoo , in their internal ...

It's time for my daily Eurovision spotlight. I'm running down the running order of the second semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest being held in Tel Aviv in a couple weeks. You can catch up with the rest of the series so far by clicking here . This time out its the Baltic country that has never won, but has been in the finals more often... The former Soviet Republic of Lithuania has had a bumpy ride at Eurovision, making the finals often but not really scoring the big wins like Estonia and Latvia had done in the early 2000s. In fact, their best showing was a joke (more on that later). They've been more serious recently, and last year had one of the best efforts in years with the delicate " When We're Old " by Ieva Zasimauskaitė. With a simple staging the love song became grand, and she ended up in 12th place and deserved more. With a national final that sported 49 acts competing, will the country be able to repeat? Lithuania - "Run With The ...

It's time for my daily spotlight on the countries and singer competing at the Eurovision Song Contest being held this year in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up with the rest of the series highlighting the biggest non-sports show in the world by clicking here . And now we head to the island nation in the Mediterranean sea with almost a half-million people... The country of Malta may have had a little uplift in interest due to the heritage of American presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, but the country has been around for awhile, gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1974. Last year, their national final "Malta Song For Europe" sent Christabelle to the event with the incredibly catchy " Taboo ", but despite the bells and whistles they put into the staging, failed to qualify for the finals. It was a surprise for me, since the accessible club jam was well-produced and had a good message, maybe they threw too much in for anything to stick. So this ...

It's time for today's Eurovision spotlight, focusing a light on one of the countries taking part in the annual Eurovision Song Contest being held this year in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up on the rest of the series so far by clicking here . And now we go on to a country that was part of one that split up shortly after it won... The former Yugoslav republic of Croatia have had some bad luck in the event as of late, only qualifying for the finals four times in their last nine tries with another two taking off it completely. Last year one of the country's biggest stars, Franka, surprised a lot of people (including myself) when she missed out with her powerful ballad " Crazy ", which was in a tough semi-final but still ended up a mediocre 17th. Can they do better this time out? Croatia - "The Dream" from Roko In this year's national finals, a young newcomer from the coastal city of Split took the prize instead; Roko Blažević, another former...

It's time again for my daily Eurovision spotlight leading on to this year's Eurovision Song Contest being held in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up on the whole series so far by clicking here . And now we go on to the country that gave what I feel is the best Eurovision song of all time... For the amount of years that Austria has been taking part in the competition, they have had a really spotty record of late. Besides that win in 2014, which I will get to later, the country had been in a sort of slump, either making the bottom of the finals if not qualifying at all. But last year Cesár Sampson turned that around with his soulful pop through a sonically Hozier homage of " Nobody But You ", which actually won the finals jury vote but came in third overall due to a lackluster televote result. With a winning template that could be improved on, and no national finals to worry about a left-field entry, would the central European nation find victory again? Austri...

As I run down the lineup of the second semi-final's in this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, it's time again for today's Eurovision spotlight, focusing on the individual countries and singer performing there. You can check out the rest of the series so far by clicking here . This time out we come to the country with the second-best number of wins at six, and who has hosted the event six time as well... Last year Sweden was trying to continue their winning average of 13 top ten finishes since 2000. With the ultra-smooth dance-pop of "Dance You Off" by Benjamin Ingrosso, the country wound up in seventh place, with surprisingly low results from the televate. As much as I love me some Scandi-pop, I felt this song too lifeless and calculated... This year, the country's national selection program, Melodifestivalen , chose yet another male dance-pop singer to represent Sweden. Could this one be different than the last six guys they've se...

I'm rolling through the second semi-finals running order in my Eurovision spotlight, focusing on the countries and artists taking part in this year's Eurovision Song Contest being held in Tel Aviv, Israel next month. You can catch up on the rest of the series so far by clicking here . And now we come to the first Scandinavian country to win the even back in the 1960s... Last year Denmark brought the "Eurovision" to Eurovision with their viking epic "Higher Ground" by singer Rasmussen. With a live performance that wowed the audience, he ended up in ninth place with a huge chunk of the televote (5th place there)... It had everything we wanted in a "Eurovision" song, costumes, harmonies, characters, and flags! So when I started watching this year's national final in the country, called Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2019 , I was hoping for something that would give me that sense of excitement. And I did. And it didn't win. Out of ten entri...

It's time again for today's Eurovision spotlight, focusing on the countries and singers taking part in the annual Eurovision Song Contest this year being held in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up with the series posts so far by clicking here . And now we come to a country that two years ago was so close to entering that their song was on the official CD soundtrack, but couldn't foot the bill... Yes, in 2016, Romania had owed dues from the event, and were effectively banned from competing, even though what would've gone, "Moment Of Silence" from Ovidiu Anton, made it to the promotion CD of the event. They've since paid up, and have been back in each year, but last year's " Goodbye " from the rock group The Humans just missed qualifying for the finals, placing 11th in their semi-final, a shocker for a country who has made it each year since the semi-finals were in place in 2004. And for me as well, being one of my favorites going in, and ...

I'm back with today's Eurovision spotlight, focusing on the countries and artists taking part in the annual Eurovision Song Contest being held this year in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up on the rest of the series so far by clicking here . And now, one of the newer countries in the competition... Out of the three Baltic countries that were once part of the Soviet Union - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - Latvia was the one country that started strong but has really underperformed recently. They have failed to qualify for the finals in the last two years, and in the last ten years only made the big show twice. Last year, jazzy singer Laura Rizzotto came in 12th with her respectable but straightforward song "Funny Girl", which was lost in the very competitive second semi, which threw powerhouses like Russia, Romania, and Poland under the bus. This year, they bring another intimate song of love and obsession. Can they do better on the second try? Latvia - ...

Hey folks, it's time for today's Eurovision spotlight, covering the countries and artists that will be participating in this year's Eurovision Song Contest being held next month in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up with the rest of the series so far by clicking here . And now, on to the country who won it first... The alpine country of Switzerland, smack dab in the middle of Europe, has been a mainstay in the contest, only missing out four years (when rules had lower-scoring countries unable to compete the following year, stupid rule, glad it's gone). Anyhoo , the country has not had much luck lately, only qualifying for the finals twice in the last fourteen years (and even then, not reaching the top ten). Last year the pleasant but forgettable rock of ZiBBZ placed 13th in the semi final with " Stones ". Perhaps importing in an act from Los Angeles (albeit of Swiss-born siblings) diluted the faithfulness to the contest, and while it wasn't horrid, i...

I'm heading through the second semi-finals of this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv , Israel, and today I make it to the country I had as my #1 favorite last year. You can check out the rest of the series so far by clicking here . And on we go... And now I come with the former Soviet Republic of Moldova, who have been doing their best in the last couple of years. Along with the triumphant return of "epic sax guy" in Sunstroke Project in 2017, last year the country surprised most everyone (including myself) with their act DoReDos, who used a simply cheap stage prop to tell a story and give life to a song that ended up in the top ten, "My Lucky Day". Here's the video that split screens the live performance with the rehearsal behind the prop doors. Mind you, they may not have been perfect in their vocals, but in pure entertainment value this was a showstopper... So the last two years they've had top ten success with quirky but entert...

I'm rolling through the second semi-finals in my spotlights on the countries and artists taking part in this year's Eurovision Song Contest being held next month in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up on all the posts in the series so far by clicking here in case you missed anything. And on we go... We now come to Ireland, who at one time were the powerhouses of the competition, still claiming the record of amount of wins in Eurovision with seven, including three years in a row. But since the new millenium their record has been really spotty, with no top-3 finishes since 1997 but a pair of last-place entries and semi-final non-qualifiers. After four of the latter, singer Ryan O'Shaughnessy brought Ireland back to the finals with the absolutely sublime " Together ", which was one of my favorites last year. The love song, adorned with a music video and event staging that featured a male same-sex couple, grabbed the hearts of many without being cheesy or stunti...