Another year has come and gone and here we are midway through December. Utter madness! This does mean that all things Eurovision are just around the corner and quite frankly, there is a lot to talk about! Lets do a quick round-up of some of the major goings on with my brief thoughts (in-depth thoughts will be linked in future posts).
Junior Eurovision 2022
First of all, it goes without saying that I want to wish France’s Lissandro a massive congratulations on winning the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Yerevan. His song ‘Oh Maman’ gathered an impressive 203 points (winning the jury vote) and hopefully setting up an amazing career for him. Junior Eurovision has been a rather successful spin-off for the contest seeing many former contestants and winner’s go on to do the adult contest, so who knows what lies ahead!
ESC250
Voting in songfestival.be’s Eurovision 250 has closed and the results will be revealed as a count down to the New Year. Can Kalush Orchestra push Loreen off her throne this year? I think it is somewhat unlikely but surely she can’t win forever and ever…. I’d be shocked if Chanel doesn’t capitalise on several Spanish eurofans’ enthusiasm to the poll, so I’m expecting at least some shake around at the top.
Vidbir
Speaking of Kalush Orchestra, Ukraine will be seeking their next Eurovision heroes and the Vidbir song selection is today. All eleven competing songs have been released, so why not have a listen before the contest? As always the line-up is strong but will it result in another Eurovision win for Ukraine? Only time will tell.
Eesti Laul
If eleven songs is not enough for you, don’t worry Estonia also have us covered. The twenty Eesti Laul songs are out too! Between the two selections there really is something for everyone. For me, I know I will have a fair few of these tunes on my playlist once the festive season is over and Mariah Carey once again goes off replay.
New Year, New Rules
Of course the biggest news this year is that of the changes to voting regulations. We are getting a rest of the world vote for the first time, with that a new online voting set-up and the abolition of the juries in semi-finals. It sounds so dramatic and yet I don’t think it really is. Hmm. Can’t wait to ramble on this one but there is a lot of data and context to dive into.
And with that welcome back to ESC Essence. I know the site hasn’t been that active but thanks for returning and if you are new, thanks for reading a random Scot’s opinions! Either way this site is for sharing and enjoying music so feel free to disagree, express your own thoughts and just dive deeper into this “silly little contest” with me. I have a feeling we are in for a wild ride this year (OK we always are).