Albania’s national final is over, there is not much left of 2019 and we’ll have a quite slow start of 2020, since most songs will first be selected in February(Yeah, I know, the Czechs will select in January, but they scrapped their national final, which is what most of us probably looked forward to watch). Anyhow, let’s take a fast …

Disclaimer: This editorial is written from the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of ESC United, its staff or anyone associated with Eurovision. Last weekend, the national final of Albania, the long-running Festivali i Këngës, took place to decide the Albanian selection for Rotterdam. It was the young, impressive vocalist Arilena Ara who wowed the …

SURPRISE! You’d think you wouldn’t hear from me this soon, but ho-ho-ho have I got a treat for you. It’s the country with the best track record in the past decade. It’s the country that took Eurovision by storm in the first five years. It’s one of merely two countries to have a flawless qualification record. It’s the country furthest …

For fans hoping that the film adaptation of the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Cats” would capture the spirit of the Broadway phenomenon and be a success, their hopes were crushed as “Cats” opened to only $6.5 million at the U.S. box office. On paper, a film adaptation of the iconic fourth longest running show on Broadway starring top shelf …

Things are gearing up in the Balkans. Croatian broadcaster, HRT, has published the list of Dora participants and Serbian broadcaster, RTS, has published new info regarding Beovizija. As we already know, Dora 2020 will be held in Opatija again on February 29th. 16 acts will take the stage and there are also four back-ups, just in case. Among them was …

With their selection freshly unveiled, it is about time to discuss one of my all-time favourite countries. Note that I didn’t say “Eurovision countries”. Let us dive in, in medias res, because this Eurovision nation is one you can’t spell without the letters L – O – V – E : SLOVENIA. But like, always, the usual disclaimer: NOTE – …

You can always count on Albania to put you into a Christmas spirit, cause it just ain’t a real Christmas without FiKmas. Once again, Albania delivered and the 2020 season has finally started for real. Festivali i Këngës 58 Tonight, the very first national final took place, with the very first winner of a national selection, and with the very …

In tonight’s Georgian Idol semi-final Tornike Kipiani won for the fifth consecutive week, solidifying his position as the artist to beat at the grand final to be held on New Year’s Eve. Tonight’s tour theme was duets featuring Georgian Idol’s finalists from last year and Georgia’s Junior Eurovision 2017 representative Grigol Kipshidze. Tornike deployed his duet partner, last year’s runner-up …

On Friday evening, the second live show of the Albanian music gala, Festivali i Këngës has been aired. Festivali, or FiK for short is at its 58th edition and has been the medium through which Albanian broadcaster RTSH have been selecting their Eurovision entries. It is a lot more than just a national selection show, it is a end-of-year festival …

Last week, we asked #YOU to tell us who your favourite act in this year’s Albanian national selection, Festivali i Këngës, was. We now know who it is! And, well, it was a landslide. With a whopping 43% of the vote from all twenty acts, it is Elvana Gjata that our readers and viewers voted for as the best Albanian …