2023 NF Review & Preview: February, Week 3

So I'm doing a little new series called Review & Preview, where I'll look at the national finals that happened the week gone by, and also check out the national finals that will take place the next week. To be clear, this will NOT replace What We Know So Far; this blog series will not get updated once released, nor does it concern itself with internal selections. It will talk about televised national finals, and ONLY televised national finals. It will end on the week of the Melodifestivalen grand final, and possibly return next year if I can be bothered.

Also if the title is a bit confusing: we're reviewing week 2, and previewing week 3. So let's get into the week 2 review, in alphabetical order.

Review

Croatia

The Croatian national final took place on the 11th, having been hosted by Duško Ćurlić, Mario Lipovšek Battifiaca and Marko Tolja. 18 acts competed, with big favourite Harmonija Disonance being placed at the final spot in the running order.

Another favourite however was Let 3, with their song "Mama ŠČ". After what many fans perceived to be a weak performance from Harmonija Disonance, Let 3 swept both the Croatian televote and jury with their standout interpretation of their song, and will now represent Croatia in Liverpool.

Czech Republic => Czechia

As mentioned last week, even though the national final physically took place on the 30th of January, the voting was opened for a week afterwards. And the results were announced on the 7th at 19:00 CET in what looks like a school hall, with the host Adam Misik not being entirely sure how the presentation would go. In the end, despite a Ukrainian furore relating to the member of the group from Russia, Vesna came out victorious in both the Czech and international vote, garnering over 10000 points, and 6000 more than the runner-up, Pam Rabbit.

Vesna will now represent the Czech Republic in Eurovision 2023, although there were worries that they would be disqualified due to perceived political content. It also took the official Eurovision Twitter account 3 days to announce that they would be representing the Czech Republic, and to update the participants list on the Eurovision.tv website. It turns out that this was because the Czech Republic was rebranding as Czechia, meaning Vesna will be the first-ever representative of Czechia, while We Are Domi were the last representative of the Czech Republic.

Czechia start out as a strong favourite, being placed in the second half of the first semi-final and with My Sister's Crown starting out at 5th in the odds.

Denmark

Denmark had their national final, DMGP, on the 11th, in the city of Næstved. 8 acts competed, and Nicklas Sonne with "Freedom", Micky Skeel with "Glansbillede" and Reiley with "Breaking Your Heart" were the three most voted, which entered the superfinal.

Ultimately, Reiley came out on top, winning the Danish national selection. Reiley, who is actually of Faroese origin, will now represent Denmark in Liverpool.

Estonia

Estonia had the final of their national final, Eesti Laul, on the 11th, in the Tondiraba Ice Hall. 12 acts competed, and three of them entered the superfinal, which were Alika with "Bridges", Ollie with "Venom", and Bedwetters with "Monsters". A televote-only voting round was then opened, and Alika ultimately received the most votes. Alika, having won the international jury vote earlier, will now represent Estonia in Eurovision 2023.

Latvia

Latvia had its final of Supernova on the 11th, and 10 acts competed to represent Latvia in Eurovision 2023. It appeared that Markus Riva, Patrisha and Sudden Lights were favourites among the Latvian public, and sure enough, Sudden Lights won the national final. They will now compete in Liverpool, representing Latvia with the first song since *2004* with any substantial amount of Latvian-language lyrics in Eurovision, named "Aijā". (For any music nerds like myself: I've been told the verses in Aijā are in a 5/4 time signature.)

Lithuania

Lithuania had their second semi-final on the 11th, in which 5 more acts qualified from the 10. The qualifiers include Beatrich with "Like A Movie", who received 12 points from the jury and 8 points from the televote; as well as Paulina Paukštaitytė, Moon Bee, Monika Linkytė, and Mario June. Fan favourite Gebrasy was eliminated.

Guest jurors for this heat included reigning PIN winner Monika Liu, Vaidotas from previous PIN winner The Roop, as well as Duncan Laurence.

Italy

Italy had their de facto national final, Festival Di Sanremo (or Sanremo for short), throughout the whole third week of February. It started on the 7th, and concluded on the 11th.

The first night took place on the 7th. Highlights include Blanco (from Mahmood and Blanco) performing his own songs and smashing the staging when the in-ears stopped working; as well as Marco Mengoni, Elodie, and Coma_Cose topping the press poll for their songs.

The second night took place on the 9th, and Black Eyed Peas performed as a guest, while Colapesce Dimartino, Madame and Tananai were revealed as the demoscopic jury favourites of the night.

On the third night, the televote casted their vote, and the combined results revealed that the overall top 5 favourites were Marco Mengoni, Ultimo, Mr. Rain, Lazza and Tananai. Special guests that performed on the third night included Maneskin, Sangiovanni, Guè, Massimo Ranieri, Rocío Muñoz Morales, and Annalisa.

The final night was hosted by Amadeus, Gianni Morandi and Chiara Ferragni. As many had anticipated, the ultimate winner, who had basically already won every single poll leading up to the final show, was Marco Mengoni, who of course represented Italy in 2013 with the song "L'Essenziale". However, there were no female singers in the 5-artist superfinal, which Mengoni actually alluded to in his winning speech, and implied that it was a shame. Regardless, it seems apparent that he will go to Eurovision again 10 years on, with his new ballad "Due Vite".

Malta

Malta returns to their national final named MESC (quite literally Malta Eurovision Song Contest), known to many as possibly the most ad-filled national final ever, and containing too many songs which are evidently not cut out for Eurovision.

This year was no exception, as TVM introduced quarterfinals for the 40 participants, which would soon become 39. Aidan with the song "Regina" was disqualified, as he had reportedly repeatedly broken an MESC regulation relating to excessive self-advertisement. It was also rather confusing that the voting did not take place during said quarterfinals, but rather all started on the 3rd this month and ended a few days later.

Nonetheless, the semi-final took place on the 9th, where 8 participants were eliminated, while the final took place 2 days later. Bizarrely, Aidan performed as an interval act after all the actual participants had finished their performances, despite having taken legal action against TVM just a few weeks earlier. Emma Muscat also performed as an interval act.

The ultimate winner was The Busker, winning the televote by a landslide and getting joint second in the jury, with their song "Dance (Our Own Party)". Although as previously mentioned, we do not yet know for sure whether the winner will actually bring their MESC song to Eurovision, as we have seen Emma Muscat last year (as well as several other Maltese representatives) completely change their song between MESC and Eurovision.

Romania

Romania returns to their national final Selecția Națională, which took place on the 11th. The show was hosted by Laurențiu Niculescu and Ilinca Băcilă, the latter of which represented Romania in Eurovision 2017, and was the most recent pre-WRS qualifier with "Yodel It". Niculescu was the main host, while Băcilă was the green room host. Mihai Trăistariu, who represented Romania in 2006, was the interval act, and he also gave comments after every performance.

12 participants competed for the chance to represent Romania in Eurovision 2023, and the victor was Theodor Andrei with a very unique performance of his song "D.G.T (off and on)", determined by a public-voting-only system. Andrei came almost 400 points higher than the runner-up, Andreea D Folclor Orchestra, winning with more than 5200 points. Initial fan favourite Aledaida with "Bla Bla Bla" only came 4th.

Sweden

Sweden continued their search for their next representative with another heat of Melodifestivalen, this time in Linköping as part of the nationwide tour. This heat featured Wiktoria, Eden, Uje Brandelius, Panetoz, Tennessee Tears, Maria Sur and Theoz, the latter of which already participated in Melodifestivalen 2022 with "Som Du Vill".

Ultimately, the two artists that went direkt till final were Maria Sur and Panetoz, while Theoz and Tennessee Tears went to the semi-final. Wiktoria (despite her popularity), Uje Brandelius, and Eden did not get enough points to qualify for the semi-final.

It was reported that interest in Melodifestivalen is experiencing a slump, as the first heat received the lowest viewing figures in over a decade.

Preview

We're past the big Super Saturday now, but we still have a number of countries which are yet to select their entry for Eurovision. It's a pretty quiet week, but regardless here's what you need to know for week 3 of February:

Poland

Although the Polish national final does not take place until the 26th, the participants will be announced on the 15th.

Iceland

The Icelandic selection Söngvakeppnin starts on the 18th, with the first semi-final taking place that day. The artists and songs were revealed earlier on the 28th of January.

Lithuania

The final of Pabandom Iš Naujo takes place on the 18th, with 10 acts competing to represent Lithuania in Liverpool. Initial Lithuanian public favourites include Rūta Mur and Beatrich, both of which received 12 points from the public AND jury in the initial 2 heats, but neither of which replicated that feat in the semi-finals.

Sweden

The third heat for Melodifestivalen will also take place on the 18th, with Paul Rey, Casanovas, Melanie Wehbe, Nordman, Laurell, Ida-Lova, and Marcus & Martinus taking part in this heat taking place in Lidköping.

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So that's a round-up of the national finals that happened this week, and the national finals that will happen next week! Do let me know what you think of these national finals. Here's the blog post in video form:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIDEWeRXNz4