Eurovision 2023: What We Know So Far (As Of December 2022)

As usual, I'll first go through the general facts, and then go into each country and what news, if any, I could find regarding them. Most of the irrelevant details have been truncated, and you can read about them on my previous blogs. We're really starting to get into Eurovision season now, as we're getting our first national final songs this month. So come on in!

Eurovision 2023

Host Country: United Kingdom

The EBU has confirmed that Ukraine, the winner of Eurovision 2022, cannot fulfil required safety standards for hosting the contest, thus the runner-up, being the United Kingdom, will be hosting the contest instead, with the BBC taking over most of the hosting operations and UA:PBC, the Ukrainian broadcaster, will work with the BBC to implement Ukrainian elements in the live show.

On 13/10, the BBC and UA:PBC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. It stipulates that they will cooperate on: 1. design and music, 2. use of Ukrainian locations in postcards and show programming, 3. use of Ukrainian cultural elements, and 4. selection of hosts. That second point would strongly imply that green screen technology will once again be used for 2023 postcards, but there is yet to be confirmation of this.

Host City: Liverpool (Liverpool Arena / M&S Bank Arena)

On 7/10, Liverpool was announced as the host city for the 2023 contest, beating out favourites such as Glasgow and Manchester. The arena will be the M&S Bank Arena, which for Eurovision purposes will simply be known as the Liverpool Arena. It has a capacity of about 11000, and is situated right next to the river Mersey.

EuroClub Location: Camp and Furnace

The Baltic Triangle location is very close to the arena, and is also located on the riverfront. The club will take place between the 5th and 13th of May. It will be hosted by OGAE, and tickets for the club (both day passes and week passes) will be available in the New Year. A pre-general public allocation will also be available for OGAE members.

Hosts: Timur Mirošnyčenko, Maša Éfrosinina + 2 British hosts?

Timur is the resident Ukrainian commentator for UA:PBC, and co-host of JESC2009, JESC2013, ESC2017, and most recently the Ukrainian selection for Junior Eurovision 2022. Éfrosinina is a Ukrainian TV host, and was one of the co-hosts of Kyiv 2005. On the 8th this month, MUZVAR reported that 2 pairs of presenters were planned - one Ukrainian, one British - making up 4 total presenters, and that the Ukrainian pair, according to insiders, would consist of Mirošnyčenko and Éfrosinina. The pair also jointly hosted Vidbir, the Ukrainian national selection, for 2022.

Many have floated Graham Norton, the resident BBC Eurovision commentator, but he said on BBC Breakfast that he does not yet know the role he will fill in the upcoming contest, but he also does not want to give up commentating.

Of course the BBC semi-final commentators, Rylan and Scott Mills are also possible. And/or other big British TV presenters, such as Davina McCall. But nothing concrete at this stage for the British names.

Show Dates: 9 May (SF1), 11 May (SF2), 13 May (Grand Final)

First odd-number dates Eurovision since 2017, which incidentally was hosted on the exact same days as 2023.

Rule Changes: none specifically

Controversially, backing vocals are still permitted to be put on the backing track rather than having live singers provide said vocals, although the latter is still permitted as always. Lead vocals must still be sung live, as in the previous two contests. That said, the EBU has this time specified that it is forbidden to lip sync to vocals.

Tickets: not available yet

Unlikely to be available by the end of 2022, but may be earlier than April 2023 as last year's ticket rollout was hampered due to Covid considerations. Not only is the M&S Bank Arena on the smaller side in terms of recent Eurovision arenas, but there are also rumours of prioritizing tickets and seats for Ukrainians.

It was also confirmed by an SVT official that participation fees for Eurovision have gone up, which may lead to subsequent ticket price increases. All these combined may make the procurement of tickets particularly difficult this year.

Budget: ~12 million pounds (or just under 14 million euros)

Of which £2 million come from Liverpool City Council, and the rest are covered by the BBC, the EBU and the British government.

Administrative Directors: Rachel Ashdown (Lead Commissioner), Martin Green CBE (Managing Director), Andrew Cartmell (Executive Producer, head of BBC Studios), Lee Smithurst (Head of Show), Twan van de Nieuwehuizen (Head of Contest), James O'Brien (Executive in Charge of Production); Nikki Parsons, Richard Valentine and Ollie Bartlett (Multi Camera Directors), Dan Shipton (Lead Creative Director), Kojo Samuel (Music Director), Julio Himede (Set Designer), Robert Edwards (Head of Sound), Tim Routledge (Lighting Designer)

On the 28th of September, Ashdown was appointed as Lead Commissioner of the Eurovision Song Contest by the BBC. She was briefly the HOD for the UK and formerly a member of the Reference Group, and she will "work with a variety of Product Companies to work on developing new content and the BBC’s hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023".

The BBC sought a production company to deliver the coverage of the Insignia Handover and Allocation Draw. Submissions closed at 7pm UK time on 29/9.

On 17/10, Green was announced as the Managing Director of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. He was, among other things, the Chief Creative Officer of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and CCO of Unboxed 2022; CEO of Hull UK City of Culture in 2017; and Head of Ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics in London. He will lead the team responsible for overseeing all aspects of Eurovision 2023.

Andrew Cartmell was also appointed the Executive Producer of the show. This post is usually given to the host country's head of delegation, which is the case for Cartmell. He will head the BBC Studio team, and will take overall responsibility for the semi-finals and grand final. He has also worked on a number of other projects for BBC Studios, such as the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.

Lee Smithurst has been appointed Head of Show for Eurovision 2023. He will be responsible for editorial content and "take the creative lead" for the three live shows. Smithurst was assistant HOD in Turin, and will be the UK HOD for Junior Eurovision in Yerevan. He played a vital role in the "revival" of the UK at Eurovision, as much of the discussions between the BBC and TaP Music as well as Parlophone, Sam Ryder's label, was conducted by him and a few colleagues, as revealed in an exclusive interview with the Euro Trip podcast.

Twan van de Nieuwehuizen returns as the Head of Contest for 2023, after fulfilling that role in 2021 and 2022. He will have specific responsibility working with the national delegations to deliver their creative on-stage ambitions. He was also chiefly responsible for putting together the running order for both the grand final and the semi-finals, and will most likely reprise that role this year.

James O'Brien, not to be confused with the LBC political commentator, has worked on large events such as the 2012 London Olympics and the 2022 Commonwealth Games. His team will be responsible for the technical delivery for the live shows as well as the broadcast, and all other technical elements within the venue.

In addition, several more directors were also announced on the 20th. Especially of note are Dan Shipton and Julio Himede, the former of which staged Sam Ryder and Freya Skye's performances in Turin and Yerevan respectively; while the latter has created several stages for the EMAs and VMAs as well as the stage for the inaugural edition of the American Song Contest. Shipton will also be overseeing the flag parade and interval acts alongside German Nenov from UA:PBC. Robert Edwards was also the Sound Director in Lisbon in 2018.

The main UA:PBC representatives include the aforementioned German Nenov, Tetiana Semenova and Oksana Skybinśka (Ukrainian head of delegation).

Pre-parties:

• Barcelona Eurovision Party (23rd - 25th March, Sant Jordi Club, Barcelona, Spain)

Featuring names such as Barei, Beth, Dami Im, Destiny, Efendi, Poli Genova, Ronela Hajati, Suzy and WRS.

• Polish Eurovision Party (1st April, TBA, Warsaw, Poland)

To be hosted by Konrad Zemlik, among others. Will feature several 2023 acts.

• PrePartyES (7th - 8th April, Sala La Riviera, Madrid, Spain)

50 acts have been promised and around 16 hours of concerts. Confirmed names so far include Joker Out.

• Eurovision in Concert (15th April, AFAS Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands)

No exact lineup yet, but as per tradition a mix of old Eurovision acts and upcoming 2023 acts are expected, although the Dutch 2023 act has already been confirmed. To be hosted by Cornald Maas and Hila Noorzai.

• London Eurovision Party (16th April, TBA, London, United Kingdom)

Similarly, little is known as of now but Wiwibloggs will provide live coverage of the event as usual.

Additional Events: cultural festival, Douze Points!

Culture Liverpool has made a call for artists to take part in this festival, which will showcase UK and Ukrainian music as well as Ukrainian culture. Support will be provided to match a British artist with a Ukrainian artist.

"Douze Points!" is a show taking place on the 12th of May at 7:30pm UK time where the Philharmonic Orchestra Liverpool will perform a series of Eurovision hits, ranging from ABBA's Waterloo to Kalush Orchestra's Stefania. Tickets to attend the performance from the orchestra will range from £35 to £75. In addition to the ticket, each admission comes with a complimentary glass of champagne. The show will be hosted by Owain Wyn Evans.

Non-participating Countries: Andorra, Belarus, Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Slovakia

You can read their reasoning on the Wikipedia page. It largely revolves around disinterest and/or financial inability.

I should also point out though that during a press conference on 5/10, Khabar Agency (Kazakh EBU broadcaster) officials said that there is "every chance" that they can participate in Eurovision next year, and that whether they debut will highly depend on their result at Junior Eurovision 2022. But we'll have to see what happens.

Also Enisa (New York, American Song Contest 2022) tweets that she was allegedly supposed to represent Montenegro in Eurovision 2023, but the broadcaster could not find a way to finance it. Update: a day later, she tweets that "maybe there's a chance". At this late stage I'm fairly certain only San Marino is still open. She also tweeted later on that her song that was meant for Montenegro 2023 was named "OLÈ", and released the full song on the 8th this month.

Turkish politicians are also calling for the return of Turkey to Eurovision. Upon the recent death of longtime Turkish Eurovision commentator, Bülend Özveren, some politicians have called for Turkey to return to Eurovision. However, this is unlikely to materialize as most of these politicians are of the opposition party, and they have in fact made a pledge to return Turkey to Eurovision should they be elected into office.

In an interview with the Euro Trip podcast, Fazla (Bosnia and Herzegovina 1993) says that he, now as a politician (a senior advisor to the minister of defence to be exact), will be working to get BiH back into Eurovision. In particular, he pledges that if his party is elected into government, he will strongly deal with the funding shortfalls caused by the ethnic Croat and Serb parties, which is what caused Bosnia's absence from the contest since 2016. This could be dealt with, in his words, as quickly as 2024.

Interestingly, the prime minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, who is also the Minister for Communications and Media, has begun communications with RTL, the Luxembourgish national broadcaster, as well as the Council of Luxembourg, regarding potentially returning to the contest in 2024; and in fact the Luxembourgish government has created a special team to focus on returning the country to the contest. Other than Morocco, Luxembourg remains the only previous participant which has not made any appearance at the contest in the 21st century. But this could very well change in 2024.

Participating Countries: 37 countries, which is the lowest number of participants since 2014 which also had 37, as did 2006. The previous lowest number before that was 2004, with 36 participating countries. For 2022, the 37 countries are as follows:

• Albania

Returned to Festivali I Këngës for their selection, specifically the 61st edition. The show took place from the 19th to the 22nd of December. It was hosted by Arbana Osmani. During the show, Kalush Orchestra and (what appeared to be a very ill) Gala Dragot from the Belgian selection performed as interval acts. Gala Dragot's father, Robert Aliaj, is a famous artist in Albania, while Gala Dragot (real name Gala Aliaj) was born in Brussels and appears not to speak much Albanian.

Crucially, there were two winners: one being the jury-picked winner, where the top 3 was announced one by one as usual; but there was now also a public winner, which was determined by SMS voting during the festival. The Albanian representative to Eurovision would be the public winner, rather than the jury winner. In other words, as far as Eurovision is concerned, FIK is now 100% televote.

On 27/10, RTSH quietly revealed the 26-long participant list. We had the return of Rezarta Smaja, Evi Reçi, Gjergj Kaçinari, Urban Band, as well as Kastro Zizo (as part of 2 Farm) from FIK60. One big name was Elsa Lila, while Fifi was another hyped name that some speculated could win the televote.

The songs were premiered on the first two nights of the festival. Although Fifi remained a favourite to win the public vote, her song "Stop" was criticized by some members of the public as being of low quality. Another unexpected favourite has sprung up, which is Albina Dhe Familja Kelmendi with the song "Duje". This song has received the most views on the RTSH Youtube channel out of all the tracks so far, with Fifi's Stop being in second place.

The festival concluded on the 22nd, and sure enough, Duje won the public vote, especially being propped up by the Kosovar public as Albina Kelmendi (and her family of course) is from Kosovo. It should be noted that both Albanians and Kosovans were able to vote, through two separate phone numbers. Elsa Lila meanwhile won the jury vote, becoming a 3-time winner of the festival.

Nonetheless, Albina & Familja Kelmendi will now be representing Albania in Liverpool, becoming the third Kosovan representative of Albania after Rona Nishliu (2012) and Lindita (2017). It is not known whether the song will undergo a revamp, although it has been confirmed that there will not be any English lyric additions.

• Armenia

No selection details nor rumoured names yet.

• Australia

It was announced on 14/11 that Australia Decides will not be returning for a fourth edition on the Gold Coast. Instead, an internal selection will be held. So far, publicly interested artists include Jaguar Jonze, Dami Im, Sheppard and Voyager.

• Austria

On the 3rd this month, Kleine Zeitung reported on more details regarding the selection for Austria. Once again there will be an internal selection, and 15 acts have been selected. Crucially, these 15 acts were now required to attend a live casting session, which was held on the last weekend of October. The recordings of those castings were then sent to a jury of around 25 Austrian and international Eurovision experts, as well as Eurovision fan clubs in a number of countries.

Once feedback has been received from those parties, ORF will then find out the favourites, and the ORF program director, the entertainment director and his editors will then choose the Austrian representative by "early 2023".

• Azerbaijan

Earlier there were concerns that they would withdraw, owing to instability on the Armenia situation and "poor results", but this was later refuted by an official from Ictimai, the Azerbaijani broadcaster. Dihaj (Azerbaijan 2017, "Skeletons") has said that she would be willing to write a song if Ictimai made an offer.

On the 7th, Isa Melikov, the Azerbaijani head of delegation, resigned from his post. He was replaced by Vasif Mammadov, Deputy Director-general of İctimai TV. Just a day later, İTV officially opened calls for singers and/or composers to apply to represent Azerbaijan in Eurovision 2023, and artists must also submit a short autobiography. This is the first time in some years where there has been more than a call for songs - this provides a chance for self-written songs to be submitted. Submissions close on the 31st this month.

On the 11th, Eldar Gasimov, part of the winning duo in 2011, joined the Azerbaijani delegation as the official music producer. Interested names include Mamagama and Rauf Kingsley.

• Belgium

It's VRT's turn this year. Returning to their national final Eurosong for the first time since 2016. The host is set to be Peter van De Veire, the VRT commentator on Eurovision as well as (co-)host of previous Eurosongs.

On 8/11, the 7 artists participating in Eurosong 2023 were officially revealed. Among them were Loredana (Eurosong 2014) and The Starlings (Tom Dice (Belgium 2010) and Kato), and each artist will present two songs. The final will indeed be broadcast live on the 14th, but preliminary shows will be broadcast every day starting from the 9th, presumably pre-recorded.

Luka Cruysburghs (Belgium 2020, then-lead singer of Hooverphonic) also confirmed that she had in fat submitted an entry to VRT, however she was rejected because she had planned to play the song at her album release party in October. This planned Eurosong track was likely to have been "Lied To You", a collaboration between Luka and Andromedik.

On the 15th, snippets of the 14 songs were released. Initially it was proposed for the public to choose their preferred song for each artist to go to the final, however on the 20th VRT announced that the artist themselves would get to choose the track instead. Some fan favourites include "Ça M'ennuie Pas" by Chérine, "T'inquiète" by Gala Dragot and "Oceanside" by The Starlings.

So far no official song release date has been announced, but Chérine posted on TikTok that her two songs will be available on the 13th of January, one day before the final selection itself.

• Croatia

Confirmed participation, and opened submissions for Dora 2023, which closed on the 20th of November. Between 14-28 songs will be selected, and the national final will take place in February in the city of Opatija on the 11th of February. After the submissions closed, it was revealed that 196 songs had been received, a new record for Dora which saw 184 submissions arrive last year.

One possible name is Damir Kedžo, who had won Dora back in 2020 with his song Divlji Vjetre, and was due to represent Croatia before the contest was cancelled. On 20/11, he posted an Instagram story confirming that he has submitted a song for Dora 2023. Other reported names included Vlatka Pokos, Ibrica Jusić, Dražen Žanko, Željko Krušlin Kruška, Siniša Vuco, Daniel Popović (Yugoslavia 1983), and Igor Cukrov (Croatia 2009).

On the 9th this month, the 18 names in Dora 2023, plus the 4 reserves, were revealed alongside their song names and songwriters. Among which, sure enough, was Damir Kedžo. However, unlike 2020, his song this year is in English, rather than Croatian.

• Cyprus

It was announced on 17/10 that Andrew Lambrou will be representing Cyprus, much like Sandro in 2020, who was also not part of the Panik Records label, but struck a temporary deal for Eurovision.

Andrew Lambrou is an Australian singer with Cypriot ancestry. He lives and works in Sydney, and entered a song named "Electrify" into Australia Decides 2022. Ultimately, he ended up 7th out of 11 entries.

It is not known whether his song for Liverpool will be of a similar style to Electrify. However, it was revealed later that he went to Stockholm to record his track, and some of his songwriters include Jimmy Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson and Thomas Stengaard, all of which are co-authors of numerous Melodifestivalen entries, so it seems there will be a Swedish flavour(?) in the Cypriot entry for 2023. In an interview with CyBC, Lambrou reveals that the Cypriot entry will be released in January.

• Czech Republic

On 2/11, submissions were opened for the next edition of ESCZ, and closed on the 8th this month. And unlike previous editions this edition will feature only 3 candidates, as opposed to say 6 or 7 as had been usual. No date is known yet for the selection, but we do know that the winner will once again be decided by a combination of a professional jury, Czech televote and international televote. The three selected artists will perform their songs live, although whether that means a televised selection or live-on-tape is as yet unknown.

Some rumoured names include Vesna (with a song written by two members of We All Poop), 20 Minutes, Aiko, Annabelle, Elly, Iggy Mayerov, John Wolfhooker, Lenny, Maella, Marcell, Rodan, Sofie, The Silver Spoons and Tomáš Robin. We can also rule out Giudi because she is pregnant. Regardless, the 3 selected names are expected to be announced within a month of the submissions closure.

New rumours have emerged, claiming the lineup announcement to be around the 15th of January, and that John Wolfhooker may have already been selected with the song "Addictionary". The other two artists may consist of one newcomer and one returnee.

• Denmark

Confirmed participation. DR opened submissions for DMGP on the 8th of September, and closed on the 28th of October. The final of DMGP will take place on the 11th of February in the Arena Næstved in the city of Næstved. The hosts will be Tina Müller and Heino Hansen, the latter of which is from Næstved. Tickets will go on sale on the 18th. One possible name is Shaya Hansen, a Greek-Danish singer, who confirms that she has submitted a song to DR. On 12/11, Erik Stuve Hansen, the executive producer of DMGP posted on Facebook that the sorting of songs and artists has begun, and according to him it "bodes really well".

• Estonia

Confirmed participation. They will be returning to Eesti Laul for their selection. The two semi-finals will take place on the 12th and 14th of January respectively in the Viimsi Atrium, while the final will take place on the 11th of February in the Tondiraba Ice Hall. The quarter-finals will NOT return, as confirmed by Eesti Laul producer Tomi Rahula on ERR Radio 2. As such, the number of songs participating in Eesti Laul 2023 will be 20, as opposed to 40 this year. The hosts will be Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld, who also hosted together in 2021.

Submissions opened on the 13th of September, and closed on the 20th this month. ERR reports that 217 songs were received, of which 92 are in Estonian. On the 1st and 2nd this month, the 20 artists participating in Eesti Laul 2023 were revealed on Ringvaade, 10 per day. Notable returnees include Sissi (2021 spokesperson, Eesti Laul 2019 and 2021, daughter of Dave Benton (Estonia 2001)), as well as Elysa who had entered the superfinal last year with her song "Fire". Either way, the selected songs were revealed on the 2nd of December on a special ETV broadcast.

On 23/11, Ultima Thule withdrew from Eesti Laul, following the death of their lead vocalist Riho Sibul 3 days prior. Their partner, Wiiralt, will continue to sing the original intended entry, "Salalik" (Secretive).

Current favourites among fans include Alika, M Els, Ollie, and Sissi.

• Finland

Returning to Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu for their national final. Song submissions opened on the 1st of September, and closed on the 5th. No rumoured names yet. The host of the show will be Samu Haber, former frontman of Sunrise Avenue.

On 25/10, more news was revealed about UMK 2023. The show will be hosted on the 25th of February in Logomo in Turku, just like 2022, and there will be an after-party that goes on until 4am, just like 2022. There are seven finalists, just like 2022, and their songs will be revealed one-by-one on each weekday, just like 2022, from the 12th to the 20th of January. The full list of artists will be revealed on the 11th of January at 8am Eastern European Time.

These 7 finalists were selected from 363 submissions. The UMK head of jury says thaat expectations are very high after the success of last year. (I assume this refers to the success of the national final, not The Rasmus at Eurovision.) The head of jury also had this to say about the 7 entries: "The seven finalists include familiar faces and new, up-and-coming talents. We have, among others, the best dance song in UMK history sung by an unbelievably strong new singer, a song that just oozes sexuality by a well-known artist, a heartbreakingly beautiful ballad by one of Finland’s biggest export hopefuls, well-known and up-and-coming bands, and one of the strongest rap bangers in UMK history."

On the 19th, Iltalehti, a Finnish newspaper, reports a few possible names for UMK 2023, which include Robin Packalen (who expressed interest back in 2021), Portion Boys, Lxandra (who had already been rumoured the year prior) and Robin Peltonen.

• France

Confirmed participation. No rumoured names yet, but I saw a tweet from Igit (co-composer of Voila (France 2021), as well as Les Chansons D'Amour from CVQD 2022) who wonders whether he should write a song for the French national selection. Let's see if that goes anywhere. He might be involved in CVQD for the third year in a row, that is if CVQD will even continue given the radio silence from France Televisions. Fabien Randanne, a French journalist specializing in Eurovision, said recently in an interview on the Euro Trip podcast that he thinks CVQD will happen, although he has yet to find any hints anywhere. Rumoured names include Corine Rio and Liv del Estal.

On the 23rd, Alexandra Redde-Amiel, the French head of delegation, spoke to Sud Radio and revealed that she has been working on adult Eurovision in parallel with their junior proposal. She says that she has several "nice surprises" that she will announce "soon", and also says that in fact they (presumably the French delegation) want to *win* Eurovision, and that there are several hypotheses. The French Eurovision fan site L'Eurovision Au Quotidien speculates that an internal selection could be possible, instead of a national final.

• Georgia

For the first time since 2020, Georgia is set to return to selecting their act via a talent show, though this time the show is The Voice Georgia, as opposed to Georgian Idol for 2019 and 2020. Submissions opened on the 23rd of August and closed on the 20th of September.

The members of the judging panel on The Voice Georgia include Stephane Mgebrishvili ("We Don't Wanna Put In", Georgia 2009), Dato Evgenidze (Ranina judge), Sopo Toroshelidze (Eldrine, Georgia 2011), and Dato Porchhidze (The Voice coach 2012-14). The event will be hosted by Gvanca Daraselia. The blind auditions began on the 8th this month, and the show is set to last for 10 weeks, ending in the second week of February. For more details, Twitter user Kjet has been following the selection, and here is a thread of advanced applicants and their audition videos:

One of the successful participants was Iru Khechanovi, who was in fact one of the members of Candy (Georgia JESC2011), and even shared a moment with one of the judges singing a part from Candy Music. The auditions took place over 4 shows, and the successful participants will now take part respectively in the remaining 6 shows to find out the ultimate winner.

• Germany

According to an article from ESC kompakt on 10/10, "several independent sources" have apparently stated that there will be 8-12 songs this time, up from 6 this year. It will also be broadcasted at prime time on ARD. Peter Urban will also remain as the German commentator for NDR for 2023.

On 9/11, more details about the German selection were revealed. Firstly, the selection will be named "Unser Lied Für Liverpool". The number of acts is not known yet according to eurovision.de. The decision of who makes the selection will be made by industry experts, the German delegation, ARD pop radio stations, among others. NDR will also approach artists themselves. There will also be a TikTok wildcard, where the most voted song on the platform complying with the rules will be entered into the selection. The selection is set for early March. Voting will once again involve a pre-show online vote and a televote during the show, although NDR has said that how exactly the online voting will take place is yet to be determined. The TikTok submissions ended on 28/11, as did the online submissions.

Currently, some of the favourites in the TikTok selection include "Heaven" by Betül Akmar, a musician with Turkish roots living in Berlin, Will Church with the song "Hold On", Paddy Gurdy with "Melodies Of Hope", Lonely Spring with "Misfit", From Fall to Spring with their metal song "Originalton", as well as Marie Celestine with the song "Traces In The Wind". Many of the entries are in English, but one German-language entry is named "Ich Will Dich Nicht Verlieren" (I don't want to lose you) by Senta. Susan (Germany JESC2020) and her sister also applied through TikTok. For those without TikTok, here are some of those names in a Twitter thread:

For the normal online song submission portal, some potential names there include Ikke Hüftgold, Leslie Clio (who was on the German ESC jury for 2015) and EES, a Namibian-German artist.

The number of songs in the national final will probably be between 8 to 10. It is not known which city will host the pre-selection, although Leipzig, Berlin, Cologne and Munich are in the running. Stefan Leidner from NDR also revealed that the online voting results will not be announced regional broadcaster by regional broadcaster, as was in the case in 2022, but instead put together in one bundle or even combined with the televote outright. It has also not been decided yet whether there will be an international jury.

• Greece

ERT returns to the internal selection for 2023. On the 26th of August, ERT opened submissions for selection, which closed on the 9th of October.

On an Instagram livestream, Amanda Tenfjord (with whom Evangelia recently released a new collab) said that she will do whatever she can to get Evangelia to Eurovision.

After submissions closed, ERT announced that they had received 106 songs, which is more than double that of last year, which was 43. According to Eurovisionfun and OGAE Greece, some names that submitted songs include: Jimmy Sion, Melissa Mantzoukis, Antonia Kaouri, Antigoni, Klavdia, Vasilis Kourtis, Aretha Kosmidou, Mike Connaris ft. Cynthia Verazie, Panagiotis Tsakalakos, Angeliki Vrana, Victor Vernicos, Evangelia, and Leon of Athens. Notably, Kalomira, who was also planning to submit songs last year, has also decided to not submit songs this year.

On the 2nd this month, the ERT president has announced that there will indeed be a public element to the selection. However, it will not be televised, nor open to everyone in Greece. ERT will make an open call for a committee of interested Greek citizens to go to the ERT Broadcasting House in Agia Paraskevi in Athens, listen to the nominated songs, and vote for their favourites. Just like in the new Eurovision system, the public will have a 50.6% vote share, while the professional jury will have 49.4%. This public committee will not contain any ERT employees, and the younger demographics will have greater representation. Registration opened on the 8th, and closed on the 10th, comprising 70 total demoscopic jury members. It is not known when the results of the selection will be released, nor by whom it will be announced.

On the 28th, the seven artists in the running to represent Greece in Eurovision 2023 were revealed, immediately after the demoscopic jury sat down to listen to and evaluate the songs. Those 7 acts are:

• Konstantina Iosifidou - “We Are Young”

• Melissa Mantzoukis - “Liar”

• Victor Vernikos - “What They Say”

• Monica - “I’m Proud”

• Leon of Athens - “Somewhere To Go”

• Klavdia - “Holy Water”

• Maria Maragou & Antonia Kaouri - “Shout Out”

Although, we do not yet know when exactly the artist announcement will be made, the unsuccessful songs may be released at any time once the successful candidate has been announced. If you're interested, here's an article with more information about the artists and their songs: https://eurovisionfun.com/en/2022/12/greece-the-7-artists-of-erts-shortlist-have-been-revealed/

Eurovisionfun also reports that the favourites among the demoscopic jury are Melissa Mantzoukis, Klavdia and Victor Vernikos, Leon of Athens seems to be in the middle, while the other three are less preferred. They also report that the artist announcement is expected in mid-January.

• Iceland

Returning to Söngvakeppnin for their national final. The semi-finals will take place on the 18th and 25th of February, while the final will take place on the 4th of March. Submissions closed on the 4th of October, and it was later revealed that 132 songs had been received. By January, the 10 artists taking part in the national final will be revealed.

• Ireland

Participation has been confirmed by RTÉ. On the 31st of September, they opened submissions for the next Eurosong, to be held once again on the Late Late Show. The selection will take place on the 3rd of February, and will most likely have 6 candidates.

Interested names include Wild Youth, a band based in Dublin, as well as Cruachan, an Irish folk metal band who confirmed that they have written and submitted a song to RTÉ.

Speaking to the Éirevision podcast, Michael Kealy, the Irish head of delegation, has confirmed that around 320-330 submissions were received, and unlike in 2022, the studio jury will no longer vote and instructed to be more honest about their comments on each of the acts, since one criticism of the show this year was that the studio jury were exaggerating their comments ("Adele could only dream of having that voice" etc) just to sound nice. Kealy also said that a standalone show separate from the Late Late Show has been brought up, and although he was not successful in achieving it for 2023, it is nonetheless on the RTÉ agenda.

On the 17th, Cruachan posts on Instagram that they were notified by Michael Kealy that their song named "The Blacksmith" had not been successfully selected, although the song had done well with the jury. This could imply that the song selection process has been completed, but little is known for certain.

• Israel

Noa Kirel was selected by KAN in July, and she officially confirmed participation in August. Her song is set to be a pop song, and a songwriting camp reportedly hosted by Kirel's managers is set to take place to create Kirel's song for Eurovision 2023, featuring Israeli songwriters that had previously worked with her.

Whether multiple songs will be composed resulting in an Eden Alene-style national final is unknown, as is the release date of Kirel's song(s).

In a recent interview with local media, Noa Kirel says that her song will have "an Israeli colour", which will be expressed either in the lyrics or production, and will bring ethnic, Mediterranean(??), and Israeli directions. Furthermore, the budget for the Israeli participation in 2023 will be set at 900,000 EUR, two-thirds of which will be covered by Kirel's team and the rest by the public broadcaster KAN. Finally, she reveals that she and her team will have artistic freedom in the selection of the song. However, a potential release date range is still unknown.

On the 23rd this month, Kirel gave an interview to Yedioth Ahronoth, in which she reveals that her song will mostly be in English, but also contain some Hebrew. Furthermore, she reveals to Channel 12 that there have actually been two songs recorded so far, one about love and the other about power. She describes them as "both very powerful but different". The ultimate decision on which proposal to bring to Liverpool will depend on officials at KAN, Doron Medalie (who recently joined the Israeli delegation and was a songwriter for Toy), and ultimately herself.

• Italy

Sanremo will continue as Italy's selection method for Eurovision 2023. The event will take place between the 7th and 11th of February. Amadeus remains as the main host, although he is joined by Gianni Morandi this year, and also Chiara Ferragni for the first and last nights. Francesca Fagnani will also be a co-host for one of the nights.

On the 4th, Amadeus announced the first 22 of the 28 contestants, the "big" names. Notable returnees include Elodie, Marco Mengoni, Tananai, Anna Oxa, Coma_Cose, Leo Gassmann, Madame, Colapesce Dimartino (Sanremo 2021 "Musica Leggerissima"), Levante and Giorgia. The songs themselves will not be premiered to the public until the shows happen, that is to say early February.

Music blog imusicfun also reported several details on some of the songs and their genres. Madame will be bringing a controversial song due to its title and theme, Ultimo will be singing an emotional ballad, and Paola & Chiara's song were written by Max Pezzali and Mauro Repetto. Dardust also produced Ariete's song. Furthermore, Amadeus revealed that I Cugini Di Campagna's song were in fact written by La Rappresentante Di Lista, who were a favourite in 2022.

All Music Italia also reports that Federica Abbate co-wrote the lyrics for the songs of Elodie, Paola & Chiara, and Mr. Rain.

On the 16th, the song titles were released. Notably, Madame's song was originally named "Puttana" (Bitch) but had to be renamed "Il Bene Nel Male" (The Good In The Bad). The song is also described as being minimalistic.

A day later, Sanremo Giovani took place, and the top 6 were revealed as (in no particular order) gIANMARIA, Colla Zio, Shari, Sethu, Will, and Olly. These 6 will join the previously announced 22 names to take part in Sanremo 2023.

Later, it was revealed that Madame may have forged her Covid vaccination certificate assisted by anti-vax doctors to avoid getting a vaccine and is being investigated. Whether this will affect her Sanremo participation is unknown.

• Latvia

Returning to Supernova for their selection. The selected artists and songs will be announced in January of 2023, and the final will take place in February as usual. On the 2nd this month, it was announced that 121 song submissions had been received, 9 down from last year. It is not yet known whether the format will see any changes.

• Lithuania

LRT opened submissions for Pabandom Iš Naujo on the 11th, which remained open until the 12th of December. The selection will consist of at most 5 shows, those being 2 heats, 2 semi-finals and 1 final. The first heat will take place in early January, and although we do not yet know the time period of the final, we can assume that it will be in February.

On the 20th, LRT announced the 30 participants of the national final, as well as their song titles. Some returnees include Donata (PIN 2021, "The Way I Am"), Gabrielius Vagelis (PIN 2021, "My Guy"), Gebrasy (PIN 2020, 2021, "Into Your Arms"), Joseph June (PIN 2022, "Deadly"), Justė Kraujelytė (PIN 2022, "How To Get My Life Back") (with a song named "ESC Needs More Fun" allegedly), Justin3 (PIN 2022, "Something That Is Natural"), Monika Linkytė (ESC 2015, "This Time"), Petunija (PIN 2020, "Show Ya"), and Voldemars Petersons (PIN 2022, "UP"). There is no unified song release date, as several of the entries are already available on Spotify, and the rest are expected to come gradually according to the artists' own schedules.

On the 23rd, Lina Štalytė with the song "My Body" was disqualified from the selection due to the song having been on Youtube since 2020. She was replaced in the selection by The PiXLS with the song "Šaukt".

• Malta

They will be returning to MESC, or Malta Eurovision Song Contest, for their selection method. Rules largely remain the same, but quarter-finals have now been re-introduced into the national final, giving us a total of 40 songs and 6 shows (four QFs, one semi, one final) starting on the 13th of January, and ending on the 11th of February.

On 21/11, the quarter-finalists were revealed. Notable returnees, whether from ESC, JESC or MESC, include Fabrizio Faniello, Aidan, Giada, Brooke (not the Irish one), Eliana Gomez Blanco, Jessika, and MATT BLXCK. On the 28th this month, 30-second snippets of all 40 songs were released by TVM. Current favourites include Brooke and Aidan.

• Moldova

Opened song submissions for the Moldovan Selecția Națională, which will close on the 16th of January. Live auditions will then be held on the 1st of February, and a live show will take place some time between the 28th and the 5th of March, consisting of 10 acts. A possible name is Vera Turcanu (O Melodi Pentru Europa 2019, "Cold"), who recently appeared on The Voice of Greece.

• Netherlands

On 1/11, it was announced that Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper would be representing the Netherlands in Liverpool. Their song is not known yet, but we know that it was co-written by Duncan Laurence, the 2019 winner. And someone found on a song database that one song was registered with the three aforementioned names, as well as a certain Jordan who Laurence also says that he co-wrote the song with. We can't hear this song yet, but we can see the title, which is "Chasing Highs". So this could very easily be their song for Eurovision 2023. Regardless, when the song will be revealed is still unknown.

Some controversy has arisen over this selection, consisting of accusations against the committee of favouritism towards Duncan Laurence and other such big Dutch Eurovision names. Furthermore, Nicolai and Cooper refused to do any interviews with Dutch media, and had apparently even gotten into a car and driven off when being approached by a journalist on the street.

• Norway

Returning to Melodi Grand Prix for their national final.

Potential artists include Ben Adams and Gaute Ormåsen from Subwoolfer, Elsie Bay, Oda Gondrosen, Emmy, Imerika and Sandra Lyng, all of which attended the MGP songwriting camp in the summer. Regardless, the artists will be revealed on the 4th of January, and the songs will be released weekly, specifically on the 9th, 16th, and 23rd of January. The semi-finals themselves will take place 5 days after each song release, i.e. on the 14th, 21st, 28th respectively, in Nydalen in Oslo. The final will take place on the 4th of February in Trondheim, only the 4th time the final was not hosted in Oslo. The hosts for this year's edition of MGP will be Arianrhod "Arian" Engebø as well as Stian "Staysman" Thorbjørnsen.

On the 30th, NRK announced major changes to the MGP format. Firstly, the 5 semi-finals will become 3. The number of competitors remains unchanged from 2022, with now 7 acts in each semi-final. Secondly, there will also be NO duels. The three qualifiers in each semi-final will be determined solely based on the most voted songs, and there will not be any "second chance" round. Thirdly, there will be NO pre-qualifiers. All artists must go through a semi-final to qualify for the final. Finally, there will be an international jury made up of non-Norwegian industry experts in the final. The jury, whose identity will not be revealed until after the final, will take up 50% of the voting power, with the other half going to the televote.

• Poland

TVP revealed on 19/10 that they will be returning to a national final for 2023, named "Krajowe Eliminacje", which was the Polish selection's name in 2010, 2011, and from 2016 to 2018. Submissions are now open, and will remain open until the 15th of January.

The selection itself will take place on the 26th of February, and will consist of 10 songs. The voting will be made up of 50% televote and 50% jury. Two rounds of voting will occur: the first one with all 10 songs, and then a second round where the top 3 most voted songs in the previous round go to a new separate vote. Ties will be broken by the jury.

Possible names include Jann, Dominik Dudek, Patrick Silvar, Natasza Urbańska, Nick Sinckler, Maja Hyży, Maria Niklińska, Kamil Hussein, and Blanka Stajkow.

• Portugal

RTP has confirmed Portugal's participation in the upcoming contest. Submissions opened for their annual national final of Festival Da Canção, and closed on 21/10.

The rulebook remains largely the same, however this year instead of just having 5 songs qualify from each semi-final creating a grand final of 10 songs, there will now be a televote wildcard for each semi-final, giving us 12 songs in the final.

On 28/10, RTP announced that 667 songs had been received through public submissions. Just 4 of those were selected for the national final, with the other 16 being made up of songwriters invited personally by RTP.

On 9/11, RTP announced the songwriters for FdC 2023, as well as the dates for the festival. It will take place on the 25th of February, and the 4th and 11th of March. The announced songwriters include such names as Barbara Tinoco, as well as Claudia Pascoal (O Jardim, Portugal 2018), and also a group named "You Can't Win Charlie Brown".

On the 22nd, RTP released the semi-final draw for the 20 artists. It was also announced that the songs will be released on the 19th of January, while the show itself will take place on the 25th of February, as well as the 4th and 11th of March.

• Romania

Returning to Selecția Națională for their selection, and is expected to take place either in February or early March. The team however is a new one, who have announced that SN2023 will be 100% televoting, instead of the 17% like 2022.

The national final will take place on the 11th of February. 85 songs were finally received, 12 of which were announced on the 17th to be the finalists in February. No returnees, however it was found that "Periniţa Mea" by Andreea D Folclor Orchestra is in fact a cover song and should not be eligible for the pre-selection. Regardless, a few of the songs have been released, but as with Lithuania, there is no set release schedule. On the 23rd, the randomly drawn running order was released.

• San Marino

Returning to Una Voce Per San Marino for their national final. However, this year there will NOT be a "big artists" group that get pre-invited to the grand final, although famous artists may still be invited to the semi-finals without going through the casting round. Senhit and Jonathan Kashanian are to return as hosts having already hosted the inaugural edition, while Achille Lauro will perform during the show as well.

There will be, as usual, two sets of auditions: the first set taking place during 2022, from 28/10 - 4/11, 6/11, 9/11 - 18/11, and the second set which will take place in the first half of January 2023. From there, approximately 60 artists will proceed to the semi-finals. The grand final will take place on the 25th of February, with 5 semi-finals (one of which acts as the second chance round) taking place also in February before the grand final which will contain 20 artists from the semi-finals.

An interview also revealed that they have so far received over 500 submissions from 32 countries.

One interested big name is Elettra Lamborghini, who had participated in Sanremo 2020 with a song named "Musica (e il resto scompare)", which did not do so well at the festival but was rather popular otherwise. In a recent interview, she says that she has little chance of winning Sanremo, but she always has the choice of San Marino. She would also like to bring a reggaeton song. If she signs up then it is possible that she can directly skip the auditions and get put straight into a semi-final.

• Serbia

Returning to Pesma Za Evroviziju for their national final. Submissions opened on the 1st of September, and ended on the 1st of December. The actual national final is expected to take place in February. Not many rumoured names yet, although the rebooted Hurricane (with three new girls) are reportedly interested in entering. After submissions closed, RTS announced that they had received over 900 submissions, although in 2022 they had received 2500 submissions, which were later whittled down to 150, so 900 will most likely shrink to at most just over 200 submissions.

• Slovenia

Confirmed participation publicly, on the deadline of participation confirmation for EBU broadcasters. The editor-in-chief of RTVSLO entertainment programming had also confirmed the selection method to be EMA.

Despite the initial confirmation of EMA, it appears that RTVSLO had changed their mind, as on the 8th this month, they announced in a press conference that they had internally selected Joker Out, a Slovene pop-rock band, to represent Slovenia in Liverpool in May. Despite their English band name, Joker Out exclusively sings in Slovene, and have confirmed that their song for Liverpool will also be in Slovene. They describe their music as "shagadelic rock 'n roll". During the press conference, it was also revealed that Joker Out had already been working on a song for EMA even before RTVSLO directly approached them. Therefore, this will only be the third-ever internal selection for Slovenia, the first being in 2013, and the second being Ana Soklič in 2021 who had won EMA in 2020. Joker Out recorded their entry at the end of the second week of December in Hamburg, and it will be released on the 4th of February. Joker Out describes their song as "retro, lively and sexy".

• Spain

Returning to Benidorm Fest for their national final, for a second time. The national final will take place on the 31st of January for the first semi-final, the 2nd of February for the second semi-final, and the 4th for the grand final.

The voting system remains the same, but there will now be two more participants in each semi-final, bringing the total number of participants up to 18. The president of the jury is set to be Nacho Cano, while Christer Bjorkman is set to be one of the international jury members. The main presenter of the show is set to be Monica Naranjo, and on the 14th, RTVE revealed that Inés Hernand is set to return as a co-presenter, while Máximo Huerta will be headlining a pre-show leading up to Benidorm Fest, and Alaska who was also a co-presenter in BF2022 will be hosting the Christmas gala containing the BF2023 participants. It was also later reported that Rodrigo Vázquez would be joining Naranjo and Hernand as co-hosts of the show as well.

Shortly after the closing of submissions, RTVE announced that they had received 876 submissions, 10 fewer than last year. However, there were more artists from record companies (more specifically, 394) and professionals in general.

Finally, the list of participants was released on 26/10. Initially only 16 participants were planned, however this has now been raised to 18, due to the high quality of submissions they have received. Regardless, we saw Blanca Paloma return to the festival, after having just participated in it the year prior. A TikTok singer was also selected, that being Twin Melody. And the rumours that Alfred Garcia from Amaia and Alfred would return have come true, as well as the return of a number of other former Operacion Triunfo singers.

On 3/11, an RTVE event was held where the artists' song names were revealed, as well as a brief description of the songs. And on 14/11, tickets for Benidorm Fest went on sale, and it was revealed that the tickets were sold out in under 30 SECONDS.

The songs were released all at once on the 19th this month. Current favourites include Megara, Blanca Paloma, Agoney, and Fusa Nocta.

• Sweden

Returning to Melodifestivalen for their national final. The two hosts will be Farah Abadi (reprising her role from 2022) and Swedish comedian Jesper Rönndahl. Melodifestivalen is set to tour the country over several heats, starting on the 4th of February and concluding in a grand final in Stockholm on the 11th of March.

SVT revealed that they had received 2824 songs, up almost 300 from last year (2530) and reaching the highest number of submissions since *2012*, when 3485 songs were received then.

On 18/10, Aftonbladet reported that Wiktoria [✓], LouLou LaMotte (from The Mamas) [✓] and Nordman (with a song co-written by Jimmy Jansson) [✓] will take part in the next edition of Melodifestivalen. Later, Torbjörn Ek, the primary Melfest reporter at Aftonbladet, said on a podcast that Nordman may be one to look out for in terms of popularity in Sweden, and may even become this year's Anders Bagge in terms of public results.

Other singers/artists that Aftonbladet have since reported to be taking part in the next Melodifestivalen include: Marcus & Martinus [✓], Theoz (2022 "Som Du Vill") [✓], Emil Henrohn [✓], Panetoz [✓], Smash Into Pieces [✓], Melanie Wehbe [✓], Paul Rey [✓], Tennessee Tears [✓], Elov & Beny [✓], Victor Crone (Estonia 2019) [✓], Ida-Lova Lind [✓], Maria Sur [✓], ***Loreen*** [✓], Eva Rydberg & Ewa Roos [✓], Axel Schylström [✓], Laurell Barker (as a singer) [✓], Tone Sekelius [✓], Kiana Blanckert [✓], Rejhan Bellani (working with Albin Johnsén and Mattias Andréasson) [✓], Mariette Hansson [✓], and an unnamed sister duo whose grandfather is a "great Swedish artist" (bringing an original Swedish folk song) [✓(Signe & Hjördis - grandmother is Gullan Bornemark, a famous Swedish children's music composer) ]. Other rumoured names included Darin, Clara Klingemström, Tareq Taylor, Jon Henrik Fjällgren [✓], Eric Saade, and Cazzi Opeia.

It was also announced that the semi-final (still known to most fans as Andra Chansen) will no longer feature duels. Instead, it will be a simple vote where the 4 most voted entries out of the 8 will get to progress to the final. However, halfway through the voting, the four highest ranked as well as lowest ranked will be displayed separately (in no particular order within each group), and viewers will get to vote again for their favourites. At the end, for the first time, the scores will be presented live and the viewers will be able to see which of the four finalists were comfortably voted the highest and which ones had to fight for the final.

Linda Bengtzing will be hosting pre- and post-shows for Melodifestivalen, which will be broadcasted online by SVT.

On 29/11 and 30/11, SVT announced the names that would be taking part in each heat of Melodifestivalen. Those with [✓] appended after their name above are the Aftonbladet-rumoured names that have since been confirmed. The remaining announced names were Eden Alm, Uje Brandelius, and Casanovas. Cazzi Opeia did not finally participate herself, but co-wrote the song for Loreen.

Torbjörn Ek also revealed more details regarding some of the participants. Firstly, Tone Sekelius' song will have a much more modern sound this time, as opposed to the "old-style schlager" that she brought to Melfest in 2022. LouLou LaMotte meanwhile, instead of the soul/gospel-type sound that she performed as part of the Mamas, will be bringing a song in the "visa" genre, which is a type of folky, traditional, mellow Scandinavian ballad. Elov & Beny are bringing a Swedish-language country-style pop song, which has become very popular in Sweden (even though such songs normally talk about explicit topics, such as having sex or drinking a lot). Ek thinks that it is not a winner, but it has the potential to become a big hit. Jon Henrik Fjällgren has then been compared to a Swedish KEiiNO.

For Heat 2, Uje Brandelius is rumoured to be bringing a "Progg" song, which is a Swedish left-wing, 'anti-commercial' genre. Ek thinks that Wiktoria could take the trophy if she comes with an upbeat song, although it appears he doesn't concretely know much else about her entry. THEOZ's song for 2023 will be similar in style to "Som Du Vill" from 2022, involving lots of dancing. Ek also thinks that Panetoz are not competing for victory.

For Heat 3, Laurell Barker may bring a hit song that will get lots of streams, as "Habit", with currently 47M streams was a Melfest reject, although Ek warns that non-Swedes almost never make it to the final in Melfest. Ek also thinks that Marcus & Martinus may not be in it to win it, but simply to get a major hit in Sweden. Paul Rey says that his song will not be a slow song, and will be more like a party song.

And for the final heat, Signe & Hjördis are rumoured to be bringing a "modern pop version of Swedish folk music". Smash Into Pieces are bringing their usual metal/rock style to Malmo, being the only rock song this year. Axel Schylström's song, "Gorgeous", is a ballad. Mariette herself says that her song this year is a mix between "Don't Stop Believing" and "A Million Years". As for Loreen, her song was co-written by some of the Euphoria songwriters, as well as Cazzi Opeia. Ek has heard a snippet of an early version of the song, and simply says that it is "very promising". He also posits that Loreen is very unlikely to be anything other than "number 28", i.e. the last song in running order in the last heat.

• Switzerland

Continuing to use an internal selection for their Eurovision act. The resulting song and artist will be revealed in "early 2023". On 27/11, Ovi Jacobsen (Romania 2010 and 2014) posted on Facebook that the Swiss selection this year is now in its "last round".

• Ukraine

Returning to Vidbir for their national final, although it was pushed early, from the usual date of February to now December of 2022, specifically on the 17th. The event was held in the Majdan Nezaležnośti (Independence Square) metro station in Kyiv, and 10 songs will be competing.

On 17/11, the final 10-long shortlist was released, along with the song names. Among them were Jerry Heil, KRUTЬ, TVORCHI, and Tember Blanche, as well as 2Tone, Angelina, DEMCHUK, FIINKA, Moisei, and OY Sound System.

Similarly to Junior Eurovision, UA:PBC opened a public online vote on the "Diya" app for people to choose their 3 jurors for Vidbir. In the end Taras Topolya (husband of Alyosha (Ukraine 2010), Ukrainian artist), Jamala and Yulia Sanina (lead vocalist, The Hardkiss (Vidbir 2016 runner-up)) were selected to be the Vidbir jurors.

The songs were presented on the 1st on the UA:PBC Eurovision channel on YouTube, as well as in a press conference. The national final itself took place on the 17th, and despite the initial status as favourites, neither KRUTЬ nor Jerry Heil won the selection, with them ending in second and third place respectively. The winner of the selection was instead TVORCHI, a duo consisting of Ukrainian producer Andrij Hucuľak and Nigerian vocalist Jeffrey Kenny (real name Jimoh Augustus Kehinde) with their song "Heart Of Steel", which had received 10 points from the public vote and 9 points from the jury vote. TVORCHI will now represent Ukraine in Liverpool.

There had been some controversy when runner-up and fan favourite KRUTЬ appealed to UA:PBC that TVORCHI had been singing with extra backing vocals and were under a management company that has operations in Russia, however Suspilne reviewed those claims and found them to be invalid. A participation confirmation agreement between Suspilne and Tvorchi was signed on the 28th. This will thus mark the first time since 2018 that a winner of Vidbir from the same year actually goes to Eurovision.

In several interviews, Tvorchi have stated that Heart Of Steel will indeed receive a revamp, especially to strengthen the chorus of the song.

• United Kingdom

Confirmed participation (obviously). Selection method is internal and will once again involve TaP Music. The artist announcement is expected sometime in February or March of 2023.

The Daily Mail, a British newspaper, reported on the 10th that Molly Rainford could be in the running to represent the UK on home turf. Molly Rainford, 22, was a finalist on Strictly Come Dancing 2022, and had in fact rejected Simon Cowell's offer to be under his label 10 years prior at Britain's Got Talent.

Allegedly, a source close to the Eurovision selection team had this to say to the Daily Mail: "Molly has all of the attributes to be a great act for the UK. She has a fantastic voice and she has a huge fan base. She is a real performer and has worked her way into the showbusiness industry through hard graft. She is the epitome of what the UK candidate should be. It’s very exciting. She has won massive new support by taking part on Strictly so hopefully the nation will be behind her."

On the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show, Rainford responded to these rumours saying: "After seeing how brilliant Sam was, it's definitely something that I'd be up for, so we'll see. We've gotta find a good song first."

So that's all I know about Eurovision 2023 so far! If you know anything else, tweet me @BlueRigel4 or comment on this blog. I fully anticipate making regular updates within the month to this post. If you want to watch me read out some of the stuff mentioned here in video form, here you go:

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