Following Loreen's win with "Euphoria" at the 2012 edition in Baku, Azerbaijan, the 58th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden, in May 2013. Again, there will be three shows: Two semi-finals (May 14th and May 16th) and the big final (May 18th).

 

1st semi final

• Austria
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Ireland
• Lithuania
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• Netherlands
• Russia
• Serbia
• Slovenia
• Ukraine

2nd semi final

• Albania
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Bulgaria
• Finland
• Georgia
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Israel
• Latvia
• Macedonia
• Malta
• Norway
• Romania
• San Marino
• Switzerland

Automatic finalists

• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

These countries will not take part:

• Andorra (last entry in 2009)
• Bosnia & Herzegovina (last entry in 2012)
• Czech Republic (last entry in 2009)
• Monaco (last entry in 2006)
• Poland (last entry in 2011)
• Portugal (last entry in 2012)
• Slovakia (last entry in 2012)
• Turkey (last entry in 2012)

 

ESC 2012 RECAPS

First semi-final

 

Second semi-final

 

http://youtu.be/cramuIA1IWU

Grand final

 

Loreen's winning performance

 

Edited February 14, 201312 yr by Huntress

The first country has picked its entry for Malmö: Alyona sings "Rhythm of Love" for Belarus.

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However, as it is usually the case with Belarus, the song and even the singer might be changed before the contest. In 2012, Alyona also won the national pre-selection but was later disqualified and replaced with the band Litesound who went to Baku instead. So far, Belarus has qualified for the grand final only twice, in 2007 (their only top 10 placing) and 2010 (second-to-last place).

Edited January 3, 201312 yr by Huntress

And it starts again!

Should be interesting to see how it goes this year. I loved Euphoria last year.

Portugal is not participating? That's kind of a surprise, I wonder what the explanation is for it? I truly wish they would re-instate the native language rule. The pandering to english has always bothered me, I feel it spoils the international flavor of the contest. I find it sad that Monaco has all but given up on the contest. I realize their only win was Severine's in 1971, but I still wish they would keep trying. I found it odd that they also declined to host the 1972 contest. If they had done that, I feel their status in the contest might have carried better in the future. Huntress... do you see any possiblity of poitical bias rearing it's ugly head in the contest this year? I'm not well versed on all the political minutae in Europe and the Mediterranean regions. BTW... Lithuania and Moldova still remain my favorites from 2012. I think Lithuania would have fared better with a stronger singer, the song was wonderful. I'm gonna have to look these places up, 30 years ago, I knew where EVERY country in the world was. Now, there are dozens that I have no clue as to their locations or what they used to be.

Edited December 12, 201213 yr by alphanguy74

The official reason for Portugal's withdrawal – just like Poland's last year – is money problems due to the Euro crisis. Strangely enough, Greece can afford participating

I guess bitterness over bad results is the real reason. Portugal has a very bad record at Eurovision, and their best result is a 6th place in 1996. Portugal's problem is that they always sent sweet, but too old-fashioned songs. From the last ten years, I only liked their 2008 entry "Senhora do Mar" – which however was too similar to "Molitva", 2007's winning song from Serbia (even the performance was a rip-off), so it placed outside the Top 10.

Moldova and Lithuania are both former republics of the Soviet Union. Lithuania is located at the Baltic Sea, and Moldova is a rather small country in the Southeast. It was once a part of Romania and both countries usually swap their 12 points – just like Greece+Cyprus or Turkey+Azerbaijan.

Two more countries have dropped out of the competition: Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina will not participate in 2013.

This is going to be a small contest...

It's hardly a disaster that a few countries withdraw from the contest. And I wouldn't call it a small contest either since there are still close to 40 countries participating. During the 80s, when I started watching it was around 17-18 countries entering each year.

Edited December 15, 201212 yr by I Am A Swede

Ukraine: Zlata Ognevich / "Gravity"

 

 

Switzerland: Takasa / "You and Me"

 

 

Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa / "Love Kills"

 

 

Lithuania: Andrius Pojavis / "Something"

 

 

Albania: Adrian Lulgjuraj ft. Bledar Sejko / "Identitet"

 

Edited March 15, 201312 yr by Huntress

The singer for Belgium does not impress me... for some reason, male singers today have this habit of singing in this grating kind of forced whisper, and they are all basically imitating each other. It drives me nuts. The Lithuanian entry sound straight out of the 80's... it's not half bad, but it does sound very dated to me (Which I like... but I know won't garner favor in the contest.)

Edited January 3, 201312 yr by alphanguy74

Denmark 2013: Emmelie de Forrest / "Only Teardrops"

 

Edited March 15, 201312 yr by Huntress

Next Thursday, Germany picks its entry for 2013. I hope that Cascada wins.

 

The 12 candidates are:

 

Edited February 9, 201312 yr by Huntress

Finland 2013: Krista Siegfrids / "Marry Me"

 

 

Norway 2013: Margaret Berger / "I Feed You My Love"

 

Edited March 15, 201312 yr by Huntress

Germany 2013: Cascada / "Glorious"

 

 

Slovenia 2013: Hannah Mancini / "Straight into Love"

 

Edited March 15, 201312 yr by Huntress

Austria 2013: Natalia Kelly / "Shine"

 

 

Iceland 2013: Eyþór / "Ég á líf"

 

http://youtu.be/gjjYUWMG1-Y

 

Cyprus 2013: Despina Olympiou / "An Me Thimase"

 

 

Latvia 2013: PeR / "Here We Go"

 

 

Greece 2013: Koza Mostra feat. Agathonas / "Alcohol is Free"

 

Edited March 15, 201312 yr by Huntress

Georgia 2013: Sophie Gelovani & Nodi Tatishvili / "Waterfall"

 

 

Russia 2013: Dina Garipova / "What If"

 

 

Ireland 2013: Ryan Dolan / "Only Love Survives"

 

 

Spain 2013: El Sueño de Murfeo / "Contigo hasta el final"

 

Edited March 15, 201312 yr by Huntress