After several eventful weekends this month, we now have a total of 21 songs confirmed for Eurovision 2023! In the month of February alone, sixteen countries announced their entry to Eurovision this year. In roughly chronological order, we have:

• Ireland: Wild Youth – “We Are One”
• Spain: Blanca Paloma – “Eaea”
• Norway: Alessandra – “Queen of Kings”
• Czechia: Vesna – “My Sister’s Crown”
• Estonia: ALIKA – “Bridges”
• Romania: Theodor Andrei – “D.G.T. (Off and On)”
• Denmark: Reiley – “Breaking My Heart”
• Latvia: Sudden Lights – “Aijā”
• Croatia: Let 3 – “Mama ŠČ!”
• Italy: Marco Mengoni – “Due Vite”
• Malta: The Busker – “Dance (Our Own Party)”
• Lithuania: Monika Linkytė – “Stay”
• Australia: Voyager – “Promise”
• Finland: Käärijä – “Cha Cha Cha”
• San Marino: Piqued Jacks – “Like An Animal”
• Poland: Blanka – “Solo”

So here are our thoughts on the first 8:

Ireland

Ireland’s Eurosong competition was especially disappointing this year. There were a couple of catchy songs that unfortunately had weak live performances (Midnight Summer Night and Too Good For Your Love). And then there was Hawaii that somehow DIDN’T come in last?? The winning song, We Are One, is a fine pop song with an uplifting message… about as vanilla as you can get, but not bad.

Spain

See our Benidorm Fest blog post!

Norway

Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix was especially impressive this year and there were many FANTASTIC entries. (Really, you should go listen to all of them.) Here’s our cliff notes version: One of Ursula’s top favorites to win (Love Again by Skrellex) did not get the points it deserved. Christa’s surprise favorite from the final was Ekko inni meg by JONE and Silke. Geronimo remains one of our favorites of this season, but its last-place finish in the final was probably merited. Christa personally thinks that Ulrikke Brandstorp’s “Honestly” should have won because she can see it actually winning at Eurovision, and it was the only one of the songs that was actually elevated by its live performance. Finally, the winning song, Queen of Kings by Alessandra is truly a bop and we are excited to see it in Liverpool! (Bonus: Maria Celin’s amazing song FREYA was eliminated in the semi when it should have gone to the final. And I’m not even mentioning our other favorites, Prohibition and Love You in a Dream…)

Listen to all of Norway’s 2023 Melodi Grand Prix songs here:

Czechia

My Sister’s Crown has all of the best eurovision vibes. A girl boss group with a funky music video. Excited! (Also definitely go check out Introvert Party Club by RODAN.)

Estonia

Eesti Laul this year had an extremely diverse and wonderful range of entries – including one in Japanese? – but of the three songs that made it to the Superfinal, Bridges was the clear crowd pleaser. Our other favorites were Tuju by Meelik, Pretty Girl by ELLIP, Venom by OLLIE, and Bad Philosophy by ELYSA. (We also would like to shout out Whiskey Won’t Forget for being, truly, unforgettable.)

Romania

Romania had SUCH a good selection of songs this year, and they picked one that we were kinda meh about :/ But D.G.T. is definitely a catchy song, and my only issue is with the staging & costuming – which will hopefully get a Eurovision re-vamp anyway. It just isn’t as eurovision as Perinita Mea – DJ Party Version or Lele or Statues! (Lele’s live performance really, really let it down though.)

Denmark

The Dansk Melodi Grand Prix had its fair share of candy-sweet pop songs, but nothing really stood out to us on first listen. That being said, Breaking My Heart is an infectious electro-pop love song and the performance was really cute.

Latvia

We all know that nothing could ever compare to Latvia’s entry last year, Eat Your Salad. Even so, Aijā by Sudden Lights was not our favorite Latvian entry this year …We’re not sure what our favorite Latvian entry was this year, but it wasn’t this one. Anyway, the stage performance had very cool lighting.

Stay tuned for our End-of-February Update Part 2 which will cover Croatia, Italy, Malta, Lithuania, Australia, Finland, San Marino, and Poland!

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