With the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest cancelled, this week has seen national broadcasters and artists alike attempt to fill the gaping hole in both the hearts of Eurovision fans and the TV schedules of European nations. From home studio live-streams, to big-budget TV productions, we’ve been treated to contests, performances and music videos.
If you’ve not had time to follow everything, there are two things you need to be brought up to speed on. First of all, Iceland have won every contest out there – so that’s that on that. Second of all, let us present to you some of the highlights that have come bounding out of the Nordic nations this week – Eurovision content from Eurovision artists in place of any actual Eurovision.
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Mr. Lordi & Krista Siegfrids – Diva
A heavy metal version of Dana International’s ‘Diva’ – where else could this have come from but Finland? And we will now not rest until Finland send Mr Lordi & Krista Siegfrids to represent them at a Eurovision in the not too distant future please.
Hatari’s Klemens – Arcade
Klemens from Hatari as you’ve never seen – or heard – him before. Iceland went ahead with a replacement contest on Thursday night, eventually giving the win to Italy (making Iceland the only national replacement contest so far not to give the win to Iceland, but only cos they weren’t eligible). And for the interval act, Hatari’s Klemens gave a stunning performance of the song that finished nine places above him on last year’s final leaderboard.
Dotter – Arcade
Sweden’s replacement contest for this year’s Eurovision songs took place on Thursday evening and felt like the closest we were gonna get to the real thing – not least because of an opening number like this, in which we got Dotter doing a rendition of last year’s winning number.
Dotter & Sarah Dawn Finer – Bulletproof
Spoiler alert: SDF declines to do the iconic hairflip during the chorus.
JúróDaði – Daði Freyr plays Eurovision songs
An hour-long concert from Daði’s home last night. If it’s absurd enough – think Silvia Night, Jedward, Verka Serduchka – then it’ll be included in Daði’s set.
KEiiNO cover Hatari’s Hatrið Mun Sigra
Ok, so technically this is two weeks’ old, but while we’re on the topic of Eurovision covers, we just can’t leave this one out. It’s incredible, it’s iconic, it’s a moment. Plus, KEiiNO went and released their debut album yesterday, so they actually won this week.
Saara Aalto & Erika Vikman – Cicciolina
Finnish Eurovision diva Saara Aalto this week hosted a live concert stream called Eurovision Queens – the highlight of which was her being joined by Erika Vikman for a performance of what was one of THE big highlights of Eurovision national final season this year, ‘Cicciolina’.
The Mamas – Let It Be
The ladies behind this year’s Swedish entry, ‘Move’, were asked to perform as the interval act at Sweden’s replacement contest on Thursday evening. They performed their brand-new single ‘Let It Be’ (released yesterday) and they also delivered a gorgeous acoustic version of their Eurovision song ‘Move’.
Ben & Tan – Summer Nights
This year’s Danish representatives, Ben & Ten, decided to mark Eurovision weekend in a positive way – by releasing new single and video ‘Summer Nights’ yesterday, the follow-up to ‘Yes’.
A Song Called Hate – Hatari film trailer
The Icelandic rebels from the 2019 contest yesterday dropped the trailer for their film A Song Called Hate, which will chart the journey they went on with the song ‘Hatrið Mun Sigra’. The second-most talked about Icelandic Eurovision film of the week, albeit not coming to Netflix any time soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcod-aS2kaE
