National selection

Earlier this week it was confirmed by swedish broadcaster SVT that the national selection Melodifestivalen is to be held in the new Friends Arena on the 9 of March 2013. As Sweden is tipped high among the bookmakers it looks like SVT is preparing for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest by announcing that Melodifestivalen will be held there.

After a long row of national finals we have come to an end with the Belgium selection being held tonight. The Belgium TV viewers decided that Iris will be representing them at this year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song Would You?. 

This year's festival will be a tribute to the Portuguese most traditional music genre, fado, which a few months ago was added to UNESCO's list of World's Intangible Cultural Heritage. Without having heard the candidate songs, we know that the 12 competing acts will have at least this common feature.

The four songs competing to represent Greece at this year's Eurovision Song Contest have been released by the broadcaster for online listening. They will compete for the ticket to Baku on the 12th of March. Who do you think will get it? See the new videos and make up your mind.

After an exciting evening the Spanish song for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is now known. Three entries were competing for the win and the decision was made by a mixed system of televoting and jurors. Quédate Conmigo was the favourite from the beginning and there were no surprises in the result.

Tonight Sweden held it's Second chance heat which is the last heat before the final in Globen on the 10th of March. This was a new chance for the 3rd and 4th placed songs from the four previous heats to qualify to the final.

Minutes ago the Bulgarian national final finished with the result that Sofi Marinova would represent the country at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Love Unlimited. The show featured several of the participants she will be up against in Baku.

The Greek broadcaster, ERT, has officially revealed this morning on its website the four candidate songs to represent the country in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. On Thursday, we will know who will sing each of these entries and the the grand finale will take place on 12th of March.

Tonight, Slovenia decided its representative and song for Baku at the final of EMA 2012 among the two acts selected from Misija Evrovizija. Some of the former Slovenian Eurovision entrants were there as special guests of the show and also participants from Misija Evrovizija and a Eurovision winner.

7 years in a row now without qualifying for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. That is the unfortunate Dutch destiny at the Eurovision Song Contest. Today it was decided that it will be up to Joan Franka to change that with the song You And Me. 

In a late Friday show Ireland picked its participant for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. Jedward was favourite to do the double and represent the country twice in a row, but up against 4 other strong acts, one of them being Donna McCaul, another one with Eurovision experience it didn't look like a walkover. 

When Ireland on Friday pick its representative for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, two former participants are in the running; Donna McCaul from 2005 and Jedward from last year. Let's take a closer look as to who the five acts and their mentors actually are...

Austria is one of the countries that choses its representative song after a long selection process on the way to the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. We finally came to an end with the final show in the selection named Wecker rockt den Song Contest. Let's get to know the participants.

RTVE's website visitors have decided with their votes that Ahora O nunca is the third song for Pastora Soler to sing at the tv show where the Spanish entry for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest will be finally chosen. It joins the previously selected Quédate Conmigo and Tu Vida Es Tu Vida.

Minutes ago Georgia decided that it will be up to Anri Jokhadze to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest in May in neighbour country, Azerbaijan. A total of 9 acts competed in the national final in the country that has never failed to reach the final and always ended up in the best half.

The third semifinal in Lithuanian national selection was held last night. Nine acts fought for the battle of making it to the final where only three acts qualified. The fourth and the last semifinal will be held next weekend with the Lithianian final being scheduled for the 3rd of March.

Molly Sandén and Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li was voted through to the final by the televoters tonight as the third heat of the swedish national selection Melodifestivalen took place in the town of Leksand in central Sweden. Youngblood and Andreas Johnson gets a new chance to qualify to the final in the second chance heat.

Tonight Latvia made its choice. A total of ten hopefuls were battling in a live show for the ticket to Baku and the combined choice of Latvian audience and the jury showed that Anmary with her "Beautiful Song" was the lucky act.

A total of 22 acts were today competing for the honour of representing Ukraine at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. The national final was at the end won by Hajtana. She will now be trying to bring the country into that final, they have never missed out on, with the song Be My Guest. 

4 times Eurovision Song Contest participant for Denmark, Søren Bundgaard is one of the songwriters behind one of the Slovenian songs to be aired later today. Instead of his Eurovision partner Kirsten Siggaard he has, this time, teamed up with other well known songwriters.