Fik58 kicked off the national final season with a bang last night, and there are many more shows in store to decide the artists competing in Eurovision next year! Here are some updates for the finals next year:
ARMENIA- Devi Epratesil is back to choose the Armenian representative this year. We don’t have any more details yet regarding songs, artists or dates, but the date for submissions (31st December) has now passed, so hopefully we will have more news soon there.
AUSTRALIA Decides will take place on 8th February, where the public vote and panel will be used to determine who represents Australia in May. All 10 artists have been revealed, but we are still waiting on the songs.
BELARUS- After much speculation, Belarus has confirmed that a national final will be used to choose their artist and song this year. Live auditions will be held on 27th January, but the producers will screen the artists beforehand and choose who gets to perform in front of the panel. The panel then decide on the 12 artists who will compete in the final. We don’t have a date yet, but it will be no later than 6th March. The winner will be selected by both the panel and the people, with a combined jury and televote score. The next big date for fans is 22nd January, when the producers will let us know who will be auditioning.
CROATIA- 16 songs will compete in Dora 2020, and the artists have been revealed. The final will take place on 29th February when all the artists will compete. All we need now is information as to how the song will be selected i.e. televote, jury vote.
CZECH REPUBLIC- The delegation is going a little bit off road this year and using an online national final (as opposed to a televised one) to choose their entry for Rotterdam 2020. On the 13th January, the songs and music videos will be released and the voting window will open. This closes on 26th January, and the results will be announced at some point later on. We don’t know any of the artists yet, but the broadcaster has been dropping some cryptic clues, as well as hints as to what genres we can expect to see.
DENMARK- Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is back- 10 songs will compete in the grand final on 7th March. 7 songs will be chosen by the broadcaster, while 3 will be chosen by the public through the broadcaster’s radio channel. The public will listen to the 9 potential songs throughout January (though we are still waiting for their release) before voting. The broadcaster’s picks will also be released later this month so that all the competing songs are out there for us to hear.
ESTONIA- The 24 songs and music videos have been out for some time now for Eesti Laul, as well as the details as to who will compete in which semi final. (Reviews to follow soon- I promise!) The semi finals will take place on 13th and 15th of February, with the grand final on 29th February.
FINLAND- UMK 2020 will decide who represents Finland in Rotterdam. YLE have confirmed that six songs will compete at the national final, and we should find out the artists later this month- on the 21st January, where we will also find out the names of the judges. The final will take place on March 7th, with the winner decided by the panel and the public vote.
ICELAND- Söngvakeppnin will once again be used to choose the Icelandic representative in Eurovision 2020. After 175 songs were submitted, a committee are listening blindly to all the songs to decide which 10 should compete at the live final. The semi finals are on 8th and 15th February, before the final on 29th February.
ITALY- Sanremo is just around the corner- 22 artists were revealed last week (with speculation that there may be 2 more TBA). Now, we are just waiting on the songs. On 4th and 5th February, 11 songs will perform in each show before receiving points from a demoscopic jury vote, before the orchestra night on the 6th. The press will vote on the 7th before the Grand Finale on the 8th, where the press, jury, and public votes will be combined to calculate the top 3 artists, who will then be voted on again to decide the winner.
LATVIA- Supernova returns, with the final being held on 8th February. 28 songs have made it through the initial selection process, and the broadcaster will release the songs and artists competing in the final later this month.
LITHUANIA- Eurovizija will once again be used to decide Lithuania’s representative at Rotterdam next year. The 36 songs and acts were released earlier this week, and there will be 5 heats before the grand final on 15th February. The first heat is on 11th January (this Saturday- so reviews will be in for those songs soon!) Heat 2 is on 18th Jan, 3 on the 25th. Then Semi Final 1 is on 1st Feb and Semi 2 is on 8th Feb.
NORWAY- Melodi Grand Prix 2020 will kick off on Saturday 11th January, with the first semi-final. The rest of the semis will take place on the Saturdays leading up til the final. In addition to 5 pre-qualified songs chosen by the broadcaster, there will be 6 semi finals where 4 songs will compete for a spot in the final. The public will pick their favourite song in each semi to go through to the final, which will have 10 songs altogether. The pre-qualified acts have been revealed as well as the first semi-finalists, but we won’t know the songs until the semi itself. To ensure all the songs have been heard before the grand final on 15th Feb, a pre-qualified song will be performed for us at each semi.
POLAND- After 2 years of internal selection, the Polish National Final Szansa na Sukces will be used to decide their song for Rotterdam 2020. There will be 3 semi finals where 6-7 artists will perform, and one will qualify to the grand final. A jury will decide who goes through to the final on February 23rd, when the public can vote alongside the jury. The window for songs to be submitted is currently open until 13th January. Semi 1 will be on 2nd February, Semi 2 on 9th, Semi 3 on 16th.
PORTUGAL- Festival de Cancao is back! Semi One is on the 22nd Feb, before Semi Two on 29th. The final will be on 7th March. The list of competing artists has been out for some time, but we are still waiting on the songs.
ROMANIA- Selecta Nationala 2020 will decide Romania’s act for Eurovision in May (we are 99% sure!). The final is reported to take place on 1st March, with no semi finals planned. Obviously, no artists or songs have been released just yet.
SERBIA- Beovizija will decide who represents Serbia. 90 songs were submitted to the broadcaster, but we don’t know any further details at the moment.
SLOVENIA- EMA 2020 will take place on February 22nd. We are still waiting on the songs, but 10 out of 12 artists have been revealed. The 2 remaining artists will be the chosen by EMA FRES (a wildcard show)- we will know who they are on 18th January. The jury will pick 3 out of 12 songs to be put to the public vote in the final, just like last year.
SWEDEN- 28 acts will compete in Melodifestivalen 2020, and they were revealed in December. We are still waiting on the songs, though. There are four semi-finals based on geographical region- Linkoping on 1st Feb, Gothenburg on 8th Feb, Lulea on 15th, Malmo on 22nd- with seven songs each. The second-chance night will occur on 29th Feb, before the big final on 7th March
UKRAINE- Vidbir is back for 2020 to decide Ukraine’s song for May. Semi One is on 8th Feb, Semi Two is on 15th Feb, before the final on 22nd Feb. We’re still waiting on the songs, but the artists are due to be revealed on 10th January, so not much longer to wait!
WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER NATIONAL FINALS?
A number of countries use popular music shows to determine their artist for Eurovision (think X Factor, Pop Idol), but the song is then written for that artist and released later on. I don’t like to call these national finals- to me, a national final leaves us with an artist and a song, and we know what to expect on the Eurovision stage (albeit it may be reworked or changed here and there). I call these ‘Semi-National Finals’.
Georgia- Tornike Kipiani won Georgian Idol on New Year’s Eve, and so will represent Georgia in Rotterdam. His song will be released at a later date.
Israel- The Next Star is the show used to decide Israel’s artist. The final is on 4th February.
Malta- The X Factor Malta’s winner will take to Rotterdam to represent the country in Eurovision next year. The final is on 8th February.
The Euro-Vine 