In a week that saw Ireland, Norway and Spain conclude their Eurovision Song Contest pre-selections for 2023, we also had a number of other countries either commence or continue their search for that all-important entry to the Contest in Liverpool in May.
Here's a round-up of all of the national finals that this week inched ever-closer to finding their winning song:
Latvia
In Latvia, a 14-song semi-final took place in the first stage of the Baltic nation's Supernova. A 50% jury vote and a 50% public vote resulted in those 14 songs rounded out to just 10; 10 songs that will make up Supernova's final next Saturday, 11 February. These are the 10 songs that made it through the semi-final round:
Artūrs Hatti – Love Vibes
Alise Haijima – Tricky
Avéi – Let Me Go
Patrisha – Hush
Raum – Fake Love
Luīze – You To Hold Me
Sudden Lights – Aijā
Toms Kalderauskis – When It All Falls
24. Avēnija – You Said
Markus Riva – Forever
Lithuania
South of the border in Lithuania, the country's Pabandom Iš Naujo! continued. With 2 heats out of the way, it was time to move on to semi-final 1 on Saturday night. In that first semi, we saw 10 songs reduced to 5, after a combined public and jury vote. The 10 songs progressing to the final (on Saturday 18 February) are:
Rūta Mur – So Low
Gabrelius Vagelis – Šauksmas
Justė Kraujelytė – Need More Fun
Petunija – Love of My Life
Il Senso – Sparnai
Sweden
Up in Sweden, 6 weeks of Melodifestivalen kicked off, with the first of 4 heats taking place in Gothenburg. 7 songs competed this first week, with the Swedish viewers voting through 2 to the final in mid-March, and 2 to the semi-final, which takes place on the first Saturday in March. These were the results that Sweden decided upon:
To the final: Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods – Where Are You (Sávečan)
To the final: Tone Sekelius – Rhythm of My Show
To the semi-final: Victor Crone – Diamonds
To the semi-final: Elov and Beny – Raggen Går
Germany
German pre-selection Unser Lied für Liverpool had already announced its first 8 songs to compete in the one-show affair on Friday 3 March. But subsequently, a vote was opened on TikTok for a wildcard entry to be chosen, as the ninth finalist. Voting closed over the weekend and it was revealed that the winning song from the TikTok vote, and the last finalist for March, is Lied Mit Gutem Text by Ikke Hüftgold.
Malta
In Malta, the results of 3 quarter-finals, each of which had taken place throughout January, were announced during this first week of February. From 39 songs that had competed in the quarter-final stages, we now have 24 songs that progress to the semi-final stage, as a result of both a public vote and a jury vote. The 24 songs that make it to the semi-final, which takes place on Thursday 9 February, are:
Andre’ – Broken Hill
Bradley Debono – Blackout
Cheryl Balzan – La La Land
Dominic and Anna – Whatever Wind May Blow
Greta Tude – Sound of My Stilettos
Ryan Hill – In the Silence
Stefan Galea – Heartbreaker
Giada – I Depend on You
Chris Grech – Indescribable
The Busker – Dance (Our Own Party)
Maxine Pace – Alone
Ian – On My Own
Dario Bezzina – Bridle Road
Brooke – Checkmate
Mark Anthony Bartolo – Tears
Dan – It’ll Be Ok
Matt Blxck – UP
Fabrizio Faniello – Try To Be Better
Eliana Gomez Blanco – Guess What
Christian Arding – Eku Ċar
Geo Debono – The Mirror
Mike – Leħen Fiċ-Ċpar
Nathan – Creeping Walls
Klinsmann – Piranah
Coming up this week...
Tuesday 7 February
🇨🇿 Czech Republic / ESCZ 2023 (Winner Reveal) ⭐️
🇮🇹 Italy / Festival di Sanremo (Opening Night) - 21:00 CET RaiPlay 🔗
Wednesday 8 February
🇮🇹 Italy / Festival di Sanremo (Second Night) - 21:00 CET RaiPlay 🔗
Thursday 9 February
🇮🇹 Italy / Festival di Sanremo (Third Night) - 21:00 CET RaiPlay 🔗
🇲🇹 Malta / Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023 (Semi-Final) - TVMi 🔗
Friday 10 February
🇮🇹 Italy / Festival di Sanremo (Fourth Night) - 21:00 CET RaiPlay 🔗
Super Saturday 11 February
🇭🇷 Croatia / Dora 2023 (Grand Final) ⭐️ - 20:05 CET HRTi 🔗
🇮🇹 Italy / Festival di Sanremo (Final Night) ⭐️ - 21:00 CET RaiPlay 🔗
🇱🇻 Latvia / Supernova (Grand Final) ⭐️ 20:10 CET LTV 🔗
🇱🇹 Lithuania / Pabandom Iš Naujo! 2023 (Second Semi-Final) - 20:00 CET LRT 🔗
🇲🇹 Malta / Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023 (Grand Final) ⭐️ - TVMi 🔗
🇩🇰 Denmark / Dansk Melodi Grand Prix ⭐️ - 20:00 CET DR 🔗
🇪🇪 Estonia / Eesti Laul (Grand Final) ⭐️ - ERR 🔗
🇷🇴 Romania / Selecţia Naţională (Grand Final) ⭐️ - 19:30 CET TVR 🔗
🇸🇪 Sweden / Melodifestivalen (Heat Two) - 20:00 CET SVTPlay 🔗
Don't forget to check out our Calendar to see what's in store for the next couple of months!