Exclusive preview of the Eurovision 2019 stage!

In case you missed the show in past weeks, each episode of Eurovision Home Concerts will feature several artists who have been part of the Eurovision family over the years, including artists from 2020. Each will perform their own song and a cover version of another hit by a fellow Eurovision participant. Watch the show here at 17:00 CEST:We are proud to bring you into the homes and feature the outstanding talents of:Arilena Ara (Albania 2020)Born in Shköder, Arilena Ara has been singing since the age of 5. As a kid, she participated in many festivals and song competitions, eventually winning X Factor Albania at the age of 14. Arilena is the winner of several international awards and has performed hundreds of live shows in the last few years. Most recently, Arilena was one of the coaches in The Voice Of Albania. In the 6th episode of Eurovision Home Concerts, she will sing her Eurovision entry Fall From The Sky as well as Lena's Satellite, which won for Germany in 2010.Arilena has something very special planned for this version of Satellite, she and her team blocked the Mother Teresa Square in Tirana to record it. Arilena recently gave a sneak peek on her Instagram account:Benny Cristo (Czech Republic 2020)Benny Cristo, born Ben Cristovao, was born in the Czech city of Plzeň. He is a singer, lyric writer, sportsman and actor. Ben's mother is from the Czech Republic and his father from the Southern African country of Angola.Benny's Eurovision entry is Kemama, translated from 'okay mama'. The lyrics are about his childhood, during which he faced much adversity. The Glowsticks produce the song, and Tomáš Kasal directed the video. At Eurovision Home Concerts, Benny will perform Kemama as well as Ben Dolic' Violent Thing.On 18 March, he took to Facebook to wish everyone the best of health, while thanking everyone for 'the tons of love and kind words that were sent' his way. In February, he travelled to Nairobi to record the revamp of Kemama:Blas Cantó (Spain 2020)Blas Cantó, born 26 October 1991, is one of the most influential musicians in the Hispanic pop music scene at the moment. He is a versatile artist, a perfectionist and a performer who thrives in front of a live audience. In 2004, Blas was the runner up in Eurojunior, the Spanish selection show for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.Years later, in 2011 with the group Auryn, he tried for the first time to be selected to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest. The honour of representing Spain went to Lucía Pérez that year, however. At Eurovision Home Concerts, Blas will sing his Eurovision entry Universo.Spain's Eurovision 2020 representative Blas CantóLaura OrtizEfendi (Azerbaijan 2020)After 4 attempts to become Azerbaijan's representative at the Eurovision Song Contest, the 5th attempt was victorious. Efendi was chosen by an international jury, which included music producers, composers, television industry professionals and journalists, to represent the country with the song Cleopatra. Aside from music, Efendi loves painting, Pilates and dancing.Besides her own Eurovision entry, she will sing Drip Drop by Safura. Safura represented Azerbaijan in 2010 and placed 5th in the Grand Final.At the end of March, she shared a backstage picture of the Cleopatra recording on her Instagram:Hera Björk (Iceland 2010)Hera Björk became a household name in Iceland when she co-hosted the variety TV show Stutt í Spunann (a version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?) during the winter of 1999-2000. She represented Iceland in 2010 with the song Je Ne Sais Quoi, which finished 19th in the Grand Final. In 2016, she presented Eurovision In Concert in Amsterdam, which is one of the pre-parties ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest.In this episode, Hera will sing her Eurovision entry Je Ne Sais Quoi, as well as Eres Tu by Mocedades. The group represented Spain in 1973 and finished 2nd.At the end of April, she posted a sneak peek into her Eurovision Home Concerts recording on Facebook:James Newman (United Kingdom 2020)James Newman is a multi-platinum selling, Brit Award-winning and Grammy-nominated songwriter. The artist won a Brit Award for co-writing the British Single of the Year Waiting All Night, performed by Rudimental and Ella Eyre. It was James’ first UK Number 1 single in 2013.James recorded his Eurovision entry My Last Breath in Scotland while he was staying on a loch (lake) with fellow songwriters Ed Drewett, Iain James and Adam Argyle. He knew the song was ‘the one’ after first recording it; he loves the simplicity and feels like it gets you right away.He will sing My Last Breath as well as Birds by Dutch representative, Anouk. She participated for the Netherlands in 2013 and placed 6th in the Grand Final.James took part in ESPreParty a couple of weeks ago, where he chatted about his Eurovision experience:Jedward (Ireland 2011 and 2012)Jedward, brothers John and Edward Grimes, are an Irish pop duo who became a huge hit after appearing on the UK’s X-Factor in 2009. They represented Ireland in 2011 with the song Lipstick, which has gone to number 1 in the Irish charts right after it came out. In Düsseldorf, they placed 8th in the Grand Final.Only one year later, the twins were selected to represent Ireland again this year after winning the Irish Eurosong national selection, topping both the public and jury vote. Their song Waterline placed 19th in the Grand Final.The brothers will sing their Eurovision entry Lipstick, as well as Lena's Satellite.In light of feeling distanced from each other, Jedward took to Twitter to send their fans a 'Jedhug':Lea Sirk (Slovenia 2018)As a backing vocalist, Lea performed twice at the Eurovision Song Contest: in 2014 in Copenhagen with Tinkara Kovač and in 2016 in Stockholm with ManuElla. She then went on to represent Slovenia on her own in 2018 with the entry Havala, ne!Lea is also a studio musician and music arranger and has performed on numerous grand stages and recorded with numerous Slovene musicians. The mother of two girls has been building her soloist singing career in parallel with her other responsibilities, with a sense of determination. Her participation at numerous festivals culminated with her impressive win at EMA 2018. Alongside her entry, Lea will sing If Love Was A Crime by Poli Genova.In April, she posted on Instagram that she is working on a new single:Michela (Malta 2019)Michela represented Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv with the upbeat song Chameleon. She placed 14th in the Grand Final. In January 2019, Michela won X-Factor, which gave her the right to represent her country that year.In 2019, she said about Chameleon: "From the first moment I heard this song I knew it was the one, I could imagine the audience singing in their cars to that song! The song is too catchy and has a feel good factor vibe to it which no other song had. Truth be told, I also wanted this song as it was totally different from the songs the Maltese audience was used to hear me sing during X Factor Malta."On this episode of Eurovision Home Concerts, Michela will sing Chameleon as well as Where I Am by Denmark's Anja. Anja represented her country in 2017 and finished 20th in the Grand Final.Like many (Eurovision) artists have been doing since movement restrictions went into effect, she recently took to Instagram to perform for fans from home:Paula Seling & Ovi (Romania 2014 / 2010)Paula Seling is a Romanian singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, performer, TV personality and entertainer. OVI is a multitalented singer, songwriter, producer and musician who feels most at home when he's performing.The first time they participated in the Eurovision Song Contest together was in 2010, with the song Playing With Fire, where they finished 3rd in the Grand Final. In 2014, they participated again representing Romania with the song Miracle. That year, they placed 12th in the Grand Final.In this episode, they will perform Playing With Fire from 2010, as well as Alexander Rybak's Fairytale.Paula Seling & OVI - Miracle (Romania 2014)UnknownSurie (United Kingdom 2018)Combining forenames Susanna Marie, SuRie is a classically trained musician and graduate from the Royal Academy of Music in London.No stranger to Eurovision, SuRie’s journey started in 2015 where she was a backing dancer and vocalist for Loïc Nottet who finished fourth for Belgium with the song Rhythm Inside. She returned again with the Belgians in 2017, supporting Blanche and City Lights as Musical Director, also placing fourth. Her Eurovision path continued with invitations to song-writing camps throughout Europe, ultimately being approached to participate in BBC Eurovision: You Decide, with the inspirational pop anthem Storm. After winning the public and jury vote, she was chosen to represent the United Kingdom at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.During the 6th episode of Eurovision Home Concerts, SuRie will sing Storm as well as Hard Rock Hallelujah by Lordi. Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 representing Finland.SuRie represented the United Kingdom in 2018L. KeilySuzy (Portugal 2014 )Suzy was born in Figueira da Foz and has been active in show business since she was a kid. In 2014, she was invited by producer Emanuel to perform his song at the 2014 Portuguese national selection show, Festival da Canção. At the event, which celebrated its 50th anniversary, Suzy sang Quero Ser Tua and won the final with it. She represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 and placed 11th in the Grand Final.For this episode, Suzy will sing Quero Ser Tua and A Million Voices by Polina Gagarina, who finished 2nd in the Grand Final in 2015.Suzy came back to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2018 when Portugal hosted the event. She had a special part to play during the Grand Final and she dressed up for the occasion:The Mamas (Sweden 2020)The Mamas got their breakthrough overnight when participating in Melodifestivalen 2019 as backing vocalists to the singer John Lundvik on his song Too Late For Love.The result was striking, not only for John, who won the competition but also for The Mamas, who made a fantastic debut impression. Together with John Lundvik, they represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv where their performance reached the top 5 in the Grand Final.In 2020, The Mamas won Melodifestivalen with the song Move, written by Melanie Wehbe, Patrik Jean and Herman Gardarfve. Today, The Mamas remain a powerhouse group of 3 super divas - Ash Haynes, Loulou Lamotte & Dinah Yonas Manna - with extraordinary talent.At Eurovision Home Concerts, they will sing their Eurovision entry Move as well as Netta's Toy, with which Netta won the contest in 2018.The Mamas were the first to participate in Eurovisioncalls with NikkieTutorials, an online series in which the world-renowned queen of YouTube hosts conversations with Eurovision Song Contest participants.Where and when to watch?Every episode of the Eurovision Home Concerts will be published on Friday at 17:00 CEST on the official YouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest. Make sure you are subscribed so you don't miss any episodes!Which song are you most excited to see this afternoon? Let us know in the comments below!

Exclusive preview of the Eurovision 2019 stage!

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