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Eurovision community gets ready for first busy weekend of the season

26 January 2019 at 19:24 CET
Destination Eurovision 2019 finalists in France France Télévisions
The last weekend of January sees, among other events, the final of the French national selection 'Destination Eurovision' and the 'X Factor' final in Malta, whose winners will represent their country at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv.

Allez les bleus!

The third entry to join the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv is chosen tonight. France holds the final of their Destination Eurovision selection in Paris, looking for the successor of Madame Monsieur that represented them last year in Lisbon with the song Mercy. The eight finalists have emerged from semi-finals, winning the votes of an international expert jury and the TV viewers at home. They are:

  • Aysat - Comme Une Grande
  • Bilal Hassani - Roi
  • Chimene Badi - Là-haut
  • Doutson - Sois Un Bon Fils
  • Emmanuel Moire - La Promesse
  • Seemone - Tous Les Deux
  • Silvàn Areg - Allez Leur Dire
  • The Divaz - La Voix D'Aretha

You can watch the final of Destination Eurovision live at 21:00 CET.

Who has the X Factor in Malta?

Also tonight, Malta closes up its first season of the X Factor with the final show. The winner will go on to represent Malta in Tel Aviv. The song, to be selected internally, will be announced at a later stage. From the 120 competitors in the bootcamp round, four had been narrowed into the final: Owen Leuellen, mentored by former Eurovision participant Ira Losco, in the 'Boys' category. Nicole Frendo and Michela Pace in the 'Girls' category and Petra in the 'Overs' category. You can watch the X Factor Malta final starting at 21:00 CET.

An Icelandic reveal

Söngvakeppnin 2019, Iceland’s Eurovision national selection show, also kicks off today. The half-hour programme will set out Iceland’s stall, so to speak: A brief introduction to the ten songs in the running, as well as their writers and performers. You can watch it here starting at 20:45 CET.

More qualifying rounds on the way

Hungary continues with the second heat of A Dal at 19:30 CET tonight, when six more songs will be chosen for the semi-finals. The same goes for Lithuania, which holds the third heat of Eurovizijos at 20:00 CET, while Supernova kicks off in Latvia at 20:25 CET with the first semi-final. On Sunday, Romania will also hold the first semi-final of Selecţia Naţională in Iași, starting at 20:00 CET.

After the weekend

Don't forget to check Eurovision.tv back after the weekend, as soon next week there are more Eurovision Song Contest related events coming:  the Semi-Final Allocation draw on Monday, live at 17:00 CET from Tel Aviv and two more artists are scheduled to be announced:

On Monday the Czech Republic will make their artist & song announcement and on Tuesday Finland will confirm which artist will be flying their flag in Tel Aviv.

Check out our calendar for upcoming events