So that time is upon us when I do my annual previews countdown - a daily preview starting on 2 April all the way through to 12 May, with a country featured each day. As I did last year, this is my personal top 41 …
Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #18 ESTONIA – Victor Crone – “Storm”
It's fair to say that Estonia are often one of my favourite countries in the contest, and they've once again come highest out of the three Baltic nations in my own rankings, in this, their silver jubilee appearance at the contest. After a couple of …
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Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #19 AZERBAIJAN – Chingiz – “Truth”
Coming out the highest of the trio of Caucusus countries (the others being Armenia and Georgia) is Azerbaijan, who also are the most successful of those three in the contest, having won in 2011. They suffered their first ever non-qualification in 2018 (albeit only just, …
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Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #20 BELGIUM – Eliot – “Wake Up”
Belgium hold the record for most appearances at the contest by a non-big 5 country, with 61 appearances and just 3 (enforced) absences. In that time they have only won once, but in recent years they have shown a consistency in achieving good results including …
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Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #21 LITHUANIA – Jurij Veklenko – “Run with the Lions”
Almost at the half way point of the countdown, and just missing out on the top 20, is the second of the three Baltic nations. Lithuania have not yet won (unlike their neighbours Estonia and Latvia) but do have a pretty good qualification record and …
Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #22 POLAND – Tulia – “Fire of Love (Pali się)”
Some songs grow on me as the Eurovision season goes on, and that has certainly been the case with Poland's entry this year. Their entry last year was actually one of my favourites, yet failed to qualify at the contest itself. Can Tulia get Poland …
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Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #23 RUSSIA – Sergey Lazarev – “Scream”
Russia is the biggest country in the contest, both in geographical size and in population, and in recent years has also been a performance giant, with a string of high placed finishes (not least their 2008 win). Last couple of years have seen a wobble, …
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Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #24 NORTH MACEDONIA – Tamara Todevska – “Proud”
Next up, it's the country formerly known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but now officially and internationally recognised as North Macedonia. For the last two years, North Macedonia has been the highest placed of the former Yugoslav countries in my previews countdown and …
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Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #25 SLOVENIA – Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl – “Sebi”
Our penultimate former Yugoslav country now, Slovenia have had quite a mixed set of results in the contest, especially in recent years with qualifications for the final coming but seldom. They pulled a (welcome) surprise qualification to the final last year, and given their entry …
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Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #26 FINLAND – Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman – “Look Away”
Back to the Nordics, and one time winners Finland have perhaps the most recognisable name for non-Eurovision fans among this year's artists, with DJ and record producer Darude of "Sandstorm" fame, the worldwide smash hit in 1999/2000. Finland made a return to the grand final …
Eurovision 2019 previews countdown: #27 ARMENIA – Srbuk – “Walking Out”
We're back to the Caucasus nations today for Armenia. They had a rare non-qualification last year and their worst ever result to date. So they switched back to an internal selection after their national final in 2018 and have internally selected Srbuk. It's Armenia's thirteenth …
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