After the UK and Australian national finals, the rest of the weekend sees two more national finals (as well as a plethora of semi-finals) with Montenegro and Italy selecting their Eurovision entrants. For Montenegro, it’s a straightforward choice of 5 songs in a single show; for Italy, it’s the culmination of 5 long evenings of shows (and boy the shows are long) with a whopping 24 songs in contention…
Montenegro are providing a choice of one mixed gender group and four solo female artists. Given they have only once sent a female solo artist to Eurovision before this does raise chances that it will happen for the second time. I had a listen to all 5 songs and the one below is my favourite of the bunch (who happens to have been that sole female artist that represented Montenegro in the past). It also seems to be the most popular/favourite among fan sites as well (which I didn’t know when I picked it as my choice!
Andrea Demirović – “Ja sam ti san”
And now to Italy… So many songs, and so many shows, and it all takes so long…. it’s Sanremo! I’ve managed to watch some of the songs on the first night but will see how I get on again this evening. I’ve pulled out some of the favourites (at least with eurofans) which include 2015’s Eurovision bronze medallists, operatic trio Il Volo. Expect a result at around 11.15pm UK time – though just to note the winner may not necessarily take up the opportunity to go to Eurovision – but in recent years that’s only happened once (I think!) My personal favourite is Arisa – there’s something very Abba-esque in her bouncy number.