And finally the United Kingdom, as the last country in the alphabet, is also the last country for us to cover in this year's escgo line-up check series. Eurovision and the United Kingdom, that's a complicated relationship, as already pointed out in our article from a...

There are some countries that once in a while stumble upon a formula that works for them, and then they stick to it. Take Spain’s last four entries for an example (and also an example of Eurovision inconsistency). Two top 10 results. Two bottom ones. One can only...

In the 11 years since the semi-final system began, only four countries of this year’s participants have made it to every final, and who of those four (Greece, Russia, Romania and Azerbaijan) will be the last one standing is anybody’s guess. But there’s no doubt that...

Sweden is spoilt with an excellent result record. Five victories, 36 top 10 placements in total - that's more than half of the whole Eurovision history. There were three top 3 results in the past four years, but it also isn't very long since Sweden failed to qualify,...

Eurovision songwriters just love a good "shine" metaphor. Maybe Katrina and the Waves are to blame, with their ultra-successful Love Shine A Light setting an unwelcome precedent back in 1997. Whatever the reason, four of the last six contests have featured an entry...

Slovenia's recent Eurovision history doesn't look very glorious. In the most recent ten contests, there were only three Slovenian entries reaching the final: 2007 (Alenka Gotar), 2011 (Maja Keuc), and just last year (Tinkara). From the country's perspective,...

Serbia returns to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 following a one-year break. Cynics might suggest they were sulking after Moje 3 failed to reach the grand final in Malmö; kinder souls would say they were simply taking time to rethink their approach to the contest...

If I could sit down for an interview with the people in charge for song selections in Portugal, I would only ask one question: What are you aiming to achieve when you pick the songs you do for your selections? I suspect – or hope – the answer wouldn’t be “succeeding...

Romania has been a permanent fixture in the Eurovision grand final since the start of the semi-final era, although the days when they looked all set to be the next winner after strong showings in 2005 and 2006 are rapidly receding into history. Last year, Paula Seling...

Every year there are a couple of songs that happen to be huge fan favorites, but when I listen to them, not only do I dislike them (that can happen quite a bit, but I will understand why other people like them), I also really struggle to see their appeal. This always...

Sometimes a country gets in a bit of a rut and sends the same kind of thing to Eurovision year after year. We can all think of examples from the fields of French chanson, Greek ethnopop and so on. Sometimes, though, you get back-to-back entries from a country that...

It was the sensation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014: San Marino qualified for the final! On the third consecutive attempt of Valentina Monetta, the fifth attempt of the microstate, it finally happened. Surprisingly or not, SMTV decided to send someone different...