Germany’s Lena Wins Eurovision

Germany’s Lena Meyer-Landrut has won the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, edging out Turkey and Romania.

Meyer-Landrut, who turned 19 during the competition in Norway, sang the upbeat, dance-floor friendly “Satellite,” which was one of the favorites to win.

This is the second time that Germany has won in the songfest’s 55-year history. It will host next year’s contest.

This year’s competition was overshadowed by the continent’s financial woes, with four countries pulling out for lack of funds.

The contest is decided by a panel of judges and telephone voting by the 39 participating countries.

Eurovision 2010 Update: Will The Competition Become A Battle Between Two Teen Pop Queens

Will Eurovision 2010 be a battle between two teen pop queens: Germany’s Lena Meyer-Landrut and Azerbaijan’s Safura Alizade.

When London-based betting agency Boylesports released the first set of betting odds in late March, Safura, the 17-year old winner of Azerbaijani Idol, was the odds-on favorite at 7:2. Germany was listed fourth highest at 14:1. In subsequent weeks, however, Lena has narrowed that gap significantly and the two now stand in a virtual deadlock atop the table.

Voters will have to decide whether they prefer Lena’s quirkiness or Safura’s theatrics. On stage, Lena comes off as likable, if a bit kooky. She can’t dance, but doesn’t seem to care, and her natural awkwardness transforms into something endearing. You get the sense she wants to be a singer, not a pop star. As in her preview video, she’ll likely appear on stage in Oslo alone, sparing us the bare-chested backup dancers and trapeze swings Eurovision fans have grown accustomed to.

Eurovision 2010 Update: Flash Mob Mania Hits London And Ljubljana

The Eurovision Song Contest flash mob dance is invading Europe piece by piece. Now it’s time for London and Ljubljana to show what they’ve got.

Previously we’ve reported the Norwegian capital and the host city of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, Oslo and the German city of Düsseldorf (on the 23rd of April). Now the organisers have announced two more cities which will have the flash mob dance event.

The next event is going to take place on the 29th of April, on the international day of dance. And the chosen place is… Ljubljana, Slovenia!

But then it’s up for the UK capital, London, to host the flash mob dance event on the 8th of May.

If you’re joining, be sure to know your moves and check out the instruction videos below:

Earlier, flash mob recordings took place in Barcelona, Reykjavik and Oslo and have all been huge successes.

Eurovision 2010 Update: Romanian Entry Releases New Video

There’s a hot new video clip for the Romanian entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest - Paula Seling & Ovi’s Playing With Fire.

Paula Seling and Ovi have been one of the fans’ top favourites for quite a while now.  Now there’s a new video clip for them. It’s a complete revamp of the previous video, featuring some neat effects and even a special piano! They really are ‘playing with fire’!

Paula Seling and Ovi will take the stage tenth in the second Semi-Final of the 2010 edition of Europe’s favourite TV-show, to be held in Oslo, the capital of Norway, on the 27th of May.

Eurovision 2010 Update: Flash Mob Mania To Hit Oslo And Düsseldorf

Eurovision 2010 has announced the first city outside of Norway where the flash mob mania will hit; On the 23rd of April, Düsseldorf’s Burgplatz is the place to be!

Peter Svaar, Head of Press for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of host broadcaster NRK, said: “We want to share the Eurovision Song Contest, rather than just broadcast it. With 18,000 people live on location in Oslo dancing, plus video footage of large flash mob groups from ten major cities, the song, the movements, the arena, and all the cities will share a common musical experience together.”

If you’re joining, be sure to know your moves and check out the instruction videos below:

Eurovision 2010 Update: Azerbaijan Now Favored To Win

A 17-old Azerbaijani singer is the early favorite to win the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, scheduled for May 27 in Oslo, Norway.

British and Norwegian bookmakers have reportedly listed Safura Alizadeh’s sentimental entry Drip-Drop as the likeliest candidate to prevail in the annual glitz fest. Alizadeh, known as Safura, is followed in the rankings by Israel’s Harel Skaat, the United Kingdom’s Online Betting Guide reported.

The contest tends to reflect political fault lines in Europe and its periphery. During last year’s contest in Moscow, for example, a submission from Georgia was disqualified for taking a disco swipe at Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Learn more about Safura right here.

Eurovision 2010 Update: Another Change For The Ukraine

The last entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest has reached the European Broadcasting Union.

Ukraine will be represented by Alyosha with the song Sweet People. Once officially cleared by the EBU, this would complete the participants list for the 55th runningof Europe’s favourite TV-show.

This year’s Ukrainian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest will undoubtly go down in the history books as complicated. Initially, Ukraine would be represented by Vasyl Lazarovych at the event.  Just two days before the European Broadcasting Union’s official deadline to enter songs for the competition, a new national final was held, and was won by Alyosha with the song To Be Free. Less than 24 hours before the EBU’s official deadline to enter songs, it was discovered that this song did not meet the rules of the contest, since it already appeared on an album in 2008.

Eurovision 2010 Update: More Controversy Surrounds Ukrainian Entry

The 23-year-old singer, Alyosha, won the Ukrainian national final.  She performed the song To Be Free. But after the show, it was found out that Alyosha’s entry is breaking the Eurovision rules: To Be Free was already released in 2008!

It is also suspected to be a plagiarism of Knock Me Out by Linda Perry and Grace Slick. So it is still not confirmed which entry will be sent to the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest from Ukraine.

More coverage of the Ukrainian situation:

Eurovision 2010 Update: Ukraine Now Goes With Alyosha

Eurovision 2010 Update: Do Over In The Ukraine

Eurovision 2010 Update: Ukraine Now Goes With Alyosha

Alyosha is the winner of the national final in Ukraine. The twenty three-years-old singer will perform her entry To Be Free in Oslo.

There was a tie for the first place between her and Masha Sobko. The seven-member profession jury had the final say and decided for Alyosha.

The national Ukrainian final was held in Kyiv in the studio of Shuster Live. Twenty contestants competed for the victory and the ticket to the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. The musical show has been broadcast by NTU and New Channel. Although the participants had only two days to get ready for tonight’s event, they delivered an exciting three-hour show, having inroduced different musical genres, from ballade to folk rock music.

Eurovision 2010 Update: Belarus Changes Song Selection

The group 3+2 which will represent Belarus in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest has unexpectedly changed their song for the contest and will now perform Butterflies in the first Semi-Final of Europe’s favourite TV show.

3+2 were supposed to sing Far Away in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, but just before the deadline to enter songs a decision was taken that the group would perform Butterflies now instead in the competition.

Butterflies has been composed by famous Russian producer Maxim Fadeev with lyrics by Malka Chaplin.