TVP1 revealed nine finalists who will fight for the right to represent Poland in Eurovision Song Contest 2016! Let’s learn more about Polish candidates!
Natalia Szroeder is a 21-year old singer from Kashubia region in North Poland. Well-known thanks to collaboration with famous Polish rapper Liber and hits like “Wszystkiego na raz” or “Nie patrze w dol“. She released her debut album in 2012. In Autumn 2015 she finished 7th in fourth season of “Your Face Sounds Familiar” but won one episode with “I have nothing” by Whitney Houston and received positive opinion from British newspaper “Mirror”. Official premiere of her entry “Lustra (Mirrors)” will take place on Friday. Natalia will be the only NF participant singing in Polish this year.
Edyta Gorniak, 44 years old, definitely the most important act in National Final this year. Thanks to her submission many other popular singers decided to apply for the competition as well. She is a pop and dance singer but also composer and lyricist. Eurovison fans know her from the contest in Dublin where she finished second with “To nie ja” during the Polish first ever participation in the contest. So far she released eight albums, the last one was “My” (“We”) in 2012. She was strongly rumored to be internally selected for Eurovision in Vienna but she was late with her offer and TVP already selected Monika Kuszynska instead. Her 2016 entry “Grateful” was aired on Sunday 14th February during the concert in Krakow (read more HERE).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eU-3dNoW00
Band Taraka: Karol Kus (guitar, vocal), Marian Lomaha (violin), Roman Chraniuk (bas, contrabass) and Jakub Miarczynski (percussion). They came from Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. Taraka’s music is mostly in folk style and they performed on many concerts and manifestation i.e. to support Ukrainian Euromaidan. Karol Kus is the composer of “Nie klam ze kochasz mnie” hit from 2008 by Ewelina Flinta and Lukasz Zagrobelny. Their Eurovision entry “In the rain” is not released yet.
Aleksandra Gintrowska, talented singer graduated in London, but also actress and lyricist. She played in many musicals and burlesque in United Kingdom. Her Eurovision entry “Missing” is the first single from the debut album called “Aura”. Song has been composed by Robert Janson from band Varius Manx where Monika Kuszynska was the lead singer before tragic car accident in 2006. Unfortunately “Missing” breaks the EBU rule as it was published back in August 2015 as a music background for promo-video prepared by one of private broadcaster.
Michal Szpak (26) – runner-up of first “X Factor” season where he performed with Alexandra Burke. Famous for his unusual outfits and style. He revealed his intention to represent Poland in Eurovision back in June 2015 already but with another song. At the end he asked his fans who convinced him to send “Color of your life” to TVP. He finished 5th in thirteenth season of “Dancing with the Stars” and won “Russian Song Festival 2013” in Zielona Gora as well as “Opole Song Festival 2015” with “Real Hero“.
Margaret (real name Malgorzata Jamrozy) is 26 years old singer composer and fashion designer. Her debut single “Thank you very much” caused many controversy due to videoclip in which she was surrounded by thirty naked extras. Clip was even banned on YouTube but the song became huge hit not only in Poland but also in Germany, Austria and Italy. She represented Poland in Baltic Song Contest 2013 finished second. In 2014 she released anthem song “Start a Fire” for 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship. Winner of several music awards such as “Best Polish Act” in MTV Europe Music Awards 2015. Her Eurovision entry “Cool me down” is co-written by Azeri entrant from Eurovision 2009 – Arash as well as Swedish team responsible for “Heroes” by Mans Zelmerlow. Premiere of “Cool me down” is scheduled for Wednesday 17th February but you can listen to 30 seconds snippet HERE.
Katarzyna Mos (28), finalist of third season of “Must be the Music”. She took part in Polish National Final for Eurovision 2006 with “I wanna know” finished 10th out of 15 acts. Her debut album was released in 2015. Katarzyna will fight for ESC 2016 with “Addiction” which she performed live 2 months ago in “Swiat sie kreci”.
Dorota Osinska (38) – singer, actress and runner-up of “The Voice” (second season). Her debut album “Ide” was released back in 2004 in Poland and United States. So far she has three albums, last one called “Teraz” from 2013. Her Eurovision song is composed by Rick Allison who wrote the music for the French entry “Il faut du temps” by Sandrine François from Eurovision 2002. Lyrics by Tinatin Japaridze and Phil Galdston.
Napoli – Belarussian band with Olga Shimanskaya as a lead singer. “My Universe” finished second in National Final 2016 in Minsk with more than 22,000 individual votes in televoting. Napoli failed only to Ivan. Their song is criticized due to similarity to Ukrainian entry 2013 “Gravity“. Napoli it totally unknown in Poland.
Polish National Final will be held on 5th March in Warsaw. Nine acts will fight to represent Poland in Stockholm and the winner will be decided by 100% televoting.
