The summer weather in Europe has certainly been fuego but ESCBubble is here to cool you down, we’ve the best pick of new music from former Eurovision and Nation Final artists.
Margaret – Lollipop
Margaret Jamroźy, better known to Eurovision fans as just Margaret, has tried for Eurovision success in both the Polish and Swedish national finals. She finished 2nd in Krajowe Eliminacje in 2016, with ‘Cool Me Down’ which became a huge hit in Poland and even charted in Sweden. This led to an invitation to Melodifestivalen 2018 where she finished 7th with ‘In My Cabana’. Her new single ‘Lollipop’ is the official Warner Music song for Europride 2018 and Margaret commented:
I have always supported love initiatives and love of all kinds. Love is love.
Magnus Carlsson – Slow Motion
Magnus is an eight time entrant to Melodifestivalen, both as a solo artist and as a former member of both Barbados and Alcazar. His impressive Melfest CV goes as follows:
- 2000 : Se mig (Barbados), second place
- 2001 : Allt som jag ser (Barbados), second place
- 2002 : Världen utanför (Barbados), fourth place
- 2003 : Not a sinner nor a saint (Alcazar), third place
- 2005 : Alcastar (Alcazar), third place
- 2006 : Lev livet (Solo), eighth place
- 2007 : Live forever (Solo), fifth in semi final 3
- 2015 : Möt mig i Gamla stan (Solo), ninth place
He’s still releasing music too and is back with a new song ‘Slow Motion’. Give it a listen here:
Molly Sterling – Stripped Down
Molly found herself on the Eurovision stage at an early age (17), performing ‘Playing Withe Numbers’ in the second Semi Final in 2015 where she finished 12th. Since then she has taken time to build a career and is now releasing her second single folowing ESC called Stripped Down.
Molly describes the song as follows:
“‘Stripped Down’ explores all the darkness within my relationship with my sexuality, and the people who have affected that relationship. When I wrote this song all I wanted was for people to take responsibility for how they had mistreated me, knowing I would never actually receive closure from them. But it also made me confront myself and take ownership of who I was. It’s the only space in my life where I get to confront that part of my past. What this song has allowed me to do a hundred times over, is slowly dissolve pain that I had felt for a long time.”
Here is ‘Stripped Down’:
The Hardkiss – Free Me
2016 Vidbir runners up, The Hardkiss, are back with a new single ‘Free Me’. The popular Ukrainian band narrowly missed out that year to eventual Eurovision winner Jamala, eventually losing on a tie breaker (Jamala was declared as first place after winning the televote). However they continue to release new music, and this single is from the forthcoming album titled ‘The Iron Swallow.’:
Brother Leo – Strangers On An Island
You might be scratching your head wondering who Brother Leo might be. Well it’s the return of Ola Svensson, the two time Melodifestivalen entrant who is back with a new name! He failed to progress past the Andra Chansen round in 2008 with ‘Love In Stereo’ but successfully made the final in 2010, finishing 7th with ‘Unstoppable (The Return of Natalie)’. Ola is looking very different these days and Brother Leo reflects a more mature and sharp change of direction. Have a listen to ‘Strangers On An Island’:
Alcazar – In The Name Of Love (Soundfactory Europride Mix)
‘In The Name Of Love’ was announced as the official theme of Europride back in February, and to celebrate their amazing performance at the event on Saturday a new version has been released onto Spotify. As reported by ESCBubble, the Europride event saw all five members of the group reunited for a special one off performance. Enjoy the new version here:
Madame Monsieur – Comme une reine
2018 was an exciting year for French ESC fans, with the return of a national selection show following some successful internal selections (Amir and Alma). Madame Monsieur won the first edition of Destination Eurovision with ‘Mercy” and went on to finish 13th at the Grand Final in Lisbon. ‘Comme une reine’ (Eng: ‘Like A Queen’) is the follow up single from the current album ‘Vu d’ici’:
Severina feat Jala Brat – Magija
Croatia’s 2006 Eurovision representative, Severina, has been prolific recently, releasing 2 other songs already this summer – ‘Unaprijed Gotovo’ and ‘Tutorial’. She had previously already teamed up with Jala Brat last year on ‘Otrove’ which has racked up an impressive 72 million views on YouTube! Check out her latest single ‘Magija’ (Eng: ‘Magic’) here:
Jasmine Kara – SMILE
Jasmine is a former Melodifestivalen contestant and her song ‘Gravity’ came sixth in the third semi final last year. Jasmine spent her youth in New York where her talent was noticed and she got to play gigs all over the city. Following on from Melfest this is her first release since then called ‘SMILE’ which she’ll be performing on the 6th August edition of the Swedish tv show Lotta på Liseberg:
And finally
All of the songs featured today can be found in the ESCBubble New Music Spotify Playlist for August, and you can find it on own home page. Which new release caught your ear this week? Let us know on our socials.
