We at ESCBubble like to take a weekly look at the new music released from former Eurovision acts and those who didn’t quite make it past their National Finals. We’ve taken a little extra time this week to make sure we’ve curated the best possible playlist for you to discover some new tunes!
AISEL – My Only
2018 Azerbaijani entrant, Aisel Mammadova, very much has a pedigree in jazz and soul music, so her Eurovision entry ‘X My Heart’ was very much a change of style. AISEL is trying to move on from a disappointing near miss in Semi Final 1 where she finished 11th with 94 points and her newest release ‘My Only’ is very much in the traditional AISEL style:
NAVIBAND – Сумне море
The 2017 Belarusian husband and wife duo from Belarus are back again, this time with with intriguily titled ‘Сумне море’ (Eng: ‘The Sum Of The Sea’). NAVIBAND continue to build on their 17th place finish in Kiev last year and this is their 5th release since the Contest:
Rhys feat FELIX SANDMAN – Starfish
Rhys Clarstedt is a 20 years old Oregon born singer, who moved to Sweden aged 10. She’s already released several singles and we particularly recommend to you her 2017 single ‘Last Dance’.
She’s now teamed up with a regular on this page, Felix Sandman, who of course finished second at Melodifestivalen this year. Their hookup is called ‘Starfish’:
Oscar Zia – Betong
2 time Melodifestivalen finalist, Oscar Zia, is already on his 4th single release of the year with this 2 track single containing the songs ‘Betong’ (Eng: ‘Concrete’) and ‘Nice”. Oscar hasn’t competed at Melfest since 2016 and so a reappearance might be on the cards given his recent output? Given that the Swedish public has sent male artists 4 years in a row his chances may well be decent. Here are ‘Betong’ and ‘Nice’:
Hildur – Picture Perfect
Hildur will be a well known name to those of you who follow Iceland’s Eurovision selection process, better known as Songvakeppnin. In 2015 she made it to the final as part of the group SUNDAY and the song ‘Feathers’ finished in 5th. She returned as a solo artist in 2017 and made the final again finishing 7th with ‘Bammbaramm’. ‘Picture Perfect’ tackles the subject of people who use Instragram to show a side of themselves that isn’t the real them:
Robin Stjernberg – I Don’t
Robin, with his song ‘You’, had the daunting task in 2013 of being the host country’s entry following Loreen’s huge win in 2012. On his way to winning Melodifestivalen he became (and remains) the only winner to have taken part in the Andra Chansen round. After finished 14th in the Grand Final, he’s also written a Melodifestivalen winner – 2017’s ‘I Can’t Go On’ by Robin Bengtsson. This is his latest single titled ‘I Don’t’:
Paul Rey feat Molly Hammar – Company
We’ve featured former Melodifestivalen singer Molly Hammar several times on our new music review this year, following the numerous releases from her EP ‘Sex’. Here she features on the new single from Paul Rey, a 26 year old Swedish singer on the Warner Music Sweden record label. He’s previously released singles with established artists such as the legendary American rapper Snoop Dogg. He’s recruited Molly onto his new singled called ‘Company’:
Tone Damli – Seasick
‘Seasick’ is the return of a singer who has competed in both Norway and Sweden’s selection shows, Tone Damli. Her first attempt at Eurovision was in the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix in 2009, where ‘Butterflies’ came second to the eventual Eurovision winner ‘Fairytale’. Her next appearance in a National Final came in 2013, a duet with Swedish singer Erik Segerstedt called ‘Hello Goodbye’ which failed to progress from the Andra Chansen round:
Joci Pápai – Kirakós
Joci Papai releases his second single since his 8th place finish at Eurovision 2017 with ‘Origo’. Previous single ‘Özönvíz’ hit number 5 on the Hungarian charts and he’s now back with his latest song ‘Kirakós’ (Eng: ‘Puzzle’) which has already racked up 50,000 YouTube hits on its first day:
Nathan Trent – Killer
We told you earlier in the year about his track ‘Secrets’ and now Austria 2017’s Nathan Trent is back with another song called ‘Killer’! Showing a different side from his previous tropical banger, this is more a rock tinged pop song. The lyrics seem to suggest the woman in his bed is not a safe person to be sharing it with:
Ring the alarm
There’s a killer in my bed
Ring the alarm
I got voices in my headShe’s taken my heart
She’s taken my soul
She keeps me attached and I can’t let go
So ring the alarm
She’s a killer
Check out the full song here, this is ‘Killer’:
And Finally….
Don’t forget to check out our article about 2018 runner up Eleni Foureira’s upcoming performance in London on 19th October!
You can find all of today’s songs on our ESCBubble Spotify section on the home page, or you can access it by clicking here.
Which of this week’s new songs was your favourite? Let us know on social media channels.
