In addition to the three National Finals this weekend, another six countries moved closer to selecting their entries. Here's what went down...
Estonia
Five acts progressed from the second semi final of Eesti Laul 2017, completing the lineup for the grand final on Saturday 4th March. Frontrunners
Kerli and
Koit Toome & Laura progressed as expected, alongside
Rasmus Rändvee,
Liis Lemsalu and
Daniel Levi.
Latvia
The semi final of Supernova made it clear which was the stronger of the two quarter finals, with all of last week's qualifiers once again progressing, while the semi one acts were all sent home. That means
Triana Park,
My Radiant You,
The Ludvig and
Santa Daņeļeviča are still in contention for next Sunday's final.
Lithuania
Saturday was a black day in Lithuania as the magnificent
Lolita Zero was done in by the juries and cruelly knocked out of the 117th heat of their national selection, despite continuing to score well with the televoters. Some artists are just doomed never to be appreciated in their own time.
Aistė Pilvelytė,
Sasha Song,
Greta Zazza and
Ieva Zasimauskaitė survived to sing another day (and another, and another, and another...)
Portugal
After taking a year out from Eurovision in 2016, Portugal return this year promising a 'fresh, modernised' revamp of their long-running national selection
Festival da Canção. With that promise in mind, I present the four qualifiers from Sunday night's first semi final without comment:
Viva La Diva,
Salvador Sobral,
Fernando Daniel and
Deolinda Kinzimba.
Slovenia
Back-to-back semi finals in Slovenia saw the final lineup for EMA 2017 confirmed on Friday and Saturday night. Two
Maraaya-penned numbers made the grade, Nika Zorjan's '
Fse' and BQL's '
Heart of Gold'. They'll compete against last year's runner-up
Raiven, Slovenia's 2005 representative
Omar Naber,
KiNG FOO,
Sell Out,
Tim Kores and
Nuška Drašček on Friday 24th February.
Sweden
A mild upset finally broke the tedium of post-app Melfest voting this week, as contest favourites
FO&O (formerly known as The Fooo Conspiracy) found themselves banished to Andra Chansen pipped to the finals by 2016 finalist Robin Bengtsson and beloved 87 year old troubadour Owe Thörnqvist. A combination of nostalgia and novelty doubtless played a role in Thörnqvist's success, but in a fairly listless heat, his performance also stood out as the most self-consciously fun of the night. The younger artists might want to take a few notes...
Sadly, Finland's
Krista Siegfrids faced the indignity of last place in her second roll of the Melfest dice, her reliable stage presence failing to compensate for a song that, while well produced, didn't play to her strengths and felt woefully ill-suited to the contest. Country duo
Bella & Filipa and
Jasmine Kara also got the boot, while 'Youtube celebrity'
Anton Hagman joined FO&O Cruiselines in Andra Chansen.
Ukraine
The Eurovision 2017 host nation attempted to put their organisational troubles behind them on Saturday night as they chose another two acts to complete the lineup for their grand final on Saturday 25th February. Popular rock group O.Torvald topped the jury vote with '
Time', while Melovin was the public favourite with '
Wonder'.
