The Winners
KALUSH x Markos – “Над Дніпром”, KALUSH x Agape – “Заплакана цариця”
“Над Дніпром” (Over the Dniepr) is one of the most emotional songs yet from KALUSH. First of all, the song is about feeling alone and the person you love being out of reach. This message only deepened to the song as duet partner Markos, a friend of KALUSH, passed away a few weeks before the song was finished. These themes of loneliness, loss, and having to let go are continued in the fairly minimalist but really gorgeous music video.
The group’s follow-up from that is “Заплакана цариця” (The weeping queen), a collaboration with fellow Ukrainian singer Agape. As you might expect based on the title, this track is moody, slow, and atmospheric.
JJ – “Haunting Me”
Despite going “Back To Forgetting“, JJ still is haunted by things in the past on “Haunting Me”. The pop track was written by JJ together with Israel Houghton II, Naila, and Oli Som (Ryan Mack, Alex Clare, Maël & Jonas).
ELDAR – “Maskasiz” (EP)
We get three songs on one release with ELDAR‘s new EP “Maskasiz” (Without a mask). The songs are all covers that Eldar performed on Maska, the Azerbaijani version of The Masked Singer. At the same time, as the title of the EP implies, these songs feel stripped back and relatively personal despite being covers.
Jamala – “Ми ховаємся”
“Ми ховаємся” (We are hiding) is Jamala‘s call to not hide your true self but to openly express who you are. The track has a surprisingly singer-songwritery flair to it, leading to a pretty but relaxed alt-pop atmosphere.
Helena Paparizou, Panos Mouzourakis – “O Erotas Grafetai”
Eurovision 2005’s number one Helena Paparizou this month teams up with Panos Mouzourakis for “O Erotas Grafetai” (Love Is Written). The pop-rock adult contemporary track sees their voices work well together on the track written by Vasilis Mirianthopoulos and Kostas Kotoulas.
First Breath After Coma – “Amor i temps (feat. Salvador Sobral)”
You would be forgiven for thinking First Breath After Coma is one of the weird unsearchable punk or emo bands I listen to, but that’s not the case. This post-rock (okay, that is something I listen to a lot) band from Portugal got Salvador Sobral to appear on their new song “Amor i temps” (Love and time). The track is, of course, on the jazzier side of post-rock and for someone who, like me, doesn’t understand Portuguese that makes for a gorgeous and gentle mood piece. Very close to being my top song this month.
Harriet Müller-Tyl, Elisabeth Andreassen – “Håp”
Elisabeth Andreassen of course won Eurovision as part of Bobbysocks, but the rest of her trajectory in Eurovision-related activities sometimes deserves reiterating. She competed 4 times in Eurovision, which also saw her be a runner-up as a solo artist. She competed in Melodifestivalen 6 times and was a co-host once, while Norway’s MGP saw her take to the stage as a contestant 7 times and also once as a host. And what does that all add up to this month? The wintery “Håp” (Hope), a collab with Harriet Müller-Tyl that is perfectly pleasant and can be added to pretty much any winter or holiday playlist.
Charlotte Perrelli, Andreas Weise – “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”
The owner of Eurovision’s most Christmassy winner, Charlotte Perrelli, is here with a wintery take on the song by Neil Sedaka of the same name. With the original dating back to 1962 and having seen plenty of covers since including a very different 1975 take by Sedaka, Charlotte decided to bring in Andreas Weise (Melfest 2015) to give this song her own twist.
Conchita Wurst, Kyrre Kvam – “Wundgeküsst (EP)”
“Wundgeküsst” (Kissed raw) is the title of Conchita’s latest EP. The 6 tracks are all based on covers by German poet Heinrich Heine. Schumann, Schubert, and other big names have set poems by Heine to music before, but Conchita worked with Norwegian composer Kyrre Kvam for this collection. The tracks range from the subdued to the grand, and from more traditional accompaniment to electronica. With so much variety on display you’re likely to find something you really like on this EP.
Victoria – “KILLA (feat. Pabllo Vittar & Isabella Lovestory)”
Victoria de Angelis is continuing her DJ and producer journey with the song “Killa”. Honduran-Canadian pop singer Isabella Lovestory and Brazilian drag queen and singer Pabllo Vittar provide the vocals. This isn’t Pabllo’s first brush with someone Eurovision-adjacent, having previously scored a global hit with French national final juror Yseult on the Sevdaliza track “Alibi”.
Lenny Kuhr – “Droevig Lied (Modinha)”
After that bombast, perhaps you are in the mood to come down with a “Droevig Lied” (Sad Song). The parentheses in the title refer to sentimental Portuguese songs from the 18th century. For her latest release, 1969 winner Lenny Kuhr took some inspiration from said songs, while giving it her own distinct Dutch folk-chanson twist.
Next page: The best and biggest new releases from other Eurovision artists
Giwrgos Oiko