In recent years, the track record of the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest has not really been all that impressive noting that they have finished towards the bottom of the scoreboard for two consecutive years despite enlisting the likes of Bonnie Tyler and Engelbert Humperdinck. The British Broadcasting Corporation, responsible for the participation of the nation in the prestigious music event has been said to be out of touch with the music industry and rather than sending someone fresh with a brand new outlook and possibly create a career, they look to the greats who are indeed looking for something to add to their impressive experiences.

It seems that one of the first artists to put her name forward just days following the disappointment of Bonnie Tyler with Believe In Me was none other than English artist; Little Boots. The twenty-nine year old took to social networking website, Twitter stating she 'would be up for Eurovision' adding that she 'should enter next year'. On the other hand, Graham Norton, commentator during the final for the British Broadcasting Corporation answered back saying 'you will get the call'. Little Boots first found success in 2009, with her debut album Hands which peaked at number #5 in the charts but with a more mature sound and through her own record label, she has not managed to match that success despite stunning tracks with her sophomore release Nocturnes peaking at number #45. Nevertheless, she has a stunning live vocal and has brought her a-game to every track on both of her albums. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

Source: Digital Spy

Anton Attard, Chief Executive Officer of the Public Broadcasting Services as well as the Head of Delegation for the past three years confirmed that Malta will be returning to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014 following a guest appearance on the daily evening talkshow, TV Hemm produced by Where's Everybody. In light of the success achieved at the esteemed international competition in 2013 thanks to Tomorrow co-written by Boris Cezek and Dean Muscat to the vocals of Gianluca, Attard stated this exposure for the country has been important even towards giving exposure to the professionality of the local music scene. 

Malta has been competing in the Eurovision Song Contest every year since 1991 and has never missed the contest due to the initial relegation rules that had been set in place noting consecutive top ten results from 1991 until 1998 and then from 2000 until 2002. Since the introduction of the semi-final system, Malta has managed to qualify on four out of eight occasions, these being in 2004 with On Again .. Off Again performed by Julie & Ludwig, in 2009 with Chiara and her entry What If We, in 2012 with This is the Night sung by Kurt Calleja and of course, last week with Tomorrow performed by Gianluca.

Anton Attard, currently Head of Delegation and Chief Executive Officer at the Public Broadcasting Services has helped rebrand our participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, working hard with his team to achieve the best possible production quality and the best results both locally and abroad. He states, that he will be putting forward a proposal to the Board of Directors at the broadcaster about his plans for the 2014 selection process but more will be revealed in due course. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com, even on Facebook and Twitter for all of the latest news with regards to next years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark. 

Source: TV Hemm, Emil Calleja Bayliss (image)

RAI, the broadcaster responsible for the participation of Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest has opted in favour of releasing the fifty percent split of the result in both the first semi-final and the final and there seem to be quite a couple of intriguing figures. During the semi-final stage of the competition, the Italian public clearly had one favourite and that was Zlata Ognevich with her song Gravity which received 42.3% ahead of Moldova's entry entitled O Mie performed by Aliona Moon which got just 15.5% in comparison. During the final, the tables turned and support shifted towards Romania and Moldova leaving Ukraine in the lurch and a third position. 

Italy were represented by Marco Mengoni and his song L'Essenziale who managed to take the nation into the top ten for a third consecutive time, finishing in seventh place, just ahead of Malta whose entry Tomorrow sung by Gianluca was awarded the second biggest amount of points from the Italian nation. In the tele-voting portion alone, Malta would have been given four (4) points in total and that means that the ten (10) points given during the show were a mixture of both public and jury votes respectively. You may view the full document as published by RAI here whilst we remind you to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com even through Facebook and Twitter for the latest news.

Source: RAI

During this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, Finland was represented by Krista Siegfrids and her dance/pop entry Marry Me which stalled in the final, only obtaining thirteen (13) points to finish in twenty-fourth position. This was not the initial expectation of the broadcaster whose major success was recorded around seven years ago with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah performed by Lordi which finished in pole position in both the semi-final and the final respectively. 

YLE, the broadcaster responsible for the participation of Finland in the esteemed music event is the first to announce the way forward noting that the preselection procedure known as Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu will be returning. The showcase was first adopted back in 2012 and was not met with success noting that it was not a ratings winner and the winner did not yield an international result despite a stunning performance. The system was altered ever so slightly in 2013 and seemed to work much better noting that people were tuning in with the voting being quite intense during the final. Many had noted Finland to have a beautiful selection of entries with the first and second runner-up deemed more appropriate to represent the country from an international standpoint. Songs for the 2014 edition of the competition have to be submitted until 16th September 2013 with the qualifiers set to be revealed by the 10th December 2013. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com and make to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all of the latest updates.

Source: YLE

In 2012, Pastora Soler was selected by the Spanish broadcaster with the hope of reigniting a flame for the general public and thus watch the Eurovision Song Contest and this indeed worked especially when in the weeks leading up to the showcase, she had been receiving positive reviews. It couldn't have been more different in 2013 though, noting that since the selection of the group, El Sueño de Morfeo, many had them down to finish in a disappointing position. This was the buzz when they drew to perform in the first half of the show with many stating that Raquel gave an off key performance which improved as the song gradually went on. TVE, the broadcaster responsible for the participation and thus financing a large portion of the competition has recorded a ten percent decline in ratings when comparing them to the ones achieved last year.

For people who are not too savvy with numbers, this marks more than one million viewers were lost during the transmission year on year. This was quite dissapointing especially because Pastora Soler and her song Quedate Conmingo had finished in tenth place and therefore, it seems that despite making the effort for one year, Spain has gone backwards once more unfortunately. The song which represented them this year entitled Contigo hasta el final could only manage eight points; two (2) from Italy and five (5) from Albania, thus managing only twenty-fifth place. Despite the result, and the loss in viewership, it is important to record the fact that the broadcaster still managed a strong 33.1% share during the evening, making it one of the most watched shows in the country. We hope that Spain manage to convince a successful artist to represent them in 2014 with a song that will give the top positions a true fight. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news, and make sure to follow even on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: Eurovision Spain

Chris and Moira, the representatives for Malta at the 1994 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest have somewhat been lurking in the shadows in recent years, stepping away from the limelight but it seems that the time is right to release some new material, their first in around five years. 2013, has been rather different for them noting performances all over the country as well as during the Malta Eurovision Song Contest as the results of the semi-final were to be announced. Chris and Moira are no longer a duo, havoing become a four piece band in recent years ,with the addition of Billy B on bass and Philip Borg Barthet on drums. Such a line-up has somewhat spurred them on to create new thumping sounds in the studio. 

The result of the foursome will ultimately be an album, one which will be officially released later on this year as some last minute tweaks take place. Until then though, in order to quench the thirst of fans, Chris and Moira have released a brand new original single entitled Flight 170 which marks a fresh chapter in their music career. 'The song was written with a comical approach, a bit like wanting to send everyone to hell instead of the usual love story lyrics'. Rolling in with a fairground type of chime, the song quickly picks up the pace, pushing ahead over a solid rock backbeat and a catchy melody that is as immediate as it is powerful. “It is rather different from what people might have expected from us” Chris commented,  “and it is also quite different from the rest of the album, which I would say is more ‘us’ but sounding fresher than ever before”. 

Flight 170 is available to stream on Chris and Moira’s YouTube channel. The single is also available to buy as a digital download on iTunes. For more information, visit the Chris and Moira page on Facebook. We urge you to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available, which is also found on Twitter and Facebook respectively. 

Source: Press Release (Michael Bugeja)

Tomorrow, co-written by Dean Muscat and Boris Cezek with vocals provided by Gianluca managed to win the Malta Eurovision Song Contest back in February. Since then, Gianluca embarked on a promotional tour across Europe where he visited several nations including Hungary, Romania, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Armenia amongst others. In each of the rehearsals, Gianluca was seen to be a dark horse for victory noting that the foreign press described him as having one of the best personalities in this years' competition. A simple tune with a positive message is everything that Malta could have hoped for, ultimately leading to an extremely positive result which saw the nation getting points from most of the participating countries.

San Marino and Italy were amongst the beginning to vote and as a matter of fact, they both awarded Malta a total of ten points which were then followed by Norway later on during the evening. Tomorrow did not gather any points from Sweden, Albania, Austria, Israel, Serbia, Finland, Bulgaria, Belgium, Russia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia and Switzerland respectively. In the semi-final stage of the competition, Malta did even better noticeably finishing in fourth place achieving top marks from three countries, including FYR Macedonia, Norway and Azerbaijan. Despite the fourth place finish, it was only a mere three points away from being the first runner-up. Gianluca along with his team consisting of Louise Ann Bugeja Tate, Samaria Bezzina, Gabriel Cassar, Kenny D'Ugo, Christopher Tate, Dean Muscat and Boris Cezek deserve a round of applause but the Maltese Delegation led by Anton Attard and incorporating Peter Carbonaro, Daniel D'Anastasi and Joseph Mizzi also deserve salutations for their hard work.

Since Anton Attard took over back in 2011, the results have been improving every year as Malta manages to reach their best position since the runner-up finish achieved by Angel performed by Chiara back in 2005. Sweden is becoming a hub for success when it comes to the Maltese Participation noting that back in 1992, Mary Spiteri managed third place with her entry Little Child whilst in 2000, Claudette Pace finished in eight place with Desire. Gianluca has also managed an eighth place finish with his entry Tomorrow. We would like you to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news about the Eurovision Song Contest as the Public Broadcasting Services unofficially confirms a return to the competition as this is Malta's thirteenth top ten result. 

Source: Eurovision.tv