Belarus: Tim Norell considering the possibility of a legal appeal
The negative reactions on Alekseev‘s entry at Eurovision with his song “Forever” still remain in Belarus and a new impetus was given by Tim Norell’s statements.
Tim Norell, the Swedish songwriter, stated in the Swedish newspaper “Aftonbladet” that he is considering a legal appeal against EBU because they allowed Belarus to participate in the contest with that particular track.
In particular, he said:
“I will talk to my lawyer about how we will proceed and we will seek damages from EBU and the Belorussian public broadcaster BTRC for fraudulent procedures”.
Tim worked with Ola Håkansson, Alexander Bard and Anders Hansson on the song “I Will not Cry,” which Gunesh presented in Belarusian national selection in February. “I Will not Cry” hit the second place behind Alekseev’s “Forever”.
To remember just how they all started, Alekseev was at the heart of the storm when he won the first place in the national final after it was revealed that his song had been performed before September 1st – the official date before which EBU forbids the songs to be released in order to compete in the current Eurovision contest.
In January, ESCWORLDCLUB received and published a video with Alekseev singing this song on May 23rd, 2017 in Stavropol. Then many other videos were released with other similar performances.
“Forever” is considered to be an English remake of the single “Navsegda” – which also means “Forever”. The controversial track is 3:45 long, but the Eurovision version is shorter and features tweaks that the artist made after talks with BTRC.
Several contestants had signed an open letter asking the broadcaster to remove Alekseev from the show and one singer (Sofi Lapina) withdrew as a protest to this.
Speaking at wiwibloggs in January, Alekseev tried to calm down the reactions by saying that his previous performances were experiments and that the current song has been reformed, so it is not actually the same song.
“I do not think it came out in May because it was released in September,” he said. “On my birthday party in May, I tried to sing a part of the song” Navsegda, but it was an innovation and so I think it’s a different song.”
Speaking to Aftonbladet yesterday, Tim highlighted that EBU must follow its regulations to protect songwriters.
“The EBU does not follow its own rules,” he said. “How, then, as a composer, will I know what’s going on?, I’ll let my lawyer see that”.
Aftonbladet pushed EBU for an answer and received the following:
“As in previous years, it is up to each country’s broadcaster to choose the appropriate representative for the Eurovision Song Contest. EBU and the host country broadcaster will ensure that all entries are compliant with the competition rules. All potential acts to the Eurovision Song Contest are examined by the EBU before by the Head of Delegation meeting in March to ensure that the songs follow the rules before their formal bidding. “
This meeting will be held on Monday 12th and we all are looking forward for the outcome.
