Eurovision Trivia: Eurostars’ comeback

Eurovision Contest is definitely one of the most important moments in an artist’s career, and there are many past participants who want to experience it again. This year as it happens almost every year, among the competing artists, we meet again artists who competed in the past as a country’s representative or were involved in a country’s staging as backing vocalists, dancers or some other way . Furthermore, some of them were candidates in the past that attempted to represent their country,but they failed in the national selection until, this year!

Below, we will  examine all these cases separately:

Norway
The most interesting ex-participant return is definitely that of Alexander Rybak. The 31 year old Norwegian, Belarusian origin, singer participated in 2009 representing Norway in Moscow’s ESC with the song “Fairytale“, where he did not just win, but achieved a record of 386 points, a record that was broken only after the score system changed in 2016. He participated also three times as a composer in national finals (2013 for Norway, 2015 for Malta and Belarus) without succeeding a remarkable placing , but appeared in the Interval Act of 2012 and 2016 competitions. This year, he represents Norway again with the song “That’s How You Write A Song”.

The Netherlands
Another artist who returns is Waylon, who in 2014, as a member of “Common Linnets” alongside with Ilse DeLange, and the song “Calm After The Storm” won a honorable 2nd place for the Netherlands, the highest after its last victory in 1975. This year, he returns as a solo artist with “Outlaw In ‘Em“.

Russia
This year’s Russian representative, Julia Samoylova, was chosen to represent her country as well last year with the song “Flame Is Burning“, but Russia’s political conflicts with Ukraine did not allow her to reach Kiev and participate. This year, Russian public broadcaster gave her another chance to compete with the song “I Will not Break“.

Australia
Jessica Mauboy participated in the interval act back in 2014 singing “The Sea of Flags“, and was essentially a precursor of Australia’s participation at Eurovision Song Contest . This year, she returns as a contestant with the song “We got love“.

United Kingdom
SuRie participated in the vocal group of the Belgian  entry in 2015, when Belgium won the 4th place with Loïc Nottet and the song “Rhythm Inside” . This year, SuRie represents her country, the UK, with the song “Storm“.

Austria
Cesár Sampson participated in the vocal group of Bulgaria’s participation in 2016 and in 2017,when Bulgaria won the 4th and 2nd place respectively. This year, he will perform as the main act for his country, Austria, with the song “Nobody But You“.

Bulgaria
One of the members of “Equinox“, Vladimir Mihailov, was a member of the vocal group of last year’s Bulgarian  participation, when Kristian Kostov with the song “Beautiful mess“, almost won ending in 2nd place. This year, Equinox represent Bulgaria with the song “Bones“.

Cyprus
Eleni Foureira participated in the Greek final in 2010 with Manos Pyrobolakis and rapper Do not Ask, with the song “Noah’s Ark“,  which came second. Since then, her name had often coming up as Greece’s potential representative in the contest. This year, however, she represents Cyprus with the song “Fuego“.

Finland
Saara Aalto was participated twice in Finnish National finals in 2011 and 2016 with the songs “Blessed with love” and “No fear” respectively, achieving in both attempts a 2nd placing .This year, however, she was internally selected to represent Finland with the “Monsters“.

Sweden
Benjamin Ingrosso participated in Melodifestivalen 2017 with the song “Good Lovin’“, winning the 5th place. This year, participating for the second time in Melodifestivalen ,with the song “Dance You Off” ,he won the 1st place in Sweden’s selections and got the golden ticket to ESC 2018.

Italy
Both performers became known after their participation in Sanremo festival, in years when Italy abstained from Eurovision (2006 & 2007). Ermal Meta also participated in Sanremo 2017 with the song “Vietato Morire“. Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro represent Italy this year with the song “Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente“.

San Marino
Jessika Muskat was trying for 8 consecutive years, from 2009 to 2016, to represent her country, Malta, but without success. Her insistence, however, was rewarded by San Marino as she was chosen as the country’s representative, along with Jenifer Brening, with the song “Who we are“. Among the composers of the song is Zoë Straub, representative of Austria with the song Loin d’ici in 2016.

Malta
Christabelle Borg  has made three attempts to represent her country from 2014 to 2016. This year, she achieved her goal with Taboo written by Thomas G: son.

Albania
Eugent Bushpepa participated, as a member of  “Sunrise” band, with the song “Engjell” at Festivali i Kengesin in 2007. This year, he returned to the Festival and being crowned winner he will represent Albania with the song  “Mall“.

Serbia
Sanja Ilic was the composer of the United Yugoslavia’s entryin 1982, while his songs were nominated another 2 times for Yugoslavia. Danica Krstic, member of Balkanika, was nominated for Serbia’s national final in 2015. Sanja Ilic & Balkanika will represent Serbia with “Nova Deca“.

Croatia
Franka Batelić was nominated in the Croatian national final in 2009 with the song “Pjesma za kraj“. This year,she represents Croatia with the song “Crazy“.

 Slovenia
Lea Sirk was candidate three times in Slovenia’s national finals (2009, 2010, 2017) since her fourth attempt with “Hvala ne” proved to be the most fortunate this year.

Moldova
DoReDos were candidates to represent Moldova in 2015 and 2016, with the songs “Maricica” and “Funny folk“. This year they will represent their country with “My Lucky Day“.

Ukraine
Melovin was candidate in the Ukrainian final of 2017 with the song “Wonder“, when, although he finished first in televoting, he failed to represent Ukraine. This year, he made  it with “Under the ladder“.

Greece
This year’s representative, Yianna Terzi, may not have appeared on a Eurovision stage or has competed in a Greek final but at the national final in 2009 she performed on stage“Nocturne” (Norway 1995).

Apart from all the above, it is worth mentioning some other details about this year’s representatives and older Eurovision participants. This year’s Irish representative, Ryan O’Shaughnessy, is a nephew of Gary O’Shaughnessy, Ireland’s representative in 2001. Elina Nechayeva was the presenter of Eesti Laul 2017. Finally, Mikolas Josef,this year’s Czech representative was given a proposal to interpret “My turn” at Eurovision, the song that the Czech Republic eventually sent last year, but he refused as he believed he did not fit in his style.