Sensational Temptational

Gothicband "Within Temptation" will be the Dutch entrant for USC 2005. They are very much rumoured as possible Dutch entrants for the ESC. Now the USC-public can hear why. The beautiful song 'Memories' was only one of the good songs to choose from in 2005. Dutch Management chose the less know song, for Within Temptation already participated with succes with 'Stand my ground' and 'Angels' in other contests.


Within Temptation - Memories

In this world you tried,
Not leaving me alone behind.
There's no other way,
I pray to the gods let him stay.
The memories ease the pain inside,
And now I know why.

All of my memories keep you near.
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near,
In silent whispers, silent tears

Made me promise I'd try,
To find my way back in this life.
Hope there is a way,
To give me a sign you're okay.
Reminds me again it's worth it all,
So I can go home.

All of my memories keep you near.
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near.
In silent whispers, silent tears.

Together in all these memories,
I see your smile.
All of the memories I hold dear.
Darling you know I'll love you,
Til the end of time.

All of my memories keep you near
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near,
In silent whispers, silent tears.

All of my memories...

Are you ready?

USC News meet Madame choclate of Ukraine

Wednesday April 29th. Stockholm 00:30. Restaurant Flemming.

Finally after waiting a long time we get a 20 minute interview with Ukrainan Eurovision artist Svetlana Loboda and her manager as the translator. Svetlana say she never liked nor was a fan of Eurovision but she knew both about Dima and Ani in 2008 and think Ani was the better one.

You can listen to an extract of the interview in the video here:

She knows the good ukrainian results in eurovision (one win, 2 second places and a 7th etc) and feel indeed some pressure and expectations to do a good result but she concentrate on her stage show number in Moscow which is still a total secret. They revealed only a small part of it in London and they will show that part in Stockholm here tonight too. But most strongly they emfasize that they will not show anything substantial from the Moscow act before the semifinal. So we can expect a spectacular stage show that is not only special but also very difficult and dangerous to perform and Svetlana need her circus act skills from Kiev variety and circus academy. There will be no choclate on the stage but there will be some in her bed, she add smilingly. She will have her family and a whole fan group with her to Moscow and she tells us that she is a bit concerned about that her mother and father worry a lot about her safety during the use of the “Hell Machine”.

Svetlana tell us that she wrote the song with russian lyrics on a beach in India. Suddenly there was a cow that licked her in the neck and scared her a lot, but it was a friendly cow. When she found out that she was gonna be in the national final for eurovision (which she won win maximum points from both the televoters and the jury) she asked a friend to write the english lyrics because english is her problem and she just started to learn more. The russian version is now a huge hit in russia and ukraine now. She tells us she make her music with her computer by playing chords on the keyboard, adding drums and other sounds. I ask if she was trained in classical music or if she uses piano to write pop songs. The answer is both. If she wanted she could record a classical Romanov piano concert. She write music mainly to express charisma and energy and the flame inside. The energy of the music inspires me.
She cant easily tell us her favourite song. “Hard to say, I watched the movie about Edith Piaf and that amazed me”. Svetlana starts to sing “Padam Padam”. And yes she can sing live too. Singers she admire are Lennie Cravits and Goran Dregovic. She can not name a single favourite song but she listen to a lot of music, less for artists themselves but most for the energy in the music.

We discuss the chocate inspired video. I ask if there was real choclate or if it was computer animated. Svetlana tell us that they had food specialists from Russia that helped them do all the kind of food elements roses and food inspired artwork that exist in the video. They also filled a bathtub with a mix of cacao, to be precise 12 kilos, and some other ingrediences like paint and fluids that made it liquid and possible to swim in. Svetlana came up with the idea herself and she also wrote the whole script herself and indeed she is the woman in the choclate bath. And Svetlana proudly reveal that it is her own bum that comes up to the surface in the ukrainian esc video. Svetlana tells us laughingly that you couldn’t eat the choclate without having stomach problems which some of the crew members learned the hard way. On stage in Moscow there will not be any chocolate, "Only in my bed" Svetlana says. To impress us futher more she simply add that she edited and produced the video herself in her macintosh computer.

When they started the tour they didn´t expect to get so high in such short time. The best thing so far during this tour was when the organisers of the Amsterdam party called us and the team learned that “Be my Valentine” won the audience SMS vote in Amsterdam preview party. They all was very positivelly surprised and just screamed out load in euphoria. Now they learned they are climbing in the betting lists from 24th to 4th place. She visited London and other cities many times mostly for the quality of music they have but it is the first time in Stockholm. She arrived at noon and will leave early in the morning a few hours from now so she did not see much of Stockholm nor the other cities on this esc tour but she tasted some swedish food. Herrings.

She has heard the other competing songs and when we ask for the ones she likes the most she mentions that the artist that impresses her is Mr Rybak from Norway. He has a very young and very positive heart and has very good energy. Svetlana think Malena Ernman from Sweden is very funny because she reminds her of a Ukrainian singer and artist who also do the same kind of facial expressions that Malena does in her number. When she first saw the Swedish entry she thought it was that ukrainian singer. When we ask her to speculate on who is gonna win she elaborates on the theme that the winner need to be different and special and that that is why they make the spectacular show in Moscow. Futher on she mentions the Lordi winning as a result of attracting a new gruop of voters that was not there before. “Everything is very unpredictable. Every year the Eurovision gets a new audience and also the audience are the gay community but also house wifes”. The audience is different every year. But the winner will be an artist with some kind of charisma and a flame inside of them. Something special. I would like to bring a good taste to the audience and make an energetic and big festival stylish performance. All her songs she recorded so are more european than Ukrainian some say.

What is the worst thing that an happen in Moscow?
“I don’t wanna think about that.”

What is the best thing that can happen in Moscow?
“That we win.”

What will you do if you win?
“I want to go to Nepal and think about how to live and start my life from a new page”. In the future she wants to explore her inner energy and also visit Nepal and try to cure her fear of hights. She also started to learn english. To visit the Himalayas is to get closer to the sky.

In the end she gives a complement that it is a pleasure to talk to us since we are the very first professional journalist, “a complement to you, you have very clever eyes and it is very nice to speak to you”. Her manager and our translator states that as a journalist himself he think it is “very nice questions, very good, an old journalist school I’d say”. I don't know if they really mean this or if it's a PR trick to make all write good things about them but he looks sincear and she shy.

I say that I might vote if there is a smashing show in Moscow. Svetlana humbly say “Thankyou” and her manager say they are actually the head liner of tonights show here in Stockholm. As we walk out we arrive as Arash perform “Boro Boro”. We just missed Jade but now we can enjoy Arash and Aysel and Soraya and of course Svetlana Loboda and indeed the lady from Ukraine can sing live too and we feel the energy from inside.

Liza and Jörgen

Finally Grace

Glennis Grace took her sweet revenge after her failed attempt to reach the ESC final in 2005 Kiev. In the USC 2009 Spring edition she took the victory by the smallest margin over the Swedish power ballad singer Dawn Finer in the biggest USC final of all time (32 participants). Glennis's song 'The greatest love we'll never know' left all other contestants behind rcollecting a total of 132 points. After her victory she received a telegram from Whitney Houston with compliments and congratulations which brought the Dutch Diva to tears as she debuted 15 years ago on national television winning the Soundmixshow performing a song by her idol, Whitney Houston.



Netherlands 132
Sweden 131
United Kingdom 111
Greece 93
Switzerland 91
Portugal 90
Germany 81
Finland 77
Iceland 72
Norway 69

Spring & Grace

Glennis Grace will be the Dutch entrant in this year's Spring Edition of USC. She beated Krezip with only a nose length in the final. After the lines were closed it turned out that Glennis won with the smallest margin possible leaving Krezip with there la(te)st single 'sweet goodbyes' behind. After the deadline to vote more sms-votes came in for Krezip then for Glennis, so Krezip is offered a second chance in the NF Summer preselection.

Glennis sang with her wonderful voice a very strong ballad in the genre of Whitney Houston (in her best days). "The greates love we'll never know" could do well in USA charts as well, but first miss Grace will conquer USC with her song. The Dutch believe in her chances. The bookies seem to agree on that because the betting odds for her to win are 1 : 5



These are the lyrics (thanks to 11-y.o. Elli)

livin for a fantasy
Somethin that could never be.
Cause all the love you have to give was never ment .. never ment for me
I see The way you look at her
She is everything you’re livin for
love is such a miracle when it comes nockin at your door
But I don’t know what to do..
I’m in love to
can’t see where i’m supose to go..from here cause”


(Refrein)
There’s no way in,There’s no way out..
you’re the one I’m livin for
you’re the one I have to live without
I can’t hold on, I can’t let go
cause I have found the greatest love.
The greatsest love we’ll never know.


I’d love to Make you Cross the Line
But i know you’re not the hurt In Kind.
would you be the menu are If you broke a heart from mine.
So till I Find my Way..2morrow is just another day
And you are just a lonley dream that never ever sins to faith
Someone heals my pain...someone somwhere..
cause I know I can’t go on this way Forever

(Refrein)
There’s no way in,There’s no way out..
you’re the one I’m livin for
you’re the one I have to live without
I can’t hold on, I can’t let go
cause I have found the greatest love.
The greatsest love we’llnever know.

will never laugh will never cry
I not can’t live... But my love will never die
o0hh whooo
somebody heals my pain....2x

(Refrein)
There’s no way in,There’s no way out..
you’re the one I’m livin for........
you’re the one I “have” to live without
I can’t hold on, I can’t let go
cause I have found the greatest love.
The greatsest love we’ll never know......howwwww

I’m livin for a fantasy.. Somethin thath could never Be...

Salva Ortega to Cyprus!

Salva Ortega will represent Spain in USC Spring Edition with the song 'Lujuria'. He won the Spanish National Final that took place in March with several USC managers as jury. The results from this final was:

1. Salva Ortega - 62 points
2. Andermay - 50
3. Nauzet - 47
4. Melody - 47
5. Nena Daconte - 44
6. Miguel Bosé & Paulina Rubio - 41
7. Marlango - 35
8. Operación Triunfo - 35
9. Natalia - 28
10. La oreja de Van Gogh - 17

Good luck to Salva in Cyprus!

SPAIN SPRING ED. NF

Spain will decide his song for USC Spring Edition in Larnaca in a great National Final. Ten songs will compete, with different styles. Here are the candidates:

01. Andermay - ¡Uh Oh Oh Oh!
02. La oreja de Van Gogh - El último vals
03. Marlango - It's All Right
04. Melody - Amante de la Luna
05. Miguel Bosé & Paulina Rubio - Nena
06. Nena Daconte - Tenía tanto que darte
07. Operación Triunfo - Agua
08. Salva Ortega - Lujuria
09. Natalia - Rebelde en libertad
10. Nauzet - Mátame María

The votes are in Eurovision style: 1-8, 10 and 12 points.
You can download the songs here: www.sendspace.com/file/6oxdz0
For voting, to this email: nilsolgersson@hotmail.com

I will vote in every NF whose owner vote in Spain NF.
Thanks in advance. I hope you like this NF.

Anna Vissi, winner at USC Winter 2009

Cyprus wins for first time USC. Anna Vissi and 'To Parelthon Mou' made it possible. Next edition will be in Larnaca, south Cyprus, and there are ten countries classified for the final: Cyprus, Greece, Monaco, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy.

USC Winter Final

INTERNATIONAL JURY NEEDED

Dear USC players,
You have the exquisite taste for good music. The winners of United Song Contest keep on to add to the long list of fantastic songs and performances. "The schlagerparty a la GeorgieFree" needs an international jury vote for the Melodifestivalen final. The 13th of March tehre will be a 60 people party with votings, big screen Tv and televoting and jurys the night before the real MF final. In this years edition we require an international 12th jury vote. Due to the quality of this internet contest and the fact that most of the winners have been huge successes in real music world as well we would the most appriciate if the USC members would like to be participating in the international jury.

What you need to do is to give your vote on the 11 finalists in Globen during the week before the final. From saturday the 7th of March until latest Thursday the 12th of March at midnight.

Send your international jury vote to georgiefree69@hotmail.com

Thankyou for participating

Next USC History is...

Andorra wins USC History 1986

Mecano and its song 'Hijo de la Luna' won the USC History 1986. Is the second time that a song in Spanish win at USC, after Rosa with 'Etymon', representing Sweden. Will win anytime Spain singing in Spanish? No idea.

Here it's the videoclip from Mecano's song. Enjoy!

Ilse for the Dutch! So incredible

Dutch singer Ilse de Lange is choosen to be the next entrant in USC Winter's Edition with her song So incredible.


here's the lyrics to her song:

SO INCREDIBLE

In the middle of the day
When the sun is aching
And I try to make my way
But the sidewalk's breaking
Watch me slip between the cracks
As I fall and fall and fall
And I wonder where I’ll land
If I ever land at all

Oh, there's your hand

So incredible, the love we have
The things we hold, let's make them last
You pull me through
When I get stuck in other little distractions
So incredible
So incredible

In the middle of the night
When the stars all gather
They conspire with the sky
I'm sure it's me they're after
Try to steal away my dreams
Keep them for themselves
As I'm stirring in my sleep
Please just help me wake up

Oh, there's your hand

So incredible, the love we have
The things we hold, let's make them last
You pull me through
When I get stuck in other little distractions
Everything happens, I still know
So incredible
So incredible

Everything that we know
Spinning out of control
You never let me go
Ohohoh

So incredible, the love we have
The things we hold, let's make them last
You pull me through
When I get stuck in other little distractions
So incredible
So incredible

So incredible
So incredible

Estonian singer announced!!!

Represent Estonia in United Song Contest will be the 20 years old singer Laura Póldvere...

SaksaEesti (Official Eesti United Song Contest TV) announced Laura today at 14:00
The song will be "Moonwalk"(SaksaEesti Remix)

Estonia is dircetly qualified for the USC Final.Last Edition Estonia gets the second best placering
in the Estonian USC History.Vanilla Ninja reached with the song "Don´t go too fast"11th place "92 Points"...

Here you can see the normal version and the live song on the Estonian NF

Rebeca will represent Spain!

The Spanish delegation has selected Rebeca for representing Spain in Slovenia. USC Winter will have a classic diva from this contest, so she was 2nd years ago with 'Qué no daría yo', the best Spanish position ever in United Song Contest. This time, she will sing 'Se me olvidó' ('I forgot it'), one of the last hits from Rebeca in Spain.

Dutch NF final for 2009 Winter USC

7 songs compete for a ticket to the USC winter final of 2009:

Song A) So Incredible
Song B) Do for love
Song C) Hey Hey Hey
Song D) Alles altijd (always everything)
Song E) Miracle
Song F) Bring me down
Song G) Medicine

All songs can be downloaded here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F3K1R34V

Please vote 9-7-5-3-2-1-0 points and send it to rollercoasterslow [at] hotmail [dot] com

National Finals are ready!

BULGARIA

Preslava - Ot dobrite momicheta
Ruth – Sometimes
Vesela Boneva Vessy - Ring the bells
Svetovar Hristov - Barrow From The Shadow
Big Mama Scandal - By You
Maria - Ne, ne, ne
Andrea - Nai-velik
Andrea i Kosti - Samo moj

Download here.
Voting 1-2-3-4-5-6-8-10.
Mail: mert9119@hotmail.com

SERBIA

Dragna Mirkovic I Dejan Djokic – Zivot moj
Aca Lukas – By pass
Jelena Karleusa – Tihi Ubica
Lepa Brena - Pazi kome zavidis
Emina Jahovic i Sasa Kovacevic - Jos ti se nadam
Milica Majstorovic - Savrsen par

Download here.
Voting 1-2-3-4-5-7.
Mail: ivanzupanoski@yahoo.com


NORWAY

Where the angels sleep - Askil Holm
Saturday Nigh - Surferosa
I miss your love - Maria Mena
Unloved - Espen Lind
Fuck deg - Sichelle
Wild at heart - David Pedersen

Download here.

Voting 1-2-3-4-6-8

Mail: kimrt91@gmail.com

UNITED KINGDOM

The Saturdays- UP

Amy Winehouse- Rehab

Leona Lewis- Run

Liu Huan & Sarah Brightman- You and Me

Amy McDonald- This is the life

Alexandra Burke- Hallelujia

Ultra-beat- Pretty Green Eyes

Sonja Alden- Tva daj paen ade strand

Will Young- Leave Right Now

Soul Avengerz feat Javine- Don't Let The Morning

Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse- Valerie

Q Boy- Oh Yeah

Emma Bunton- Maybe

Geraldine McQueen- The Winners Song

Lilly Allen- Alfie

George Formby- When I'm Cleaning Windows

Aleisha Dixon- The Boy That Does

Lemar- Weight Of The World

Take That- Rule The World

Chris Morris- Bad Sex 2

Download in web

Voting like Eurovision

Mail: hannafordable@hotmail.com

CYPRUS

Anna Vissi singing:

Apagoreymeno
Konta
An Se Eroteyto
Stin Pira
Risko
Apo Makria Kai Agapimemoi
Kane Kati
Thelo Mia Agapi
Pio Konta
To Parelthon

Download here.

Voting like Eurovision.

Mail: perseas77@windowslive.com

FYR MACEDONIA

Kaliopi - Ako denot mi e nok

Maja Panceva - Macka so 9 zivoti

Shpat Kasapi - Mos me urrej

Suzana Spasovska - Koga ljubi moma mlada

Karolina - Ajde da letame

Download here.

Voting 1-2-3-5-7

Mail: paneporfavor@yahoo.com

1986, new USC History!

Are you ready for a new musical challenge?


Send song till 31st January.

Dutch delegation furious

Dutch delegation furious about the voting system in SOTY.

In a press conference the Dutch management made it clear they consider not voting in the SOTY 2008 of USC. Where-as 22 countries –the non qualifiers- are allowed to divide their (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+10+12=) 58 points over their favorites. The qualified countries all together form the 23rd jury. This jury exists of 18 members, so their influence on the final ranking is margined from 1/23rd to 1/414th . This seems rather unfair.

The USC management argued that the rule change was tested and was needed because some countries switched managers and some managers had more than one song in the SOTY competition. So it would be impossible to keep a track on who votes its own songs? The Dutch management claims that all managers and songs of the past year are known to management so this cannot be the reason for a rule change.

All give 58 points, but when given by a qualified manager they are worth only 3,2 points (=58/18), a 12 only 0,67 points (=12/18th) .

The Dutch management suspects the USC management to give their own songs (Greece and Slovenia) more profit from this rule. The rule is argued to be more fair, but in fact it’s even beneficial for players with more than one song in the SOTY final (Sweden Greece & Spain) !

Because every player is obliged to vote the same amount of points? Not really : If Sweden gives 12 points to an opponent it’s divided by 18 (because of the shared jury nr 23) So Swedish songs profit from that a lot when a non Sweden-player votes a Swedish song. Then Sweden relatively receives 18 times more points….. More over Sweden is allowed to vote even for itself.

The Status of the UK jury is unclear as well. Are their 4 members considered as 1 jury or does each of their votes have the same weight as i.e. the Macedonian vote?

Off course we want this competition to be about music, not about countries. So this rule change shouldn’t have applied at all. The Dutch management proclaims “We’d rather have no vote than voting within this malfunctioning system!”

The chief of the Dutch Management also stated “We have a problem with reviews being published during the voting. We know The Italian staff agrees on that one as well. “

USC webpage financed all 2009

There was a real danger of having the 3 year old webpage destroyed when there was no payment for the extra features (more than 20 pages) and memory in webpage. When Lisa and Goran desided to finance the usc webpage during 2008 it was saved with the new management.

Just recently the USC webpage was financed and payed for until the 30th november 2009 by Alan (Slovenia) and Babis (Greece). USC NEWS find this a good decision. Especialy when you think of that the current manager Babis had decided to decline from management December 31st.

There are rumours that the new 2009 management will start a whole new webpage, based on a free webpage builder. More on this topic when we have more information. At least for now all the USC History pages and editions the first 3 years are saved.