Moldova - Prison - Natalia Gordienko

Digital release image

Moldova brings us the first returning artist for the 2020 contest. (but it wasn't meant to be obviously)
Natalia Gordienko won the Moldovan selection with the song Prison.
The song is written by Philippe Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos.

A slightly remixed version of the song was released as a digital single on January 30.

Here's the official video.

Natalia will be back in 2021

Natalia Gordienko entered our beloved contest in 2006 with Loca, a song performed with Arsenium (from O-Zone) and Connect-R.
Loca ended in 20th place with 22 points.
Different rules back then meant that the song was already secured a place in the final and they didn't have to participate in the semi.
In 2005 she tried to be the first ever Moldovan Eurovision star with her band Millenium but came 3rd in the National Final.
The song was Tablou Pe Sticla (Picture of glass)
See below for more on Loca.

The Moldovan final was on February 29.
It appears the previously uploaded songs are gone (for) now
A few names we know from Eurovision are Georgeta Burlacu (2008, she withdrew), Pasha Parfeni (2012) and Natalia Gordienko (2006)

Versions
Prison
- Official 2CD
Prison (early mix)
- has only been on TRM website
Prison - karaoke

- on the official karaoke album (digital)

Songwriters

The tandem Kirkorov - Kontopoulos gave us the following Eurovision entries (written or co-written by them)

2007 Work Your Magic - Dimitry Koldun (Belarus, 6^th)

2008 Shady Lady - Ani Lorak (Ukraine, 2^nd)

2014 Shine- Tolmachevy Sisters (Russia, 7^th)

2016 You AreThe Only One - Sergey Lazarev (Russia, 3^rd)

Dimitris Kontopoulos co-wrote these entries

2009 This Is Our Night - Sakis Rouvas (Greece, 7^th)

2013 Hold Me- Farid Mammadov (Azerbaijan, 2^nd)

2017 This IsLove - Demy (Greece, 19^th)

2018 X MyHeart - Aisel (Azerbaijan, 11^th in semi)

2018 My LuckyDay - DoReDos (Moldova, 10^th, Kirkorov “produced”)

2020 Superg!rl- Stefania (Greece)

2020 Prison - Natalia Gordienko (Moldova)

Philippe Kirkorov

Kirkorov himself entered the contest himself with Kolybelnya Dlya Vulkana (Lullaby for vulcano). It finished 17^th for Russia but it later came to light that the song had already been released by a different singer in 1993.

Links and sources
TRM Eurovision Website, FB
Natalia Gordienko FB, 2021

Memory Lane Athens 2006: Loca

(Catmusic 10125412)

Loca by Arsenium with Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R was the Moldovan entry for the Athens Eurovision in  2006.
The song finished 20th.
Arsenium was a member of O-Zone who had their 15 seconds of fame back then which explains probably why he's the only one mentioned on the picture sleeves.

There are two different sleeves (cdsingle and promos) and at least Natalia made it onto one of them. Can't be said for Connect-R.
Three versions of Loca were recorded by the trio
Loca - single version
- cdsingle and promo (Catmusic)
Loca - album version
Loca - Soft remix
- both on Arsenium CD The 33rd Element (Cat Music)

In 2014 Arsenium re-recorded the song in Russian (as Лока) and released it as a digital single (but without Natalia or Connect-R)

(Catmusic promo)

United Kingdom - My Last Breath - James Newman

My Last Breath, Digital release image

The BBC revealed the British entry for Rotterdam on February 27: My Last Breath by singer/songwriter James Newman.
Here's the official video
The song is written by James Newman, Adam Argyle, Ed Drewett en Iain James.

The song was released on the same day through all digital sources.

My Last Breath is the second song James penned for Eurovision. 2017's Dying To Try (Ireland) was also from his hand (and Jörgem Elofsson).

Versions
My Last Breath
- Official 2CD
My Last Breath - karaoke

- on the official karaoke album (digital)

Charts
Scottish top 100 (Official Charts Company)(Feb 28): 73, 32, - (May 22 re): 23, -

Links and sources
James Newman FB, Soundcloud

Australia - Don't break me - Montaigne

We all know that finding a Eurovision entry is not the most urgent thing on peoples minds* but Australia's preselection for 2020 went ahead in Goldcoast on February 8.

* I was referring to the devastating fires back then....

Digital release image

Montaigne (Jessica Serro) won ands she was to represent Australia in Rotterdam with the song Don't Break Me.
It is written by Jessica Serro herself, Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci.
The digital single was released on January 31st.

Montaigne is back for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.

Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci (a.k.a. DNA Music) also wrote three other Australian entries
Sound Of Silence for Dami Im which ended second in Stockholm in 2016,  Don't Come Easy by Isaiah (9th in Kyiv in 2017) and #WeGotLove by Jessica Mauboy (16th in Lisbon 2018)


All competing songs are released seperately and if you search for Australia Decides 2020 on your favorite streaming thingies you'll find them all.

Versions
Don't Break Me - single version
- Official 2CD
Don't Break Me - karaoke

- on the official karaoke album (digital)

Links and sources
SBS Australia Decides pages
Montaigne Website, FB, 2021

Spain - Universo - Blas Cantó

Artwork for the digital single

Blas Canto (Blas Cantó Moreno) was chosen to represent Spain in the Rotterdam 2020 contest.
His self penned song is titled Universo.
The song was revealed on January 30 and released through all digital platforms on the 31st
Here's the video

Blas Canto has been confirmed as the Spanish artist for the next Eurovision Song Contest. All about that here.

He has so far released one solo album Complicado from 2018 (CD). It was re-released in 2019 as Complicados, a deluxe version with bonus tracks (2CD).
The album is mainly in Spanish but also includes a few songs in English.
The album was a #1 in the Spanish charts and stayed on the top 100 for 42 weeks.
His latest single is Si Te Vas (from the re-issue edition of the album)

El Camino A Rotterdam
Eurovision history for young Blas started early.
In 2004 he was in the Spanish preselection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest final with the song Sentir. He lost out to María Isabel who went on to win the whole shebang with Antes Muerta Que Sencilla.

CD Complicados

From 2009 to 2016 He was in a boy band Auryn who tried to get to Eurovision in 2011. They finished top 3 in Destino Eurovisión (2011) but in the end lost out to Lucia Pérez.
Auryn scored 15 top 50 hits in Spain including the #1 Puppeteer (2014). Three of their four albums went to #1

Versions
Universo - single version
- Official 2CD
Universo - karaoke (= instrumental)

- on the official karaoke album (digital)

Links and sources
Blas Cantó FB, 2021

The Eurovision Collectors Guide 1956-2018

The Rotterdam Collection of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest will be materializing here soon but if you want to find out about the first 63 contests you can check out our facebook for more details on the 10th* edition of the Eurovision Collectors Guide. (here in the Photos section)

If you like what you see, you can download the whole thing as a PDF file here at ESC History
And give us a Like if you have one to spare....

The 2019 Tel Aviv Collection is here.

Sample page

* Actually the new one is #11, but I don't count the #0 edition that only had 10 copies made.

The first 9 Eurovision Collectors Guides