Show #197

After many weeks, and several pints of venom, we are finally at the end of our review process as the Superfans give their opinions on the last of this years contest contenders! We also “Czech” out another Eurovision nation for this weeks triple play and bring you up to speed on the big stories from the last seven days in the Eurovision News…

This Weeks Highlights

Marco Mengoni

2023 Contest Contender

Marco Mengoni is an Italian pop singer-songwriter who rose to fame in 2009, after winning the third season of Italian talent show X Factor. He won the Sanremo Music Festival in 2013 and again in 2023, therefore representing Italy in Eurovision both years.'

Iru Khechanovi

2023 Contest Contender

Irina Khechanovi, known professionally as Iru, is a Georgian singer and songwriter. As a member of the girl group Candy, she won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song 'Candy Music'. In 2023, she won the fifth season of The Voice Georgia, therefore winning the right to represent Georgia in the main 2023 Song Contest.

The Czech Republic (Czechia) has participated in Eurovision 10 times since its debut in 2007. After receiving nul points in the 2009 semi-final and due to a lack of interest from the Czech public, broadcaster Česká televize (ČT) withdrew. ČT announced their return in 2015, with an internal selection being used to select their fourth Eurovision entry. In 2016, Gabriela Gunčíková became the first Czech entrant to reach the final, finishing 25th with the song “I Stand”. After failing to qualify in 2017, Mikolas Josef became the second entrant to reach the final and the first to reach the top ten, placing sixth in 2018 with “Lie to Me”. In 2019, Czech band Lake Malawi finished eleventh, achieving the country’s second best result in the contest. The third best result was achieved in 2022 by the band We Are Domi, finishing 22nd.

Mikolas Josef is a Czech singer-songwriter and former model.

Josef decided to pursue music professionally. He independently released his debut single “Hands Bloody” in 2015. The following year, he released the single “Free”, which became a top 15 hit in the Czech Republic. That same year, he also released the single “Believe (Hey Hey)”.

Josef was approached to represent the Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song “My Turn”, but rejected the offer as he did not believe the song suited him. In November 2017, Josef released the single “Lie to Me”, and later confirmed that the song would be competing in the Czech national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon.

“Lie to Me” later won the national selection, and represented the Czech Republic in the 2018 contest. It finished in sixth place with 66 points from the juries and 215 points from the audience, giving the Czech Republic its best result so far in the competition. By May 2020, “Lie to Me” reached 30 million streams on Spotify, becoming the most-streamed Czech song on the platform.

Track List