Eurovision hits UK as its stars warm up in front of UK crowd ahead of Liverpool spectacular
While the main event is still a few weeks away, the Eurovision circus landed in London – bringing with it the loud costumes, odd props and colourful characters.
But they’re not in the UK to compete – instead it was part of an unofficial (but widely endorsed), whistle-stop tour of the continent where the acts get a chance to test out their songs in front of real audiences full of Eurovision fans in an effort to get their campaigns under way.
The London Eurovision Party was headlined by, of course, the UK act Mae Muller, with performances by artists from this year, as well as years gone by.
And it will be all eyes on Loreen in Liverpool in May – she won the contest for Sweden in 2012 with Euphoria, which is one of the most popular Eurovision tracks in history.
She’s back with new song Tattoo, and while bookies have her at odds-on favourite to win, she told Sky News the only pressure she feels is a creative one.
“I so badly want to create something that matters,” she said, adding: “It’s more pressure to create something as a performance.
“I never thought that this was going to be my path. What happened was the song came to me… I instantly felt when I got that, that I knew that there is something that’s going to happen to me with this song, and then a week or two later, they pop the question [to do Eurovision again] I’m like, ‘no, no, wait, wait, you can’t be serious’.”
If Loreen does do the business and take home the trophy, and nothing is for certain in Eurovision, she would become the first woman to win the contest more than once (Johnny Logan for Ireland holds the official record for the most individual wins as a performer and writer, in case you wondered).
Hot on the heels of Loreen is Finnish act Käärijä, with his Euro-hyper pop tune Cha Cha Cha.
Spotted a mile off at the party, he is famed for his neon green sleeves-only puffer jacket and unique haircut.
Finland’s Käärijä in Amsterdam. Pic: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock
Read more on Eurovision:
Everything you need to know on Eurovision 2023
Eurovision final tickets sell out in 36 minutes
Mae Muller announced as UK’s act for contest in Liverpool
Describing the track he hopes to win with, he told Sky News: “It’s very much power and energy and fire, and it’s the freedom for me in the story.
“Eurovision, it’s a… funny thing, and it makes people happy when they are watching. And what happens is many artists doing funny things and creating great songs.”
The Scandi-star added he was looking forward to maybe fitting in a game at Anfield too when he gets to Liverpool, adding Mo Salah is his favourite player.
But as well as the front-runners, Eurovision is built on its memorable songs and this year Austria provides the goods.
Austria’s entry at Eurovision
Teya and Salena will perform their (and this is real) ode to the American writer Edgar Allan Poe.
The pair explained to Sky News that the idea to perform a song about the ghost of Poe came in a pretty unconventional way, with Teya saying they simply improvised the opening lines to the track at a writing session – but the song wasn’t even their first pitch for the contest.
“We just wanted to make people laugh at the listening session because we had like an hour left, and we just were like, ‘Oh, let’s just do another song just for funsies’ – and it turned out to not be just funsies.
“And Edgar Allan Poe, he’s the epitome of the struggling artist, which we know a lot about, and we just put our experiences into the song and that’s how it happened.”
Australia’s Voyager during the Amsterdam Eurovision party. Pic: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock
Australia’s act, Voyager, were also soaking up at the atmosphere in London, having previously done the Madrid and Amsterdam Eurovision parties.
The veteran prog-metal group said their song is “synth-sational” and “Duran Duran but heavy” – and it comes complete with screamed choruses and a guitar solo.
And their message to those who question why the country is part of the show?
“Australia is a nation built up of immigrants really, and we’ve got a lot of European people living in Australia.
“It kind of just makes sense to have Australia be a part of the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The show is being hosted in Liverpool, but of course Ukraine won the last contest – but with the ongoing war there the organisers deemed it unsafe to stage it on Ukrainian soil, so the BBC stepped in to host in its place after the UK’s Sam Ryder came second in last year’s event.
The week (yes, an entire week) kicks off on 9 May with the first semi-final, and the second two days later, followed by the grand final on 13 May, and will be hosted by Hannah Waddingham, Alesha Dixon, Julia Sanina and Graham Norton.
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
More entertainment news:
Paris Hilton’s home destroyed in fires
RuPaul pays tribute to The Vivienne
Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway