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Posted by: Ryan. 5th September 2015, 11:34 PM

Posted by: Ryan. 5th September 2015, 11:34 PM

I say this every year, but I hope Malta can finally get a Eurovision win at some point. They put an incredible amount of effort into hosting Junior Eurovision, and the passion from the Maltese is up there with the Scandinavians.

Posted by: AdventAloud 3rd December 2015, 08:02 PM

Ira Losco has submitted 2 entries!

http://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/news/imhabbra-s-semifinalisti-tal-malta-eurovision-song-contest-2016/

Posted by: Ryan. 7th December 2015, 10:21 PM

Very exciting news! I read somewhere that Ira is of "Madonna-status" in Malta even now so this is a massive deal, although we all know how the Maltese love Eurovision. Hopefully she has a great song as it'd be fab to have her back in Eurovision after 14 years.

Posted by: Ryan. 11th December 2015, 10:50 PM

The semi-finalists are:

01 Maxine Pace - “Young Love”
02 Deborah C - “All Around the World”
03 Laurence Gray - “You’re Beautiful”
04 Brooke - “Golden”
05 Raquel Galdes - “Flashing Lights”
06 Corazon (Mizzi) - “Falling Glass”
07 Kimberley Cortis - “Lighthouse”
08 Jasmine Abela - “Alive”
09 Domenique Azzopardi - “Empty Hearted”
10 Jessika - “The Flame”
11 Daniel Testa - “Under The Sun”
12 Ira Losco - “That's Why I love You”
13 Franklin - “Little Love”
14 Dario Mifsud Bonnici - “I love You”
15 Dominic - “Fire Burn”
16 Danica Muscat - “Frontline”
17 Ira Losco - “Chameleon (Invincible)”
18 Christabelle Borg - “Kingdom”
19 Sarah Crystal - “Right Here With You”
20 Stefan Galea - “Light Up My Life”

Ira getting 2 songs in! *.*

Posted by: J▲hq 12th December 2015, 10:57 AM

Doubt any will be up to Destiny's standard thou

Posted by: LeXmas 24th December 2015, 01:57 PM

Malta have blessed us with a christmas gift and uploaded the studio versions http://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/eurovision/participants/ for those of us who don't fancy the five hour long live show.

Posted by: Ryan. 24th December 2015, 05:32 PM

Only listened to Chameleon so far and it is very good. The chorus not as big as I hoped, a little revamp to give it a bit more oomph might be a good idea but the best thing about it is the middle 8 with the frantic strings (I think they are strings?). I can imagine a great stage performance for this with a big light show and frantic violinists on stage!

If Ira wasn't performing it I'm not sure it'd be such an obvious contender, but would the Maltese jury (televoters barely matter in this selection) really let go the chance to send again arguably their most successful Eurovision performer ever (along with Chiara of course but Ira was closer to the top than Angel was)?

Posted by: Sproot. 24th December 2015, 05:40 PM

Can they not bring back Destiny?

Posted by: Ryan. 24th December 2015, 05:42 PM

She's too busy being the star reporter at the artist reveal show



But Malta are surely going to do amazing in the 2020s when Gaia, Federica and Destiny are all eligible for the main contest!

(Also in that video its so strange how they speak Maltese but then say whole phrases in English as if its part of their language, I guess they've adopted certain phrases! )

Posted by: gooddelta 24th December 2015, 07:40 PM

Ira Losco!!!! Hope she gets through, I've followed her career ever since Eurovision, she had some fantastic rocky songs in the late 00s.

This is my favourite post 7th Wonder single of hers:

Posted by: Ryan. 25th December 2015, 12:38 AM

From what I gather, Ira is still the most popular female artist in Malta over 13 years after Eurovision, winning awards with every album - she's basically the Maltese equivalent of someone like Cheryl Cole but even *more* popular and successful! I'm guessing it'd be a pretty big shock if Ira didn't win, especially when she has a solid song in Chameleon. That said I'd be more confident if it was a televote rather than 7/8ths of the vote relying on jury so you never know.

Posted by: LeXmas 25th December 2015, 12:42 AM

Knowing that the Maltese Eurovision selection process is hardly a bastion of openness and democracy, I can't see PBS trying to dampen a national treasure by making her come second. Initial thoughts on 'Chameleon' are that it would be a good qualifier but would struggle to get left hand side.

Posted by: Ryan. 25th December 2015, 12:50 AM

Yeah that sounds about right, if I was pushed I'd suggest it'd get Albania's favourite position of 17th in the final. It could sneak top half with a revamp, they need to go full on dance in the chorus and the resulting post-chorus "breakdowns/instrumentals" as it just feels a little watered down when it could be a massive dance anthem along the lines of 'Euphoria' - the beginning of the song reminds me of the beginning of 'Euphoria'. The strings in the latter half of the song definitely give it a bit of a Clean Bandit feel too, there's a lot to work with here if it did win and could be transformed into a big hit.

Ira does have a budget behind her, she released the first single from her new album (which will also contain her Eurovision songs) last week:

Posted by: Ryan. 25th December 2015, 12:53 AM

Shout out to this Meghan Trainor rip-off though which is quite fun:

Posted by: Ryan. 13th January 2016, 12:07 PM

Semi-final running order:

01. Ira Losco – Chameleon (Invincible)
02. Corazón – Falling Glass
03. Stefan Galea – Light Up My Life
04. Domenique Azzopardi – Empty Hearted
05. Dario – I Love You
06. Daniel Testa – Under the Sun
07. Jessika – The Flame
08. Jasmine Abela – Alive
09. Raquel – Flashing Lights
10. Brooke – Golden
11. Kim – Lighthouse
12. Sarah Crystal – Right Here With You
13. Danica – Frontline
14. Christabelle – Kingdom
15. Franklin – Little Love
16. Dominic – Fire Burn
17. Ira Losco – That’s Why I Love You
18. Laurence Gray – You’re Beautiful
19. Maxine – Young Love
20. Deborah C – All Around the World

Only one Ira song is allowed to make the final, so I hope that Chameleon gets chosen despite the unfavourable running order draw!

Posted by: Ryan. 22nd January 2016, 04:14 PM

Arguably, if you were to believe some people, the winner of MESC will actually be decided tonight considering Ira's popularity and the fact only one of her two songs is allowed to progress to the final. Generally Eurovision fans including myself prefer Chameleon, but it's running order draw in comparison to That's Why I Love You is worrying. Although I do have the feeling that That's Why I Love You would be a much safer qualifier than Chameleon as the latter would rely on great staging and probably a revamp, where's the former is a ready to go safe but well sung pop ballad which would qualify if in the second half of the draw.

Posted by: Ryan. 22nd January 2016, 11:01 PM

Chameleon is Ira's qualifier!

Posted by: Ryan. 23rd January 2016, 12:28 AM

Running Order
Click ♫ to listen to the studio versions of each song!

01 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf3QPZQiEaQ Deborah C - All Around The World
02 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhAuaChJ1Hw Franklin - Little Love
03 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xDqbz9kw1E Daniel Testa - Under The Sun
04 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrGBeBxuem4 Brooke - Golden
05 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU0ShhgbYAU Raquel - Flashing Lights
06 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72BEAqZC2g0 Christabelle - Kingdom
07 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq5Awcr6qq0 Corazón - Falling Glass
08 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOxygT3hjK0 Dominic - Fire Burn
09 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M05NPMScuo0 Jessika - The Flame
10 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKNRYF-oL4 Jasmine - Alive
11 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb5mMl1Kdzc Lawrence Gray - You're Beautiful
12 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-YLDDijMzU Maxine - Young Love
13 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iu_hE1M0dU Ira Losco - Chameleon (Invincible)
14 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhbiQpIhjLA Kim - Lighthouse

Voting
The voting will consist of 5/6ths jury voting and 1/6th televoting. Each of the five jurors will give out points using the classic Eurovision points system and these jurors are Nick Clark-Lowes, a British video designer with international experience; Vyara Ankova, the head of Bulgarian National Television; Sabrija Vulić, the head of the Montenegrin Eurovision delegation; Luke Fisher, a British Eurovision journalist; and Quinton Scerri a TV producer and presenter in Malta. The televoting will then also give out a set of Eurovision-style points. Therefore, a maximum of 72 points will be on offer (unless more jurors turn up for the final than in the semi-final).

Potential Winners?
Ira Losco is considered a strong favourite by many, especially due to her immense popularity in Malta ever since her runner-up finish in Eurovision behind Marie N of Latvia in 2002. That said, we can't rule out 16-year-old Maxine who was top of the Betfair odds that appeared earlier today (although Ira's songs were not available in this betting market), and Christabelle who was second in those odds. These three are probably considered to be the main contenders by fan forums too, with Jasmine, Daniel Testa and Franklin potentially having outside chances also.

Further Information
The one and only Destiny Chukunyere will be the opening act of the final following her victory in the 2015 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Destiny will also return for more performances during the interval act, which will also feature performances from last year's Maltese representative Amber. It is also worth taking note that the rules of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest since a change in rules prior to Amber's victory state that this selection is only to determine the artist to be sent to the Eurovision Song Contest, with the possibility of a song change. Rumours arose yesterday that if Ira were to win, there is a possibility she would change her song but it remains to be seen if that will be the case.

Further details available at http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=14_acts_make_it_through_to_the_maltese_final

Posted by: Ryan. 23rd January 2016, 12:39 AM

So now we've got past the hurdle of losing one of Ira's songs, and the better one has survived, I am fully supporting Ira and Chameleon! And for a change my favourite has an amazing running order position, not that it matters as much with such a jury-dominated vote - still useful though. I can imagine Chameleon on a Eurovision stage with some crazy violin players and light show in that middle 8 into the final chorus, there's a lot of potential there and Ira has said in a recent interview that she believes the performance of a song on any sort of stage is very important in a song. I can see Chameleon being a Eurovision top 10 with quite a bit of work, but as it stands now I think it would be a fairly safe qualifier unless it gets a horrendous semi-final draw.

From the others, Maxine's semi-final performance was great and this is the sort of thing that could do a Gianluca and end up in a Eurovision top 10 for being so happy and cute (or completely flop in the semi-finals). It is so Meghan Trainor but works very very well and I can see her pulling in votes for those looking for something along the lines of Destiny's Junior Eurovision winner as they are a similar genre, and Maxine is only 16 as well. Maxine is surely a future Maltese representative even if not in 2016. Christabelle's song has continued to grow on me as well, there's quite a lot of solid songs in this selection from what I've heard! Jasmine's is very Helena Paparizou 'Survivor', even more so than Amber was last year.

Posted by: J▲hq 23rd January 2016, 11:00 AM

Chameleon did nothing for me on first listen, it was just there.

Posted by: Ryan. 23rd January 2016, 02:04 PM

I think it takes a few listens for the full potential of Chameleon to be unleashed as the changes in production and from verse to chorus are quite subtle and it takes a couple of listens to work out the structure I think. Once it clicks though it clicks fabulously!

I've been listening to Ira and Maxine all day today, the latter is very instant and I wouldn't be surprised if she took a "shock" victory.

Posted by: Ryan. 23rd January 2016, 09:35 PM

Massive reaction for Ira, a really incredible moment! I felt like I was right in the crowd with everyone cheering wildly.

Posted by: AdamAloud 23rd January 2016, 09:36 PM

IF IRA DOESN'T WIN then juries must be abolished IMMEDIATELY

Posted by: AdamAloud 23rd January 2016, 10:36 PM

IRA WINS!!!

Posted by: Ryan. 23rd January 2016, 10:36 PM

IRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: gooddelta 24th January 2016, 09:18 AM

Yassssssssss

A long overdue return <3

Posted by: Ryan. 2nd February 2016, 08:43 PM

Perhaps tellingly, on the participants list on the official Eurovision website Ira's song has changed from Chameleon (looks like they dropped the Invincible) to "to be announced". There are also rumours of a special song selection show to select Ira's song for Eurovision. Or Eurovision.tv may just be aware of the rumours rather than having some official word from PBS and don't want to give out possibly wrong information.

I really want them to keep Chameleon as I'm a big fan, and could do very well with a revamp. I wouldn't mind a song selection show if Ira and the Maltese broadcaster are set on one as I assume that would most likely include Chameleon so the Maltese can all vote to keep that if they wished.

Posted by: AdamAloud 19th February 2016, 07:42 PM

http://escxtra.com/2016/02/19/ten-songs-in-contention-for-ira-losco/

I love 'Chameleon' but of course if she's got something better then so be it, I hope all 10 appear on an album!

Posted by: LexDANCE 19th February 2016, 07:44 PM

I think that's more or less the implication that Ira's basically just handed them the album she's set to release and asked them to pick one.

Posted by: Ryan. 11th March 2016, 02:06 PM

Ira's new entry to be titled 'Wow'?

In hindsight in may be good she's changing her song as long as it is better than Chameleon as I'm not sure Chameleon would get through the first semi anymore!

Posted by: Ryan. 11th March 2016, 09:30 PM

Rumours are the song is in fact called Walk On Water and Ira is filming the music video as we speak (and yesterday too).

Posted by: AdamAloud 11th March 2016, 09:33 PM

I hope it's a BANGER

Posted by: Ryan. 12th March 2016, 11:59 AM

Ira will release her song on March 17th, looks like new best friends Malta and Bulgaria will both be waiting until after the HoD meeting to release their songs publicly.

Posted by: AdamAloud 14th March 2016, 02:04 PM

Song is being played on Maltese TV on the 17th at 7pm UK time.

Posted by: sugabloke 14th March 2016, 06:46 PM

Molly Petersson Hammar seemingly confirmed as a writer of the Maltese song

Posted by: Ryan. 16th March 2016, 04:11 PM

Take with a pinch of salt as of course they won't slag off a song they have been granted an exclusive listen to, but they say Walk On Water is a potential winner, definite top 10, drum and bass influenced club track, sounds very professional as if it was something Australia would send and win with, leagues ahead of Sound of Silence, you can hear the Swedish influence and could imagine Molly PH singing it but fits Ira perfectly too.

Well I'm excited!

Posted by: gooddelta 16th March 2016, 04:29 PM

More than ready for Ira to resume her role at the top of my rankings, last occupied in 2002.

Posted by: J▲hq 17th March 2016, 07:04 PM

Posted by: AdamAloud 17th March 2016, 07:07 PM

WOW indeed!

Posted by: Ryan. 17th March 2016, 07:08 PM

AMAZING!! So modern, so catchy! Builds amazingly, and you can hear the Molly PH touch which is a massive plus for me. Certain top 10 surely?

Posted by: J▲hq 17th March 2016, 07:13 PM

This has me FAR more excited than Chameleon. I feel like this will be my favourite female-led entry of the year.

Posted by: sugabloke 17th March 2016, 07:17 PM

Love it! Dear god semi one is going to be an absolute bloodbath.

Posted by: gooddelta 17th March 2016, 07:39 PM

Those verses...that production...the gospel touches towards the end.

That's a fantastic entry, Ira <33333

Posted by: Alex! 17th March 2016, 07:48 PM

I am dragged. This is SO good!

Posted by: ScottyEm 17th March 2016, 09:52 PM

Good god. I think this will pip Russia to the runners up slot.

Posted by: Liаm 17th March 2016, 09:56 PM

This is exactly what this year needs

Posted by: Iz~ 18th March 2016, 10:34 PM

Very good. A lot better than Chameleon and while I'm not TOO sure on its chances in a live format, it sounds pretty great in studio version. Especially those little background vocal touches throughout it.

Posted by: Ryan. 25th April 2016, 05:16 PM

A poster on ESC United is saying that Ira's backing singers will be Pamela and Anna Azzopardi (two of Malta's best gospel singers) and... Molly Pettersson Hammar! Hope it's true

Posted by: AdamAloud 26th April 2016, 11:56 AM

Molly PH is in Malta now rehearsing with Ira so it's true!

Posted by: aymnt 3rd May 2016, 02:10 PM

Malta is one of my favourites, but I think Ira Losco isn´t very nice. There is an interview to Ira in esctrevistas.blogspot.com.es

Posted by: Ryan. 14th May 2016, 06:28 PM

Malta's never-ending budget continues to surprise us with its never-endingness, they have now paid for sponsored posts on Facebook feeds of several Eurovision countries with special pictures to go along with them - as well as the chance to win a holiday to Malta!

Here's what you will see on Facebook if you are Slovene:



...or if you are Lithuanian:



Bulgaria and Estonia are among many others who also have been given this treatment. I can't work out if it is genius promotion or just a bit cheeky but nevertheless it's funny!

Posted by: Ryan. 29th June 2016, 07:30 PM

And the running joke of Malta's never-ending budget for Ira has now substantial evidence to prove it was seemingly the case! There is a mini uproar in Malta by some journalists and even the Archbishop of Malta over the "unprecedented" spending by broadcaster PBS for their Eurovision 2016 project. Just the delegation's flights and hotel to and in Stockholm reportedly cost over €100,000 - a cost that would normally be what Malta spends in a whole year on Eurovision.

On top of this were the ditched "hologram coat" which cost €80,000 alone, the ditched technology that went with it, promotional visits to 4 pre-parties as well as Armenia, the Balkans and more and finally the Maltese Eurovision Preview Party which PBS paid for and also paid for all of the acts that came to it. PBS reportedly did give Ira a 'limitless budget' to do everything they can to win.

One source has estimated Malta spent over €1 million on their Eurovision 2016 campaign!

http://wiwibloggs.com/2016/06/29/malta-public-broadcaster-pbs-criticised-spending-big-eurovision/145832/

Posted by: gooddelta 29th June 2016, 07:37 PM

I guess the spending makes sense, as a Eurovision win would be a huge tourism boost in Malta and pay for itself quickly, and Ira's their biggest star so they probably figured that this was their best shot in a long time. I wonder how much of the budget was spent persuading SVT to give Destiny a spot to promote the JESC?

Pretty embarrassing then that Ira only got televoting points from three countries but - and I say this as a huge fan of hers for 14 years - everything about the performance and campaign felt a little cold and clinical, the complete opposite to the charm and warmth she bought to Tallinn in 2002 with 7th Wonder. And sadly this time around there were other singers doing the same thing she was doing better, and no amount of money spent can change that.

Posted by: Ryan. 29th June 2016, 07:50 PM

I agree, it is still easily in my top 10 of 2016 studio-wise but live it did fall flat. Ira was fighting for the same female pop uptempo votes as the likes of Poli, Laura and Zoe (although the latter was more of a niche anyway) and unfortunately this time round Ira had none of the charm or staging those three had. You could sort of say Zoe this year was what Ira was in 2002 with the youthful charm and slightly childish (that's not a criticism as I love 7th Wonder and Loin d'ici) but fun song (more so staging-wise for the childishness of Loin d'ici). I'm assuming she also suffered from coming after Jamala.

Ira was probably in my bottom 5 on the night of the final based on the live performance which was fine but just a bit nothingy after the spectacular first few seconds with Ira's face on the LED floor. Luckily the jury votes (even though I'm sure there was some dealings going on there) dragged her up and gave her about the right result as the live performance didn't do the song justice for me.

I really wish the hologram thing had worked as I wonder what it was supposed to look like. I know we were all fed up of hi-tech stage shows but the staging we ended up with did feel empty and you could tell something was missing.

Posted by: gooddelta 29th June 2016, 08:01 PM

I'd agree with all of that, it's still in my top 10 studio-wise but the live performance was just 'there' really. It's a shame they didn't have a backup plan to make the staging slightly more interesting than it was, considering the absence of the hologram technology.

Posted by: Umi 29th June 2016, 10:02 PM

So true. The bump rubbing at the end of the performance was so off-putting after everything I'd seen from her in the weeks leading up to the final. When she met Amir she seemed quite warm to me but that was the only time it seemed like she was at all friendly or looked like she was having any fun.

I wanted Ira to do better than she did but you can point out so many reasons for her doing badly. I was most disappointed by the sense of complacency the performance had - they really should not have thought that they could just remove what was apparently the main draw of the performance and not change anything in compensation.

Posted by: gooddelta 29th June 2016, 10:27 PM

The first sign I felt something was off personally was the London Preview Party, I was so excited to see her live and she underwhelmed me a bit. I mean she was vocally competent but it was all a bit phoned in, and she was fulfilling a duty rather than wanting to be there, whereas all the others genuinely loved the buzz and warmth of the crowd.

And then when she refused to perform 7th Wonder in its original guise because it was 'too cheesy' and just performed an acoustic chorus, the writing was on the wall for me. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Eurovision made her what she is now, yet she treated it as a business transaction, and it showed.

Posted by: Ryan. 29th June 2016, 10:42 PM

Ira repeatedly mentioned in her interviews about Malta being a small country that struggles to get votes for that reason and it did confuse/annoy me that she bought into that UK-esque reasoning considering televotes alone (well in most cases) put her 2nd place in 2002 - maybe Lithuania effectively handing Latvia the win at the end left a sour taste in her mouth. That said, she did counter act that argument with the fact she believes a good song will still do well so there's that at least.

But overall, Ira was still one of my favourite contestants this year despite a few of these points. I loved watching all of her random Maltese food tasting (country advertising again!) sessions with different Eurovision acts on Facebook and she was always happy to be interviewed by every fansite at every single pre-party. It's just a shame that in the end I think the utter desperation to win by the Maltese broadcaster just ruined things a little bit.

Maybe if Ira hadn't been shipped off for endless promo appearances she wouldn't have been so tired/bored/under pressure by halfway through April. But there was the feeling that maybe her heart wasn't completely in it from the beginning as you say, maybe entering 2 songs into the national selection and immediately hinting she wanted yet another song once she won was a sign of things to come. But she and Walk On Water are probably my favourite Maltese Eurovision package (Firelight run her close) since I really really got into Eurovision in the late 2000s so I'm glad everything happened as it did!