http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z369/RC741/Eurovision%20Logos/Flag%20Logos/Belarus_zps46131f07.png
Belarus

Naviband - Story Of My Life

Belarus will be one of the first countries to select their entry as they have been for several years in a row now, and their national final is tentatively due to be held on January 20th. After various accusations of sim card buying (surely not? :o), the jury will return for a 50% say in the final result:

 

https://escxtra.com/2016/11/06/belarus-nati...d-jury-returns/

 

A change this year is that they are "doing a Moldova 2015" and allowing any old person to take part and consequently various Russian artists and some Baltic artists have reportedly sent in their submissions so far. Auditions will be streamed online for our enjoyment in a couple of weeks time! Apparently a famous Russian composer said he would write a song for a Russian artist to participate in Belarus with to show appreciation for Belarus showing support to Russia during the Olympics controversy a few months ago - we shall see if that materialises!

Melodifestivalen announcement not enough for you? Well then, aren't you fortunate enough to have the 13 Belorussian finalists confirmed (here in

from the dingy Minsk studio)

 

LERMONT x JULIC - Heartbeat

Anastasiya Sheverenko - We'll Be Together

Nikita Hodas - Voice in my Head

Vadim Kapustin - On The Red Line

PROvokatsiya - #MYLOVE

July - Children of the World

NAVI - Historyja majho žyccia

Angelica Pushnova - We Should Be Together

Lexy Weaver - Be Stronger

Vladislav Kurasov - Follow the Play

NUTEKI - Take My Heart

NAPOLI - Let's Come Together

Kattie - Wild Wind

 

For some reason Belarus are really big on bands beginning with 'N' since NAVI, NUTEKI and NAPOLI have all been in the NF system before. Being the pilar of democracy that it is, I am absolutely certain that the winner has not already been decided. Definitley not.

NAPOLI :')

 

I shall be giving these songs a spin in due course.

I know it will come as a shock to you all when I say this isn't a brilliant bunch of songs, NAPOLI is probably the best actually :lol: But yeah, looking very likely that Belarus will be staying in the semis for the 3rd year running.

 

 

 

Anyway I've checked out the "favourites":

- NAPOLI: Decent, I guess its more commercial than My Universe but it isn't as good. I quite like it though!

- NAVI: Pretty identical to their effort this year, but that's their style of music. Very pleasant and would have a chance of qualifying for being that uplifting acoustic indie type of music.

- NUTEKI: Now this would be Belarus' most professional entry probably ever, alongside Work Your Magic. The live audition was a bit of a car crash but the studio version is shockingly amazing even if it is a bit *too* Coldplay.

- Vladislav: This is solid enough but my least favourite of the 4, but it does sound like something that will win the selection. A slice of cool pop with a popular singer from X Factor Ukraine - even if he did fail in the semi-finals in the Ukrainian selection this year.

 

With jury returning, my instinct says Vladislav will get it ahead of NAVI. NUTEKI are potentially the biggest "deal" here but that live audition is worrying, I can see the jury dragging them down unfortunately.

YASSS at the studio version of this *.*

 

I'm missing oomph and any sense of 2016/7 in that song, needs a major revamp as it is basically going to be "Falling Stars" 2.0. However, this is most certainly the best option after listening to a recap of all 13 songs:

 

 

Very charming, it has the modern folk sound and feels right for Eurovision 2017. They have a big fanbase - they were arguably last year's televoting winners if you take out the top 3 who all reportedly had sim card help.

NAVI would be my second choice so long as they didn't switch to English and would be a good option for Belarus as I can't imagine anything else like that being sent so it would most definitely stand out.

 

My top 3:

01. Angelika Pushnova

02. NAVIBAND

03. NAPOLI

 

Vladislav and July not far behind those.

 

 

TOMORROW'S NATIONAL FINAL...
BELARUS

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z369/RC741/Eurovision%20Logos/Flag%20Logos/Belarus_zps46131f07.png

Eurofest

20th January 2017
Begins at 7pm in the UK, 8pm Central European Time and 10pm in Belarus.
Programme is scheduled to last 2 hours.

Watch the selection via the official BTRC website.

Running Order
01 | July – Children of the World
02 | Lexy Weaver – Be Stronger
03 | Vladislav Kurasov – Follow the Play
04 | NAVI – Historyja majho zyccia
05 | Isaac Nightingale – On the Red Line
06 | Kattie – Wild Wind
07 | NUTEKI – Take My Heart
08 | NAPOLI – Let's Come Together
09 | Nikita Hodas – Voices in My Head
10 | Angelica Pushnova – We Should Be Together
11 | Anastasiya Sheverenko – We'll Be Together
12 | Lermont x Julic – Heartbeat
13 | PROvokatsiya – My Love

Voting
While the exact make-up of the vote has yet to be official confirmed, it is expected that it will be a 50/50 split between the jury vote and the televote. There will be 7 jury members whose individual points are expected to be added together and converted to one set of 12 points. The televoting numbers will then be converted to a second set of 12 points and the two sets will then be added together.

Potential Winners?
While a set of odds are provided by Betfair Exchange, by being an Exchange site these are not reliable - NAVI lead these odds. Judging by various forums, it is expected to be a race between NAVI, NUTEKI and Vladislav Kurasov. NUTEKI are likely to win the televote but in the event the juries bring them down as they have done in the band's past appearances in Eurofest, NAVI and Vladislav could be provided with the opportunity to take a victory.

NAVI are so lovable and would be such good entrants, I just fear the jury will want an English song and favourite a Nuteki or, more likely, a Vladislav.

NAVI are EXACTLY what Belarus needs.

We Should Be Together is GLORIOUS EUROTRASH however so I'd really love for that to win.

BELARUS JURY REKT THE RIGGED SIM CARD ACTS AND NAVI HAVE WONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

 

BEST BERLARUSIAN ENTRY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS NAVIBAND

This is so feel-good and positive and fun. If they get the staging spot on and there wont be problems with translating the song onto the big stage then this can be in contention to break Koldun's record!

They DARE switch to English and I'll cut a bitch.

If this stays as is, would it be the first ever ESC song in Belorussian? I can't think of another one that was.

Everytime I watch their performance it is such a joy, they are such energetic, beautiful, captivating performers. I can't praise this enough, it is set to join Flor-de-lis as the most adorably uplifting performance I've seen at Eurovision assuming they don't stray too far away from their national final setting.

 

I was about to be so sad knowing that they would've probably won the televote (and the national final) if it wasn't for the top 4 buying SIM cards (NAVI and Nuteki were 5th and 6th and they were more than likely the "real" top 2 in the televote). Navi have previously said that they know they won't be able to win as you need SIM cards to win and they refuse to buy any. It's so feel good that such a positive pair have won out in the end thanks to the jury marking down (whether purposely or not) the four at the top of the televote. Their reaction to winning is amazing, the utter shock!

 

 

 

I know the "HEY HEY HIYIYIYIYIYIOH" will annoy people but I think even those people that it annoys will come round to it eventually such is the charm of the song. Definitely challenges and probably beats Work Your Magic as Belarus' best ever entry!

If this stays as is, would it be the first ever ESC song in Belorussian? I can't think of another one that was.

 

Yep Wikipedia says so! All Belarus' previous entries have been in English and even Sofi Marinova didn't give Belarusian its first outing in 2012 - she did so for Azeri.