Malmö, Sweden will play host to the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, the 58th annual running of the world’s most popular musical competition.  Following the return of Armenia and the withdrawals of Turkey, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Portugal, a total thirty-nine nations will descend upon the Malmö Arena (normally the home of the Redhawks hockey team).  Semifinals will be held on May 14 and 16th, leading up to the Grand Final on May 18th (and followed by a mass exodus to Copenhagen Airport on May 19th!).  The show will be hosted, solo (for the first time since 1995), by comedienne Petra Mede.

The Songs:

Semifinal 1:

• Austria: Natália Kelly – “Shine“
•  Croatia: Klapa s Mora – “Mižerja” (Misery)
• Denmark: Emmelie de Forest – “Only Teardrops“
• Estonia: Birgit Õigemeel – “Et uus saaks alguse” (So there can be a new start)
• Netherlands: Anouk – “Birds“
• Russia: Dina Garipova – “What If“
• Slovenia: Hannah Mancini – “Straight Into Love“
• Ukraine: Zlata Ognevich – “Gravity“
• Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya – “Solayoh” (Formerly “Rhythm of Love“)
• Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa – “Love Kills“
• Cyprus: Despina Olympiou – “An Me Thimase” (If You Remember Me)
• Ireland: Ryan Dolan – “Only Love Survives“
• Lithuania: Andrius Pojavis – “Something“
• Moldova: Aliona Moon – “O Mie” (A Thousand)
• Montenegro: Who See & Nina Žižić – “Igranka” (Dance)
• Serbia: Moje 3 – “Ljubav je svuda” (Love is Everywhere)

Semifinal 2:

• Azerbaijan: Farid Mammadov – “Hold Me“
• Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov – “Samo Shampioni” (Only Champions) (Formerly “Kismet”)
• Finland: Krista Siegfrids – “Marry Me“
• Iceland: Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson – “Ég á líf” (I Have a Life)
• Latvia: PeR – “Here We Go“
• Macedonia: Lozano and Esma – “Pred da se razdeni” (Before Sunrise) (Formerly “Imperija“)
• Malta: Gianluca Bezzina – “Tomorrow“
• San Marino: Valentina Monetta – “Crisalide” (Chrysalis)
• Albania: Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko – “Identitet” (Identity)
• Armenia: Gor Sujian – “Lonely Planet“
• Georgia: Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani – “Waterfall“
• Greece: Koza Mostra & Agathonas Iakovidis – “Alcohol is Free“
• Hungary: ByeAlex – “Kedvesem” (My Darling)
• Israel: Moran Mazor – “Rak bishvilo” (Only For Him)
• Norway: Margaret Berger – “I Feed You My Love“
• Romania: Cezar – “It’s My Life“
• Switzerland: Takasa (formerly Heilsarmee) – “You and Me“

Automatically Qualified for the Grand Final:

• France: Amandine Bourgeois – “L’Enfer et Moi” (Hell and Me)
• Germany: Cascada – “Glorious“
• Italy: Marco Mengoni – “L’essenziale” (The Essential)
• Spain: El Sueño de Morfeo (ESDM) – “Contigo hasta el final” (With You Until the End)
• Sweden: Robin Stjernberg – “You“
• United Kingdom: Bonnie Tyler – “Believe in Me“

A number of changes have been enacted for ESC 2013:

• Most notably, rather than having the running order of the shows determined via a random draw, it will be decided by the show’s producers, in order to ensure a well-balanced program, avoiding blocks of multiple ballads or upbeat numbers, if at all possible.  The lack of transparency, however, has caused some controversy among the fans.  The participants in each half of the two Semifinals, however, were determined via a draw.
• A subtle change in voting has also been enacted: rather than having the televote and jury vote simply rank their Top Ten, and combine their scores from there, the voters will rank all of the songs participating in the show, and then process the score.  This will allow a song that has more general support from both juries and televoters to have a fair shake, while giving less sway to songs that divide the two camps.  Both the televoters and the jury will continue to be weighted equally.
• In order to create a more intimate, welcoming, yet energetic atmosphere, tickets at the floor level of the Malmö Arena will be general-admission and standing, allowing for more dancing and mingling of fan groups.
• The Press Centre, adjacent to the Arena, will only be opened after the first round of rehearsals have concluded.  Members of the Press are invited to the Euroclub in downtown Malmö’s Slagthuset (a converted slaugterhouse-turned-nightclub) to observe rehearsals.