The week is drawing to a close, so it must be time for esc-chat.com’s review of the last seven days in Eurovision world!

On Monday, it was announced that the viewing figures for the first semi-final in Norway were comparatively poor, down to 752,000 from more than a million in the previous year – which could go some way to explaining the slightly unusual televote results. Still, a market share of 42.2% remains quite impressive. Meanwhile, ERT announced the four acts that will participate in the Greek final: although the date for the broadcast is still outstanding, the Hellenic nation will definitely be represented in Malmö by one of Koza Mostra feat. Agathonas Iakovides, Thomai Apergi, Alex Leon feat. Georgina, and Aggeliki Iliadi. Frankly, we’re a little sad it isn’t Aggeliki Bazigou:

Meanwhile, Despoina Olympiou was rumoured to be the Cypriot representative.

On Tuesday, SVT presented the stage for Melodifestivalen 2013. The design is intended to embody a “framing” element, though to our eyes it could equally be described as a “three sets of wonky neon football goalposts” element. The same morning, the BBC reactivated its Eurovision Twitter account, immediately triggering multiple meltdowns among news-starved British fans. The rumour mill has already chewed up and spat out Kimberley Walsh (with or without the rest of Girls Aloud), Pixie Lott and Dannii Minogue – but then that seems to be par for the course every year.

SVT also announced that the EuroClub venue in Malmö had been moved from Moriskan to Slagthuset, which translates as “slaughterhouse”. Hopefully not too many musical notes will be slaughtered when fans and journalists gather there to watch the transmission of the first rehearsals in early May. Christel Willers, SVT’s Head of Relations for ESC, added: “I am looking forward to experiencing a Malmö that literally bursts with musical festivities in May.” We do hope not – that could get messy.

Meanwhile, Despoina Olympiou was rumoured to definitely not be the Cypriot representative.

More importantly, Tuesday also saw two announcements of internal selections for ESC 2013. Following a strong rumour in Le Parisien, it was confirmed that Amandine Bourgeois will represent France in Malmö with the song “L’enfer et moi”. Meanwhile, Armenia – which had previously intended to make a fully internal selection – instead invited song submissions by 20th February for Gor Sujyan, best known as the lead singer of the band Dorians. A national final will be held on 2nd March, and according to the band’s Facebook page, it is Dorians rather than merely Sujyan who will perform the Armenian entry this year.

On Wednesday, Slovenia announced that there would be no EMA this year, but instead that the country would make an internal selection of song and artist to be announced on 15th February.

Meanwhile, Despoina Olympiou was rumoured to be the Cypriot representative.

Thursday dawned with the news that Swiss final victors Heilsarmee had accepted the EBU’s verdict and will now appear in Malmö under a different name and wearing non-Salvation Army costumes – although the precise details have yet to be decided in each case.

Meanwhile, Despoina Olympiou was conclusively ruled out as the Cypriot representative.

In the evening, it was time for the second semi-final in Finland. The outcome was somewhat less predictable than last week, with the expert jury and the televoters apparently disagreeing on some points. In the end, the quirky Krista Siegfrids (with the #esc chat vote winner, “Marry Me”) progressed to the grand final along with “Lost” by Arion – a band whose baby-faced lead singer prompted the hosts to describe them heavy metal meets Justin Bieber. Now that’s what we call scary. Meanwhile, Atlético Kumpula ended up at the bottom of the pile and have been eliminated from the competition.

On Friday, Ukrainian broadcaster NTU released its development plan for 2013, a fixed element of which is the country’s victory at ESC 2013. Zlata’s song might be arguably the strongest one chosen so far, but someone ought to tell them there’s the small matter of winning over the juries and televoters first! That evening, the battle of the former ESC participants in Iceland resulted in a victory for Birgitta, who easily won the #esc chat vote and duly qualified for the Icelandic final alongside Eyþór Ingi and the serious dark horses for victory, Svavar Knútur & Hreindís Ylva – while Yohanna was left to wait and sweat on the producers’ wildcard.

On Saturday, Israel announced the 30 participants for its three semi-finals to be held on 26th, 27th and 28th February. To quote our webmaster Shi, “no superstars on this list, but quite a few recognizable names, and also lots of ethnopop (the Israeli version of it)”. We look forward to seeing what the new approach in Israel brings – if nothing else, it’ll be a pleasant distraction on several otherwise empty February weeknights.

Meanwhile, Despoina Olympiou was rumoured to be the Cypriot representative.

The biggest news of the day was, of course, the Danish final. Emmelie de Forest  came away as the triumphant victor, and you can read our full review of what happened here.

Elsewhere in the Nordic region, the second Icelandic semi-final went comparatively unnoticed among fans, but the final line-up will be completed by Saturday’s qualifiers Jógvan & Stefanía, Halli Reynis and Unnur Eggertsdóttir plus Magni Ásgeirsson, the lucky recipient of the producers’ wildcard. Meanwhile, the second Norwegian semi-final threw up one of the biggest fan-faves of the season so far, Margaret Berger’s “I Feed You My Love” – as testified by its average score of 8.64 out of 10 in the #esc chat vote. Indeed, a certain type of fan should generally have been more satisfied with this week’s results in Norway, which saw a return to “girl power” after last week’s male domination. The top two from the chat vote – Berger and Fjellfolk – were joined in the grand final by Annsofi, with a song written by none other than Alexander Rybak.

And that was the week that was! Thanks as always to Tommy, Danny and Holger for their help in collecting all the #esc chat votes. Among other things, the next seven days will see finals in Iceland and Malta and the first Melodifestivalen semi-final – so be sure to join us for all the fun!