Now I have the difficult task of writing about Lithuania, the Baltic country that not long ago achieved its third best ever result with Love Is Blind. Despite tending to send songs that don't gain a lot of attention, Lithuania is mostly a surprise qualifier - even...

Latvia had one of the most impressive starts for a country at Eurovision ever, with a third place on its first attempt and a victory on its third. However, the Baltic country has failed to qualify for the final ever since 2009. In the national selection format Dziesma...

Having won twice and contributed several evergreen classics to the contest, Italy settled into a long-term absence from ESC in the late 1990s. After (or perhaps despite) many years of pleading by fans, the country finally returned to competition in 2011 - and promptly...

Israel have had rather mixed results in the semi-final era so far with 5 out of 10 qualifications to the final, but they last qualified in 2010, and they haven't been in the top 10 in the final since Bo'az Mauda in 2008 - which is their worst run of results since they...

These line-up check pieces usually begin with a recap of the country's recent ESC history, but in this case it might be more appropriate to look at the composer's track record, because Jonas Gladnikoff - who has a hand in the 2014 Irish entry - has been a regular in...

Iceland haven’t had it easy in the last decade: With the exception of one silver medal, courtesy of Yohanna and Is It True in 2009, all their entries finished either in the bottom half of the final, or – between 2006 and 2008 – didn't even qualify. Will this year's...

In Malmö, Hungary scored its best result since 2007 (Unsubstantial Blues), as ByeAlex recorded a decent top 10 finish with Kedvesem. In the years before, the country was less successful, despite delivering strong entries including fan favourite Kati Wolf. For the...

Representing Greece in Eurovision is not an easy gig. With a 100% qualification record and having finished out of the top ten only once in the last decade, no Greek artist wants to be the first one to break the spell. They had a momentary glitch when Eleftheria...

Germany is still the most recent Big 5 country to have won the contest. After Lena's victory in 2010,  the central European nation managed to score two further top 10 results, but it was less lucky last year, when its result wasn't as glorious. Was the bad result...

Georgia's context in recent ESC history consists of glamourous parties at Eurovision, Georgian wine, disturbing national finals, strong entries, decent results and Anri Jokhadze. This year - just like last year - broadcaster GPB is trusting in the benefits that an...

As one of the "Big Five", France qualify directly for the final and they haven't done particularly well recently, with Patricia Kaas giving them their one solitary top ten place in the past ten years. They are hoping to reverse that trend this year by sending the...

In 2006, Finland briefly found its way out of its eternal status as a Eurovision underdog by winning the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Ever since, the Nordic country has returned to the "wrong" half of the scoreboard - or remained stuck in the semis....