And finally the United Kingdom, as the last country in the alphabet, is also the last country for us to cover in this year's escgo line-up check series. Eurovision and the United Kingdom, that's a complicated relationship, as already pointed out in our article from a...

There are some countries that once in a while stumble upon a formula that works for them, and then they stick to it. Take Spain’s last four entries for an example (and also an example of Eurovision inconsistency). Two top 10 results. Two bottom ones. One can only...

In the 11 years since the semi-final system began, only four countries of this year’s participants have made it to every final, and who of those four (Greece, Russia, Romania and Azerbaijan) will be the last one standing is anybody’s guess. But there’s no doubt that...

Sweden is spoilt with an excellent result record. Five victories, 36 top 10 placements in total - that's more than half of the whole Eurovision history. There were three top 3 results in the past four years, but it also isn't very long since Sweden failed to qualify,...

Eurovision songwriters just love a good "shine" metaphor. Maybe Katrina and the Waves are to blame, with their ultra-successful Love Shine A Light setting an unwelcome precedent back in 1997. Whatever the reason, four of the last six contests have featured an entry...

Slovenia's recent Eurovision history doesn't look very glorious. In the most recent ten contests, there were only three Slovenian entries reaching the final: 2007 (Alenka Gotar), 2011 (Maja Keuc), and just last year (Tinkara). From the country's perspective,...

Serbia returns to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 following a one-year break. Cynics might suggest they were sulking after Moje 3 failed to reach the grand final in Malmö; kinder souls would say they were simply taking time to rethink their approach to the contest...

If I could sit down for an interview with the people in charge for song selections in Portugal, I would only ask one question: What are you aiming to achieve when you pick the songs you do for your selections? I suspect – or hope – the answer wouldn’t be “succeeding...

Romania has been a permanent fixture in the Eurovision grand final since the start of the semi-final era, although the days when they looked all set to be the next winner after strong showings in 2005 and 2006 are rapidly receding into history. Last year, Paula Seling...

Every year there are a couple of songs that happen to be huge fan favorites, but when I listen to them, not only do I dislike them (that can happen quite a bit, but I will understand why other people like them), I also really struggle to see their appeal. This always...

Sometimes a country gets in a bit of a rut and sends the same kind of thing to Eurovision year after year. We can all think of examples from the fields of French chanson, Greek ethnopop and so on. Sometimes, though, you get back-to-back entries from a country that...

It was the sensation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014: San Marino qualified for the final! On the third consecutive attempt of Valentina Monetta, the fifth attempt of the microstate, it finally happened. Surprisingly or not, SMTV decided to send someone different...

"Why-ay-ay-ay?" was a commonly heard complaint in the Netherlands for most of the past decade, as Eurovision non-qualification became an unwelcome but firmly ingrained habit. Everything changed two years ago, when Anouk not only stormed into the grand final with her...

We've become used to seeing Lithuania in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest, after their entries from 2011 to 2013 all qualified despite not being particularly favoured by fans or the bookmakers. That made it all the more of a surprise when the Baltic...

Wait, didn't I write this line-up check already last year? Internal selection, male solo artist, lots of mountains in the preview video, Balkan ballad? No, it's 2015, Montenegro has recently qualified for the first time as an independent country, and now the cards are...

"Success" is a relative term where the Eurovision Song Contest is concerned. With around 40 countries competing every year, the average gap between victories - assuming equal song quality, which is a big assumption to make! - would be around four decades. As such,...

It's hard to choose the right gimmick for Eurovision, and Moldova knows this only too well. A projection dress and a hydraulic podium can propel you to the fringes of the top ten, while a pack of loincloth-clad dancers and a detachable pigtail can leave you stranded...

Latvia, once the "quickest" winner in Eurovision history, has struggled a lot in more recent years. The Baltic nation hasn't qualified from the semis since 2008, when it entered the stage of the grand final with the help of a gang of pirates. Is that what it will take...

Italy, the classic Eurovision country that returned to the contest after a long break, has been mostly successful ever since its comeback in 2011. It automatically joined the privileged group of countries that have a default place in the final without having to...

It's been a tough decade for Israel. Back in 2010, Harel Skaat was tipped for a podium finish only to end up in 14th place. Since then, the country on the fringes of Europe has continued to slip backwards, failing to qualify for the grand final on four successive...

Ireland, one of the grand old nations of the Eurovision Song Contest, must be looking over its shoulder nervously. If bookies' favourite Måns Zelmerlöw really does take the victory at ESC 2015, Sweden will be just one behind the self-proclaimed "home of Eurovision" in...

Iceland hasn't been very successful in the Eurovision Song Contest lately, aside from Yohanna's podium finish that is slowly disappearing over the horizon. Pollapönk, something different for the Nordic country at Eurovision, didn't really change that situation either...

As you might have noticed, escgo! is a Eurovision chat website. What does it mean? Many things, but among others, it means that every year during the national final season, many of us gather in a virtual room and watch all the national finals together. We’ve been...

The Greek ESC bandwagon has slowed a little lately, although the wheels are by no means falling off. Following a clutch of podium positions in the previous decade, culminating in Helena Paparizou's victory with My Number One, two of the last three Greek entries have...