Exams! A term which denotes one of the several definitions of stress yet four talented individuals who are inclined towards the path of music have decided to take a breather and share it with the general public, coming together in the form of SkyCity and releasing their sophomore single. Gianni on vocals and rhythm guitar, David on lead guitar and keyboards, Dario on bass and backing vocalists and Jean Paul on drums released their debut track Make You Believe earlier this year, sometime around April and received nationwide earlier but nevertheless, they tweaked their sound ever so slightly for their new single, All I Know. 

Airport Impressions, The Crowns, Red Electrick, Dolls for Idols and WinterMoods are some of the most successful bands in the country and rather than emulating them, SkyCity have decided to come up with their own sound and with more than one strong vocalist in the line-up, they can very much play things by the ear. Talent comes a long way and this is definitely a particular group which can succeed in the months to come especially with the right support. All I Know has a slight hint of Every Breathe You Take in terms of sound production and quality and sourcing The Police as inspiration is a good move. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news from the local music scene. 

Source: Press Release

During this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, Malta finished in eighth place thanks to an astonishing performance of the song Tomorrow co-written by Boris Cezek and Dean Muscat with vocals provided by Gianluca. In the official mid-weeks posted by the British Broadcasting Corporation, responsible for the charts in the United Kingdom, the track is the second highest entry from the Eurovision Song Contest, just behind the winner of the event, that being Only Teardrops by Emmelie de Forest for Denmark. The mid-weeks are a fair reflection of the official charts which will be posted on Saturday evening and whilst the track will hopefully remain in the top forty, we'll be upbeat with a top fifty finish. 

Tomorrow, which received seven (7) points from the United Kingdom, most likely a perfect mixture of both jury and tele-voting has received positive reviews from all across the board. Malta and the United Kingdom have a mutual relationship due to the colonisation of the former in the years gone by and with one of the nations' official languages being English. At this point in time, the track has managed to peak at number #37 and whilst hoping that it goes higher, the influx of sales has already taken place. Indeed, this will mark one of the rare occasions in which a Maltese artist entered the foreign charts noting that Fabrizio Faniello had conquered Sweden and Denmark, Jon Lukas Woodenman had managed Lebanon and the United Kingdom and Kevin Borg entered those in Sweden following his Idol victory.

In the meantime, Joseph Calleja remains the most successful export but his genre is predominantly classical as opposed to the mainstream seen above. Tomorrow, released by Sony Music United Kingdom and distributed by Believe Digital was promoted through Facebook and Twitter by Alan Bambrough, Neil Busato and Darren Hemmings apart from promotion by Daniel D'Anastasi, Peter Carbonaro, Joseph Mizzi and Anton Attard during the actual Eurovision Song Contest. We would like to wish every success towards all of those who made this years' participation a successful one. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for more of the latest news. 

Source: Official UK Charts

At the end of the voting of this years' Eurovision Song Contest, one country which was undoubtely happy with the result was definitely The Netherlands who returned to the top ten for the first time in twelve years apart from qualifying for the first time in eight years respectively. Anouk is one of the most successful recording stars in The Netherlands and support towards her entry Birds came from all across the continent especially from the Scandinavians with Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway awarding her eight (8) points and Denmark ten (10) points respectively. 

As part of the promotion towards the competition, Anouk in collaboration with Universal Music released a brand new studio album, the eighth in total and bearing the name Sad Singalong Songs. Following the ninth place at the esteemed music event, the album has already gone platinum in less than a week whilst the single is scaling the top of the charts. This means that Anouk has managed to rekindle her success in The Netherlands whilst also doing well in Belgium. The Netherlands is one of the twelve countries to have confirmed participation in next years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest alongside Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway and San Marino. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news. 

Source: escflashmalta.com

In recent years, the track record of the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest has not really been all that impressive noting that they have finished towards the bottom of the scoreboard for two consecutive years despite enlisting the likes of Bonnie Tyler and Engelbert Humperdinck. The British Broadcasting Corporation, responsible for the participation of the nation in the prestigious music event has been said to be out of touch with the music industry and rather than sending someone fresh with a brand new outlook and possibly create a career, they look to the greats who are indeed looking for something to add to their impressive experiences.

It seems that one of the first artists to put her name forward just days following the disappointment of Bonnie Tyler with Believe In Me was none other than English artist; Little Boots. The twenty-nine year old took to social networking website, Twitter stating she 'would be up for Eurovision' adding that she 'should enter next year'. On the other hand, Graham Norton, commentator during the final for the British Broadcasting Corporation answered back saying 'you will get the call'. Little Boots first found success in 2009, with her debut album Hands which peaked at number #5 in the charts but with a more mature sound and through her own record label, she has not managed to match that success despite stunning tracks with her sophomore release Nocturnes peaking at number #45. Nevertheless, she has a stunning live vocal and has brought her a-game to every track on both of her albums. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

Source: Digital Spy

Anton Attard, Chief Executive Officer of the Public Broadcasting Services as well as the Head of Delegation for the past three years confirmed that Malta will be returning to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014 following a guest appearance on the daily evening talkshow, TV Hemm produced by Where's Everybody. In light of the success achieved at the esteemed international competition in 2013 thanks to Tomorrow co-written by Boris Cezek and Dean Muscat to the vocals of Gianluca, Attard stated this exposure for the country has been important even towards giving exposure to the professionality of the local music scene. 

Malta has been competing in the Eurovision Song Contest every year since 1991 and has never missed the contest due to the initial relegation rules that had been set in place noting consecutive top ten results from 1991 until 1998 and then from 2000 until 2002. Since the introduction of the semi-final system, Malta has managed to qualify on four out of eight occasions, these being in 2004 with On Again .. Off Again performed by Julie & Ludwig, in 2009 with Chiara and her entry What If We, in 2012 with This is the Night sung by Kurt Calleja and of course, last week with Tomorrow performed by Gianluca.

Anton Attard, currently Head of Delegation and Chief Executive Officer at the Public Broadcasting Services has helped rebrand our participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, working hard with his team to achieve the best possible production quality and the best results both locally and abroad. He states, that he will be putting forward a proposal to the Board of Directors at the broadcaster about his plans for the 2014 selection process but more will be revealed in due course. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com, even on Facebook and Twitter for all of the latest news with regards to next years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark. 

Source: TV Hemm, Emil Calleja Bayliss (image)

RAI, the broadcaster responsible for the participation of Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest has opted in favour of releasing the fifty percent split of the result in both the first semi-final and the final and there seem to be quite a couple of intriguing figures. During the semi-final stage of the competition, the Italian public clearly had one favourite and that was Zlata Ognevich with her song Gravity which received 42.3% ahead of Moldova's entry entitled O Mie performed by Aliona Moon which got just 15.5% in comparison. During the final, the tables turned and support shifted towards Romania and Moldova leaving Ukraine in the lurch and a third position. 

Italy were represented by Marco Mengoni and his song L'Essenziale who managed to take the nation into the top ten for a third consecutive time, finishing in seventh place, just ahead of Malta whose entry Tomorrow sung by Gianluca was awarded the second biggest amount of points from the Italian nation. In the tele-voting portion alone, Malta would have been given four (4) points in total and that means that the ten (10) points given during the show were a mixture of both public and jury votes respectively. You may view the full document as published by RAI here whilst we remind you to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com even through Facebook and Twitter for the latest news.

Source: RAI

During this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, Finland was represented by Krista Siegfrids and her dance/pop entry Marry Me which stalled in the final, only obtaining thirteen (13) points to finish in twenty-fourth position. This was not the initial expectation of the broadcaster whose major success was recorded around seven years ago with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah performed by Lordi which finished in pole position in both the semi-final and the final respectively. 

YLE, the broadcaster responsible for the participation of Finland in the esteemed music event is the first to announce the way forward noting that the preselection procedure known as Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu will be returning. The showcase was first adopted back in 2012 and was not met with success noting that it was not a ratings winner and the winner did not yield an international result despite a stunning performance. The system was altered ever so slightly in 2013 and seemed to work much better noting that people were tuning in with the voting being quite intense during the final. Many had noted Finland to have a beautiful selection of entries with the first and second runner-up deemed more appropriate to represent the country from an international standpoint. Songs for the 2014 edition of the competition have to be submitted until 16th September 2013 with the qualifiers set to be revealed by the 10th December 2013. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com and make to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all of the latest updates.

Source: YLE