Ho Ngoc Ha ft. Noo Phuoc Thinh (Hồ Ngọc Hà ft. Noo Phước Thịnh)

Singer and actress Hồ Ngọc Hà (originally got famous as a model) from Vietnam sings with Noo Phước Thịnh in a song that would have been perfect for the Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday as its is engaging eurodisco with harmonic Vietnamese making it a nice dance track.

• Ho Ngoc Ha ft. Noo Phuoc Thinh - I will find you (Em Đi Tìm Anh)

Latvian pop: Markus Riva - Take Me Down

With the qualifications for the European Song Contest 2015 having started in Sweden, I can't help at least lifting one of the potential future competition. Markus Riva is an actor/dj/musician from Latvia and his music video (for the national competition) is quite an eye-feast. He won't probably be able to conwey this in the live performance, but still.

• Markus Riva - Take Me Down

Georgian pop: Diana Gurtskaya (Диана Гурцкая)

Some may remember Diana as the blind singer who represented Georgia in the ESC in 2008. This newer song from 2014 is a better one with a better quality "drama" in the song.

• Diana Gurtskaya - I'm losing you (Я тебя теряю)
• Diana Gurtskaya - Peace Will Come

Russian pop: Julia Savicheva (Юлия Савичева)

You may remember Julia from representing Russia in the ESC 2004 in Istanbul with "Believe Me", in what I can't say is especially pleasing to the ears. The new "Bride" is much better, a breezy no nonsense dance song of the kind russians do so well.

• Julia Savicheva - Bride (Hевеста)

Russian/Ukrainian pop: Olya Polyakova (Оля Полякова)

Olya Polyakova is somewhat of a playful Russian version of Lady Gaga, and her videos plays with Gangnam style, Russian kitch and (self)-ironic sexuality. It is fun and as a rule nice pop too, and I think it is the humor in combination with the Russian dialect and catchy refrains that does it.

• Olya Polyakova - Lullaby (Люли)
• Olya Polyakova - Boys Like It (Мальчикам это нравится...)
• Olya Polyakova - Russian Style
• Olya Polyakova - Spanking (#Шлёпки)
• Olya Polyakova - Ball (Шарик)
• Olya Polyakova - Love is... (Любовь это...)
• Olya Polyakova - 90-60-90
• Olya Polyakova - Superblond (Суперблондинка)

Ukrainian pop: Tina Karol (Тіна Карол)

Tina Karol 's song "What I Know" isnt like most of the ukrainian modern pop. Visually and musically it has a little more nuanced attidude. Not to say it is necessary better, but it is refreshing with something with a little more unusual bite.

• Tina Karol - What I Know (ЗАЧЕМ Я ЗНАЮ)
• Tina Karol - I Will Say Yes (Я скажу да)

Ukrainian pop: Svitlana Loboda (Світлана Лобода)

We have seen Ukrainian singer and actor Svitlana Loboda in the Eurovision Song Contest, but she has a couble of hits in her belt thats worth seeing (maybe even more so).

• Svitlana Loboda - Under The Ice (Под Лед)
• Svitlana Loboda - Down With Love (К Чёрту Любовь)
• Svitlana Loboda - Clouds (Облака)
• Svitlana Loboda - Thank you (Спасибо)
• Svitlana Loboda - Revolution (Революция)
• Svitlana Loboda - 40 degrees (40 градусов)

Disturbance in the force

I just had to use this classic Star Wars scene to again express my feeling for the result of the result when the  winner was announced in Melodifestivalen, the competition when we chose our entry for the Euroivision Song Contest. In an almost Belarussian or Turkish need to optimize our chances tow in we let half of the votes be cast by juries from other European contries, which led to the popular favorite Yohio to lose to Robin Stjernberg.

Jpop: YOHIO (ヨヒオ)

Yohio's buddy Seike in Seremedy

You wouldn't be honest if you were to say that the Japanese style Visual kei is very established or even known in Sweden, but some 25 years ago in the 80s this would not have been that far away from what one could see here; just take some glam metal and add a little bit more androgynous looks and -viola- you have visual kei:

Glam rock

Glam rock

Visual kei

Visual kei

Following up on that logic, the last decade has seen several glam bands competing in the Swedish "Melodifestivalen", a music competition which ends in one winner who goes on to compete in the European Song Contest. This is actually one of the largest media events in Sweden, and just being one of the 32 contestants usually means a big step in your career. Yesterday the first qualifying competition saw Yohio from Sundsvall competing, and winning one of the two places in the final that was up for grabs. In a rather meager evening, his heavy metal song "Heartbreak Hotel", with his positively sparkling performance, made all the difference to make the whole event worthwhile. Could this mean visual kei will establish itself in Sweden, or glam metal have a new golden age? ;-)

• YOHIO - Heartbreak Hotel
• YOHIO - Sky Limit
• YOHIO - Our Story
• Seremedy - No Escape (band with yohio as front figure)