Iceland - Our Choice - Ari Ólafsson

Picture from digital presskit

19 - 15 pts in semi 1

Ari Ólafsson represented Iceland in Lisbon with his song Our Choice.
The song is written by Þórunn Erna Clausen.
Here's the video of the English version, the Icelandic one (Heim) is here.

Four versions of Our Choice (see below) were released on the digital Söngvakeppnin album(s). The Eurovision version can of course be found on the official All Aboard! 2CD with all this years Eurovision entries.
Update Our Choice was released as a  seperate digital single remix. The release date seems to be May 8 2018, but we missed that at the time. It doesn't mention the song as being a remix at your digital stores and streamers.
But the Youtube version on the composers channel confirms it is made by StopWaitGo, (They also remixed the 2015 Icelandic entry)
(Thanks Rick!)
All promotional material is digital, there is no physical release.

Remix version DRI

Who's Ari?
Ari Olafsson's road to stardom began when he played the title role in the musical Oliver (by the National Theatre Of Iceland) when he was 11 years old.
"Our" Selma Björnsdottir (ESC 1999 and 2005) was the one to discover Ari and he's been busy ever since.
In 2015 he participated in The Voice Iceland and in 2017 he was a backing singer at the Icelandic Eurovision selection Söngvakeppnin.
After Eurovision Ari will continue his musical studies at the London Royal Academy Of Music.

Þórunn Erna Clausen
In 2011 songwriter Þórunn (Thorunn) Erna Clausen wrote the lyrics to Coming Home / Aftur Heim, the song to be performed by her husband Sjonni Brink in the Söngvakeppnin of that year.
You know the sad story: Sjonni died just before the national contest and a group of his friends performed the song and went on to the Eurovision final.
She wrote at least eight Söngvakeppnin from 2011 on.
Þórunn will be on stage with Ari as pianist an backing vocalist. She will also direct the staging.
The CD and cdsingle of Sjonni Brink and Sjonni's Friends are still available here at BeaRecords.

Söngvakeppnin 2018
Iceland's Eurovision entry was selected in the Söngvakeppnin 2018 final on March 3.
12 songs were competing. All have been recorded in Icelandic and 11 of them also in English. You can listen to all songs here at RÚV's Eurovision pages.
All songs have been released through digital sources.
The releases include Icelandic versions, English versions, Icelandic karaokes and English karaokes.

Digital album image

Versions
Our Choice - English version
- also on the official Lisbon 2CD
Our Choice - remix version (by StopWaitGo)
Heim - Icelandic version
Our Choice - karaoke
Heim - Icelandic karaoke
- all digital releases


Links and sources:

Thanks to Davíð Lúther at Ari's HQ. Thanks to Frederick.

Ari Ólafsson: Facebook, Instagram
RÚV Eurovision pages
Icelands recent Eurovision tunes: 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009

Let's Get Physical

The first cdsingle of 2018

Here's a quick checklist of this year's physical releases (CD's, vinyl) available in the shops.
For promo and digital info please check each country's individual post.

Singles
it's very quiet still, on the cdsingle front but we have a limited edition vinyl: Italy.
Spain's cdsingle is out on March 23. Two of the pre-selection songs were also released as cdsingles.
Australia's cdsingle is expected on May 11. (better late than never)
Germany has a cdsingle planned for May 4.
Switzerland ZiBBZ sell their cdsingle in combination with their CD album It Takes A Village.


National Final Albums
Spain - All Spanish pre-songs are available on a special edition Operacion Triunfo 2CD
Also limited edition CDs of both Alfred and Amaia are released.
Sweden - Melodifestivalen 2018 is out on 2CD
Hungary - A Dal 2018 out on 2CD
Italy - Sanremo 2018 all songs on a 2CD
Portugal: 25 of the 26 Festival da Canção Cançãos are out on one CD



This Years Artists Albums

SuRie's Dozen

Poland - Gromee's album Chapter One is out now (March 16)
France - MM's album Vu d'Ici is out on April 20.
Netherlands - Waylons new CD has Outlaw On 'It. (April 13) CD and LP.
Italy - Both Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro have new albums in the shops (both on CD and LP).
Ermal Meta also released a live CDset with two versions of the Eurovision tune.
Germany - Dreamer: The Best Of Michael Schulte is out on May 3, CD and 2LP
Finland - Saara Aalto's CD Wild Wild Wonderland is out on April 27.
United Kingdom - SuRie released her album Dozen in 2019, the CD includes an exclusive new version of Storm.
Croatia - Franka's CD S Tobom has two verions of Crazy
Cyprus - A re-issue of Eleni's album Vasilissa includes three versions of Fuego including the Spanish one.
Sweden - Benjamin Ingrosso has released his CD Identification, also on limited edition vinyl.
Hungary - AWS released a CD Fekete részem including two versions of Viszlát Nyár. A live CD/DVD Madách also includes the Eurovision song.
Lea Sirk (Slovenia) released her album 2018 in 2018

Gromee seems happy with his CD

The Official Album and stuff
The 2CD with all 43 entries of 2018 was released on April 20.
The karaoke versions are available too, but only digital.
I guess the extravagant vinyl 4LP box of 2017 was a difficult seller, as there will be no similar release this year.
However, if you've got too much money, there's all kinds of other Lisbon 2018 stuff, t-shirts, sweaters, coasters, balloons, fridge magnets, still no condoms though, oh well....
The new Eurovision Board Game is not tied to this contest especially and will last a bit longer, so that may be a nice souvenir.
The DVD release is on June 23. It has three discs and will include unseen behind the scenes material (Universal)
The official site has a shop here.


Books
The Essential Lisbon Handbook is out now, read all about it here.

Dos Abba a Salvador Sobral
If you're in Portugal you can check the bookstores for a new book on Eurovision. It's in Portuguese though, but if that doesn't trouble you...
Eurovisão: Dos Abba a Salvador Sobral by Nuno Galopim tells the 63 year old Eurovision story from a Portuguese perspective. If you're not in Portugal you can buy it at Fnac.

Author Nuno Galopim was the Portuguese commentator for the Kyiv contest and is now a creative consultant for the 2018 contest.

The book is available from May 4. (ISBN 9789896268541)

Portugal 12 Pts.
Another book from Portugal is Portugal 12 Pts by João Carlos Callixto and Jorge Mangorrinha. Inspired by the 2017 victory, this is a trip through Eurovision history with a focus on the Portuguese entries. The book is in Portuguese. (ISBN 9789727806423) and is avialable at Fnac from April 30 on.

Hungary - Viszlát Nyár - AWS

Digital Release Image Original version

21 - 93 pts, 10 - 111 in semi 2

AWS, metal band, represented Hungary in Lisbon.
Their song Viszlát Nyár (Goodbye summer) won the 2018 edition of A Dal.
AWS have been around since 2006 and have released three albums and a few EP's.

Viszlát Nyár was already released as a digital single on the 21st of October 2017.
An English version titled Summer Gone was revealed on April 19 (videoclip at AWS Youtube)
English was released to the digital stores on May 10 along with the acoustic version (in Hungarian)

A promo cds includes five versions, see versions below.
A USB stick with photos, mp3's, info and videos was also made for promotion.

A (dubstep-ish) remake / remix by Cloud9+ ft. AWS was released as a digital single on October 18.

Albums
AWS released their album Fekete Részem a few weeks after the contest. (CD: Edge Records EDGECD 282). This includes Viszlát Nyár in the original and acoustic versions.

A live album featuring an acoustic concert from September 27 was released on a CD/DVD set. This includes a live acoustic version of the Eurovision song (Edge Records EDGECDVD 288)

A Dal
Hungary continued their successful A Dal preselections to find a Eurovision entry for Lisbon.
30 songs, 3 heats, 2 semi finals and a final on 24 februari.
The 2CD with all 30 songs is out since February 2. (see picture below for tracklist. (MTVA 1271)

Versions
Viszlát Nyár - Eurovision version
- A Dal 2CD
Viszlát Nyár - original single version
- CD Fekete Részem
Viszlát Nyár - Eurovision karaoke
- all above digital releases
Viszlát Nyár - Acoustic version
- CD Fekete Részem
Viszlát Nyár - English version a.k.a. Summer Gone
- video
- all above on promo cds, all digital releases
Viszlát Nyár - Cloud9+ ft AWS
- digital release 18-10-18
Viszlát Nyár - Live acoustic
- CD/DVD Madách

Links and sources:
Thanks to Thomas.
AWS: Facebook, Instagram
A Dal Website,  Facebook
More about Hungary's entries here: 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2009
AWS at BeaRecords