The “Heroes” of Junior Eurovison 2023

Samantha Wolff | swolff25@dtechhs.org

Image from the participants press conference courtesy of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union)

This weekend, a very exciting event is taking place, Junior Eurovision! You may have heard of the Eurovision competition before, where countries in Europe send songs to be performed each year and a winner is chosen. Junior Eurovision encompasses this same principle, but features children from European countries aged 9-14. The winner is decided half by the votes of judges, and half from votes of the public. This year, the competition will be held in Nice, France after France won the contest last year with representative Lissandro’s “Oh Maman!” Here, you can read a little about each of the songs that will be featured this year, watch the music videos, and maybe feel inspired to vote for your favorites when the voting opens starting on Friday on the jesc.tv website! Votes will be closed during the time of the show, but will reopen after the live performances.

🇦🇱 Albania: Bote Ime - Viola Gjyzeli 

With a similar vibe to Rihanna’s “Love On The Brain” or Radiohead’s “Creep,” "Bote Ime" will be the song Albania sends to Junior Eurovison this year! The song is about living in your own imaginary world, with dark, mystical vibes implied from the music video. The songwriter for “Bote Ime” also wrote Albania’s Eurovision song from this year. Currently, Albania is pretty low in fan rankings, but hopefully they can beat the odds and not finish in last place!

🇦🇲 Armenia: Do It My Way - Yan Girls

“Do It My Way” is one of the more upbeat songs of this competition. The five-member Armenian girl band was inspired by their favorite K-pop artists for this song, and they are definitely bringing the energy to Nice this year! They also love to dance, so you can hope to see some of their moves on the stage! The girls hope to build on the success that Armenia has been having in the contest, never placing below 9th!

🇪🇪 Estonia: Hoiame Kokku - Arhanna Sandra Arbma

This is Estonia’s first time participating in Junior Eurovision, and they decided to go with a similar vibe to their adult Eurovision song from this year. Alika’s “Bridges” was very successful in May, receiving an 8th place, which was their highest ranking since 2018! The song could be described as an emotional piano ballad about sticking together, even through hard times. The singer, Arhanna, also helped write this song herself. Hopefully, Estonia will do well in their debut year!

🇫🇷 France: Cœur - Zoé Clauzure

France is the host country, after winning the competition last year! This year, they decided to bring another fun and upbeat song, and a lot of people think the polished french aura to it gives off “potential winner vibes”. One fun fact about Zoé is that she recently signed with a record deal in her country! France last hosted the competition in 2021, after their very first win in 2020, and is also one of the only countries that have never placed outside the top 10 with any of their entries.

🇬🇪 Georgia: Over The Sky - Anastasia and Ranina

This year, Georgia is being represented by Anastasia, who will be accompanied by two boys, Nikoloz and Oto, who form Ranina! Similar to other countries, they were picked to represent Georgia by winning the national final competition, a national contest held in some countries to decide who to send to Junior Eurovision. The song, “Over The Sky,” is a nice ballad about believing in yourself and being a hero. That fits into the slogan for this year's Junior Eurovision edition, “Heroes!” From photos we have seen of staging so far, it gives off similar vibes to the opening number of the Taylor Swift’s eras tour.

🇩🇪 Germany: Ohne Worte - FIA

Returning to the contest after a one year absence, Germany is back. FIA became well known in Germany after competing on the Voice Kids Germany 2023, where she was coached by German singer Lena, who competed in Eurovision twice, winning in 2010 with the song “Satellite”. This year’s song, “Ohne Worte '' which translates to “Without Words” in English, is sung in German, but FIA also uses German Sign Language when she performs the song. She does this everytime she performs. She does this because her younger sister is deaf, and FIA wants to be able to share her love for music with everyone. The song is also one of the fan favorites in the contest this year, and listeners think that it will bring Germany its best result! This is also the first year that Germany is not opening the show, which could really help their winning odds.

🇮🇪 Ireland: Aisling - Jessica McKean

Ireland always tends to send ethnic Gaelic songs to Junior Eurovision, and this year is no different! “Aisling” gives off major Disney Princess vibes, and harnesses the ethnic culture of Ireland to create a magical melody. The song is sung entirely in Gaelic, which is rarely featured in modern music . Another cool fact about this song is that it features the Irish representative last year, Sophie Lennon, who brought Ireland their first top five result since entering the contest. Maybe this year, they will even top that!

🇮🇹 Italy: Un Mondo Giusto - Melissa and Ranya

This year, Italy will be represented by a duo, Melissa and Ranya. They met each other during their time on the Voice Kids, where Melissa won the contest and Ranya made it to the final. Their song is a strong ballad about having hope and being together.. The girls both have incredible talent, and with luck, they will do well at the competition this year! 

🇲🇹 Malta: Stronger - Yulan Law

The winner of the Maltese national selection for Junior Eurovision this year is “Stronger” by Yulan Law! “Stronger”  is a very powerful ballad, which is somewhat similar to their winning song in 2013, “The Start,” sung by Gaia Cauchi. The song carries solid vocals and features traditional sounds. Law probably has some of the best live vocals this year, and hopefully this will help her chances of doing well. With the right staging, Malta could be a dark horse this year!

🇳🇱 The Netherlands: Holding On To You - Sep and Jasmijn

This year, the Netherlands will also be represented by a duo, Sep and Jasmijn! They were grouped together during their time on Junior Songfesitval, the Dutch National Selection for JESC. Their song, “Holding On To You,” is of the electro-pop genre, and is super upbeat and fun to dance to! Since being released, this has been one of the biggest favorites of the public, and lots of fans are hoping that it will do well in the competition.

🇲🇰 North Macedonia: Kaži mi, kaži mi koj - Tamara Grujeska

Tamara Grujeska has brought her song “Kaži mi, kaži mi koj”, to this year’s Junior Eurovision. This balkan ballad is something never seen in the competition before, and it brings a passionate ethnic feeling to the stage. The last time North Macedonia placed in the top 5 was 2007, but a lot of eurofans think that will change this year, with this entry being another one of the big fan favorites from the day it was released! Will this be the first time North Macedonia takes home the trophy?

🇵🇱 Poland: I Just Need a Friend - Maja Krzyżewska

After a long battle competing in the Polish National Final, Maja won the chance to represent Poland this year! Bringing another beautiful ballad to this year's competition, the song “I Just Need A Friend” is about needing a friend by your side and having someone to count on, through fire and through rain. A fun fact about Maja is that she is from a small village on the edge of Poland, with less than 20 people living there! 

🇵🇹 Portugal: Where I Belong - Júlia Machado

After winning the 2023 edition of the Voice Kids Portugal, Júlia got the opportunity to represent her country in JESC! Born and raised in New Jersey to Portuguese immigrants, she always wanted to be more connected to her culture.  When she was 12 years old, she moved in with her grandparents in Portugal. Her song, “Where I Belong,” is about finding your place in this world, a place to call home. The song is especially symbolic for her, as she considers herself Portuguese-American. “Where I Belong” is a moving ballad that will hopefully do well at this year's competition! 

🇪🇸 Spain: Loviu - Sandra Valero

Another one of the most successful countries in Junior Eurovision, Spain, is back with a cheerful pop song. The song, “Loviu” is about how there are so many ways to say the phrase ‘I love you’ in many different languages! The song is sung mostly in Spanish, with bits of other European languages in the chorus. The hope for this song is to bring people together, and share love with the whole world. No song has ever won the competition while being first in the running order. , Ccan “Loviu” break this barrier?

🇺🇦 Ukraine: Kvitka - Anastasia Dymyd

The youngest participant this year is Anastasia Dymyd from Ukraine at just nine years old! She was chosen to represent her country by winning the Ukrainian national selection for Junior Eurovision, Junior Vidbir. Dymyd’s song “Kvitka,” which translates to “flower” in English, is an ethnic Ukrainian folk song ,and  spreads a message of love and peace throughout the world. “Kvitka” will not only have catchy lyrics, but also a cute dance that Dymyd has been teaching to the other delegations!

🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Back to Life - Stand Uniqu3

After a 17 year hiatus from Junior Eurovision, the UK decided to come back last year with artist Freya Skye who sang the song “Lose My Head”. The awesome pop song won last year’s televote even with Freya being sick! Will Stand Uniqu3 be able to top that? This year, the UK will be represented by the band Stand Uniqu3, a girl group of three girls aged 12-13. The girls; Maisie, Yazmin, and Hayla, bring the power to the song! Rumor has it that they will also have a dance break on stage in Nice. Their song, “Back to Life,” sounds like something you would probably hear on the radio, an upbeat techno-pop song. This gives the UK a chance to do well in the competition considering the amount of ballad entries this year. 

Do you have a couple of favorites? Did some songs stand out to you? Be sure to tune into the competition on Sunday November 26., Iit will be livestreamed on Youtube on the Junior Eurovision official channel, and you will be able to see your favorite songs perform! If you don’t want to wake up early for it, the recording will remain up on the channel for casual viewers. You can also listen to the official playlist of all of the songs here on Spotify!