Helena Paparizou who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song My Number One is today reported to be seriously thinking of participating in next years Melodifestivalen, according to the Expressen newspaper in Sweden. They claim that a wildcard spot has been reserved for her, a claim denied by SVT!
An articlein the Expressen newspaper today suggest that Helena Paparizou has been reserved one of the four wildcard spots for Melodifestivalen 2007 and that the show's producer, Christer Björkman, has tried to talk her into this for a long time.
SVT DENY WILDCARD SLOT
esctoday.com spoke to SVT to ask if they could confirm the news. They were quick to deny the reports. SVT stated: "This is purely paper-talk. We have not even discussed the wildcard possibilities, we are still finalising the 28 songs selected by the jury".
HELENA: 2007 WOULD BE TOO SOON
esctoday.com spoke to Helena last month. She said that she would love to take part in Melodifestivalen at some point in the future, but that "2007 would be too soon" . She said that she would loveto do something for Sweden, but that the timings for 2007 would be wrong with the release of her second international album. Helena would have no problems with competing for Sweden since she was raised there and most of her family still lives in Sweden, and the new album is produced and recorded in Sweden as well.
3YEARS IN A ROW?
Should she enter Melodifestivalen in 2007 and win, Helsinki would mark herfourth Eurovision Song Contest appearance insix years, and third consecutive year performing at the event!She appeared asone half of Antique in 2001,finishing third, then returned in 2005 to win the competition. Sheperformed the interval act at the 2006 event in Athens as well. Helena has concerns that appearing in 2007 (a fourth consecutive year) would be seen as too much.
Helena told esctoday.comlast month that although she would not be competing in Helsinki, "Maybe I'll come to Finland for a trip.My god-daughter is actually half Finnish and half Greek, so Ihave a love forFinland. They have some beautiful rock concert venues and wild parties in Finland, so be careful!". You can read the full article here.
UK SINGLE AND INTERNATIONAL ALBUM
Helenawill have one eye on the United Kingdom this week, where All AroundThe World Records have this week releasedMambo, a summer hit in Greece and Sweden. Sheis releasing her new album, The game of lovein November and that could be a problem since it will take a lot of time to promote.
Swedish fans will still see plenty of Helena over the next few months. Below you can enjoy her live performace of Mambo from the Rix FM Festival in Stockholm
