Jonas Gladnikoff, a 22-year-old Swede, has written songs selected for both Lithuania and Bulgaria. He is one of the songwriters behind Open your eyes which will be performed by the Maltese sisters Charlene & Natasha in the Bulgarian selection whilst a young talented Edgaras Kapocius is singing his song I will survive in the first Lithuanian qualification heat.
With a songs in each their country Jonas is quite busy at the moment, but he found the time to talk to esctoday.com about what we can expect from these two songs and to answer why Swedish songwriters are so well represented in national finals all over Europe.
18 songs were selected for the Bulgarian semi-final; two of them were yours. Suddenly a lot of confusion happens as two songs are disqualified and another one, one of yours, withdrew from participation. Can you inform our readers what the situation was?
“Well, I don�t know the situation with the other songs that were removed, but for our song Too late for heartbreak that was to be performed by Una Healy, the problem was simply that Una herself had other obligations that wouldn't be able to fit in with the schedule BNT gave her, which included being present in Sofia far more days than she thought she'd have to be there.
So we decided it would be better to give the spot to someone else, and to focus on just one entry instead.”
Will this other song be saved for next year when there is time to plan it?
“Probably not! It was not a typical Eurovision song and made especially for Una. So a life outside ESC for the song is a possibility.”
What can you tell about your part in Open your eyes for Bulgaria and I will survive for Lithuania
“Well, for Open your eyes I have done the music together with Niall Mooney and Brendan McCarthy. I am also the producer and arranger. I will survive is written just by Niall and me. Galya Marinova wrote the lyrics for Open your eyes while Niall and me did for I will survive.”
How did the work go? � is it hard to agree on how you want things to be when several songwriters are working together on a song?
“Since we all live in different countries we work rather independently. Somebody starts with an idea, and another one takes over, and we all contribute with things. With more people involved the result can only get better, as we are honest with each other and if something's not good we simply keep working until everyone is satisfied.”
How does it work in practice � do you play the songs on the phone to each other?
“No, we mostly use the internet, sending each other mp3 files of our ideas. It's very handy this way because you can work with people from everywhere. When I work with people living in Stockholm I of course meet with them and we sit down and make things together, but with people from abroad this system works very well.”
What can we expect from the two songs?
“Well, first there is I will survive. It is about a break-up, and about the positive sides with moving on and being free to do what you want to do. It's a happy song about realising you are finally through with somebody.”
How was it decided that Edgaras should sing it?
“He simply heard the song, and liked it so much that he contacted us and asked if he could sing it.”
