'Three of my songs are shortlisted for Eurovision'

Singer-songwriter Emma Gale had been close to giving up writing music when a song she penned about the pandemic went viral.

Four years on, she says things have "gone crazy" after three of her songs made it through to the Eurovision Song Contest shortlists of three separate countries.

Next week, Ms Gale, who lives in Dorset, will be heading to Norway where her song Sulale, sung by Nora Jabri, will go before a panel and public vote.

Poison Cake, performed by Marko Bosnjak, is also a strong contender in Croatia where judges and viewers will choose their entry later this month.

A third song had been a favourite in the Latvian contest but the performer was forced to pull out of the competition due to illness.

Emma Gale's song, Let's see what the Earth has to say, went viral during lockdown

During lockdown Ms Gale recorded a track, Let's see what the Earth has to say, that went viral on Facebook.

"People went crazy for it," she said.

"I just hit the right time - and that led me to where I am today.

"A lot of people did creative things during that time. It gave us the time and space to think about our lives and, for me, it's been amazing - it's changed my life."

She began writing songs for Eurovision two years ago, after meeting a publisher with an interest in the contest.

The 2024 Eurovision contest was won by Switzerland's Nemo

She said: "It's just gone crazy this year.

"To have one [song] would have been amazing but to have three is pretty unheard of.

"I think Germany had 3,000 entries. Croatia was pretty hard to get into this year because they came second last year."

If successful, the songs will feature at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel in May.