Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country  Belarus
National selection
Selection process National Final
Selection date(s) 16 February 2018
Selected entrant Alekseev
Selected song "Forever"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Kyrylo Pavlov
  • Evhen Matyushenko
Finals performance
Semi-final result Failed to qualify (16th, 65 points)
Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC) organised a national final in order to select the Belarusian entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fourteen times since its first entry in 2004.[1] The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2007 with the song "Work Your Magic" performed by Dmitry Koldun. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Belarus had managed to qualify to the final four times. In 2016, Belarus failed to qualify to the final with the song "Help You Fly" performed by Alexander Ivanov. In 2017, Belarus qualified to the final with the song "Historyja majho žyccia" performed by Naviband. In the final they placed 17th with 83 points.

The Belarusian national broadcaster, National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC), broadcasts the event within Belarus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The broadcaster has used both internal selections and national finals to select the Belarusian entry for Eurovision in the past. Since 2012, BTRC has organised a national final in order to choose Belarus' entry, a selection procedure that will continue for their 2018 entry.[2]

Before Eurovision

National Final

Competing entries

On 3 January it was announced that 95 songs had been submitted for the national final. The participating songs were performed during an audition on 11 January.[3]

Artist Song (English translation) Composer(s)
Adagio "Ty i ja" (You and me) Evgeniy Oleynik, Yulia Bykova
Alekseev "Forever" Kyrylo Pavlov, Evhen Matyushenko
Alen Hit "I Don't Care" Oleg Shutskiy
Anastasiya Malashkevich "World on Fire" Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Niklas Bergqvist, Simon Johansson
Gunesh "I Won't Cry" Tim Norell, Ola Håkansson, Alexander Bard
Kirill Good "Deja Vu" Kirill Ermakov, Roman Kolodko
Lexy Weaver "Ain't You" Aleksandra Tkach
NAPOLI "Chasing Rushes" Will Taylor, Michael James Down
Radiovolna "Subway Lines" Vlad Chizhikov, German Bronovitski, Vitaly Vechersky, Roman Kolodko
Shuma "Chmarki" (Clouds) Maks Shur, Alyaxey Korobeynik
Sofi Lapina "Gravity" Leo Vasilets

Controversy

After the eleven finalists were revealed, it emerged that a Russian language version of Alekseev's entry "Forever" had been performed at several concerts he performed prior to 1 September 2017. Eurovision rules state that no entry may have been made publicly available prior to 1 September of the previous year, as it may give songs an unfair advantage.[4] The Belarusian broadcaster Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) also state that no songs performing in the national final may have been released before that date. Following the news, seven of the ten other competing artists wrote an open letter to the Belarusian broadcaster, stating that they would withdraw from the national selection if Alekseev was not disqualified, also adding that they believe the show was being rigged for Alekseev to win.[5] Participant Sofi Lapina officially announced her withdrawal from the competition on 16 January 2018, as the broadcaster had blocked several of her songs from participating because they had been made available prior to 1 September yet neglected to block Alekseev from competing.[6][7] On 17 January, it emerged that participants Shuma were being investigated on whether they could remain in the competition, as their song contains lyrics from a traditional Belarusian folk song.[8]

Final

The televised final took place on 16 February 2018 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Teo. The national final consisted of ten competing acts participating in a televised production where the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury and a public telephone vote.

Draw Artist Song (English translation) Televote Jury Total Place
1 Adagio "Ty i ja" (You and me) 581 1 1 2 10
2 Alekseev "Forever" 5184 12 12 24 1
3 Shuma "Chmarki" (Clouds) 3042 10 4 14 3
4 NAPOLI "Chasing Rushes" 1236 7 6 13 4
5 Anastasiya Malashkevich "World on Fire" 804 5 7 12 7
6 Gunesh "I Won't Cry" 1041 6 8 14 2
7 Radiovolna "Subway Lines" 599 2 10 12 6
8 Alen Hit "I Don't Care" 718 4 2 6 9
9 Lexy Weaver "Ain't You" 669 3 4 7 8
10 Kirill Good "Deja Vu" 1359 8 5 13 5

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 took place at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and the final on 12 May 2018. According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final.

Semi-final

Belarus performed fifth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Israel and preceding the entry from Estonia. At the end of the night, Belarus was not one of the ten countries announced as qualifying for the grand final.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Belarussian jury: [9]

  • Iskui Abalyan – Chairperson – singer
  • Alex Nabeev – singer
  • Vladimir Bogdan – TV and radio host
  • Tatsiana Parhamovich – deputy head of the Professional Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture
  • Svetlana Statsenko – producer

Points awarded to Belarus

Points awarded to Belarus (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Belarus

References

  1. ↑ "Belarus Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  2. ↑ McCaig, Ewan (31 August 2017). "Belarus: Eurovision 2018 participation confirmed". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  3. ↑ "Belarus: 95 Songs Submitted for Eurovision 2018" (in angol). eurovoix.com. 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
  4. ↑ Cobb, Ryan (16 January 2018). "Belarusian finalists publish open letter appealing for ALEKSEEV's disqualification". ESCXtra.
  5. ↑ Granger, Anthony (15 January 2018). "Belarus: Seven Artists Call For Disqualification of ALEKSEEV". Eurovoix.
  6. ↑ Herbert, Emily (16 January 2018). "Belarus: Sophia Lapina Withdraws From National Final". Eurovoix.
  7. ↑ Malam, Luke (16 January 2018). "Drama in Belarus as Sofi Lapina withdraws over Alekseev controversy". ESCXtra.
  8. ↑ Granger, Anthony (17 January 2018). "Belarus: Shuma May Have Violated Eurovision Selection Rules". Eurovoix.
  9. ↑ Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
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