Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country  Malta
National selection
Selection process Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Selection date(s) 3 February 2018
Selected entrant Christabelle
Selected song "Taboo"
Selected songwriter(s) Johnny Sanchez
Thomas G:son
Christabelle Borg
Muxu
Finals performance
Semi-final result Failed to qualify (13th, 101 points)
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Malta participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, with a song selected through the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS).

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Malta has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 30 times since its first entry in 1971.[1] Malta briefly competed in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1970s before withdrawing for sixteen years. The country had, to this point, competed in every contest since returning in 1991. Malta's best placing in the contest thus far was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 2002 with the song "7th Wonder" performed by Ira Losco and in 2005 with the song "Angel" performed by Chiara.

For the 2018 Contest, the Maltese national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), organised the selection process for the nation's entry. Malta has selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure Malta Eurovision Song Contest, a method that was continued for their 2018 participation.

Before Eurovision

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The show aired on the 3rd of February and was presented by the Maltese radio-presenter Colin Fitz.

Format

The competition consisted of sixteen entries competing in a national final which took place on 3 February 2018. The winner was decided by 50% televote and 50% jury voting.

Competing entries

On September 15th, PBS announced the list of the 30 songs that had qualified for the last stage before the final. During the 27th, 29th and 30th of September these songs competed behind closed doors, where a jury decided which 16 songs would qualify for the televised final.[2] They were revealed on 11 October 2017.

On January 19th, a new version of "Dai Laga" was released, replacing the previous edition which was said to have breached EBU regulations due to it including some instrumental music that may have been bought via the internet by the composer. PBS asked the composer to remove the stem or provide a revised instrumentation. [3]

Final

The final was on 3 February 2018. It took place at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali, Malta. All of the sixteen competing songs were released on 4 January 2018. The winner, Christabelle Borg with the song Taboo, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote.[4] Each point given during the televoting results equated to approximately 37 phone votes.

Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Jury Televote Total Place
1 AIDAN "Dai Laga" Aidan Cassar 34 8 42 4
2 Miriana Conte "Rocket" Cyprian Cassar, Muxu 9 5 14 12
3 Jasmine Abela "Supernovas" Charlie Mason, Jonas Thander 25 6 31 8
4 Matthew Anthony "Call 2morrow" Jonas Gladnikoff, Tom Wiklund, Peder Eriksson 26 6 32 7
5 Danica Muscat "One Step at a Time" John Ballard, Ruth Mussie, Jerusalem Yemane, Irena Krstva, Kian Fakhary 2 1 3 16
6 Dwett "Breaking Point" Elton Zarb, Muxu 3 12 15 10
7 Lawrence Gray "Love Renegade" Cyprian Cassar, Muxu 3 4 7 15
8 Richard & Joe Micallef "Song for Dad" Cyprian Cassar, Richard Micallef 31 67 98 2
9 Tiziana Calleja "First Time" Tina Stenberg 4 8 12 14
10 Eleanor Cassar "Back to Life" Jonas Gladnikoff, Michael James Down 19 17 36 5
11 Rhiannon "Beyond Blue Horizons" Rhiannon Micallef, Cyprian Cassar 9 5 14 11
12 Brooke Borg "Heart of Gold" Borislav Milanov, Dag Lundberg, Niklas Lif, Brooke Borg 37 47 84 3
13 Christabelle Borg "Taboo" Johnny Sanchez, Thomas G:son, Christabelle Borg, Muxu 60 73 133 1
14[lower-alpha 1] Deborah C "Turn It Up" Christian Schneider, Aidan O'Connor, Sara Biglert, Erik Grönwall 0 13 13 13
15 Avenue Sky "We Can Run" Jonas Gladnikoff, Matthew Ker, Glen Vella 1 15 16 9
16 Petra "Evolution" Elton Zarb, Muxu 27 6 33 6
  1. ↑ Due to technical difficulties in the performance, Deborah C was allowed to perform again following Petra performing "Evolution".
Detailed Jury Votes
Draw Song Albania Czech Republic Iceland Italy Republic of Macedonia Total
1 "Dai Laga" 6 8 10 7 3 34
2 "Rocket" 5 4 9
3 "Supernovas" 2 10 8 5 25
4 "Call 2morrow" 4 5 3 8 6 26
5 "One Step at a Time" 2 2
6 "Breaking Point" 2 1 3
7 "Love Renegade" 3 3
8 "Song for Dad" 10 4 5 5 7 31
9 "First Time" 4 4
10 "Back to Life" 7 1 2 1 8 19
11 "Beyond Blue Horizons" 6 1 2 9
12 "Heart of Gold" 8 3 6 10 10 37
13 "Taboo" 12 12 12 12 12 60
14 "Turn It Up" 0
15 "We Can Run" 1 1
16 "Evolution" 3 7 7 6 4 27

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.

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.

Points awarded to Malta

Points awarded to Malta (Semi-final 2)
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 Malta

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Maltese jury:[5]

  • Elton Zarb – Chairperson – composer, musician, producer
  • Dorian Cassar – radio and TV presenter, business owner
  • Olwyn Jo Saliba – producer, video editor
  • Alexander Kitcher – event coordinator, technical director at Valletta 2018 Foundation
  • Amber Bondin – music artist, represented Malta in the 2015 Contest

References

  1. ↑ "Malta Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  2. ↑ https://www.tvm.com.mt/en/news/not-publish-mesc-30-songs-selected-next-phase/
  3. ↑ https://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/eurovision/news/change-instrumentation-one-finalist-songs-mesc-2018/
  4. ↑ Mercereau, Damien (21 February 2018). "Eurovision 2018 : Malte désigne Christabelle Borg" (in French). Le Figaro. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  5. ↑ Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.

See also

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