Ukraine: Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil will represent the country in Malmö with “Teresa & Maria”!

Tonight it was Ukraine’s turn to select their entry for Eurovision 2024. Just a while ago, Vidbir 2024, the Ukrainian national selection for Eurovision 2024, was concluded. Vidbir served for another year as the country’s selection method for Eurovision and was broadcasted live from Kyiv, Ukraine. The national final was scheduled for yesterday but because of a technical problem, which caused the crush of Diia app, via which the audience’s votes were casted, there could not be a valid result yesterday. Instead, the voting platform remained open till a while ago and following a new broadcast, we now have a winner.

Hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko, Yuliya Sanina and Vasyl Baidak and following the combination of votes from a national jury, the members of which were selected by the Ukrainian public via on online poll and televoting, Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil were crowned as the winners with their song “Teresa & Maria“.

389 entries were submitted to the Ukrainian broadcaster, out of which twenty were long-listed. The twenty long-listed entries were reduced to ten and among the remaining ten, an online poll was held in order to determine the artist who would join the final line-up. Hence, a total of eleven acts advanced to the televised final of Vidbir 2024 and were the following:

1. YAKTAK  —  “Lalala”
2. INGRET  —  “Keeper”
3. NAZVA  —  “Slavic English”
4. ANKA  —  “Palala”
5. Drevo  —  “Endless chain”
6. alyona alyona & Jerry Heil  —  “Teresa & Maria”
7. MÉLOVIN  —  “DREAMER”
8. SKYLERR  —  “Time is running out”
9. Ziferblat  —  “Place I Call Home”
10. YAGODY  —  “Tsunamia”
11. NAHABA  —  “GLASS”

Vidbir 2024 – in detail

YAKTAK  —  “Lalala”

An energetic performance by YAKTAK. Full of lights, lasers and with a memorable choreography, it was a perfect opener for tonight’s show. Vocally-wise there could be many improvements. A radio-friendly song and as highlighted by the judges, uncertain whether it is suitable for the Eurovision stage.

INGRET  —  “Keeper”

A mystical performance by INGRET. The atmosphere there was dark, full of smoke. While it was touching enough, I was not convinced and her vocals did not really help.

NAZVA  —  “Slavic English”

Quite an ethnic tune from NAZVA. A fun and colorful performance for sure. However, it was not convincing enough with the judges not thinking that “Slavic English” is that suitable for Eurovision, as other contestants’ messages are in greater need to be heard.

ANKA  —  “Palala”

Here we have the online wildcard. ANKA is here to win and we are all wondering how she was not in the final line-up at first. The flute is present here as well and the performance was really strong. ANKA is definitely one of the contenders for the Ukrainian representation in Malmö.

Drevo  —  “Endless chain”

Not a fan of the song, not a fan of the performance as well. It all seemed quite weird. The concept was not quite it. The add of a rock band instead of the two girls with the guitars would be a better choice.

alyona alyona & Jerry Heil  —  “Teresa & Maria”

The big favorites of the night gave us goosebumps. Although, there were some sound problems at the beginning of the performances, the duo seemed to make it. The song has something quite anthemic and will sure stand out on the Eurovision stage. However, the performance definitely needs to be elevated for Malmö.

MÉLOVIN  —  “DREAMER”

MÉLOVIN is back to be the first Ukrainian returning artist. Much different, in comparison to his last Eurovision appearance, he dominates the stage. Although there were no back-up dancers, the camera work really elevated the performance. A possible contender for sure.

SKYLERR  —  “Time is running out”

A surprise, I would say. It all looks better off stage. The vocals were good, the performance was powerful as well. However, I don’t think it would be enough.

Ziferblat  —  “Place I Call Home”

A nice performance overall. However, the song doesn’t seem that suitable for Eurovision!

YAGODY  —  “Tsunamia”

The most ethnic performance of the night. It has a powerful folk sound and the performance was intense as well. However, it seemed messy. Nothing more, nothing less.

NAHABA  —  “GLASS”

By far the most confusing performance of the night. It didn’t feel unique to me…just horrendous. Nice try with being original, though!

The show, also, included performances of Ruslana, Jamala, Kalush Orchestra, TVORCHI, Verka Serduchka, Tina Karol and Anastasia Dymyd. Just before the announcement of the results, all participants joined Dmytro Shrove, Vidbir’s musical director, on stage.

The voting process

A national jury along with the TV audience vote decided in equal shares who would fly the Ukrainian flag in Malmö.

National Jury

The national jury consisted of the following members:

1. Andriy Danylko (VERKA SERDUCHKA) – Representative of Ukraine at Eurovision 2007
2. Jamala – Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 as well as the “Outstanding Artist Leadership Award” from the Atlantic Council of the United States in 2022
3. Serhiy Tanchynets – singer, musician, producer and leader of the rock band BEZ LIMITATIONS

The afore-mentioned awarded their points as following:

11 points – ZIFERBLAT

10 points – Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil

9 points – MELOVIN

8 points – INGRET

7 points – YAGODY

6 points – YAKTAK

5 points – ANKA

4 points – DREVO

3 points – SKYLERR

2 points – NAZVA

1 point – NAHABA

ZIFERBLAT was jury’s pick for Eurovision 2024.

Audience’s vote

A total of 1.167.185 votes were casted via Diia app. The TV audience voted as following:

11 points – Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil

10 points – YAKTAK

9 points – MELOVIV

8 points – ZIFERBLAT

7 points – YAGODY

6 points – SKYLERR

5 points – NAHABA

4 points – ANKA

3 points – DREVO

2 points – INGRET

1 point – NAZVA

Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil was public’s pick for Eurovision 2024. Indicatively, they collected approximately 62% of the total votes, namely 723.297 votes.

The winner

Following the combination of the above and with a total of 21 points, Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil were crowned as the winnerS of Vidbir 2024 and will therefore serve as the country’s representatives in the 68th Eurovision Song Contest that will take place in Malmö in May. Ukraine is allocated to perform at the first half of the first semi-final on May 7.