Eurovision 2022: Pots and Participants of Semifinals Allocation Draw revealed!

The semi-finals draw will take place on Tuesday 25 January at 12:00 CET, from the Palazzo Madama e Casaforte degli Acaja in Turin. At the same time there will be a ceremony of handing over the keys of the contest or as it is widely known, the Host City Insignia from the previous hosts Rotterdam to the Italian organizers.

The allocation draw will determine whether the countries will participate in the First Semifinal (Tuesday, May 10) or the Second Semifinal (Thursday, May 12). Also, again based on the draw it will be determined if they appear in the first or second half of the semifinal. We remind you that the exact order of appearance is announced later by the organizers and after it has first been approved by the EBU.

The draw will be presented by TV presenters Carolina di Domenico and Gabriele Corsi. Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb and Turin Mayor Stefano Lo Russo will be present.

Friends of the contest will be able to watch the draw on Eurovision’s YouTube channel or on Rai’s streaming service.

Semi-final draw: How does it work?

Italy, as the host country, together with the other 4 members of the so-called “Big 5” (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) do not compete in the Semifinals, but vote in one of them… so before the competing countries in Semifinals, it will be determined at random which of the Semifinals the Big 5 will be allowed to vote for.

The next part of the draw will determine in which Semifinal and in which half of the respective Semifinal the remaining 36 participating countries will appear.

The 36 countries of the semifinals are selected from 6 different pots:

Pot 1

  • Albania
  • Croatia
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Serbia
  • Slovenia

Pot 2

  • Denmark
  • Australia
  • Finland
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Sweden

Pot 3

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Georgia
  • Israel
  • Russia
  • Ukraine

Pot 4

  • Cyprus
  • Greece
  • Malta
  • Bulgaria
  • Portugal
  • San Marino

Pot 5

  • Estonia
  • Lithuania
  • Latvia
  • Moldova
  • Poland
  • Romania

Pot 6

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Switzerland
  • Czech Republic
  • Ireland
  • Netherlands

Drawing countries from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the Semi-Finals.

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the 66th Eurovision Song Contest!

Malta: Listen to the songs of MESC 2022!

With the slogan, What a feeling, the Maltese public television, TVM, decided to hold a national final for the selection of its participation in Eurovision 2022. Thus, MESC returns for the first time after 2018.

We already know the 22 artists and songwriters who will compete in the MESC 2022 Semifinal, but we also had the opportunity to listen to excerpts from the candidate songs.

The Lyric Videos of the 22 songs, which will compete in MESC 2022, were recently revealed through the social media of Malta for Eurovision.

You can listen to the candidate songs in the list below by clicking on the song titles:

Among the artists is Jessica Muscat who represented San Marino at Eurovision 2018. Also, the representative of the country in 2014, Richard Micallef, but also the representative of Malta at Junior Eurovision 2010, Nicole Azzopardi. Of course, many candidates have a lot of experience in MESC, as they have tried several times in the past to represent the island of the Knights in the competition.

Out of the 22 participants, only 16 will advance to the Final. The Semifinal will take place on February 17, while the Final on Saturday, February 19.

Malta was represented last year by Destiny, with Je Me Casse, finishing seventh in the final:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbbc2yKnv0M

Did you single out any of the MESC 2022 songs? Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding Malta’s participation in Eurovision.

Source / Photo: Eurovision Malta / TVM

Malta: The official release of the songs for MESC 2022 is tomorrow!

Malta’s public televisionTVM, announced that tomorrow, 17 January at 20:00 CET,  exactly one week after the release of the song snippets of the 22 contestants of MESC 2022, the official lyric videos of the songs will be released.

The official song release, except the lyric videos that will come out, will also be done by the radio station Magic Malta 91,7, where the listeners will be able to listen to all the songs of MESC 2022 for the first time.

The contestants

We already know the 22 artists, as well as the songwriters of the songs competing in the semifinal of MESC 2022. From these 22 songs, 16 will qualify for the Final and of course the winning song will get the ticket for Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin. The show will run for three nights, starting in February 17 and ending in February 19, when we will learn the country’s representative.

Until the full competing songs will be released, you can listen to the 22 songs of the Maltese national final below by clicking on the links below:

Last year, Malta was represented by Destiny with the song Je me casse, placing seventh in the contest’s final, with 255 points:

Stay tuned at EurovisionFun for the latest developments, regarding Malta’s representation in Eurovision 2022!

Source/Photo: Eurovision Malta

Malta: Listen to a few seconds of the 22 songs of MESC 2022!

Malta’s public television, TVM, decided to broadcast a national final in order to pick the country’s representative for Eurovision 2022. That means, MESC returns for the first time since 2018.

We already know the 22 artists, as well as the songwriters of the songs competing in the semifinal of MESC 2022.

A few minutes ago, the official Instagram profile of the Maltese national final, revealed the first 20 seconds of the 22 songs that are going to compete on MESC 2022. From these 22 songs, 16 will qualify for the Final and of course the winning song will get the ticket for Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin. The show will run for three nights, starting in February 17 and ending in February 19, when we will learn the country’s representative.

Listen to the 22 songs of the Maltese national final below by clicking on the songs name:

A pleasant surprise for us, is the presence Dimitris Stassos among the composers competing for the Maltese representation  at Eurovision 2022. The Greek composer, who lives and works in Sweden, was the composer of Aphrodisiac by Eleftheria Eleftheriou in Eurovision 2012 and  La Noche Es Para Mi by Soraya in Eurovision 2009, and he has also compete in national finals of various countries. Along with Dimitris Stassos we see Nektarios Tyrakis, known in the contest for being the lyricist of Shake It by Sakis Rouvas in Eurovision 2004, but also in entries of other countries.

Along the competing is Jessica Muscat who represented San Marino in Eurovision 2018. Furthermore the county’s representative for 2014, but also Malta’s representative for Junior Eurovision 2010, Nicole Azzopardi. Of course a lot of artists have a great experience in MESC, having tried a lot of times to represent the Malta in the past.

Lastly, the slogan of MESC 2022 got announced, that is What a Feeling“.

 

This year’s representative for Malta was Destiny with the song Je me casse, finishing in seventh place with 255 points:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbbc2yKnv0M

Stay tuned in Eurovision Fun for everything new regarding Maltas’s representation in Eurovision 2022!

Source/Photo: Eurovision Malta/TVM

Eurovision 2022: Semi Final Allocation Draw to take place on January 25!

One of the most important dates of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest was revealed a few hours ago, as the draw for the Eurovision 2022 semi-finals will take place on January 25th.

As revealed by the Montenegrin state radio, RTCG, in the context of the announcement of Vladana Vučinić as the representative of the Balkan country in Turin, the draw of the semi-finals will take place in exactly three weeks from today.

During the ceremony, the emblem of the event will be handed over from the city of Rotterdam to the Mayor of Turin. The draw will take place either at the Mole Antonelliana, the tallest building in Turin, or at the Palazzo Madama, which housed the first Senate of the Italian Kingdom.

The draw

The first part of the draw will determine the semi-final that will be broadcasted and voted by each of the five countries that are directly in the final (Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom).

The second part of the draw will determine in which semi-final and in which half the other 36 participating countries will compete. As in recent years, the exact order of appearance will be determined by the producers of the event at a later time.

The 36 countries will be distributed in five or six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the official television partner Digame. This separation is done in order to avoid the gathering of many neighboring countries in a semifinal that would significantly affect the final result.

We remind you that Eurovision 2022 will be held on May 10, 12 and 14 at the PalaOlimpico in the capital of Piedmont. Thus, Turin will become the third city in Italy where the Eurovision Song Contest will be held. The previous two were Naples in 1965 and Rome in 1991.

We remind you that the 66th Eurovision Song Contest will take place at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, on 10, 12 and 14 May 2022, with 41 participating countries.Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news related to the 66th Eurovision Song Contest!

Eurovision 2022: 41 countries joining the 66th contest in Turin!

Public broadcasters from 41 countries will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest when it returns to our screens next May.

Fans of the Contest will welcome back ARMTV from Armenia and RTCG from Montenegro, both taking to the stage for the first time since Tel Aviv in 2019.

It’s also a special year for Norwegian broadcaster NRK as they will be celebrating the selection of their 60th Eurovision entry during the Melodi Grand Prix grand final on Saturday 19 February.

We will also witness the 300th ‘Big Five’ performance – that’s a song from one of either France, Germany, Italy, Spain or United Kingdom.

Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, shared his thoughts on the line-up:

‘We are so excited that we once again have over 40 broadcasters competing to win the iconic Eurovision trophy in Turin next May.

The team from Rai are working hard on preparations to welcome all the delegations to a new Host City and ensuring the Eurovision Song Contest will provide the excitement and state-of-the-art spectacle expected by nearly 200 million viewers.’

On the announcement of the 41 participants, Simona Martorelli and Claudio Fasulo from Italian broadcaster Rai added:

‘After 31 years, Italy is proud to host the Eurovision Song Contest again! As Executive Producers, we are incredibly excited to set up this amazing event and welcome delegations from 41 nations to Turin next year.

Above all, we strongly believe the Eurovision Song Contest will allow us to showcase and share the beauty of Italy with a global audience via the elements that unite us all: music and harmony.’

The Italian city of Turin won the race to become the Host City of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest, setting Saturday 14 May as the date of the Grand Final, which will be held in PalaOlimpico along with two Semi-Finals on 10 and 12 May.

Source: Eurovision.tv

Malta: Submissions open for Eurovision 2022!

“Malta Eurovision Song Contest” is back for 2022 and the submissions are already open and it will be until the 15th of December. Artists can find the proclamation here.

TVM has announced that the country will use MESC for 2022 edition and not X-Factor, as they did the previous years. The winners of X-Factor, Micaela and Destiny, however, have accomplished both a good result for the country.

As you can read in the official channel’s annoucement, MESC will have a semifinal with 22 songs and 16 of them will compete in the big grand final.

Malta has achieved the seventh place in Eurovision 2021 with Destiny and “Je Me Casse” bringing the country in the top ten after eight years.

Do you think that MESC is a better choice than X-Factor? Tell us your opinion in the comments below!

Malta: National Final to be held for Eurovision 2022!

Despite the fact that X Factor Malta is coming back for another third season in PBS, the public broadcaster of the country, it has been announced that the winner of this year’s edition won’t be the artist for Eurovision 2022. The Chairman of the Valletta Cultural Agency confirmed the news that Malta will change its approach for the 2022 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, by saying:

It is fitting to commend the wise decision of the new management of PBS, that with immediate effect, the representative of Malta in the next edition of Eurovision will be selected through a specially staged festival, and not simply select the winner of X Factor Malta.

I am convinced that this news will be received with great satisfaction by all Maltese singers, authors and composers.

Jasof Micalled, Chairman of the Valletta Cultural Agency

By that means, this will be the first year since 2018 that Malta will hold a national final to choose their Eurovision 2022 entry. Their last National Final winner was Christabelle with the song “Taboo” ended up 13th in the second semi final that year.

This year Destiny, the winner of X Factor, represented the country with the song “Je Me Casse” ended up in 7th place in the Grand Final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbbc2yKnv0M

Is this the right desicion for the country to achieve even better results? Time will tell.

Source: escbubble  

Which six countries will be in Sofia this weekend for the shooting of Live On Tape? EXCLUSIVE

Six countries will shoot Live On Tape next weekend in Sofia. As we first revealed to you on March 15, the production company that hosted the Junior Eurovision 20215 in Bulgaria, has prepared a scene with high standards and specifications for the video of the live on tape, the live show that the EBU is asking of everyone the participants of this year’s contest.

The six countries that will be in Sofia

The six participants who will travel to Bulgaria over the weekend to shoot the live on tape are as follows:

  • Bulgaria with Victoria and Growing Up Is Getting Old
  • Greece with Stefania and Last Dance
  • Cyprus with Elena Tsagrinou and El Diablo
  • Croatia with Albina and Tick-Tock
  • Malta with Destiny and Je Me Casse
  • Moldova with Natalia Gordienko and Sugar

What is Live On tape?

According to what was announced, all participating broadcasters were asked to record a live performance of their participation in their country or somewhere else. This recording will be delivered before the contest and will take place in a studio. The recording will take place in real time (as it would in the Contest) without making changes to the vocals or any part of the show itself after the recording.

There will be freedom in the missions, to present as they consider their entries better, but instructions will be given which will ensure the fairness and integrity of the competition. There will be no audience and the recording should be unique and not be published before the event in May.

Delegations are allowed to use similar technical capabilities and dimensions that would be available on stage in Rotterdam, but are also free to choose a more limited production facility. Video recordings must not contain augmented or virtual reality, overlays, confetti, drone shots, water, color use or green screen.

Of course Eurovisionfun will keep you informed of everything that will happen in Sofia this important weekend.

Malta: Cover the expenses of four countries in order to participate in Junior Eurovision 2016 in Valletta!

Former Maltese Public Television (PBS) CEO John Bundy revealed in a recent interview that for Junior Eurovision 2016, PBS covered the costs of four countries to enter the competition, which was held that year in Valletta.

Specifically, Mr. Bundy stated that PBS paid 24,000 Euros, for the costs of participation of four countries in Junior Eurovision 2016. In fact, the initial agreement that PBS had signed with the EBU was for six countries, but finally after negotiation the second accepted reduce these countries from six to four.

The countries that participated in Junior Eurovision 2016 were:

Ireland
Armenia
Albania
Russia
Malta
Bulgaria
FYROM
Poland
Belarus
Ukraine
Italy
Serbia
Israel
Australia
Cyprus
Netherlands
Georgia

The former CEO of Maltese Public Television did not reveal which four countries they were. The 14th Eurovision Children’s Song Contest took place on November 20, at the Mediterranean Conference Center.

For the story at Junior Eurovision 2016, the winner was Georgia, with Mariam Mamadasvhili with Mzeo:

Source: Timesofmalta