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Malta: Alexandra Alden disqualified from MESC 2025!

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PBS, the Maltese broadcaster, has announced a disqualification among the artists set to participate in the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Alexandra Alden, who was originally scheduled to perform her song “Magnolia,” has been removed from the line-up following the broadcaster’s decision.

Why was Alexandra Alden disqualified?

As previously mentioned, Alexandra Alden, also a judge on X-Factor Malta, was set to enter the competition for the first time with her song “Magnolia.”

However, PBS discovered that the song had been released prior to the official eligibility date of November 30th. According to the contest’s rules, songs must not be published before this date in order to qualify for Malta Eurovision Song Contest. Due to this breach, Alden’s entry was disqualified and can no longer participate in the Maltese selection.

At the moment, there is no official announcement on whether another artist will replace Alden in the line-up or if the competition will proceed with 23 artists in the semi-finals.

MESC 2025

The following 23 artists will take part in the semi-finals of MESC 2025 and therefore compete for the Maltese representation in Basel:

  1. “365” – Kelsey Bellante
  2. “Heaven Sent” – Kristy Spiteri
  3. “AZIZ/A” – Kurt Calleja
  4. “Kant” – Miriana Conte
  5. “Hideaway” – Mark Anthony Bartolo
  6. “Concrete” – Nathan Psaila
  7. “Breaking the Cycle” – Miguel Bonello
  8. “Control” – Matthew Cilia
  9. “Te Amo” – Dre’ Curmi
  10. “Yo Listen” – Martina Borg
  11. “LalaRataTakeke LalaRataKabum” – Kantera
  12. “Still I Rise” – Justine Shorfid
  13. “Rubble & Stone” – The Alchemists
  14. “Unheard” – Krista Šujak
  15. “Love Me Loud” – Kelsy Attard
  16. “Festa (No Time for Siesta)” – JVF (Jessika, Victorio, Fabrizio)
  17. “Wildflower” – Marie Claire
  18. “Miegħek Biss” – Kurt Anthony Cassar
  19. “Silenced” – Raquela Dalli
  20. “Lablab (Talk Talk)” – Stefan Galea
  21. “Qalb ma’ Qalb” – Adria Twins
  22. “Whistleblower” – Haley Azzopardi
  23. “Juno” – Victoria Sciberras

Among the participants of this year’s MESC, we find two former Eurovision contestants who have teamed up, aiming to return to the Eurovision stage. Fabrizio Faniello, who represented Malta in 2001 and 2006, is collaborating with Jessika, known for representing San Marino in 2018. Together with Victorio, they are setting their sights on Eurovision once again.

Also making a comeback to the MESC stage is Kurt Calleja, Malta’s representative in 2012.

MESC 2025 will consist of two semi-finals, on February 4th and 6th, while the Grand Final will take place on February 8th.

Sarah Bonnici was Malta’s pick for Eurovision 2024 with her song “Loop”. Despite her strong performance, Sarah did not qualify to the Grand Final, placing dead last in the second semi-final.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news! 

Source: TVMNews

Junior Eurovision 2024: The music video of “Stilla Ċkejkna” released!

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Three weeks ago, Ramires Sciberras won MJESC 2024, the Maltese national selection for Junior Eurovision 2024 with his song “Stilla Ċkejkna”. Just moments ago, the music video of “Stilla Ċkejkna” was uploaded on the official Junior Eurovision’s YouTube channel.

You can watch the music video of “Stilla Ċkejkna”, below:

How was Ramires selected?

PBS chose its Junior Eurovision 2024 act via Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Following the combination of votes from a national jury on a percentage of 80% and public voting on a percentage of 20%, Ramires Sciberras was crowned as the winner with his song “Stilla Ċkejkna“ and therefore the country’s representative in the 22nd Junior Eurovision Song Contest that will take place in Madrid in November.

Junior Eurovision 2024

Seventeen countries will take part in the 22nd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest:

  1. Italy – RAI
  2. Estonia – ERR
  3. Albania – RTSH
  4. Armenia – AMPTV
  5. Cyprus – RIK
  6. France – FT
  7. North Macedonia – MRT
  8. Poland – TVP
  9. Georgia – GPB
  10. Spain – RTVE
  11. Germany – ARD/NDR
  12. Netherlands – AVROTROS
  13. San Marino – RTV San Marino
  14. Ukraine – UA:PBC
  15. Portugal – RTP
  16. Ireland – RTÉ
  17. Malta – PBS

The 22nd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held on November 16 in Madrid, Spain, following the country’s second-place finish last year and the refusal of the winning country, France, to host for the second year in a row. The slogan for this year’s contest is “Let’s Bloom!”, while Ruth Lorenzo, Marc Clotet and Melani Garcia will serve as this year’s hosts.

Malta with Ramires will close the show.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news! 

Junior Eurovision 2024: Ramires Sciberras will represent Malta in Madrid!

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Today it was Malta’s turn to select their entry for Junior Eurovision 2024. Just a while ago, Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024, the Maltese national selection for Junior Eurovision 2024, was concluded. Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest served for another year as the country’s selection method for the children’s contest and was broadcasted live from PBS studios, Malta.

Hosted by Melanie Kelly and following the combination of votes from a national jury on a percentage of 80% and public voting on a percentage of 20%, Ramires Sciberras was crowned as the winner with his song “Stilla Ċkejkna“.

Out of the entries submitted to the Maltese broadcaster, fourteen were long-listed by a PBS jury. Hence, a total of fourteen acts advanced to the televised final of Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 and were the following:

  1. Shaz (Shaznay Mangion) – “Above It All“
  2. Andrea Camilleri – “Gold”
  3. Eleny Incorvaja Scerri – “Guiding Light”
  4. Emma Farrugia – “Summertime”
  5. GRRLZ (Rihanna Mifsud, Mia Mifsud, Natalia Xerri, Alaiya Cini) – “Grrlz”
  6. Ilona (Ilona Mercieca) – “Zip It Up”
  7. Anneka Xerri – “Trying To Be Me (Ħeq le)” (Right no)
  8. Kayleen (Kayleen Mercieca) – “Lalala”
  9. Ramires Sciberras – “Stilla Ċkejkna” (Little Star)
  10. Maria Curmi – “Għawdex” (Gozo)
  11. Keira (Keira Farrugia) – “Kif Jien” (How I am)
  12. Chanel (Chanel Abela Camilleri) – “I’ll Be Alright”
  13. Thomas Casha – “A Little Bit Longer”
  14. Daylin Cassar Randich – “Bonafide”

Following the public’s and jury’s voting, Ramires Sciberras emerged as the winner of Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 and will therefore serve as the country’s representative in the 22nd Junior Eurovision Song Contest that will take place in Madrid in November.

The rest of the top three consisted of:

Second place: GRRLZ  – “Grrlz”

Third place: Emma Farrugia – “Summertime”

Junior Eurovision 2024

Seventeen countries will take part in the 22nd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest:

  • Albania – RTSH
  • Armenia – AMPTV
  • Cyprus – RIK
  • Estonia – ERR
  • France – FT
  • Georgia – GPB
  • Germany – ARD/NDR
  • Ireland – RTÉ
  • Italy – RAI
  • Malta – PBS
  • North Macedonia – MRT
  • Poland – TVP
  • Portugal – RTP
  • San Marino – RTV San Marino
  • Spain – TVE
  • The Netherlands – AVROTROS
  • Ukraine – UA:PBC

The 22nd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held on November 16 in Madrid, Spain, following the country’s second-place finish last year and the refusal of the winning country, France, to host for the second year in a row. The slogan for this year’s contest is “Let’s Bloom!”, while Ruth Lorenzo, Marc Clotet and Melani Garcia will serve as this year’s hosts.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Malta: Changes in MESC’s format | MESC 2024 in depth!

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Malta will choose its entry for Eurovision 2024 via a national final for the third year in a row. Malta Eurovision Song Contest, Malta’s national selection will start in October and will be finished in January, when the next Maltese act will be selected.

Regardless choosing the same format for selecting Malta’s entry, MESC 2024 will see significant changes. Specifically:

  • The Grand Final of MESC 2024 will be held in January and will include live-on-tape performances and a video-clip.
  • There will be no quarterfinals.
  • MESC’s semifinal will be held for several weeks, where the competing artists will perform their songs live.

Below, you can read in depth every detail regarding the competitive procedure of MESC 2024:

Phase I – Song submission
  • Song submission starts on the 28th of August and will be completed on the 20th of September 2023.
  • The number of participants qualified to the next phase(Semi Final)remains unknown.
  • The announcement of the participants that will go to the next stage will occur in October 2023.
Phase II – Semi Final
  • Artists will perform their songs live via a TV show that will be broadcasted for several weeks.
  • The top 12 artists via a combination of jury and public vote will qualify to the Grand Final.
  • The procedure is expected to start somewhere between October and November.
Phase III – Grand Final
  • The Grand Final will be held in January 2024.
  • Every participant will have a budget of 5.000 euros for producing and filming a video-clip of its entry.
  • Every participant will film a live-on-tape performance in December 2023(the artists will have 60 minutes to film 3 performances and between these, the best will be chosen)
  • The winner will be decided from a jury and public vote.

After two consecutive years of non-qualification, Malta is trying its best in order to achieve again a spot in the Grand Final.

What do you think about the changes in MESC format? Stay tuned on EurovisionFun for all news regarding the Maltese entry in Eurovision 2024!

Source: PBS

Malta: PBS announces changes in MESC’s format | This is the allocation of the artists in the Quarter-Finals!

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Malta’s national final for this year seems to change all the time, as MESC 2023 format is changing for yet another time. About two months ago, the Maltese public broadcaster, PBS, announced that they wanted to introduce to the public more artists through the national final and so, they added four qualifying rounds to the contest.

In an announcement earlier today, the channel revealed their decision to broadcast only three of the four programmed qualifying rounds with 13 competitors in the first two and 14 in the third.

What is more, the allocation of the 40 artists in the three qualifying rounds was also announced:

First Quarter-Final

  1. Haley – “Tik Tok”
  2. Stefan Xuereb – “What Do You Want?”
  3. Clintess – “Lura qatt”
  4. Fabrizio Faniello – “Try to Be Better”
  5. Eliana Gomez Blanco – “Guess What”
  6. Christian Arding – “Eku ċar”
  7. Jason Scerri “Anything Can Happen”
  8. Maria Debono – “X’allegrija”
  9. Geo Debono – “The Mirror”
  10. Mikhail – “Leħen fiċ-ċpar”
  11. Aidan – “Reġina”
  12. Nathan – “Creeping Walls”
  13. Klinsmann – “Piranha”

Second Quarter-Final

  1. Brooke – “Checkmate”
  2. Dan – “It’ll Be OK”
  3. Dario – “Pawn in a Game”
  4. Dario Bezzina – “Bridle Road”
  5. Francesca Sciberras – “Masquerade”
  6. Ian – “On My Own”
  7. Kirstie – “Girls Get Down”
  8. Lyndsay – “Haunted”
  9. Mark Anthony Bartolo – “Tears”
  10. Marie Claire – “Thankful”
  11. Matt Blxck – “Up”
  12. Maxine Pace – “Alone”
  13. The Busker – “Dance (Our Own Party)”

Third Quarter-Final

  1. Andre’ – “Broken Hill”
  2. Bradley Debono – “Blackout”
  3. Cheryl Balzan – “La La Land”
  4. Chris Grech – “Indescribable”
  5. Dominic and Anna – “Whatever Wind May Blow”
  6. Giada – “I Depend on You”
  7. Greta Tude – “Sound of My Stilettos”
  8. Jake – “Love You Like That”
  9. James Louis – “Dream”
  10. Jessika – “Unapologetic”
  11. John Galea – “Trailblazer”
  12. Maria Christina – “Our Flame”
  13. Ryan Hili – “In the Silence”
  14. Stefan – “Heartbreaker”

The 24 songs that will qualify for the semi-final will be selected from public and jury voting. In the Semi-Final, the 16 finalists will be selected to compete in the Grand Final.

We remind you that the schedule of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is as follows:

  • Quarter-Final 1 – January 13th
  • Quarter-Final 2 – January 20th
  • Quarter-Final 3 – January 27th
  • Semi-Final – February 9th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

Emma Muscat was the winner of MESC 2022 with the song “Out of Sight”. In the end she represented Malta in Eurovision 2022 with the song “I Am what I Am” but she didn’t manage to qualify for the Grand Final ending up in 16th place of the Second Semi-final:

https://youtu.be/DFCFM5qtvms

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Maltese participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: escbeat.com

Malta: Submission window for MESC 2023 is now open!

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Earlier today PBS, Malta’s national broadcaster, opened the submission window for the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023 (MESC).

With the submission window for the MESC now open those interested in representing Malta in the contest must apply on the official PBS Eurovision site. Some rules of the selection are as follows:

  • All performers must be at least 16 years old by May 2023.
  • Performers must have Maltese nationality while the Songwriters and composers can be of any nationality.
  • An artist may submit multiple songs to the selection.
  • Songs must not have been released or publicly performed before October 15 2022.
  • Songs must not be longer than three minutes.

You can find the application form here.

Through the selection process, a jury will choose the 40 songs that will compete at Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023. In each quarterfinals, 10 songs will compete with 6 of them being able to progress through the Semi-Final. At all the shows, the voting will consist of both jury voting and public televote.

The dates of MESC 2023 are as follows:

  • Quarterfinal One – January 13th
  • Quarterfinal Two – January 20th
  • Quarterfinal Three – January 27th
  • Quarterfinal Four – February 3rd
  • Semi-Final – February 9th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

Emma Muscat was the winner of MESC 2022 with the song “Out of Sight”. In the end she represented Malta in Eurovision 2022 with the song “I Am what I Am” ending up in 16th place of the Second Semi-final:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Maltese participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Malta: Listen to “I am what I am”, Emma Muscat’s song for Eurovision 2022!

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The song that will represent Malta in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Turin was published a few hours ago.

Emma Muscat will perform the song “I am what I am” which was written by Dino Medanhodzic, Julie Aagaard, Stine Kinck as well as Emma Muscat.

Listen to “I am what I am” below:

Who is Emma Muscat?

Emma Louise Marie Muscat (born 27 November 1999) is a Maltese singer and model working in Italy. Born in Malta to a wealthy family, Emma approached music from a young age. After her compulsory education, she decided to enroll at the University of Performing Arts. As a teenager she showed her skills in singing, dancing and in the use of musical instruments. She specialised, in particular, with the piano, and also began to compose both the music and the lyrics of her songs.

What do you think of Malta’s participation this year? Will it continue their qualification streak since 2019? Make your prediction in the comments!

Malta: National Final to be held for Eurovision 2022!

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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  

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

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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

 

Malta: Listen to country’s entry in Junior Eurovision 2019

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Maltese public broadcaster, PBS, recently released the song that Eliana Gómez Blanco will perform at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The 14-year-old artist will sing “We Are More” on November 24 in Glivice, Poland.

Eliana was selected to represent Malta through an open selection process, which aimed to select the country’s artist for Junior Eurovision 2019. She competed in the finals with 10 other candidates selected from live auditions.

This year, the Maltese broadcaster did not hold a live national final to select its representative in Junior Eurovision. Instead, it conducted an on-line process in which the singers sang live to help the public choose the best singer for the competition. These live performances were evaluated by the jury and the audience who decided the winner.

Listen to Malta’s participation below:

https://youtu.be/wu4TBECwLqA