Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

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.

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

Background
Main article: Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest

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

The Belarusian national final took place on 16 February 2018. Ten songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and public televote. The show was broadcast on Belarus 1, Belarus 24 and Radius FM as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by.

Competing entries

On 3 January 2018, it was announced that 95 songs had been submitted for the national final. The participating songs were performed during an audition on 11 January 2018. From this, the expert jury chose 10 finalists that would compete in the televised national final.[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.

Final – 16 February 2018
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 Adagio "Ty i ja" 1 581 1 2 10
2 Alekseev "Forever" 12 5,184 12 24 1
3 Shuma "Chmarki" 4 3,042 10 14 3
4 NAPOLI "Chasing Rushes" 6 1,236 7 13 4
5 Anastasiya Malashkevich "World on Fire" 7 804 5 12 7
6 Gunesh "I Won't Cry" 8 1,041 6 14 2
7 Radiovolna "Subway Lines" 10 599 2 12 6
8 Alen Hit "I Don't Care" 2 718 4 6 9
9 Lexy Weaver "Ain't You" 4 669 3 7 8
10 Kirill Good "Deja Vu" 5 1,359 8 13 5

At Eurovision

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) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Belarus was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[9]

Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Belarus was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from Israel and preceding the entry from Estonia.[10]

Semi-final

Belarus performed eighth 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. It was later revealed that Belarus placed sixteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 65 points: 45 points from the televoting and 20 points from the juries.

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: [11]

  • 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
Split voting results from Belarus (Semi-final 1)
Draw Country Jury Televote
I. Abalyan A. Nabeev V. Bogdan T. Parhamovich S. Statsenko Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Azerbaijan181686151311
02 Iceland555244717
03 Albania2411111216
04 Belgium1715171681792
05 Czech Republic6123321038
06 Lithuania714161561156
07 Israel82414756210
08 Belarus
09 Estonia1013613131283
10 Bulgaria9374116565
11 Macedonia16181818181818
12 Croatia173523815
13 Austria118159910174
14 Greece1217910171414
15 Finland412147168313
16 Armenia39138574112
17  Switzerland13101217141612
18 Ireland14610111092101
19 Cyprus15111112121547
Split voting results from Belarus (final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
I. Abalyan A. Nabeev V. Bogdan T. Parhamovich S. Statsenko Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Ukraine14188191515112
02 Spain15241813182126
03 Slovenia81937127418
04 Lithuania7517686511
05 Austria3125521012
06 Estonia161798111416
07 Norway2644338210
08 Portugal24252416242425
09 United Kingdom11212012141622
10 Serbia22231617222320
11 Germany17151518171814
12 Albania475224724
13 France1842110101115
14 Czech Republic13279165665
15 Denmark121463138347
16 Australia68222449221
17 Finland25222623262523
18 Bulgaria201313252120101
19 Moldova21201422202256
20 Sweden991211710113
21 Hungary26262326252692
22 Israel23161014231738
23 Netherlands1011112161319
24 Ireland510192091217
25 Cyprus1311111283
26 Italy19122515191974
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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". eurovoix.com. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  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. Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  10. "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  11. 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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