Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Belarus originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. 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 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. However, due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Europe, the contest was cancelled.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Eurofest | |||
| Selection date(s) | 28 February 2020 | |||
| Selected entrant | VAL | |||
| Selected song | "Da vidna" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Uladzislaŭ Paškievič Valeryja Hrybusava Mikita Najdzionaŭ | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Cancelled | |||
| Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Background
Prior to the 2020 Contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixteen 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 six times. In 2019, Belarus qualified to the final with the song "Like It" performed by ZENA ending in the 24th place with 31 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 2020 entry.
Before Eurovision
National final
Competing entries
On 18 January 2020 it was announced that 95 songs had been submitted for the national final. 49 acts were invited to perform during an audition on 27 January 2020. From this, the expert jury chose 12 finalists that would compete in the televised national final.
| Auditions – 27 January 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song |
| 1 | ELEN | "Broken" |
| 2 | Natali Domini | "I Believe" |
| 3 | Veronika Tsubikоva | "True to Myself" |
| 4 | PАULINN | "Razhadaj" (Разгадай) |
| 5 | Nastya Glamozda | "Burning Again" |
| 6 | Vitaliy Vоrоnkо | "Listen to Your Heart" |
| 7 | Ekaterina Denis | "Tvoj novyj dzień" (Твой новый дзень) |
| 8 | Parade of Planets & Platon | "Pour lui" |
| 9 | Serzh Berkov | "I Fell in Lоve With the Devil" |
| 10 | Katrin Leоni | "Bliže" (Бліже) |
| 11 | Anna Fuks | "Fly Higher" |
| 12 | Darya Khmelnitskaya | "On Fire" |
| 13 | АLЕN HIT | "#1 Problem" |
| 14 | Ivan Zdonyuk | "Shake It Up" |
| 15 | Еlline Day | "Alien" |
| 16 | breesku & Nika De | "Chains" |
| 17 | АURА | "Barany svaje" (Бараны свае) |
| 18 | VАL | "Da vidna" (Да відна) |
| 19 | Angelika Pushnоva | "True Love" |
| 20 | Katya & Volha | "Noy" (Ной) |
| 21 | Vitaliy Artist | "Odnim Solntsem" (Одним Солнцем) |
| 22 | Аugusta | "My Light" |
| 23 | NAPOLI | "Don't Let Me Down" |
| 24 | Apollinariya Kоvalenko | "I Will Not Bоw / Ya ne sdamsya" (Я не сдамся) |
| 25 | Artsem Mikhalenka | "Move" |
| 26 | Sasha Zaharik | "Rocky Road" |
| 27 | 2mоrrоw2late | "Paradise" |
| 28 | Gabriel Kupatadze | "Silver" |
| 29 | АRSI | "Song of Peace" |
| 30 | Batareyki Ltd. | "You for Me" |
| 31 | KeySi | "Chili Pepper" |
| 32 | Аbsоlem Clоud | "It's OK" |
| 33 | Yan Yarosh | "Fire" |
| 34 | July | "Every Hour" |
| 35 | Janet | "Flying Free" |
| 36 | Alyona Gоrbachyova | "Mоments of Lоve" |
| 37 | Nastasea | "Hello" |
| 38 | Mariya Demenkоva | "Shake" |
| 39 | NЕZАBUDKI | "Paradise" |
| 40 | PRОvоkatsiya | "Suddenly" |
| 41 | Аlena Grand & Pasha Pashkevich | "Can You Feel" |
| 42 | Yulia Glebova & Chas Speak | "Pajdziem sa mnoj" (Пайдзем са мной) |
| 43 | CHАKRАS | "La-ley-la" |
| 44 | Tani Faredо | "Travel Lifestyle" |
| 45 | Polina Krasnovskaya | "Impuls toka" (Импульс тока) |
| 46 | PАVLОNI | "Stones of My Soul" |
| 47 | Alexey Gross | "Don't Fear" |
| 48 | Jenifer | "Making Our Universe" |
| 49 | Anastasiya Malashkevich | "Invisible" |
| Artist | Song | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Anastasiya Malashkevich | "Invisible" | Niklas Bergqvist, Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Simon Johansson |
| Angelika Pushnоva | "True Love" | Oleg Sidorov, Anastasiya Belyavskaya, Nikos Sofis |
| АURА | "Barani svajo" (Барані сваё) | Evgeniy Oleynik |
| CHАKRАS | "La-ley-la" | Max Aleinikov |
| Darya Khmelnitskaya | "On Fire" | Lexy Weaver |
| KeySi | "Chili Pepper" | D. Bain, Dmitry Fomich, M. Duke |
| NAPOLI | "Don't Let Me Down" | Michael James Down, Will Taylor, Rafaela Truda |
| Nastasea | "Hello" | Anastasiya Razvadоvskaya, Sasha Guris, Vitaly Penzin |
| Nastya Glamozda | "Burning Again" | Anastasiya Hlamоzda, Dmitry Piven |
| Sasha Zaharik | "Rocky Road" | Sasha Zaharik |
| VАL | "Da vidna" (Да відна) | Uladzislaŭ Paškievič, Valeryja Hrybusava, Mikita Najdzionaŭ |
| Yan Yarosh | "Fire" | Yan Yarosh, Matthew Douglas Funnell |
Final
The televised final took place on 28 February 2020 at the "Belarusfilm" studio in Minsk, hosted by Helena Meraai and Evgeniy Perlin. The national final consisted of twelve 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 – 28 February 2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist[2] | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
| 1 | NAPOLI | "Don't Let Me Down" | 2 | 373 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| 2 | Sasha Zaharik | "Rocky Road" | 4 | 371 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 3 | Anastasiya Malashkevich | "Invisible" | 8 | 499 | 4 | 12 | 5 |
| 4 | CHАKRАS | "La-ley-la" | 6 | 2,190 | 12 | 18 | 3 |
| 5 | Nastya Glamozda | "Burning Again" | 1 | 305 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| 6 | Nastasea | "Hello" | 0 | 258 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 7 | Yan Yarosh | "Fire" | 12 | 706 | 6 | 18 | 2 |
| 8 | Angelika Pushnоva | "True Love" | 5 | 634 | 5 | 10 | 6 |
| 9 | Darya Khmelnitskaya | "On Fire" | 0 | 261 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 10 | АURА | "Barani svajo" | 3 | 812 | 7 | 10 | 7 |
| 11 | KeySi | "Chili Pepper" | 7 | 1,010 | 8 | 15 | 4 |
| 12 | VАL | "Da vidna" | 10 | 1,494 | 10 | 20 | 1 |
| Detailed Jury Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song | S. Karlsen | D. Koldun | W.L. Adams | O. Vorobyova | Zena | A. Panayi | T. Eshkoli | Y. Seleznyov | J. Levieva-Sawyer | Total | Points |
| 1 | "Don't Let Me Down" | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 29 | 2 | |
| 2 | "Rocky Road" | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 43 | 4 | |
| 3 | "Invisible" | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 64 | 8 |
| 4 | "La-ley-la" | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 59 | 6 | |
| 5 | "Burning Again" | 2 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 1 | ||||||
| 6 | "Hello" | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 0 | |||||
| 7 | "Fire" | 8 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 80 | 12 |
| 8 | "True Love" | 5 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 47 | 5 |
| 9 | "On Fire" | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 0 | |||
| 10 | "Barani svajo" | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 30 | 3 | |
| 11 | "Chili Pepper" | 12 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 61 | 7 |
| 12 | "Da vidna" | 3 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 69 | 10 |
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 28 January 2020, 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 12 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[3] However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.
References
- "Belarus Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- "Finalist list revealed". Telegram. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- Groot, Evert (28 January 2020). "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
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Note: Entries scored out are when Belarus did not compete | |||||||||||