Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country Russia
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 7 February 2019
Song: 9 March 2019
Selected artist(s)Sergey Lazarev
Selected song"Scream"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (6th, 217 points)
Final result3rd, 370 points
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 2019 2020►

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Scream", written by Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos and Sharon Vaughn. The song was performed by Sergey Lazarev, who was internally selected by the Russian broadcaster Russia-1 to represent the nation at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Background

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Prior to the 2019 contest, Russia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 21 times since its first entry in 1994. Russia had won the contest on one occasion in 2008 with the song "Believe" performed by Dima Bilan. In 2016, Russia finished third with the song "You Are the Only One" performed by Russia's 2019 entrant Sergey Lazarev.[1] In 2018, Russia placed fifteenth in the second semi-final with the song "I Won't Break" performed by Julia Samoylova, making it the first time Russia did not qualify for the final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004.

Before Eurovision

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Internal selection

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On 7 February 2019, Russian broadcaster RTR announced that Sergey Lazarev would represent Russia in 2019.[2] His song for the contest, "Scream", was released on 9 March 2019.[3] Sergey Lazarev was selected as the Russian entrant by an expert committee from seven shortlisted candidates, among them which also included Aleksandr Panayotov, Egor Kreed, Elena Temnikova, Manizha,[a] Olga Buzova and Philipp Kirkorov, as reported by Russian media.[5][6] After several Russian online media outlets published information about the shortlist of entrants for Eurovision 2019, RTR stated that "The list of candidates does not exist and is unlikely to exist" and the entrant will be named at the end of January.[7]

At Eurovision

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According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (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 2019, 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. Russia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[8]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 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. Russia was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from Lithuania and preceding the entry from Albania.[9]

Semi-final

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Russia performed thirteenth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Lithuania and preceding the entry from Albania. At the end of the show, Russia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Russia placed sixth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 217 points: 124 points from the televoting and 93 points from the juries.

Voting

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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 will be released shortly after the grand final.[10]

Points awarded to Russia

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Points awarded by Russia

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Detailed voting results

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The following members comprised the Russian jury:[10]

Detailed voting results from Russia (Semi-final 2)[11]
Draw Country Jury Televote
L. Kvint S. Osiashvili I. Gulyaev A. Tolmacheva M. Tolmacheva Rank Points Rank Points
01  Armenia 10 8 4 2 7 5 6 2 10
02  Ireland 15 15 7 12 11 14 16
03  Moldova 5 6 12 5 5 6 5 6 5
04   Switzerland 9 16 2 17 8 9 2 7 4
05  Latvia 8 12 14 13 10 13 15
06  Romania 2 3 11 1 3 1 12 13
07  Denmark 14 10 1 8 16 8 3 11
08  Sweden 13 9 8 15 15 16 9 2
09  Austria 7 14 13 14 9 12 17
10  Croatia 12 13 9 11 12 17 8 3
11  Malta 3 2 10 6 1 3 8 12
12  Lithuania 11 17 3 10 17 11 10 1
13  Russia
14  Albania 6 5 16 4 2 4 7 14
15  Norway 17 11 6 16 14 15 3 8
16  Netherlands 16 4 5 9 13 10 1 4 7
17  North Macedonia 1 1 15 3 6 2 10 5 6
18  Azerbaijan 4 7 17 7 4 7 4 1 12
Detailed voting results from Russia (Final)[12]
Draw Country Jury Televote
L. Kvint S. Osiashvili I. Gulyaev A. Tolmacheva M. Tolmacheva Rank Points Rank Points
01  Malta 8 6 13 1 10 5 6 19
02  Albania 14 10 2 6 11 8 3 22
03  Czech Republic 13 22 21 14 23 21 18
04  Germany 22 17 22 25 24 24 23
05  Russia
06  Denmark 17 13 25 18 9 17 14
07  San Marino 10 8 9 3 6 6 5 13
08  North Macedonia 6 5 6 12 8 7 4 11
09  Sweden 16 12 11 22 22 18 17
10  Slovenia 15 15 17 21 16 20 5 6
11  Cyprus 7 1 4 7 4 3 8 20
12  Netherlands 18 3 18 17 19 14 6 5
13  Greece 11 2 10 2 2 2 10 24
14  Israel 25 25 20 24 21 25 21
15  Norway 20 14 23 19 12 19 2 10
16  United Kingdom 19 16 19 23 17 23 25
17  Iceland 1 18 8 10 20 9 2 4 7
18  Estonia 23 20 16 16 15 22 15
19  Belarus 5 7 3 5 5 4 7 3 8
20  Azerbaijan 4 4 1 4 3 1 12 1 12
21  France 2 21 15 20 14 13 12
22  Italy 24 19 14 15 1 11 10 1
23  Serbia 12 11 7 8 7 12 8 3
24   Switzerland 9 23 24 11 18 16 9 2
25  Australia 21 24 5 13 25 15 7 4
26  Spain 3 9 12 9 13 10 1 16

Notes and references

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Notes

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  1. ^ Manizha stated that she would like to perform with "I Am Who I Am" at Eurovision, but it is not known whether she sent this song to RTR[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Russia". EBU. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  2. ^ Herbert, Emily (7 February 2019). "Russia: Sergey Lazarev to Eurovision 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  3. ^ Granger, Anthony (9 March 2019). "Russia: Sergey Lazarev Returns To Eurovision With "Scream"". Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Домашнее насилие, Евровидение, абьюзеры | MANIZHA". YouTube.
  5. ^ "Кандидаты «Евровидения-2019»: кому уготована участь «музыкального Навального»".
  6. ^ "Super.ru".
  7. ^ "Скандал на "Евровидении": кто обманул россиян". Газета.ру.
  8. ^ Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  9. ^ "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  10. ^ a b Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "Exclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  11. ^ a b c "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Tel Aviv 2019". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  12. ^ a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Tel Aviv 2019". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.