ESC 2023 – Selezioni Nazionali – 2ª Semi-Finale

images

La selezione dei partecipanti all’Eurovision Song Contest spetta alle emittenti televisive competenti dei singoli stati. A loro spetta la scelta del metodo di selezione: una selezione interna (quindi cantante e/o brano vengono scelti dall’emittente stessa), come accade solitamente per San Marino o Australia, oppure può organizzare un festival musicale (il pubblico sceglie un vincitore che viene invitato a partecipare all’Eurovision Song Contest), come accade in Norvegia (Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), Svezia (Melodifestivalen), Italia (Festival di Sanremo), Grecia (Ellinikós Telikós) e molti altri. Il vincitore dell’eventuale festival però non è obbligato a partecipare all’Eurovision Song Contest né tanto meno è obbligato ad esibirsi con la canzone vincitrice, ad esempio Iva Zanicchi ha vinto il Festival di Sanremo nel 1969, in coppia con Bobby Solo, con la canzone “Zingara”, ma all’Eurovision Song Contest si presentò da sola con il brano “Due grosse lacrime bianche”. Con il tempo buona parte delle emittenti sta abbandonando la selezione interna in favore del festival musicale.

I partecipanti non devono obbligatoriamente avere vincoli di nazionalità (ad esempio nel 1988 la Svizzera vinse con la cantante canadese Céline Dion) e le canzoni non hanno restrizioni riguardanti la lingua (anche se nelle prime edizioni vigeva un obbligo di cantare in una delle lingue ufficiali del proprio paese).

L’Eurovision Song Contest 2023 sarà la 67ª edizione dell’annuale concorso canoro. Il concorso si svolgerà presso la Liverpool Arena di Liverpool, nel Regno Unito, dopo che l’Ucraina, vincitrice dell’edizione precedente in seguito alla vittoria della Kalush Orchestra con “Stefania”, è stata dichiarata non in grado di ospitare il concorso a causa dell’invasione russa del territorio ucraino; sarà la nona edizione della manifestazione musicale a svolgersi in terra britannica, dopo le edizioni del 1960, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1982 e 1998.

A seguito della vittoria ucraina all’edizione 2022, ospitata dalla città italiana di Torino, l’EBU-UER ha invitato il paese, come da tradizione, a ospitare l’evento l’anno seguente, divenendo così la terza edizione della manifestazione musicale a svolgersi in Ucraina dopo quelle del 2005 e del 2017. Tuttavia, alla luce dell’invasione russa del territorio ucraino, è stato ipotizzato che un paese facente parte dei Big Five (Francia, Germania, Italia, Regno Unito e Spagna) avrebbe ospitato l’evento in cooperazione con l’emittente UA:PBC. A stretto giro ha seguito l’interesse ad ospitare l’evento di diversi paesi tra cui il Belgio (RTBF), l’Italia (Rai), i Paesi Bassi (NPO/AVROTROS), la Polonia (TVP), il Regno Unito (BBC) e la Svezia (SVT). Originariamente anche la Spagna (RTVE) aveva mostrato interesse a ospitare l’evento ma il 14 giugno 2022 ha ufficialmente ritirato la sua candidatura.

Il 17 giugno 2022 l’UER tramite un comunicato ha annunciato che l’Ucraina non sarebbe stata in grado di ospitare l’evento, facendone così la prima edizione dal 1980 a non essere ospitata dal paese vincitore, e che sarebbero state avviate discussioni con la BBC per una potenziale organizzazione nel Regno Unito, secondo classificato nell’edizione 2022.

Il 25 luglio successivo l’EBU-UER ha annunciato che il Regno Unito, con un’organizzazione congiunta tra BBC e UA:PBC, avrebbe organizzato la manifestazione, confermando inoltre che l’Ucraina avrebbe avuto un posto automatico nella finale in qualità di vincitrice dell’edizione precedente.

Dopo che l’UER ha annunciato che sarebbero iniziate le discussioni con la BBC, a stretto giro ha seguito l’interesse a ospitare l’evento di venti città britanniche: Aberdeen (P&J Live),] Belfast (SSE Odyssey Arena), Birmingham (Resorts World Arena e Utilita Arena Birmingham), Brighton (Brighton Centre), Bristol (YTL Arena), Cardiff (Principality Stadium), Darlington (Darlington Arena), Derry (Millennium Forum), Edimburgo (Highland Hall), Glasgow (OVO Hydro), Leeds (First Direct Arena), Liverpool (Liverpool Arena), Londra (O2 Arena, Copper Box e Wembley Arena), Manchester (Manchester Arena), Newcastle (Utilita Arena), Nottingham (Motorpoint Arena), Prudhoe, Sheffield (Sheffield Arena), Sunderland (Stadium of Light) e Wolverhampton (Molineux Stadium, Dunstall Park e Civic Halls).

Il 5 agosto la BBC e l’EBU-UER hanno annunciato e presentato il bando per ospitare la manifestazione, tramite il quale tutte le città interessate avrebbero potuto presentare ufficialmente la propria candidatura. Le prime città ad annunciare una mancanza d’interesse sono state Cardiff (citando la lista già ampia degli eventi previsti all’interno della città), Derry (che avrebbe appoggiato la candidatura di Belfast in assenza di una sede adatta), Nottingham (poiché la città non rispettava i criteri di disponibilità), Brighton (per la mancanza di una sede idonea) e Sunderland (per la mancanza di disponibilità della sede proposta).

Il 12 agosto la BBC e l’UER hanno annunciato che la scelta era stata ristretta alle città di Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle e Sheffield. Queste città sono passate alla seconda fase della selezione, dove hanno avuto tempo fino all’8 settembre per sviluppare un dossier dettagliato, che rispettava tutte le necessità per ospitare il concorso, da sottoporre alla valutazione della BBC, che avrebbe successivamente visitato le città candidate.

Il 27 settembre la BBC e l’EBU-UER hanno comunicato che la scelta era stata ristretta ulteriormente alle città di Glasgow e Liverpool, che rispettavano tutte le necessità del concorso, scartando di conseguenza Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle e Sheffield.

Il successivo 7 ottobre, durante il programma di BBC One The One Show, è stato confermato che la sede dell’Eurovision Song Contest 2023 sarebbe stata la Liverpool Arena dell’omonima città.

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 ← Eurovision Song Contest 2022 → Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Contest

🇩🇰 Denmark • 🇦🇲 Armenia • 🇷🇴 Romania • 🇪🇪 Estonia • 🇧🇪 Belgium • 🇨🇾 Cyprus • 🇮🇸 Iceland • 🇬🇷 Greece • 🇵🇱 Poland • 🇸🇮 Slovenia • 🇬🇪 Georgia • 🇸🇲 San Marino • 🇦🇹 Austria • 🇦🇱 Albania • 🇱🇹 Lithuania •  🇦🇺 Australia

• Country: 🇩🇰 Denmark

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023
  • Selection date(s): 11 February 2023
  • Host venue: Arena Næstved, Næstved, Denmark
  • Presenter(s): Tina Müller, Heino Hansen
  • Host broadcaster: DR
  • Participants – Number of entries: 8 songs will compete
  • Voting system: 100% App/SMS (Final); 50% App/SMS, 50% jury (Superfinal)
  • Selection entrant: Reiley (Rani Petersen)
  • Selection song: “Breaking My Heart”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Bård Mathias Bonsaksen, Hilda Stenmalm, Rani Petersen, Sivert Hjeltnes Hagtvet

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 1º SF 2: Failed to qualify (14th, 6 points)
  • Final result: –

Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Breaking My Heart” performed by Reiley. The Danish broadcaster DR organised the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 in order to select the Danish entry. Eight songs competed in a televised show where the winner was decided upon through two rounds of voting.

Denmark was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 1, “Breaking My Heart” was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Denmark placed 14th out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 6 points.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Denmark had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty times since their first entry in 1957. Denmark had won the contest, to this point, on three occasions: in 1963 with the song “Dansevise” performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, in 2000 with the song “Fly on the Wings of Love” performed by Olsen Brothers, and in 2013 with the song “Only Teardrops” performed by Emmelie de Forest. In the 2022 contest, “The Show” performed by Reddi failed to qualify Denmark to the final.

The Danish national broadcaster, DR, broadcasts the event within Denmark and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. DR confirmed their intention to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 26 August 2022. Denmark has selected all of their Eurovision entries thus far through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. The broadcaster further announced that Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 would be organised in order to select Denmark’s entry for the 2023 contest.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023. Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 was the 53rd edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the music competition that selects Denmark’s entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The event was held on 11 February 2023 at the Næstved Arena in Næstved, hosted by Tina Müller and Heino Hansen.

2.1.1.Format. Eight songs, all accompanied by the DR Grand Prix orchestra, competed in one show where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top three songs as determined exclusively on a public vote qualified to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner was determined based on the combination of votes from a public vote and a five-member jury panel. Viewers were able to vote via SMS or a newly introduced mobile application specifically designed for the competition. Viewers were able to vote via SMS or a mobile application specifically designed for the competition. Prior to the show, the public was provided with one free vote on the app to cast a vote each day between 6 and 10 February 2023, while viewers using the app during the show were provided with two free votes.

The five-member jury panel was composed of:

  • Anders Stig Gehrt Nielsen (Anders SG) – musician
  • Annika Aakjær – singer-songwriter
  • Emmelie de Forest – singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013
  • Mich Hedin Hansen (Cutfather) – songwriter and music producer
  • Ole Tøpholm – radio host on DR P3

2.1.2.Competing entries. DR opened a submission period between 8 September 2022 and 28 October 2022 for artists and composers to submit their entries. The broadcaster stated that the competition would seek out songs that “represent the quality and breadth of the Danish music scene” with emphasis on songs that “have the potential to represent Danish music and Danish culture in the most distinguished way at the Eurovision Song Contest.” The eight competing entries were announced on 19 January 2023 at DR Byen in Copenhagen.

Two weeks before the national final, it was reported by Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet that Reiley was at risk of disqualification from the competition, as it was revealed that he previously performed his entry “Breaking My Heart” at Slow Life Slow Live Festival in Seoul, South Korea, in October 2022. This was in contravention with the contest’s rules that songs must not have been performed or released publicly prior to the contest without the broadcaster’s permission. However, it was later decided by DR that the previous performance by Reiley did not give him a competitive advantage in relation to a Danish audience and participation in DMGP.

Competing entries
Artist Song Composer(s)
EYJAA (Brynja Mary Sverrisdóttir, Sara Victoria Sverrisdóttir) “I Was Gonna Marry Him” Maria Broberg, Rasmus Olsen, Thomas Buttenschøn 
Frederik Leopold “Stuck on You” Frederik Jyll, Lasse Lindorff 
Maia Maia “Beautiful Bullshit” Joy Deb, Maja Barløse, Niclas Lundin
Mariyah LeBerg “Human” Lars Pedersen, Mariyah LeBerg, Nermin Harambašić
Micky Skeel (Micky Skeel Hansen) “Glansbillede“ Martin Bjelke, Micky Skeel Hansen
Nicklas Sonne “Freedom” Nicklas Sonne
Reiley (Rani Petersen) “Breaking My Heart” Bård Mathias Bonsaksen, Rani Petersen, Sivert Hjeltnes Hagtvet
Søren Torpegaard Lund “Lige her“ Lasse Storm, Martin Palme Skriver [da], Steven McClintock, Søren Torpegaard Lund, Tim Schou Nielsen

2.1.3.Final. The  final  took place on 11 February 2023. The running order was determined by DR and announced on 31 January 2023. In the first round of voting the top three advanced to the superfinal based on the votes of a public vote. In the week leading up to the show, viewers could vote through the DR Grand Prix app. During the show, viewers could via through SMS and the app. In the first round of voting the three songs with the most votes received through SMS as well as by each of Denmark’s regions and autonomous territories were announced, and the top three advanced to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner, “Breaking My Heart” performed by Reiley, was selected based on the votes of a five-member jury (50%) and a public vote (50%). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Svea S and Ukrainian Eurovision Song Contest 2022 winner Kalush Orchestra performed as the interval acts. It was reported by DR that DR Grand Prix, the app used for voting during the national final, crashed due to overload, which caused several breaks during the show. However, according to DMGP program manager Erik Struve, the results of the show were not affected by the app crash.

Final – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Frederik Leopold “Stuck on You” Eliminated
2 Eyjaa “I Was Gonna Marry Him” Eliminated
3 Micky Skeel “Glansbillede“ Advanced
4 Maia Maia “Beautiful Bullshit” Eliminated
5 Nicklas Sonne “Freedom” Advanced
6 Mariyah LeBerg “Human” Eliminated
7 Søren Torpegaard Lund “Lige her“ Eliminated
8 Reiley “Breaking My Heart” Advanced
Detailed Regional Televoting Results
Draw Song North Jutland,
Faroe Islands and
Greenland		 Central
Denmark		 Southern
Denmark		 Zealand Capital
Region		 SMS
1 “Stuck on You”
2 “I Was Gonna Marry Him”
3 “Glansbillede“ X X X X X
4 “Beautiful Bullshit” X
5 “Freedom” X X X X X
6 “Human” X
7 “Lige her“
8 “Breaking My Heart” X X X X X X
Superfinal – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 Micky Skeel “Glansbillede“ 8% 15% 23% 3
2 Nicklas Sonne “Freedom” 14% 20% 34% 2
3 Reiley “Breaking My Heart” 28% 15% 43% 1

Controversies. 

Reiley’s non-disqualification. Two weeks before the final, it was reported by the newspaper Ekstra Bladet that Reiley was in danger of being disqualified from the contest because it was revealed on Instagram that he previously performed his entry at Slow Life Slow Live Festival in Seoul, South Korea last October 2022. This ran contrary to the contest’s rules that songs must not have been performed or released publicly prior to the contest without the broadcaster’s permission. However, it was later decided by DR that the previous performance by Reiley did not give him a competitive advantage in relation to a Danish audience and participation in DMGP.

Voting app crash. It was reported by DR that DR Grand Prix, the app used for voting during Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 crashed during the final due to overload, which caused the delay of the show. However, according to Program Manager Erik Struve, the results of the show was not affected by the app crash.

3.At Eurovision. 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Denmark has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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. Denmark was set to perform in position 1, before the entry from Armenia.

At the end of the show, Denmark was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final.

All three shows were broadcast live within Denmark on DR1 with Danish commentary provided by Nicolai Molbech.[20] The three shows were also broadcast within the Faroe Islands on Kringvarp Føroya, with both Danish-language commentary via DR and Faroese commentary by Gunnar Nolsøe and Siri Súsonnudóttir Hansen available. The semi-final 1 broadcast on DR1 reached a total of 380,000 viewers, while the semi-final 2, which included the participation of Denmark, was viewed by 479,000 people. 372,000 people tuned into the DR1 broadcast of the final, a drop of around 150,000 viewers compared to the 2022 contest.

3.2.Voting.

3.2.1.Points awarded to Denmark.

Points awarded to Denmark (Semi-final 2)

Score Televote
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points  Iceland
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

3.2.2.Points awarded by Denmark.

Points awarded by Denmark (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Iceland
10 points  Australia
8 points  Belgium
7 points  Poland
6 points  Austria
5 points  Lithuania
4 points  Cyprus
3 points  Albania
2 points  Slovenia
1 point  Estonia
Points awarded by Denmark (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Sweden
10 points  Norway  Norway
8 points  Sweden  Finland
7 points  Ukraine  Austria
6 points  Belgium  France
5 points  Poland  Cyprus
4 points  Switzerland  Lithuania
3 points  Italy  Belgium
2 points  Cyprus  Australia
1 point  Moldova  United Kingdom

3.2.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Danish jury:

  • Anders Øhrstrøm
  • Andreas Hemmeth
  • Brigitte Naess-Schmidt
  • Ericka Jane Pedersen
  • Lise Cabble

Detailed voting results from Denmark (Final)

Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 6 7 6 7 19 4 7 19
02  Portugal 20 22 23 24 22 25 25
03  Switzerland 15 8 3 12 21 11 7 4
04  Poland 19 11 12 19 9 18 6 5
05  Serbia 25 19 2 25 25 15 22
06  France 17 20 15 2 5 5 6 13
07  Cyprus 7 4 7 13 12 6 5 9 2
08  Spain 18 25 20 8 15 21 26
09  Sweden 1 1 1 1 2 1 12 3 8
10  Albania 22 23 25 26 13 24 16
11  Italy 13 21 10 3 17 13 8 3
12  Estonia 8 6 9 16 16 14 21
13  Finland 2 3 17 5 10 3 8 1 12
14  Czech Republic 16 17 18 14 4 16 12
15  Australia 3 10 21 20 6 9 2 11
16  Belgium 14 14 14 15 1 8 3 5 6
17  Armenia 11 18 11 9 14 17 23
18  Moldova 24 24 5 22 18 19 10 1
19  Ukraine 12 15 26 11 23 22 4 7
20  Norway 5 5 8 4 3 2 10 2 10
21  Germany 23 9 16 23 24 23 20
22  Lithuania 10 2 19 21 7 7 4 14
23  Israel 4 16 13 6 20 12 17
24  Slovenia 21 13 24 17 8 20 18
25  Croatia 26 26 22 18 26 26 15
26  United Kingdom 9 12 4 10 11 10 1 24

• Country: 🇦🇲 Armenia

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Internal selection 2023
  • Selection date(s): Artist: 1 February 2023 Ι Song: 15 March 2023
  • Host venue: –
  • Presenter(s): –
  • Host broadcaster: ARMTV (AMPTV)
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: Brunette / Բրյունետ (Elen Yeremyan, Էլեն Երեմյան)
  • Selection song: “Future Lover”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Elen Yeremyan (Էլեն Երեմյան)

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 2º SF 2: Qualified (6th, 99 points)
  • Final result: 14th, 122 points

Armenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song “Future Lover”, written and performed by Brunette. The internal selection of Brunette as the Armenian artist in the 2023 contest was announced by the Armenian broadcaster Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV) on 1 February 2023, while the song “Future Lover” was later presented to the public on 15 March 2023.

Armenia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 2, “Future Lover” was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May. It was later revealed that Armenia placed sixth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 99 points. In the final, Armenia performed in position 17 and placed fourteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 122 points, marking Armenia’s highest placing in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2016.

1.Background. Prior to the  2023 contest, Armenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fourteen times since its first entry in 2006. Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been fourth place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 2008 with the song “Qélé, Qélé” performed by Sirusho and in 2014 with the song “Not Alone” performed by Aram Mp3. Armenia had, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on three occasions, in 2011, 2018 and 2019. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest on two occasions: in 2012 due to long-standing tensions with then-host country Azerbaijan, and in 2021 due to social and political crises in the aftermath of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. In 2022, Armenia returned to the contest, with its entry “Snap” performed by Rosa Linn qualifying for the final and placing 20th overall.

The Armenian national broadcaster, Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV), broadcasts the event within Armenia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Following their one-year absence, AMPTV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 20 October 2022. Armenia has used various methods to select the Armenian entry in the past, such as internal selections and a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. Between 2014 and 2016, and in 2019 and 2022, the broadcaster internally selected both the artist and the song, while the national final Depi Evratesil was organized in 2017, 2018 and 2020.[6] For 2023, the broadcaster opted to continue selecting the Armenian entry internally.

2.Before Eurovision. 

2.1.Internal selection. The Armenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was internally selected by AMPTV. On 25 January 2023, Armenian media reported that singer Brunette had been selected to represent the country with an R&B style song, though AMPTV did not comment. On 1 February 2023, AMPTV officially confirmed that Brunette would represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Following the announcement, Hovhannes Movsisyan, executive director of AMPTV, stated that “last year, sending a young artist to Eurovision was justified. The song is still successful and captivates millions of fans. I hope this year we will surprise the European audience with a unique Armenian artist.” Brunette stated that “I am happy to share the news with you. I just create music, and this time I will share it with the European audience!”. Her entry, “Future Lover”, was released on 15 March 2023, alongside a music video which was premiered on the official Eurovision YouTube channel. The video was directed by Aramayis Hayrapetyan.

“‘Future Lover’ is a poetic canvas, a letter with no addressee. I remember once scrolling through my phone and seeing this beautiful quote which was such a simple yet beautiful thought that immediately inspired me. The words turned into a melody and a whole range of emotions just exploded out of me. Throughout our lives we’re all looking for the one – the future lover, the embodiment of our dreams, ideals, fears.” — Brunette.

Promotion. Brunette made several appearances across Europe and Armenia to promote “Future Lover” as the Armenian Eurovision entry. On 8 April 2023, she travelled to Madrid, Spain, where she performed at the PrePartyES in Madrid’s Sala La Riviera. On 15 April 2023, Brunette performed “Future Lover” at the Eurovision in Concert 2023 at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live in the Netherlands.

In the run-up to the contest, AMPTV launched their annual promotional series Destination Eurovision that introduced and focused on Brunette’s journey to Liverpool, and covered the preparations for her Eurovision performance. On 15 April 2023, AMPTV broadcast a special pre-recorded edition of their music programme First Studio, featuring several performances from Brunette, including the premiere of her Armenian language song “Dimak” and special orchestral versions of “Future Lover” and “Arevin Mot”.

3.At Eurovision. 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Armenia was placed into the second semi-final, held on 11 May 2023, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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. Armenia was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Denmark and before the entry from Romania. Immediately after the close of the second semi-final, a press conference was held in which each of the artists drew the half of the final of which they would perform in.[18] Armenia was drawn into the second half of the final and was later selected by the EBU to perform in position number 17, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Moldova.

In Armenia, all shows were broadcast on Armenia 1 and on Public Radio of Armenia, with commentary by Hamlet Arakelyan and Hrachuhi Utmazyan. The Armenian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Armenian jury during the final, was Maléna, who won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 for Armenia.

3.1.Semi-final. Brunette took part in technical rehearsals on 1 and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May. This included the jury show on 10 May where the professional back-up juries of each country watched and voted in a result used if any issues with public televoting occurred.

The Armenian performance featured marble effect pink and blue LED’s on the floor, whilst Brunette was positioned on a large platform for the majority of the performance. Brunette’s costume was designed by Narek Jhangiryan and alluded to the Mother Armenia monument in Yerevan. Jhangiryan stated that “I drew inspiration from one of the most iconic landmarks in Yerevan – the Mother Armenia statue. This powerful metallic sculpture of a woman can be seen as you enter the city centre and symbolises the strength, power and beauty of Armenian women. My dress is a modern representation of this remarkable statue, designed to pay homage to the enduring spirit of Armenian women”. For the performance, the Armenian delegation also included a dance break to the song, altering the original version of “Future Lover”.

At the end of the show, Armenia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final, marking a second consecutive Armenian qualification to the final. It was later revealed that Armenia placed sixth out of the sixteen participating countries in the second semi-final with 99 points.

3.2.Final. Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners’ press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Armenia was drawn to compete in the second half. Following this draw, the shows’ producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Armenia was subsequently placed to perform in position number 17, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Moldova.

Brunette once again took part in dress rehearsals on 12 and 13 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show on 12 May. She performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 13 May. Armenia placed 14th in the final, scoring 122 points; 53 points from the public televoting and 69 points from the juries.

3.3.Voting. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Armenia in the second semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public. The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country’s jury and televoting were released after the final. The Armenian jury consisted of Arsen Grigoryan, David Badalyan, Hrach Keshishyan, Vahagn Gevorgyan and Sona Rubenyan. In the second semi-final, Armenia placed 6th with 99 points, receiving maximum twelve points from Belgium and Georgia. In the final, Armenia placed 14th with 122 points, receiving twelve points in the televote from France and Georgia. Over the course of the contest, Armenia awarded its 12 points to Georgia in the second semi-final, and to Israel in both the jury and televote of the final.

3.3.1.Points awarded to Armenia.

Points awarded to Armenia (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points
  •  Belgium
  •  Georgia
10 points
  •  Cyprus
  •  Rest of the World
  •  Spain
8 points
  •  Albania
  •  Greece
7 points
6 points  Romania
5 points  Poland
4 points
  •  Austria
  •  San Marino
3 points
  •  Estonia
  •  Ukraine
2 points  Australia
1 point
  •  Lithuania
  •  Slovenia 
Points awarded to Armenia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points
  •  France
  •  Georgia
10 points
  •  Albania
  •  Georgia
8 points  Rest of the World  Czech Republic
7 points  France
6 points  Belgium  Ireland
5 points
  •  Italy
  •  Switzerland
4 points  Cyprus  Cyprus
3 points  Israel
  •  Estonia
  •  Spain
  •  United Kingdom
2 points
  •  Czech Republic
  •  Greece
  •  Moldova
  •  Spain
  Moldova
1 point
  •  Austria
  •  Latvia
  •  Poland

3.3.2.Points awarded by Armenia.

Points awarded by Armenia (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Georgia
10 points  Cyprus
8 points  Poland
7 points  Albania
6 points  Estonia
5 points  Slovenia
4 points  Australia
3 points  Austria
2 points  Greece
1 point  Belgium
Points awarded by Armenia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Israel  Israel
10 points  France  Sweden
8 points  Cyprus  Finland
7 points  Sweden  France
6 points  Finland  Spain
5 points  Poland  Cyprus
4 points  Norway  Norway
3 points  Italy  Ukraine
2 points  Switzerland  Austria
1 point  Ukraine  Poland

3.3.3.Detailed voting results. 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.

The following members comprised the Armenian jury:

  • Arsen Grigoryan – actor, singer
  • David Badalyan – singer
  • Hrach Keshishyan – film director, producer
  • Vahagn Gevorgyan – songwriter, producer
  • Sona Rubenyan – singer-songwriter
Detailed voting results from Armenia (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 4 8 18 9 20 9 2 20
02  Portugal 11 12 23 11 24 18 21
03  Switzerland 18 17 22 19 21 23 9 2
04  Poland 12 9 17 12 7 10 1 6 5
05  Serbia 8 13 24 18 23 19 25
06  France 9 10 6 3 3 4 7 2 10
07  Cyprus 6 7 9 7 6 6 5 3 8
08  Spain 5 3 11 6 12 5 6 16
09  Sweden 2 2 3 5 2 2 10 4 7
10  Albania 25 25 25 25 25 25 15
11  Italy 13 19 5 10 19 11 8 3
12  Estonia 14 11 15 20 5 12 14
13  Finland 1 5 2 1 9 3 8 5 6
14  Czech Republic 20 21 4 13 22 13 19
15  Australia 16 18 7 16 18 15 24
16  Belgium 19 16 12 23 17 20 18
17  Armenia
18  Moldova 22 15 16 22 16 22 13
19  Ukraine 15 4 13 14 4 8 3 10 1
20  Norway 7 6 14 4 10 7 4 7 4
21  Germany 23 20 19 15 13 21 17
22  Lithuania 21 22 10 21 8 16 22
23  Israel 3 1 1 2 1 1 12 1 12
24  Slovenia 10 14 21 17 11 17 11
25  Croatia 24 24 20 24 15 24 23
26  United Kingdom 17 23 8 8 14 14 12

• Country: 🇷🇴 Romania

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Selecția Națională 2023
  • Selection date(s): 11 February 2023
  • Host venue: TVR Studio Pangrati, Bucharesg
  • Presenter(s): Ilinca Băcilă, Laurențiu Niculescu
  • Host broadcaster:Televiziunea Română (TVR)
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: 100% tele/online
  • Selection entrant: Theodor Andrei
  • Selection song: “D.G.T. (Off and On)” (Fingers)
  • Selected songwriter(s): Theodor Andrei, Mikail Jahed, Luca de Mezzo, Luca Udățeanu

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 3º SF 2: Failed to qualify (15th, 0 points)
  • Final result: –

Romania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “D.G.T. (Off and On)” performed by Theodor Andrei. The Romanian broadcaster Televiziunea Română (TVR) organised the national final Selecția Națională 2023 on 11 February 2023 in order to select the Romanian entry for the 2023 contest.

Romania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 3, “D.G.T. (Off and On)” was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Romania placed 15th out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final, with no points having been awarded to the nation.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its first entry in 1994. To this point, its highest placing in the contest has been third place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 2005 with the song “Let Me Try” performed by Luminița Anghel and Sistem, and in 2010 with the song “Playing with Fire” performed by Paula Seling and Ovi. To this point, Romania has qualified to the final 14 out of 17 times since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in 2004. In 2022, “Llámame” by WRS qualfied to the final and placed 18th.

The Romanian national broadcaster, Televiziunea Română (TVR), broadcasts the event within Romania and organizes the selection process for the nation’s entry. TVR has consistently selected the Romanian Eurovision entry through national finals that feature a competition among several artists and songs, except in 2021 when the Romanian entry was internally selected. Despite threatening a possible withdrawal in response to the nation’s suspended jury votes in the 2022 contest, the broadcaster confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 26 August 2022 after dropping all objections towards the EBU. TVR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Romania, a procedure which the broadcaster opted for once again to select their 2023 entry.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.0.Selecția Națională 2023. Selecția Națională 2023 was the national final format developed by TVR in order to select Romania’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition took place at the TVR studios on 11 February 2023.

2.1.1.Competing entries. TVR opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 14 November 2022 and 11 December 2022. Composers were able to submit songs without a performer and should this be the case, the performers would be chosen by TVR in consultation with their composers. The broadcaster received 85 submissions after the submission deadline passed. An expert committee consisting of Sebastian Ferenț (Untold and Neversea), Laura Coroianu (Emagic), Bogdan Strătulă (Urban Sunsets Radio), John Varbiu (Summer Well), Alin Vaida (Jazz in the Park), Mihai Predescu (Head of the Romanian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest) and Remus Achim (project director of the national final) reviewed the received submissions between 14 and 16 December 2022. Each juror on the committee rated each song between 1 (lowest) and 10 (highest) based on criteria such as the melodic harmony, structure and lyrics of the song, the orchestral arrangement, originality and stylistic diversity of the composition, sound and voice quality as well as the overall interpretative, visual and artistic quality. After the combination of the jury votes, the top twelve entries that scored the highest were selected for the national final. The competing entries were announced on 17 December 2022. Among the artists, Andrada Popa previously represent Romania in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 alongside Mădălina Lefter.

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Adriana Moraru “Faralaes“ Oana Adriana Moraru
Aledaida “Bla Bla Bla” Liam Erixon, Emilija Jokubaitytė, Ellis Sportel, Andrei Mihai
Amia “Puppet” Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu, Alexia Maria Troacă
Andrada Popa “No Time for Me” Andrada Popa, Ciprian Lemnaru
Andreea D Folclor Orchestra “Perinița mea“ Silviu Păduraru, Andreea Păduraru
Andrei Duțu “Statues” Kjetil Mørland, Aidan O’Connor
Deiona “Call on Me” Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu, Andreea Ioana Stoica
JaxMan (Erin Dăneţ) “Bad & Cool” Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu
Maryliss “Hai vino“ Maria Avramescu
Ocean Drive “Take You Home” Alin Mihai Dunca, Andrei Glad Condor, Cătălin Peter, Czol Laszlo, David Andrei Dragoș
Steven Roho, Gabriella and Formația Albatros “Lele“ Alex Roșu, Formația Albatros, Gabriela Lazăr
Theodor Andrei “D.G.T. (Off and On)” Theodor Andrei, Mikail Jahed, Luca De Mezzo, Luca Udățeanu

2.1.2.Final. The final took place on 11 February 2023. Twelve songs competed and the winner was selected exclusively by a public vote through televoting and online voting.

Final – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Public Place
Televote Online Total
1 Deiona “Call on Me” 925 953 1,878 9
2 Andrada Popa “No Time for Me” 704 902 1,606 10
3 Ocean Drive “Take You Home” 867 602 1,469 11
4 Amia “Puppet” 2,346 1,886 4,232 5
5 Andrei Duțu “Statues” 2,269 2,033 4,302 3
6 Theodor Andrei “D.G.T. (Off and On)” 2,556 2,674 5,230 1
7 Steven Roho, Gabriella and Formația Albatros “Lele“ 1,626 1,231 2,857 6
8 Aledaida “Bla Bla Bla” 2,118 2,132 4,250 4
9 Adriana Moraru “Faralaes” 510 415 925 12
10 Maryliss “Hai vino“ 1,497 974 2,471 7
11 JaxMan “Bad & Cool” 1,271 1,188 2,459 8
12 Andreea D Folclor Orchestra “Perinița mea“ 2,896 1,946 4,845 2

3.At Eurovision. 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Romania has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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. Romania was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Armenia and before the entry from Estonia.

At the end of the show, Romania was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final. It was later revealed Romania received no points along with San Marino and placed 15th.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Romania. In the semi-final, Romania did not receive any points in the televote.

3.1.2.Points awarded by Romania.

Points awarded by Romania (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Slovenia
10 points  Australia
8 points  Albania
7 points  Austria
6 points  Armenia
5 points  Estonia
4 points  Cyprus
3 points  Poland
2 points  Georgia
1 point  Lithuania
Points awarded by Romania (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Moldova  Italy
10 points  Finland  Sweden
8 points  Sweden  Estonia
7 points  Italy  Moldova
6 points  Israel  Cyprus
5 points  Norway  Albania
4 points  Ukraine  Israel
3 points  France  Australia
2 points  Slovenia  Belgium
1 point  Cyprus  Poland

3.1.4.Detailed final results. The following members comprised the Romanian jury:

  • Bogdan Stratula
  • Razvan Petre
  • Alexandra Cepraga
  • Christina Nicoleta Savulescu
  • Elena Monica Anghel
Detailed voting results from Romania (Final) 
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 26 21 21 24 13 23 21
02  Portugal 19 24 8 9 10 16 22
03  Switzerland 25 7 16 7 14 14 19
04  Poland 13 8 19 8 6 10 1 16
05  Serbia 22 23 25 23 21 25 17
06  France 11 12 20 17 11 21 8 3
07  Cyprus 7 17 9 3 5 5 6 10 1
08  Spain 18 18 18 6 20 20 13
09  Sweden 3 13 2 5 1 2 10 3 8
10  Albania 6 11 6 4 9 6 5 20
11  Italy 4 1 1 1 4 1 12 4 7
12  Estonia 9 2 4 2 15 3 8 23
13  Finland 21 20 24 25 2 13 2 10
14  Czech Republic 14 16 15 19 22 22 15
15  Australia 1 22 14 15 23 8 3 18
16  Belgium 2 15 12 14 17 9 2 25
17  Armenia 16 9 7 11 24 15 12
18  Moldova 8 4 5 12 3 4 7 1 12
19  Ukraine 15 5 17 20 16 17 7 4
20  Norway 20 10 13 10 12 18 6 5
21  Germany 5 25 26 16 19 19 11
22  Lithuania 12 3 10 18 25 11 26
23  Israel 17 14 3 13 7 7 4 5 6
24  Slovenia 23 19 22 21 18 24 9 2
25  Croatia 24 26 23 26 26 26 14
26  United Kingdom 10 6 11 22 8 12 24

• Country: 🇪🇪 Estonia

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Eesti Laul 2023 (Estonian Song, The Song of Estonia)
  • Selection date(s): Semi-final 1: 12 January 20232, Semi-final 2: 14 January 2023 I Final: 11 February 2023
  • Host venue: Viimsi Artium, Lubja, Estonia
  • Presenter(s): Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld
  • Host broadcaster: ERR
  • Participants – Number of entries: 12 songs will compete in the Final (10 songs will compete in Semi-final 1, 6 songs will qualify for the Final; 10 songs will compete in Semi-final 2, 6 songs will qualify for the Final)
  • Voting system: Semi-finals: In the first round of voting, five qualifiers will be determined by 50% jury, 50% televoting. In the second round of voting, one more qualifier will be chosen by 100% televoting; Final: Three superfinalists will be determined by 50% international jury, 50% televoting. In the Superfinal, the winner will be determined by 100% televoting.
  • Selection entrant: Alika (Alika Milova)
  • Selection song: “Bridges”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Alika Milova, Wouter Hardy, Nina Sampermans

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 4º SF 2: Qualified (10th, 74 points)
  • Final result: 8th, 168 points

Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Bridges” performed by Alika. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2023 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2023 contest.

In the second semi-final, Estonia qualified for the final on 13 May, where they later finished in 8th place.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-seven times since its first entry in 1994, winning the contest in 2001 with the song “Everybody” performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Estonia has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final on eight occasions. In 2022, “Hope” performed by Stefan qualified Estonia to the final, where it placed 13th.

The Estonian national broadcaster, Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. ERR confirmed Estonia’s participation at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 1 August 2022.[1] Since their debut, the Estonian broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eesti Laul competition has been organised since 2009 in order to select Estonia’s entry, and on 13 September 2022, ERR announced the organisation of Eesti Laul 2023 in order to select the nation’s 2023 entry.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Eesti Laul 2023. Eesti Laul 2023 was the fifteenth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition consisted of twenty entries competing in two semi-finals on 12 and 14 January 2023 leading to a twelve-song final on 11 February 2023. All three shows were broadcast on Eesti Televisioon (ETV), on ETV+ with Russian commentary, via radio on Raadio 2 as well as streamed online at the broadcaster’s official website err.ee.

2.1.1.Format. The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 12 and 14 January 2023 and a final on 11 February 2023. Ten songs competed in each semi-final and the top five from each semi-final qualified. The results of the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury and public televoting for the first four qualifiers, and a second round of public televoting for the fifth qualifier. The public also selected two wildcards out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals to complete the twelve song lineup in the final. The winning song in the final was selected over two rounds of voting: the first round results selected the top three songs via the 50/50 combination of jury and public voting, while the second round (superfinal) determined the winner solely by public televoting.

2.1.2.Competing entries. On 13 September 2022, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 20 October 2022 through an online upload platform. Each artist and songwriter was only able to submit a maximum of five entries. Foreign collaborations were allowed as long as 50% of the songwriters were Estonian. A fee was also imposed on songs being submitted to the competition, with €50 for songs in the Estonian language and €100 for songs in other languages; both of the fees were doubled for entries submitted from 17 October 2022. 217 submissions were received by the deadline, of which 92 were in Estonian. A 16-member jury panel selected 20 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade on 1 and 2 November 2022. The selection jury consisted of Ahto Kruusmann, Alar Kotkas, Andres Aljaste, Carola Madis, Ingrid Kohtla, Janika Sillamaa, Karl-Erik Taukar, Kristiina Kraus, Lenna, Margus Kamlat, Marta Püssa, Ott Lepland, Robert Linna, Silver Lass, Simon Jay and Vaido Pannel. Wiiralt were originally supposed to perform their entry “Salalik” together with Ultima Thule, but the latter band withdrew after its member Riho Sibul died in November 2022.

Among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant Robin Juhkental, who represented Estonia in 2010 as part of the group Malcolm Lincoln together with Manpower 4. Andres Kõpper (member of Meelik), Annett x Fredi, Bonzo, Elysa, Inger, Joosep Järvesaar (member of Bedwetters), Karl-Kristjan Kingi (member of Bedwetters), Meelik Samel (member of Meelik), Mia, Sissi and Wiiralt have all competed in previous editions of Eesti Laul. Elysa’s entry is written by Stig Rästa, who represented Estonia in 2015, and the entry from M Els is co-written by Stefan Airapetjan, who represented Estonia in 2022. Janek’s entry is written by Kjetil Mørland, who represented Norway in 2015.

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Alika

(Alika Milova)

 “Bridges” Alika Milova, Wouter Hardy, Nina Sampermans
Andreas Poom “Why Do You Love Me” Andreas Poom, Alan Roy Scott, Julia Sundberg
Anett x Fredi

(Anett Kulbin,Frederik Küüts) 

 “You Need To Move On” Frederik Küüts, Anett Kulbin, Jason Hunter
Bedwetters (Joosep Järvesaar, Mihkel Mõttus, Karl-Kristjan Kingi, Kaspar Koppel, Rauno Kutti) “Monsters” Joosep Järvesaar, Mihkel Mõttus, Rauno Kutti, Kaspar Koppel, Karl-Kristjan Kingi, Claus Peneri, Kris Evan-Säde
Carlos Ukareda “Whiskey Won’t Forget” Carlos Ukareda, Gevin Niglas, Chris Roberts
Ellip “Pretty Girl” Pille-Riin Karro, Meelis Meri
Elysa

(Elisa Kolk)

 “Bad Philosophy” Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas, Elisa Kolk, Anne Gudrun Michaelsen, Alex Ghinea
Inger

(Inger Fridolin)

 “Awaiting You” Inger Fridolin, Oliver de la Rosa Padilla, Sofia-Liis Liiv
Janek

(Janek Valgepea)

 “House of Glass” Janek Valgepea, Kjetil Mørland
Kaw “Valik” Gevin Niglas, Jesse Keihäsvuori
Linalakk & Bonzo

(, Andrus Albrecht ‘Bonzo’)

 “Aeg” Liina Tsimmer
M els “So Good At What You Do” Stefan Airapetjan, Andreas Poom, Hugo Martin Maasikas, Gevin Niglas, Stig Rästa
Meelik “Tuju” Andres Kõpper, Meelik Samel, Rain Parve, Martin Petermann
Merlyn

(Merlyn Uusküla-Hein, Merka)

 “Unicorn Vibes” Merlyn Uusküla, Llauri Lembinen
Mia (Kersti Kukk) “Üks samm korraga” Kersti Kukk
Neon Letters & Maiko

( , Maiko Tammik)

 “Tokimeki” (ときめき) Aap-Eerik Lai, Johanna Holvandus, Maiko Tammik
Ollie

(Oliver Mazurtšak)

 “Venom” Oliver Mazurtšak
Robin Juhkental “Kurbuse matused” Robin Juhkental
Sissi

(Sissi Nylia Benita)

 “Lighthouse” Sissi Nylia Benita
Wiiralt & Ultima Thule (Marta Arula, Vahur Krautman, Martin Saaremägi, Sander Nõmmistu, Mihkel Uba, Siim Türnpuu, Hans K. Pikani & Riho Sibul, Raul Vaigla, Tõnis Mägi, Toomas Rull, Kalle Vilpuu, Aare Põder) “Salalik” Martin Saaremägi, Vahur Krautman

2.1.3.Shows.

2.1.3.1.Semi-finals. The two semi-finals took place on 12 and 14 January 2023 at the Viimsi Artium in Viimsi, hosted by Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld. In each semi-final ten songs competed for the first four spots in the final with the outcome decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel and a public televote, with the remaining qualifier decided by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers. The jury panel that voted in the semi-finals consisted of Eleryn Tiit, Birgit Sarrap, Grete Paia, Eva Palm, Indrek Vaheoja, Aarne Saluveer, Jaan Tätte Jr., Toomas Olljum, Danel Pandre, Sandra Ashilevi and Jon Mikiver.

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the band Minimal Wind with Janika Sillama, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993, the duo Chlicherik and Mäx, and the hosts Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld performed as the interval acts in the first semi-final, while singers Grete Paia with Sven Lõhmus, Kerli Kõiv with Kristjan Järvi, and Yasmyn performed as the interval acts in the second semi-final.

* First round (jury and televote) qualifier ** Second round (televote-only) qualifier

Semi-final 1 – 12 January 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points Votes Points
1 Janek “House of Glass” 33 3 1,134 7 10 6
2 Ellip “Pretty Girl” 91 8 502 2 10 7
3 Kaw “Valik” 42 4 269 1 5 10
4 Merlyn “Unicorn Vibes” 14 1 529 4 5 9
5 Mia “Üks samm korraga” 29 2 1,326 8 10 5
6 Neon Letters and Maiko “Tokimeki“ 61 5 520 3 8 8
7 Ollie * “Venom” 115 12 1,397 12 24 1
8 Andreas *  “Why Do You Love Me” 81 7 555 5 12 4
9 Bedwetters * “Monsters” 73 6 1,335 10 16 2
10 Anett and Fredi * “You Need to Move On” 99 10 742 6 16 3
Semi-final 1 – Second round
Artist Song Televote Place
Ellip “Pretty Girl” 971 2
Janek ** “House of Glass” 1,535 1
Kaw “Valik” 265 6
Merlyn “Unicorn Vibes” 497 3
Mia “Üks samm korraga” 285 5
Neon Letters and Maiko “Tokimeki“ 434 4
Semi-final 2 – 14 January 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points Votes Points
1 Inger * “Awaiting You” 58 6 918 8 14 3
2 Linalakk and Bonzo “Aeg” 30 2 393 2 4 9
3 Meelik * “Tuju” 85 8 775 6 14 4
4 Elysa “Bad Philosophy” 30 1 1,464 10 11 5
5 Robin Juhkental “Kurbuse matused” 44 3 317 1 4 10
6 M Els “So Good (At What You Do)” 50 4 611 5 9 7
7 Wiiralt “Salalik” 65 7 414 3 10 6
8 Sissi * “Lighthouse” 114 12 890 7 19 2
9 Carlos Ukareda “Whiskey Won’t Forget” 51 5 606 4 9 8
10 Alika *  “Bridges” 111 10 4,364 12 22 1
Semi-final 2 – Second round
Artist Song Televote Place
Carlos Ukareda “Whiskey Won’t Forget” 655 3
Elysa “Bad Philosophy” 731 2
Linalakk and Bonzo “Aeg” 270 5
M Els * “So Good (At What You Do)” 872 1
Robin Juhkental “Kurbuse matused” 265 6
Wiiralt “Salalik” 464 4

Wildcard selection.A further televote was held between the non-qualifiers in the semi-finals in order to select the two wildcard finalists. Voting took place between 15 and 16 January 2023 and the two qualifiers were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade on 16 January.

***Wildcard qualifier

Wildcard selection – 15–16 January 2023
Artist Song Televote Place
Carlos Ukareda “Whiskey Won’t Forget” 572 6
Ellip “Pretty Girl” 852 5
Elysa *** “Bad Philosophy” 1,419 2
Kaw “Valik” 267 8
Linalakk and Bonzo “Aeg” 172 9
Merlyn “Unicorn Vibes” 1,058 4
Mia *** “Üks samm korraga” 1,502 1
Neon Letters and Maiko “Tokimeki“ 338 7
Robin Juhkental “Kurbuse matused” 130 10
Wiiralt “Salalik” 1,064 3

2.1.3.2.Final. The final took place on 11 February 2023 at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn, hosted by Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld. The five entries that qualified from each of the two preceding semi-finals and the two wildcard qualifiers, all together twelve songs, competed during the show. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury (50%) and public televote (50%) determined the top three entries to proceed to the superfinal. In the superfinal, “Bridges” performed by Alika was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote. The jury panel that voted in the first round of the final consisted of Alma (Finnish musician), Birgit Simal (Belgian television producer), Kat Reinhert (American vocal teacher, songwriter and Berklee College of Music professor), Lucas Gullbing (Swedish music producer), Deban Aderemi (British journalist at Wiwibloggs), Matthew Tryba (American music producer and songwriter), Anja Roglić (television producer and music editor at the Radio Television of Serbia), Joe Bennett (American musicologist), Tim Hall (American musician and Berklee College of Music professor), Tomi Saarinen (CEO of Live Nation Finland) and Yves Shifferele (Swiss Eurovision Head of Delegation).

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the band Zetod opened the show, while Stefan, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, the group Púr Múdd with Ines, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, the band 2 Quick Start, singer Karl-Erik Taukar and pianist Rein Rannap performed as interval acts.

Final – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points Votes Points
1 Meelik “Tuju” 61 7 3,048 6 13 4
2 Inger “Awaiting You” 52 4 1,107 4 8 7
3 Janek “House of Glass” 56 5 3,051 7 12 5
4 Elysa “Bad Philosophy” 36 0 694 1 1 11
5 M Els “So Good (At What You Do)” 40 1 1,046 3 4 9
6 Bedwetters “Monsters” 67 10 4,685 8 18 3
7 Andreas “Why Do You Love Me” 51 3 752 2 5 8
8 Alika “Bridges” 85 12 8,514 12 24 1
9 Anett and Fredi “You Need to Move On” 41 2 593 0 2 10
10 Ollie “Venom” 67 8 6,832 10 18 2
11 Mia “Üks samm korraga” 25 0 372 0 0 12
12 Sissi “Lighthouse” 57 6 2,130 5 11 6
Detailed Jury Votes hide
Draw Song Alma B. Simal K. Reinhert L. Gullbing D. Aderemi M. Tryba A. Roglić J. Bennett T. Hall T. Saarinen Y. Shifferele Total
1 “Tuju” 8 6 5 12 12 6 10 2 61
2 “Awaiting You” 4 7 7 1 2 3 7 7 4 6 4 52
3 “House of Glass” 12 4 10 10 6 4 3 7 56
4 “Bad Philosophy” 3 5 1 2 6 5 10 1 3 36
5 “So Good (At What You Do)” 1 3 2 6 5 1 8 1 8 5 40
6 “Monsters” 6 10 8 7 12 5 8 2 1 8 67
7 “Why Do You Love Me” 5 2 3 4 10 6 12 4 5 51
8 “Bridges” 12 4 4 1 8 10 12 10 12 12 85
9 “You Need to Move On” 12 8 7 1 5 5 3 41
10 “Venom” 7 8 6 5 7 4 6 4 7 7 6 67
11 “Üks samm korraga” 2 1 10 3 2 2 2 2 1 25
12 “Lighthouse” 10 3 8 12 3 3 8 10 57
Superfinal – 11 February 2023
Artist Song Televote Place
Alika “Bridges” 13,141 1
Bedwetters “Monsters” 7,991 3
Ollie “Venom” 10,280 2

3.At Eurovision. 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Estonia has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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. Estonia was set to perform in position 4, following the entry from Romania and before the entry from Belgium.

At the end of the show, Estonia was announced as a qualifier for the final.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Estonia.

Points awarded to Estonia (Semi-final 2)
Score Televote
12 points
10 points
  •  Lithuania
  •  San Marino
8 points  Ukraine
7 points
6 points  Armenia
5 points
  •  Romania
  •  Slovenia
4 points  Australia
3 points
  •  Austria
  •  Cyprus
  •  Greece
  •  Iceland
2 points
  •  Albania
  •  Belgium
  •  Georgia
  •  Poland
  •  Rest of the World
  •  United Kingdom
1 point
  •  Denmark
  •  Spain
Points awarded to Estonia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Latvia
10 points
  •  Germany
  •  San Marino
  •  Slovenia
  •  Switzerland
8 points
  •  Albania
  •  Australia
  •  Poland
  •  Portugal
  •  Romania
7 points
  •  Moldova
  •  Spain
6 points
  •  Finland
  •  Latvia
  •  Italy
  •  United Kingdom
5 points
  •  Lithuania
  •  Netherlands
  •  Georgia
  •  Israel
  •  Lithuania
  •  Ukraine
4 points
3 points  Croatia
2 points
  •  Czech Republic
  •  Sweden
1 point  Azerbaijan

3.1.2.Points awarded by Estonia.

Points awarded by Estonia (Semi-final 2)
Score Televote
12 points  Australia
10 points  Lithuania
8 points  Poland
7 points  Slovenia
6 points  Austria
5 points  Cyprus
4 points  Belgium
3 points  Armenia
2 points  Iceland
1 point  Georgia
Points awarded by Estonia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Sweden
10 points  Sweden  Finland
8 points  Ukraine  Australia
7 points  Norway  Ukraine
6 points  Australia  Belgium
5 points  Lithuania  Italy
4 points  Switzerland  Israel
3 points  Poland  Armenia
2 points  Italy  Spain
1 point  Slovenia  Lithuania

3.1.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Estonian jury:[26]

  • Bert Järvet
  • Gevin Niglas
  • Tambet Mumma
  • Dagmar Oja
  • Liis Lemsalu
Detailed voting results from Estonia (Final) 
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 14 11 19 15 11 16 21
02  Portugal 17 21 14 21 19 24 23
03  Switzerland 18 20 16 17 7 15 7 4
04  Poland 21 14 13 14 20 22 8 3
05  Serbia 13 7 23 22 24 18 20
06  France 11 18 18 10 15 17 12
07  Cyprus 6 19 22 13 10 12 11
08  Spain 8 17 1 9 18 9 2 24
09  Sweden 3 2 12 2 3 1 12 2 10
10  Albania 19 24 6 24 23 19 25
11  Italy 1 6 11 6 12 6 5 9 2
12  Estonia
13  Finland 4 1 10 1 17 2 10 1 12
14  Czech Republic 16 22 9 18 16 21 13
15  Australia 5 5 5 11 1 3 8 5 6
16  Belgium 9 4 7 5 2 5 6 18
17  Armenia 10 8 4 7 6 8 3 19
18  Moldova 23 13 21 20 14 23 15
19  Ukraine 2 3 15 3 8 4 7 3 8
20  Norway 20 10 24 8 21 14 4 7
21  Germany 24 23 2 23 22 11 17
22  Lithuania 12 9 8 16 4 10 1 6 5
23  Israel 7 12 3 4 9 7 4 16
24  Slovenia 22 15 20 19 5 13 10 1
25  Croatia 25 25 25 25 25 25 14
26  United Kingdom 15 16 17 12 13 20 22

• Country:🇧🇪Belgium

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Eursong 2023
  • Selection date(s): Introduction shows / Songclub shows: 9 January 2023, 10 January 2023, 11 January 2023, 12 January 2023, 13 January 2023 Ι Final:14 January 2023
  • Host venue: Paleis 12, Brussels, Belgium
  • Presenter(s): Peter Van de Veire
  • Host broadcaster: VRT (Eén)
  • Participants: 7
  • Participants – Number of entries: 7 (14)
  • Voting system: 50% jury, 50% televoting
  • Selection entrant: Gustaph (GVSTΛPH; Stef Caers)
  • Selection song: “Because of You”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Stef Caers, Jaouad Alloul

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 5º SF 2: Qualified (8th, 90 points)
  • Final result: 7th, 182 points

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Because of You” performed by Gustaph. The Flemish broadcaster of Belgium, Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT), organised the national final Eurosong 2023 in order to select the Belgian entry for the 2023 contest.

In the second semi-final, Belgium qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-three times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in 1956. Since then, the country has won the contest on one occasion in 1986 with the song “J’aime la vie” performed by Sandra Kim. Following the introduction of semi-finals for 2004, Belgium had been featured in eight finals. In 2022, Jérémie Makiese represented the nation with the song “Miss You”, qualifying for the final and placing 19th.

The Belgian broadcaster for the 2023 contest, who broadcasts the event in Belgium and organises the selection process for its entry, is Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: the Flemish VRT and the Walloon Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF). Both broadcasters have selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Eurosong 2023. Eurosong 2023 was the national final that selected Belgium’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition will consist of five pre-recorded songclub shows that was broadcast between 9 and 13 January 2023, followed by a live final on 14 January 2023 where the winning song and artist was selected. All six shows was hosted by Peter Van de Veire and broadcast on Eén, as well as on the broadcaster’s online streaming platform VRT MAX.

2.1.1.Format. Seven artists were sought to compete in Eurosong. The competition included five songclub shows that were broadcast between 9 and 13 January 2023. The shows featured each artist presenting their two candidate Eurovision songs in front of the six other artists that provided commentary and feedback on the songs. Based on the feedback, the artist selected one of the two songs to proceed to the final. The final took place on 14 January 2023 where the winner was chosen by an expert jury and public voting.

The jury panel consisted of:

  • Alexander Rybak – Norwegian singer, winner of the 2009 contest
  • Nikkie de Jager – Dutch makeup artist and YouTuber, co-host of the 2021 contest
  • Laura Tesoro – singer and actress, represented Belgium in 2016
  • Jérémie Makiese – singer, represented Belgium in 2022
  • Laura Govaerts – presenter at MNM
  • Ann Reymen – presenter at Radio 2
  • Korneel de Clercq – presenter at Radio 1
  • Thibault Christiaensen – presenter at Studio Brussel
  • Francicso Schuster – actor, singer and dancer
  • Leslie Cable – Eurovision Head of Delegation for Wallonian broadcaster RTBF
  • Jasper van Biesen – author of 65 years of Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest
  • Stephan Monsieur – chairman of OGAE Belgium
  • André Vermeulen – journalist and Eurovision specialist
  • Els Germonpré – music coordinator for Eén
  • Manu Lammens – music manager of MNM

2.1.2.Competing entries. The names of the seven acts selected for the competition were announced on 8 November 2022 during the radio MNM programme Kawtar & Keyaert. Among the competing artists is former Eurovision Song Contest participant Tom Dice (member of the Starlings), who represented Belgium in 2010. The artists were selected by an A&R Team (Arts and Repertoire) consisting of music experts from VRT in consultation with record labels and artist managers. Artists that were previously rumoured to be selected included Niels Destadsbader and Belgian Eurovision Song Contest 2016 participant Laura Tesoro. The candidate Eurovision songs to be performed by the artists were announced on 15 December 2022, along with twenty-second snippets of each entry.

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Ameerah (Astrid Roelants) “Armageddon” Astrid Roelants, Zac Poor
“The Carnival” Astrid Roelants, Zac Poor
Chérine (Cherine Mroue) “Ça m’ennuie pas” Chérine Mroue, William Rousseau, François Welgryn
“Mon étoile” Chérine Mroue, Hans Francken
Gala Dragot (Gala Aliaj) “Emotion Ollie” Max Robert Baby, Gala Aliaj
“T’inquiète” Jan Lemmens, Yello Staelens, Gala Aliaj
Gustaph (Stef Caers) “Because of You” Stef Caers, Jaouad Alloul
“The Nail” Stef Caers
Hunter Falls (Tchiah Ommar Abdulrahman) “Home” Thomas “TK” Karlsson
“Ooh La La” Michael Garvin
Loredana (Loredana De Amicis) “Dream in Colours” Tim Gosden, Maria Broberg, Tristan Henry, Loredana De Amicis, Serge Ramaekers
“You Lift Me Up” Udo Mechels, Loredana De Amicis, John Miles Jr., Pat Krimson
The Starlings (Tom Dice en Kato Callebaut) “Oceanside” Kato Callebaut, Tom Eeckhout, Jeroen Swinnen, Ashley Hicklin
“Rollercoaster” Kato Callebaut, Tom Eeckhout, Laurell Barker, Thomas Stengaard, Andreas Stone Johansson

Songclub shows. The songclub shows were recorded in Tournai and aired between 9 and 13 January 2023 at 19:45 CET. In the shows, each artist performed their two candidate songs and selected one of them to advance to the final, taking into account the advice of the other contestants. Every act followed the advice of the fellow contestants with the exception of The Starlings, who had been advised to select “Oceanside” by the other participants.

Songclub shows – 9–13 January 2023
Broadcast Artist Draw Song Songwriter(s) Result
9 January Loredana  1 “Dream in Colours” Tim Gosden, Maria Broberg, Tristan Henry, Loredana De Amicis, Serge Ramaekers Eliminated
2 “You Lift Me Up” Udo Mechels, Loredana De Amicis, John Miles Jr., Pat Krimson Advanced
10 January Chérine 1 “Mon étoile“ Chérine Mroue, Hans Francken, Domien Cnockaert Eliminated
2 “Ça m’ennuie pas“ Chérine Mroue, William Rousseau, François Welgryn Advanced
Hunter Falls 1 “Ooh La La” Tchiah Ommar Abdulrahman, Michael Garvin Advanced
11 January 2 “Home” Tchiah Ommar Abdulrahman, Thomas “TK” Karlsson Eliminated
Ameerah 1 “Armageddon” Astrid Roelants, Zac Poor, Ellen Wilcox Eliminated
2 “The Carnival” Astrid Roelants, Zac Poor, Ellen Wilcox Advanced
12 January Gala Dragot 1 “Emotion Ollie” Max Robert Baby, Gala Aliaj Eliminated
2 “T’inquiète“ Jan Lemmens, Yello Staelens, Gala Aliaj, Pepijn Leenders Advanced
Gustaph 1 “Because of You” Stef Caers, Jaouad Alloul Advanced
13 January 2 “The Nail” Stef Caers Eliminated
The Starlings 1 “Oceanside” Kato Callebaut, Tom Eeckhout, Jeroen Swinnen, Ashley Hicklin Eliminated
2 “Rollercoaster” Kato Callebaut, Tom Eeckhout, Laurell Barker, Thomas Stengaard, Andreas Stone Johansson, Anderz Wrethov, Anna Grey Advanced

2.1.2.Final. The final took place on 14 January 2023 at the Palais 12 in Brussels. The combination of results from an expert jury and a public televote selected the winner. During the final, commentary and feedback to the entries was provided by four members of the expert jury, namely Alexander Rybak, Nikkie de Jager, Laura Tesoro and Jérémie Makiese, who decided the outcome of the final together with eleven other jury members, who were appointed to vote offstage. In addition to the competing entries, the participants performed covers of Eurovision songs: “Euphoria” performed by Ameerah, “Rhythm Inside” performed by Gala Dragot, “Waterloo” performed by Gustaph, “Rise Like a Phoenix” performed by Loredana, “Heroes” performed by Hunter Falls, “Voilà” performed by Chérine and “Snap” performed by the Starlings, as well as performances from Duncan Laurence and Alexander Rybak.

Final – 14 January 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Percentage Points
1 Hunter Falls “Ooh La La” 84 5.6% 44 128 7
2 Chérine “Ça m’ennuie pas“ 145 15.8% 123 268 4
3 The Starlings “Rollercoaster” 94 23.5% 183 277 2
4 Ameerah “The Carnival” 107 8.2% 64 171 5
5 Gustaph “Because of You” 121 20.1% 157 278 1
6 Gala Dragot “T’inquiète“ 146 16.0% 125 271 3
7 Loredana “You Lift Me Up” 83 10.8% 84 167 6

Ratings.

Viewing figures by show
Show Date Viewers
Songclub show 1 9 January 2023 775,323
Songclub show 2 10 January 2023 790,522
Songclub show 3 11 January 2023 631,988
Songclub show 4 12 January 2023 715,039
Songclub show 5 13 January 2023 606,507
Final 14 January 2023 892,781

3.At Eurovision. 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Belgium has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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. Belgium was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from Estonia and before the entry from Cyprus.

At the end of the show, Belgium was announced as a qualifier for the final. The performance featured a cameo from vogueing dancer PussCee West.

In Belgium, the contest was aired by both the Flemish broadcaster VRT and the Walloon broadcaster RTBF. Peter Van de Veire provided commentary for Flemish viewers on television and radio, with all three shows broadcast live on VRT 1 and a live broadcast of the final on Radio 2. The Walloon broadcasts on television and radio received commentary by Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys, with semi-final 1 shown on Tipil, semi-final 2 and the final on La Une, and all three shows broadcast on Vivacité.

On Flemish television, the semi-final 1 broadcast on 9 May reached over 549,000 viewers and the semi-final 2 broadcast on 11 May, which included the participation of Belgium, reached 1,044,000 viewers; in both cases these figures represent viewers which watched the shows live or deferred viewing on the same day. The broadcast of the final on 13 May reached a total of 1,334,000 viewers on Flemish television, including those which watched the show within seven days of the live broadcast, which represents a 69.7% market share. On Walloon television, the first semi-final broadcast on Tipik reached 90,000 viewers, while the second semi-final broadcast on La Une reached 252,000 viewers, with both figures representing those which watched the shows live or deferred viewing on the same day. The broadcast of the final on 13 May on La Une reached a total of 344,000 viewers, either watching the contest live or on demand within seven days; this represents a 31.4% market share for all Walloon television channels that evening.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Belgium.

Points awarded to Belgium (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Austria
10 points
8 points
  •  Denmark
  •  Spain
7 points
  •  Australia
  •  Iceland
  •  Slovenia
6 points  United Kingdom
5 points
  •  Lithuania
  •  Rest of the World
  •  San Marino
4 points
  •  Cyprus
  •  Estonia
3 points
  •  Albania
  •  Georgia
  •  Poland
2 points
1 point
  •  Armenia
  •  Greece
  •  Ukraine

Points awarded to Belgium (Final)

Score Televote Jury
12 points
  •  Australia
  •  Georgia
  •  Greece
10 points  Netherlands
  •  Ireland
8 points
7 points  Sweden
  •  Lithuania
  •  San Marino
  •  United Kingdom
6 points
  •  Denmark
  •  Iceland
  •  United Kingdom
  •  Estonia
  •  Portugal
5 points
  •  Albania
  •  Finland
  •  Iceland
  •  Poland
  •  Slovenia
4 points  Norway
  •  Netherlands
  •  Spain
3 points
  •  Australia
  •  Ireland
  •  Spain
  •  Austria
  •  Denmark
  •  Israel
2 points
  •  France
  •  Germany
  •  Slovenia
  •  Italy
  •  Latvia
  •  Romania
1 point  Portugal

3.1.2.Points awarded by Belgium.

Points awarded by Belgium (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Armenia
10 points  Austria
8 points  Albania
7 points  Poland
6 points  Australia
5 points  Lithuania
4 points  Cyprus
3 points  Slovenia
2 points  Estonia
1 point  Iceland
Points awarded by Belgium (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Austria
10 points  Sweden  Israel
8 points  Norway  Sweden
7 points  Italy  Italy
6 points  Armenia  Spain
5 points  Israel  Finland
4 points  Poland  Australia
3 points  Albania  Czech Republic
2 points  France  Poland
1 point  Ukraine  France

3.1.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Belgian jury:

  • Alex Callier
  • Lester William Senior
  • Sam Jaspers
  • Laura Govaerts
  • Sennek
Detailed voting results from Belgium (Final) 
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 1 2 7 11 5 1 12 12
02  Portugal 13 14 17 18 6 14 15
03  Switzerland 17 8 18 7 23 13 14
04  Poland 10 10 1 14 21 9 2 7 4
05  Serbia 23 22 19 19 12 22 24
06  France 12 5 8 24 4 10 1 9 2
07  Cyprus 21 12 21 23 11 19 13
08  Spain 4 13 2 4 10 5 6 22
09  Sweden 15 1 4 12 2 3 8 2 10
10  Albania 20 15 9 15 16 18 8 3
11  Italy 7 6 10 3 1 4 7 4 7
12  Estonia 6 9 11 10 20 12 17
13  Finland 14 24 6 2 3 6 5 1 12
14  Czech Republic 3 4 14 9 7 8 3 18
15  Australia 2 19 5 6 9 7 4 19
16  Belgium
17  Armenia 19 7 13 13 24 15 5 6
18  Moldova 11 21 22 21 19 21 11
19  Ukraine 18 25 24 25 13 23 10 1
20  Norway 25 16 12 8 17 17 3 8
21  Germany 22 18 20 20 22 24 23
22  Lithuania 9 11 15 22 14 16 20
23  Israel 8 3 3 1 18 2 10 6 5
24  Slovenia 5 20 25 5 8 11 21
25  Croatia 24 23 23 17 25 25 16
26  United Kingdom 16 17 16 16 15 20 25

• Country: 🇨🇾 Cyprus

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Internal selection 2023
  • Selection date(s): Artist: 17 October 2022 Ι Song: 2 March 2023
  • Host venue: –
  • Presenter(s): –
  • Host broadcaster: CyBC (PIK)
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: Andrew Lambrou (Άντριου Λάμπρου)
  • Selection song: “Break a Broken Heart”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Τζίμι Γιάνσον (Jimmy Jansson), Τζίμι “Joker” Θόρνφελντ (Jimmy “Joker” Thornfeldt), Μάρκους Γουίνθερ-Τζον (Marcus Winther-John), Τόμας Στένγκααρντ (Thomas Stengaard)

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 6º SF 2: Qualified (7th, 96 points)
  • Final result: 12th, 126 points

Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, having internally selected Andrew Lambrou to represent the country with the song “Break a Broken Heart”.

In the second semi-final, Cyprus qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 38 times since the island country made its debut in the 1981 contest. Its best placing was at the 2018 contest where Eleni Foureira placed second with “Fuego“. Before that, Cyprus’s best result was fifth, which it achieved three times: in the 1982 competition with the song “Mono I Agapi” performed by Anna Vissi, in the 1997 edition with “Mana Mou” performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou, and the 2004 contest with “Stronger Every Minute” performed by Lisa Andreas. Cyprus’ least successful result was in the 1986 contest when it placed last with the song “Tora Zo” by Elpida, receiving only four points in total. However, its worst finish in terms of points received was when it placed second to last in the 1999 contest with “Tha’nai Erotas” by Marlain Angelidou, receiving only two points.[2] After returning to the contest in 2015 following their absence in 2014 due to the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and the broadcaster’s budget restrictions, Cyprus has qualified for the final of all the contests until 2022, when “Ela” performed by Andromache failed to advance from the semi-finals.

The Cypriot national broadcaster, CyBC, broadcasts the contest within Cyprus and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Cyprus has used various methods to select its entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. In 2015, the broadcaster organised the national final Eurovision Song Project, which featured 54 songs competing in a nine-week-long process resulting in the selection of the Cypriot entry through the combination of public televoting and the votes from an expert jury. Since 2016, however, the broadcaster has opted to select the entry internally without input from the public. On 28 May 2022, it was reported by OGAE Greece that the label Panik Records had signed an agreement with CyBC in order to select the Cypriot artist for 2023 through a Greek-Cypriot talent show based on the British reality television music competition All Together Now.[4] However, such plans were pushed back to 2024, with the broadcaster reverting to an internal selection.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Internal selection. CyBC ccontinued to internally select the Cypriot entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in conjunction with Panik Records. On 17 October 2022, CyBC announced that they had selected Australian-Cypriot singer Andrew Lambrou to represent Cyprus in Liverpool. Lambrou had previously attempted to represent Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022, placing seventh in the national final Eurovision – Australia Decides 2022 with the song “Electrify”. His entry, “Break a Broken Heart”, was released on 2 March 2023.

3.At Eurovision. 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Cyprus has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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. Cyprus was set to perform in position 6, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Iceland.

At the end of the show, Cyprus was announced as a qualifier for the final.

All three shows were broadcast live on RIK 1 and RIK Sat with commentary by Melina Karageorgiou and Alexandros Taramountas. The grand final broadcast on RIK 1 on 13 May reached over 139,000 viewers, which represents a 61.6% market share.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Cyprus.

Points awarded to Cyprus (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Greece
10 points
  •  Armenia
  •  Australia
8 points
7 points  Poland
6 points  Albania
5 points
  •  Estonia
  •  Georgia
  •  Iceland
4 points
  •  Belgium
  •  Denmark
  •  Lithuania
  •  Romania
  •  Slovenia
  •  Ukraine
  •  United Kingdom
3 points  Spain
2 points  Austria
1 point  San Marino
Points awarded to Cyprus (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Greece
10 points  Poland
8 points
  •  Armenia
  •  Australia
7 points  Albania  Norway
6 points  Azerbaijan
  •  Latvia
  •  Romania
5 points  San Marino
  •  Armenia
  •  Denmark
  •  Malta
4 points  Poland
  •  Albania
  •  Greece
  •  Moldova
3 points  Moldova
  •  Australia
  •  Georgia
2 points
  •  Denmark
  •  Norway
  Austria
1 point  Romania
  •  Finland
  •  Israel
  •  Lithuania
  •  Sweden

3.1.2.Points awarded by Cyprus.

Points awarded by Cyprus (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Greece
10 points  Armenia
8 points  Lithuania
7 points  Australia
6 points  Poland
5 points  Austria
4 points  Belgium
3 points  Estonia
2 points  Slovenia
1 point