UKRAINE 2025

The Ukrainian act and song was selected on February 8th via their national final "Vidbir". The winner was chosen through a 50-50 split of jury and app voting. Going to Basel is Ziferblat with the song "Bird Of Pray".

Ziferblat is made up of singer Daniil Leshchynskyi, guitarist Valentyn Leshchynskyi, and drummer Fedir Hodakov. Their sound is mainly alternative pop but also straddles themes of folk & prog and they are heavily influenced by literature and art. They released an EP in 2015 before entering X-Factor Ukraine. In total they have released 9 singles, 1 EP and and 1 album. In 2023 they entered "Zemlya" to the Ukrainian national final but did not make it into the final. In 2024 "Place I call home" was entered into Vidbir and came 2nd and this year they went a step better and won the competition.

The performance starts with a very high pitched vocalisation by one of the female backing vocalists which comes in and out throughout the song. The verses are mainly in Ukrainian while the chorus is in English. The verses have a prog rock feel to them and have an unusual rhythm and energy which is made more interesting by them being in their native tongue. The pre-chorus and chorus is slower and higher in his register. After a very short verse 2 and a chorus there is an elongated bridge before the last rendition of the chorus. The three-piece band and their three backing singers are dressed in shades of blue and purple and the stage is covered with greenery and flowers; almost like they were performing in a field. The backdrop flits between blue skies, warm red & yellows and psychedelic strobing. Daniil tries out some armography throughout the song and spends time walking up and down the mini runway. It feels like he is performing to the crowd rather than the camera.

This entry feels a little different from Ukraine's more recent Eurovision back catalogue. The beats, electronica and rap syncopations have gone and replaced with a more freeform and retro style. It is nice to see any country doing something a bit out-of-the-box. It feels rather folky and in turn has an air of optimism about it. The song touches on the separation of loved ones especially at a time of war, which is why the title is spelled Pray rather than Prey. Overall I like the staging concept: I can see the group being at the front of the thrust stage, better spaced out on a bigger stage, using camera angles to accentuate the backdrop. and maybe more co-ordination made between the outfits. I would also like Daniil to have stronger and more dynamic choreography as he looks uncomfortable, if not lacking confidence, with his movements. In terms of the song, the verse, for me, is the stand out part of the track. It perks up your ears from the get go and sets out that folk rock feel. The chorus is less successful partially because of the slower speed and partially due some pronunciation mishaps - at least the latter of these cane be worked on before May.

ARTIST - Ziferblat

SONG - Bird of Pray

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Fedir Khodakov, Danylo Leshchynskyi, Valentyn Leshchynskyi

UKRAINE 2024

The Ukrainian act and song was chosen on February 3rd through their annual the selection show "Vidbir". The ranking of a jury (whose make up was chosen itself by a public vote) was combined equally with that of a national televote to find a winner. Although the songs were presented on the 3rd, the result was not announced until the next day due to technical difficulties. Going to Malmö is Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil  performing the song "Teresa & Maria"

Aliona Olehivna Savranenko (aka Alyona Alyona) is 32 years old and before she found her footing in the Ukrainian rap scene she worked as a kindergarten teacher. She has 4 albums to her names and has reocrded collaborations with numerous Ukrainian figures such as Kalush, Aliona Pash and Jamala. Over the last 5 years she had been nominated for numerous music awards and was recently placed number 44 in a list of Ukraine's most influential women. Yana Oleksandrivna Shemayeva - professionally known as Jerry Heil - is 28 and started out in the music industry posting covers on her youtube channel. In 2017 she signed a record deal and then found herself on X Factor Ukraine, only getting as far as bootcamp.. Her most famous song is "Okhrana, otmyena" which won a Jager Music Award and a YUMA. Jerry participated in Vidbir twice previously in 2020 and 2022 coming third in the latter.

The staging is rather pared back compared to Ukrainian entries of yore. The set is black as are the outfits of the two performers. Around them are 4 backing singers and the background wall projects a stylised video of a woman shrouded in black flowing shiny fabric. Jerry starts centre stage by herself with an introductory verse before starting the chorus by this time joined by Alyona. They start singing outwards, back-to-back The chorus had a very familiar feel - almost slightly folkish - and the predictability of the way the note go low to high then back down again is very natural and unforced. Alyona Alyona's meaty rap adds an extra layer or rhythm and pace to a song that might come across as a bit plodding. The non-stop words seems to plow easily in a similar way to the rap parts of "Stefania". The song ends with a couple of chorus renditions to wind down to the end.

The parts Alyona Alyona does are great and is direct down the camera. The parts Jerry Heil does are well sung and the emotion is conveyed. However there is a lack of stagecraft between the two of them and this disconnect needs fixing. Yes, the stage was rather basic but other acts were able to conjure up some feeling using dancers and video techniques. If not, the song will otherwise feel like two people performing on the stage at the same time rather than a duet. Because of the song's message, I feel like this is not an entry that can be made better with a gimmick. The singers need to be somehow 'together' and make their parts feel cohesive. I need them to be interested in each others words in relation to the song. I'd like to see them singing to each other, maybe holding hands or even singing with their backs touching rather than just turning away from each other. This needs a lot of work but Ukraine has  a depth of staging experience and I really hope they can turn this piece of jet black coal into a real diamond.

ARTIST - Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil

SONG - Teresa & Maria

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Anton Chilibi, Ivan Klymenko, Aliona Savranenko, Yana Shemaieva

 

UKRAINE 2023

The Ukrainian final "Vidbir" was held on December 17th at Maidan Nezalezhnosti Metro Station in Kyiv, hosted by Timur Miroshnichenko, Kateryna Pavlenko and Zlata Ognevich. The winner was chosen by a 50-50 mix of jury and audience vote. Going to Liverpool will be Tvorchi with the song "Heart Of Steel"

Andrii Hutsulyak and Geoffrey Kenny have been working as the group Tvorchi - sometimes stylised as TVORCHI - since they met as students at university. Their first song was released in 2017. Since then they have participated in song competitions and have 4 albums to date. In 2020 they participated in Vidbir with the song "Bonfire" and in 2021 they won three YUNA awards

Although the national final was set in an underground metro station the production values were first rate. Andrii with a keyboard was on one side of the stage while Geoffrey was stood slightly obscured in the gaps between four large projection screens. After the first verse and chorus they are joined on stage by two dancers wearing boiler suits and stylistic gas masks. There is then another verse followed by an elongated chorus repeating the title of the songs and then the song just kind of ends.
This entry makes for an interesting addition to the final. The visual identity of the song - incorporating the visuals, lighting and outfits - is good but could be made even stronger.  The use of projections, in particular with the dancers, is very clever and could easily be scaled up for the Eurovision final. In fact I feel like they broke the magic of this trick far too early and could be extended to add even more optical illusions. I also suspect they many need to tone down or change some of their more pointed symbolism such as the children in gas masks.

This has such a different feel from the more folky-inspired numbers of Kalush Orchestra and GO_A however this vibe is possibly more contemporary and indicative of a more RnB feel. Personally I found this song very hard to get into and remember although many people in the ESC community have had some very strong immediate feels for this song too. That said after a few weeks of bedding this the song has very much grown on me. Part of me wishes that the song was either a little quicker or progressed musically a little more than it does. The song is also quite short at just over the 2;30 mark. I am not hinting that they should mess around with the structure of the song but something somewhere could be added but I am not sure what. It's going to be quite the moment when it appears in the final.

ARTIST - Tvorchi
SONG - Heart Of Steel
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Andreas Stone Johansson, Sebastian Schub, Thomas Stengaard, Anderz Wrethov 

UKRAINE 2021

The Ukrainian song was revealed on February 4th, via social media. Earlier in the process, it was announced that the song would be chosen by an internal jury from a final shortlist of  3 songs. GO_A,  the band who would have been the Ukrainian representative in 2020, will sing the song "SHUM". (Noise)

The song was released a few weeks earlier as a single by the band before it was revealed to be on the Eurovision shortlist. However as this was a jury led internal selection the video version is the only version we have, so this is the performance I will have to use to make my judgement. In the video the group and some extra dancers are on a hill overlooking a very misty and cold Kyiv. They are all dressed in white plastic protective outfits and transparent face visors. As well as close ups of the band singing and playing their instruments the other people can be seen joining in simplistic dance routines. It is a rather stark, if not memorable, visual.

The song starts with odd calling sounds almost like a squawking birdsong. As the song builds up the backing track slowly layers up too. The singer starts with what you might assume is a verse, but once through you realise the structure is a little more complicated than that. There are two main rhythms and tunes, which could be seen as verses or chorus) but almost work better as a single stand alone unit, or a 'stanza'. The song starts with two stanzas in quick succession, as the beat starts to penetrate the song, followed by a penny whistle led instrumental. There is then another stanza ending in a long high note which stops the beat but it comes back ever so slightly faster. After another 2 stanzas the beat exits again which leads in a long pulsing regrouping. The final 4 (yes - 4!!!) renditions of the stanza are done with a super quick and driving beat. The final stanza finishes with the long high note.

GO_A's style is one many Eurovision fans have become accustomed too. They marry folklore sensibilities with modern production values by using a range of traditional and electronic instruments. The song is based on Ukrainian folk songs and is interspersed with flute-led instrumentals over pulsating electronic beats. The short sharp stanzas have a repetitive structure which makes it really easy to stay in your head. The changes of tempo keep you wondering what is going to happen next and the slightly frantic ending implores you to join in and dance! Their style - vocally, musically and visually - is unique and this entry is no exception.

Once you hear the song, you realise changes will need to be made. The song, as published, is about a minute too long. However in a song where the 'stanzas' run at about 16 seconds each the repetitions at the end could be reduced as could some of the instrumental parts. There are also some questions about the lyrics. According to the band, they are based on folksongs and folklore and many wonder if they adhere to rule about lyrics being "100% original". I guess if the band are up for reviewing the set up of the song, they may also be up for adding new lyrics! I think the band know that this song has been looked at positively by their fans and Eurovision followers  and I honestly don't see why this would put a stop to Ukraine's 100% qualification run. On the plus side the links to their previous entry "Solovey" but this song pushes the envelope just a little bit further. Yes there is a lot of work to do but I feel like the finished article will be immense no matter the set up.

ARTIST - GO_A
SONG - SHUM/ШУМ (Noise)
WRITING CREDITS - Ihor Didenchuk, Kateryna Pavlenko, Taras Shevchenko

18/02/12 UKRAINE

The Ukrainian Final was held on February 18th, hosted by Timur Miroshnichenko & Tatiana Terekhova. The winner was chosen by a mixture of SMS voting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%).

The ticket to Baku was scooped by the song “Be my guest” sung and written by Gaitana. The song has touches of Ruslana and Ani Lorak about it. Her voice is quite strong and does sound very modern and suits this style of music. The four dancing /horn players are a little bit of a distraction and the faux horn playing gets quite tedious by the end of it. Saying that, she herself is dressed a bit too much like a drag queen… bit this is Eurovision so she can probably get away with it.

The song as a whole piece is not well constructed. First of all the chorus is far too repetitive and to be honest the horn tune in the background is far more interesting! Secondly the verse, especially the second one, does not really have a tune or at least a tune that is easily repeatable. What would help the song is to have some kind of dance routine for the chorus which can be used as a bit of an eye worm rather than the weak earworm. Also having a larger stage may well help matters.

So the song will qualify and will possibly do well but to me not a winner…

SONG  - Be my guest

ARTIST – Gaitana

COMPOSER – Gaitana

LANGUAGE – English

UPDATE 5

More news and videos !

MALTA -The official video came out this week. The vocal and background of the song has changed very little but I think that the video is very clever. Shame that such enthusiasm and message cannot be relayed onto the ESC stage.




SAN MARINO – As partially previewed in the TV presentation, Senit has released a video for “Stand By” It was filmed in a very snowy San Marino, which is a bit strange for a summer song contest!




ICELAND – Firstly, the boys have decided to sing their entry in English – which I am a little disappointed at. The song is now “Coming Home” and a video for this new version was realised this week.




NETHERLANDS – Like Iceland, 3JS will be singing in English. The video for “Never Alone” can be found below.




POLAND – Magdalena has released an English version of “Jestem” called “First class ticket to heaven”. However, due to a poor reception of the song, it has been confirmed that she will be singing in Polish in Germany.




UKRAINE – The controversial winner of the pre-selection, Mika Newton, has released an official video of her song, to be sung in English, “Angel”




FYROM – Vlatko has been very busy in the studio. As well a the Macedonian version, he has been working on an English, Russian and Serbo-Croat version on his song “Rusinska”, however it looks like he will be signing the original Macedonian version during Eurovision. His new video clip of the song is below.




TURKEY – The internally selected Yüksek Sadakat have finally released their video clip of “Live it up” I think the video clip re-affirms that their show at Eurovision will not be much of a ‘show’

UPDATE 1

As the songs are selected and time goes on, things change.
In these updates I hope to very briefly add any news (good or bad!!!) about the songs or acts chosen for this year’s Eurovision.


UKRAINE – Just like last year, this year’s national final turned out to be a total fiasco!
It was announced at the time that Mika Newton had won the final with her song “Angel”. After the result many, including some of the other participating singers, protested the results. After some investigating it was discovered that there was a major voting anomaly with the public televote. Although Mika recieved the most SMS and internet votes, those votes came from very few unique phone numbers and IP addresses, inferring block voting and rigged voting.
To try and address the situation NTU announced a “Top three run off” between Mika Jamala and Zlata. However just a few days later Jamala withdrew from this new final – then Zlata did the same. So NTU were back at square one and decided to just go with Mika. Rumours of a new song for Mika to sing were uncovered but both Mike and NTU have decided to keep with the original song.

GEORGIA – just a week after Eldrine won the ticket to Düsseldorf, the lead singer was sacked! Tako Vadachkoria has been replaced by Sopho Toroshelidze, one of the backing singers from last year’s contest. A video featuring the new singer is to be produced.

BELARUS – Firstly, it was decided that the lyrics to their selected song were to be changed, to reflect the new “Belarus” rather than of the nation during Soviet times. Then a video emerged of this song being played in April last year, well before the EBU’s cut off date. No official word yet has been made by Belarusian TV or the EBU about the song or country’s disqualification.

NETHERLANDS - As expected, the Dutch act, 3JS have decided to sing their winning entry in English. The song is now renamed “Never alone” and the song and video are being recorded as we speak. Rumours from the band suggest that the intro of the song will be changed and more guitar-led. In addition they will be doing all the singing themselves without the help of extra backing vocals.

SLOVAKIA – The selected act TWiiNS presented their song at the close of the Miss Slovakia contest on the 5th March. Unfortunately the girls were very much miming and the TV director seemed more interested in getting views of the winning (and losing) ladies f the competition. We are no closer to knowing if they can sing yet or what their presentation will be like.

UKRAINE

The Ukrainian Final was held on February 26th at the Savik Shuster Studio in Kiev. Before the final there were 3 semi-finals, however the final itself was not without controversy (seems to be running theme in Ukrainian pre-selections!) Neksi, Armiya and Vera Varlamova withdrew before the final started but during the final, Vitaliy Galay was disqualified for using pre-recorded backing vocals, then Tetyana Vorzheva was disqualified for having 7 people on stage. The winner was chosen by an "expert" jury (45%), SMS voting (45%) & internet voting (10%). However the overall winner was the song “Angel” sing by Mika Newton.

Angel is performed with the singer and 5 backing dancers. She is dressed in a tight white dress, with a flower effect on them. Her male dancers are all wearing wings, like mini Eroses. They also help create the “mis en scene” by moving around slabs of mirrors around the stage. In fairness, I cannot tell you if the mirror effect was any good as the Ukrainian TV director never really let the TV audience have a good look at this view for a suitable length of time. There are also some pyrotechnics during the final chorus

Mika looks very good and sings well too. She really drives out the high notes of the song with a lot of gusto. I feel that almost any song in her hands would be safe. The song she sings is a very predictable ballad. There is no real hook in the tune or the words and is rather forgettable even when you have heard it several times. The song does show off her power and range but I don’t think that this is enough.

After a few good years from Ukraine, this is a bit of a let down in terms of a reasonable song. But I far that it’s poser and ‘friendly neighbours’ will still make it a qualifier, even if it is not deserved


SINGER – Mika Newton
SONG – Angel
MUSIC –
WORDS –