As we continue the weekly series Around The Continent and we are going to talk about news and updated list how each country will select or take part at Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
Estonian broadcaster ERR has announced fully rules and dates for Eesti Laul 2022.Estonian broadcaster also opened call for the songs till October 20th 2021.
Dates for Eesti Laul 2022 are:
Quarterfinal 1:November 20th 2021
Quarterfinal 2:November 27th 2021
Quarterfinal 3:December 4th 2021
Quarterfinal 4:December 11th 2021
Semi Final 1: 3rd February 2021
Semi Final 2: 5th February 2021
Grand Final: 12th of February 2021
Also new details are revealed that 40 songs will be selected to compete in Eesti Laul 2022.Juries will be listening blindly to all the submissions not knowing who sings it. It will be 50/50 of Estonian language songs and English/multilingual songs will be chosen.
Quarterfinalists will be announced no later than 27th October 2021.Quaterfinals will have 10 songs all together, 5 songs from each show to progress to the semi finals.3 songs will be chosen by the public and 2 by a jury. In the semi finals qualifiers will have 5 songs from each semi final. Like always they will have 2 rounds where in 1st round winners (jury vote and TV viewer’s phone votes combined) are qualifying to grand final and 2nd round decided by the viewers phone votes.
Grand Final show will have 2 rounds of voting, first round will determine the acts in the Super Final and are determined by 50% jury voting and 50% public vote. In the Super Final the Estonian representative is chosen by 100% televoting.
Also ERR is planning an additional show to be held between April and May called ”Eesti Laulu” which will feature performances from the Super Finalists but the exact format is to be announced.
You can read the full rules in English here:
Uku Suviste won Eesti Laul 2021 with song ”The Lucky One” and represented Estonia at Eurovision 2021.
Finnish broadcaster Yle has opened their submissions for national final UMK 2022.Yle has high expectations for this years selection after success of Blind Channel with record breaking viewing numbers for both UMK and Eurovision 2021.
Deadline for wished artists want to submit their songs are till 6th September 2021.
Rules of submitting the songs:
Contestants material must be unpublished.
Songs must be submitted between the 1st and 6th of September 2021.
Up to three entries can be submitted per lead singer or group however only one is eligible to make it to the live show.
Songwriters may participate across multiple entries.
The singer on the submitted demo track must also perform the song in the final of UMK.
Submitted songs cannot be entered into other Eurovision pre-selections.
At least one lead singer or songwriter must have Finnish citizenship or be a permanent resident of Finland.
All performers must be older than 16 by May 1, 2022, and any song must not exceed three minutes in length.
Blind Channel has won UMK 2021 with song ”Dark Side” and represented Finland at Eurovision 2021.
Icelandic broadcaster RUV has confirmed that they will be participating in Eurovision 2022 as Söngvakeppnin once again will be used.
RUV has opened their submissions for the songs for national selection Söngvakeppnin and deadline is set to take place at 6th October 2021. Söngvakeppnin is set to take place in February with 10 songs set to compete. National selection won’t have any change as in previous years with 2 semi finals and grand final.
Each semi final will have 5 songs with 2 qualifiers to grand final (one from public and other one from jury). Grand Final will have five songs performing in the first round with 50% jury and 50% televoting determine the 2 super finalists .In Superfinal 2 acts will perform again with the winner chosen by televoting.
All acts for Söngvakeppnin 2022 will be revealed in January 2022.
Daði og Gagnamagnið won Söngvakeppnin 2020 with song ”Think About Things” and meant to represent Iceland at Eurovision 2020.Daði og Gagnamagnið once again represented Iceland at Eurovison 2021 with song ”10 Years”.
According to official rules for Eurovision 2022 pre-recored backing vocals are set to return once again. Icelandic broadcaster RUV announced their submissions and revealed that pre-recorded vocals will be permitted for Eurovision 2022.
When pre-recorded backing vocals were introduced for the Eurovision 2021 EBU released the statement:
”We believe allowing backing vocals to be pre-recorded increases the creative potential and diversity of acts and facilitates modernisation of the Eurovision Song Contest. It also allows songwriters and producers to present their work as close as possible to their original composition. The change also provides the flexibility for participating broadcasters to minimise the size of their delegations, thus saving costs.
Permitting recorded backing vocals also contributes to reducing the technical burden and costs for the host broadcaster as well. This all contributes to the sustainability of the Contest in our new reality.”
After Eurovision 2021 the review was took in and it was determine whether rule will change or remain. As in 2022 rules state that:
”The backing track in question shall not contain Lead Vocals, Lead Dubs and/or any other vocals that would have the effect of, or aim at replacing or unduly assisting the Lead Vocal(s) during the live performance on stage.”
LTV has revealed via Twitter that broadcaster will use Supernova once again as selection to select Latvian entry for Eurovision 2022.
When Edgars Bāliņš Latvian comedian and musical artist from rap band ”Singapura Satins” who also be huge Eurovision fan and he asked to LTV if Latvia will participate at Eurovision 2022 and they reply with ”that there is no need to worry, selection will happen! More details will be will be announced soon”.
Samanta Tina won last Supernova 2020 with song ”Still Breathing” and meant to represent Latvia at Eurovision 2020.Samanta once again represented Latvia at Eurovision 2021 with song ”The Moon is Rising”.
Monaco’s national broadcaster TMC has confirmed to Eurovison website ESCToday that they won’t be participating in Eurovision 2022.
Last time Monaco was participating at Eurovision 2006 with Séverine Ferrer with song ‘‘La Coco-dance”.
Norwegian Head of Delegation Stig Karlsen has confirmed to Norwegian Eurovision news website escNorge that final of Melodi Grand Prix 2022 will be held on February 19th 2022.
Stig Karlsen also confirmed that selection will use the format of five semi finals and grand final.
Dates for the selection are:
1st Semi Final-15th January 2022
2nd Semi Final-22nd January 2022
3rd Semi Final-29th January 2022
4th Semi Final-5th February 2022
5th Semi Final-12th February 2022
Grand Final-19th February
Venue of Melodi Grand Prix 2022 also not been announced yet and still unclear if the audience will be able to return to the contest.
Song submissions are currently on, deadline is currently set to 15th September 2021 and these are rules for the songs:
It is encouraged that registered entries have at least one Norwegian songwriter, as MGP wants to prioritize and promote Norwegian music life.
Each producer/songwriter can sign up for a maximum of three songs.
Everyone can sign up for songs, but artists must be 16 years old to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Songs must not exceed 3 minutes in length and cannot have been commercially released before September 1st 2021.
TIX won the Melodi Grand Prix 2021 with the song ”Fallen Angel” and represented Norway at Eurovision Song Contest 2021.
Head of Polish broadcaster TVP Jacek Kurski has confirmed that Poland will participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
Jacek Kurski was speaking to Jastrząb Post and he explained the details how they will select the Polish representative.
‘‘We don’t know yet, but we want to start these preparations earlier. The problem lately has been that very unsatisfactory proposals have just been sent (to TVP).”
He also said that he would like to reveal the Polish entry for Eurovision 2022 to be later but for preparations on songs to start earlier in the Autumn 2021.This hints that very unlikely that a national selection will return for 2022.
Rafal represented Poland at the Eurovision 2021 with the song ”The Ride”.
Pagina de Media reports that the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is one of among shows that are being proposed for next season for TVR.
This internal document Pagina De Media reports some of highlighted of number of shows and projects being proposed by producers at TVR for the consideration for management of the broadcaster.
Former Head of Delegation Iuliana Marciuc,Iuliana proposed this idea to TVR management which is very highly likely we will see Romania in Eurovision 2022.
Some of Romanians suggested that there might be return of national selection but its not confirmed nor denied.
Roxen represented Romania at Eurovision 2021 with song ”Amnesia”.
Producer of Melodifestivalen Karin Gunnarson has stated that they are planning to return to touring Sweden as part of Melodifestivalen 2022.
Karin Gunnarson was speaking with Swedish radio Sveriges Radio and revealed that they are talks that currently planning a tour for 2022 but still unknown whether the pandemic will permit a tour or an audience will be allowed.
Melodifestivalen usually use touring method as holding the heats and Andra Chansen before to returning to Stockholm for the final. Melodifestivalen 2021 contest was held in Annexet venue in Stockholm without an audience.
Ms. Gunnarson also added that she expected to see the number of songs increased that number of Swedish language song submissions has been increasing in recent years and like the success of Clara Klingenström and rock bands like Mustach and Lillasyter should continue that trend.
She also went to add that the submissions so far that they receive there is a trend that there is similar style from last years entries but production team are looking for strong songs rather than entries that fit into a specific style.
Tusse won Melodifestivalen 2021 with song ”Voices” and represented Sweden at Eurovision 2021.
Switzerland opens their submissions to those who are interested to submit their entries to represent Switzerland at Eurovision 2022.
Switzerland went with internal selection this year and this is the first year where SRF has allowed songwriters and producers to submit entries to broadcaster. Deadline of submitting songs are 15th September 2021.
Switzerland will be using a 100-member audience panel and the 20-member international expert jury will evaluate the entries and artists. The two juries will have a 50% say in the final result with the winning act representing Switzerland in Italy.
You can read the full rules here:
Gjon’s Tears represented Switzerland with song ”Tout l’Univers” at Eurovision Song Contest 2021.
Ukrainian private broadcaster STB will no longer will be part of Ukraine’s participation in Eurovision Song Contest in future. This means that STB will no longer organise Vidbir or help fund Ukrainian entries in Eurovision Song Contest.
STB also states that UA:PBC has agreed to take over Vidbir and continue having Ukrainian national selections process.
Agreement between STB and UA:PBC was signed in 2015 and lasted three years before extending next 3 years.
Managing director Lyudmila Semchuk commented the end of both broadcasters partnership:
“The national selection for Eurovision was a very important project for STB and StarLightMedia. To make the national selection the main musical event — this is the goal we set ourselves six years ago, starting a partnership with the public broadcaster, and we clearly adhered to it.This was our contribution to raising the country’s image in the international arena, supporting national talents and the development of the Ukrainian music industry, so it was very important for us to take part in every stage of the country’s preparation and performance at Eurovision.We have achieved many great successes and set a high bar for the national selection. Today we end our participation in the selection of the representative of Ukraine for the song contest. We thank the team, all viewers, the media, artists and partners for making the national selection for Eurovision the main star of Ukrainian television together.”
Natalia Freanchuk who represents STB commented as well:
”In six years, we have discovered a lot of new Ukrainian music, lit up new names, and shown new musical styles. We give the National Selection a high note and wish him to keep this bar. Thanks to the team, Serhiy Prytula, Ruslan Quinta, Kostya Meladze and all the members of the jury for living with this project together with STB.”
One of believes that large motivation that ending the partnership is that Suspline budget has increased over the years which they could afford to fund Go_A performance and staging props at Eurovision 2021 and not being sponsored by STB.
Last time winners of Vidbir was GO_A with song ”Solovey” and meant to represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2020.GO_A represented Ukraine again in Eurovision 2021 with song ”Shum”.
Currently we got 26 countries confirmed in Eurovision 2022 and these are:
Albania
Australia
Belgium
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Israel
Italy (Host Country)
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is set take place in May but the dates has not been announced yet.
