Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "I Won't Break" written by Netta Nimrodi, Leonid Gutkin and Arie Burshtein. The song was performed by Julia Samoylova, who was internally selected by the Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia to represent the nation at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. On May 10 Russia failed to qualify for the 2018 Eurovision Final.

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country Russia
National selection
Selection processInternal Selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 29 January 2018
Song: 11 March 2018
Selected entrantJulia Samoylova
Selected song"I Won't Break"
Selected songwriter(s)Netta Nimrodi, Leonid Gutkin, Arie Burshtein
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (15th, 65 points)
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Background
Main article: Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2018 contest, Russia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in 1994. Russia had won the contest on one occasion in 2008 with the song "Believe" performed by Dima Bilan. Russia's least successful result has been 17th place, which they have achieved in the 1995 with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" performed by Philipp Kirkorov. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Russia has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final on every occasion. In 2016, Russia finished third with the song "You Are the Only One" performed by Sergey Lazarev.[1]

On 12 March 2017, Channel One announced that they had internally selected Julia Samoylova, with her song "Flame is Burning" for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 which was held in Kiev, Ukraine.[2] However, on 22 March 2017, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed that Samoylova had been banned from entering Ukraine for three years for illegally travelling to Crimea.[3] On 13 April 2017, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said Russia was no longer able to take part in 2017's competition. The Russian state broadcaster Channel One responded by stating that they will not broadcast the contest.[4][5][6]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 29 January 2018, Channel One Russia officially confirmed that Julia Samoylova will represent again Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.[7] Her song for the contest, "I Won't Break" was revealed on the 11 March 2018.[8]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Russia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[9]

Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Russia was set to perform in position 6, following the entry from Denmark and preceding the entry from Moldova.[10]

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to Russia
Points awarded to Russia (Semi-final 2)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Russia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Russian jury: [11]

  • Vladimir Matetsky – Chairperson – singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, author
  • Yana Rudkovskaya – producer, manager
  • Alexandra Vorobyova – singer
  • Sergey Mandrik – choreographer
  • Alexey Manuylov – radio host
Split voting results from Russia (Semi-final 2)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Y. Rudkovskaya A. Vorobyova V. Matetsky S. Mandrik A. Manuylov Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Norway2232321038
02 Romania81113667417
03 Serbia382524756
04 San Marino713815910116
05 Denmark15121610141547
06 Russia
07 Moldova13111112112
08 Netherlands99109131313
09 Australia1441271283101
10 Georgia17151717171783
11 Poland101414859215
12 Malta1110111171114
13 Hungary12651486574
14 Latvia137912101212
15 Sweden414343865
16 Montenegro16171516161611
17 Slovenia616713151492
18 Ukraine55641156210
Split voting results from Russia (final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Y. Rudkovskaya A. Vorobyova V. Matetsky S. Mandrik A. Manuylov Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Ukraine13131514161538
02 Spain21262418212425
03 Slovenia14212325182022
04 Lithuania988968318
05 Austria19121013121220
06 Estonia464845683
07 Norway11151111231365
08 Portugal26242626202626
09 United Kingdom25221819172124
10 Serbia8141612141112
11 Germany677677413
12 Albania24231415241923
13 France79127109215
14 Czech Republic15172520151892
15 Denmark12112016111447
16 Australia555596521
17 Finland22202121222319
18 Bulgaria23161717131714
19 Moldova11211112112
20 Sweden22123210101
21 Hungary1618922191611
22 Israel3363538210
23 Netherlands20191923252217
24 Ireland18252224262516
25 Cyprus1043424774
26 Italy17101310810156

References
  1. "Russia". EBU. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  2. "Ukraine investigates Russia's newly chosen Eurovision candidate". DW. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  3. "Eurovision 2017: Ukraine bars Russian singer Samoilova from contest". BBC News. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  4. Granger, Anthony (13 April 2017). "Russia withdraws from the Eurovision Song Contest". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  5. Первый канал не будет транслировать Евровидение-2017 [The first channel will not broadcast ESC 2017]. www.1tv.ru (in Russian). Russia-1. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  6. "EBU: "Russia no longer able to take part in Eurovision 2017"". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  7. Jordan, Paul (19 March 2018). "Julia Samoylova set to return for Russia!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  8. Jordan, Paul (19 March 2018). "Julia Samoylova to perform 'I Won't Break' for Russia in Lisbon". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  9. Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  10. "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  11. Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
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