Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Ukraine participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. The Ukrainian entry for the 2018 contest was selected through a national final, which UA:PBC organised in collaboration with the commercial broadcaster STB.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Ukraine | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Vidbir | |||
| Selection date(s) | Semi-finals: 10 February 2018 17 February 2018 Final: 24 February 2018 | |||
| Selected entrant | Mélovin | |||
| Selected song | "Under the Ladder" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Mike Ryals Kostyantyn Bocharov Anton Karskyi | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (6th, 179 points) | |||
| Final result | 17th, 130 points | |||
| Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, Ukraine had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirteen times since its first entry in 2003.[1] The nation had won the contest on two occasions: in 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana and in 2016 with the song "1944" performed by Jamala. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Ukraine had managed to qualify to the final in every contest they participated in thus far. Ukraine had been the runner-up in the contest on two occasions: in 2007 with the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" performed by Verka Serduchka and in 2008 with the song "Shady Lady" performed by Ani Lorak. Ukraine's least successful result had been 24th place, which they achieved during the 2017 with the song "Time" performed by O.Torvald.
The Ukrainian national broadcaster, National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), broadcasts the event within Ukraine and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, NTU had alternated between both internal selections and national finals iorder to select the Ukrainian entry. Between 2011 and 2014, NTU had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ukraine, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. NTU withdrew from the contest for one year in 2015 due to the unstable financial and political situation caused by the conflict in east Ukraine.[2][3] In 2016, NTU collaborated with the commercial broadcaster STB in order to organise a national final to select Ukraine's entry, resulting in the selection of an entry that went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest. NTU's collaboration with STB continued in 2018.
Before Eurovision
National final
The Ukrainian national final was held at the Palace of Culture "KPI" in Kyiv and consisted of two semi-finals held on 10 and 17 February 2018 and a final on 24 February 2018.
The expert jury that voted during the shows consisted of:
- Jamala – singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 for Ukraine
- Andriy Danylko – comedian and singer, represented Ukraine in 2007 as the drag artist Verka Serduchka
- Yevhen Filatov (The Maneken) – singer and producer, creator of group Onuka
Competing entries
| Artist | Song (English translation) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Constantine | "Misto" (City) | Kostiantyn Dmytriyev, Ulyana Kushyk |
| Dilemma | "Na Party" (In the party) | Yevhen Bardachenko, Nazariy Herasymchuk |
| Illaria | "Syla" (Power) | Kateryna Pryshchepa |
| Ingret | "Save My Planet" | Ingret Kostenko, Oleksii Potapenko |
| Julinoza | "Hto ya?"1 (Who am I?) | Yulia Zaporozhets |
| Kadnay | "Beat of the Universe" | Dmytro Kadnay, Philipp Koliadenko |
| KAZKA | "Dyva" (Wonders) | Serhiy Yermolayev, Andriy Ihnatchenko, Serhiy Loksyn |
| Kozak System | "Mamai" | Mykola Brovchenko, Kozak System |
| Laud | "Waiting" | Vlad Karashchuk, Roman Cherenov, Kateryna Rohova |
| Mélovin | "Under the Ladder" | Mike Ryals, Kostiantyn Bocharov, Anton Karskyi |
| Mountain Breeze | "I See You" | Oleksandr Biliak |
| Pur:Pur | "Fire" | Natalia Smirina |
| Serhiy Babkin | "Kriz tvoyi ochi" (Through your eyes) | Serhiy Babkin, Yefim Chupakin, Anton Malyshev, Yevhen Filatov |
| Tayanna | "Lelya"2 | Tetiana Reshetniak |
| The Erised | "Heroes" | Sonia Sukhorukova, Danylo Marin, Ihor Kyrylenko, Oleksander Liuliakin, Zak Ferum |
| The VIO | "Nga-Nga" | Myroslav Kuvaldin |
| Vilna | "Forest Song" | Iryna Vasylenko, Mykyta Reva, Yuriy Vodolazhskyi |
| Yurcash | "Stop Killing Love" | Yuriy Nechystiak |
- 1.^ See the paper 'Romanization of Ukrainian.'
- 2.^ Lelya is the goddess of love and patron saint of young girls in Historical Slavic religion.
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 10 February 2018 in Palace of Culture KPI. The top three entries following the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while the remaining six entries were eliminated. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2018 Czech Eurovision entrant Mikolas Josef performed the 2018 Czech entry "Lie to Me" as a guest.
| Semi-final 1 – 10 February 2018 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote (SMS) / App | Total | Place | ||
| Percentage | Points | |||||||
| 1 | Constantine | "Misto" | 7 | 5.05% | 2 | 9 | 7 | |
| 2 | Serhiy Babkin | "Kriz tvoyi ochi" | 8 | 8.99% | 4 | 12 | 5 | |
| 3 | Laud | "Waiting" | 9 | 14.84% | 7 | 16 | 1 | |
| 4 | KAZKA | "Dyva" | 4 | 11.42% | 5 | 9 | 6 | |
| 5 | The VYO | "Ng'a-Ng'a" | 2 | 4.35% | 1 | 3 | 9 | |
| 6 | Kozak System | "Mamai" | 1 | 8.30% | 3 | 4 | 8 | |
| 7 | Vilna | "Forest Song" | 3 | 17.66% | 9 | 12 | 3 | |
| 8 | Pur:Pur | "Fire" | 6 | 11.91% | 6 | 12 | 4 | |
| 9 | The Erised | "Heroes" | 5 | 17.49% | 8 | 13 | 2 | |
| Detailed Jury Votes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song | Danylko | Jamala | Filatov | Total | Points |
| 1 | "Misto" | 5 | 7 | 9 | 21 | 7 |
| 2 | "Kriz tvoyi ochi" | 6 | 9 | 7 | 22 | 8 |
| 3 | "Waiting" | 9 | 8 | 6 | 23 | 9 |
| 4 | "Dyva" | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 4 |
| 5 | "Ng'a-Ng'a" | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| 6 | "Mamai" | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 7 | "Forest Song" | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| 8 | "Fire" | 7 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 6 |
| 9 | "Heroes" | 8 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 5 |
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final take place on 17 February 2018 in Palace of Culture KPI. The top three entries following the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury will advance to the final of the competition, while the remaining six entries will be eliminated. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2018 French Eurovision entrant Madame Monsieur will perform the 2018 French entry "Mercy" as a guest.
| Semi-final 2 – 17 February 2018 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote (SMS) / App | Total | Place | ||
| Percentage | Points | |||||||
| 1 | Ingret | "Save My Planet" | 2 | 6.96% | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| 2 | Mélovin | "Under the Ladder" | 8 | 25.49% | 9 | 17 | 1 | |
| 3 | Julinoza | "Hto ya?" | 4 | 4.70% | 1 | 5 | 8 | |
| 4 | Tayanna | "Lelya" | 9 | 13.23% | 7 | 16 | 2 | |
| 5 | Kadnay | "Beat of the Universe" | 7 | 15.40% | 8 | 15 | 3 | |
| 6 | Yurcash | "Stop Killing Love" | 3 | 9.29% | 5 | 8 | 6 | |
| 7 | Mountain Breeze | "I See You" | 6 | 10.69% | 6 | 12 | 4 | |
| 8 | Illaria | "Syla" | 5 | 7.48% | 4 | 9 | 5 | |
| 9 | Dilemma | "Na Party" | 1 | 6.47% | 2 | 3 | 9 | |
| Detailed Jury Votes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song | Danylko | Jamala | Filatov | Total | Points |
| 1 | "Save My Planet" | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| 2 | "Under the Ladder" | 9 | 7 | 7 | 23 | 8 |
| 3 | "Hto ya?" | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 4 |
| 4 | "Lelya" | 7 | 9 | 9 | 25 | 9 |
| 5 | "Beat of the Universe" | 6 | 8 | 8 | 22 | 7 |
| 6 | "Stop Killing Love" | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 3 |
| 7 | "I See You" | 8 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 6 |
| 8 | "Syla" | 3 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 5 |
| 9 | "Na Party" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Final
| Final – 24 February 2018 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote (SMS) / App | Total | Place | ||
| Votes | Percentage | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Kadnay | "Beat of the Universe" | 3 | 33,392 | 18.61% | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| 2 | Tayanna | "Lelya" | 6 | 29,830 | 16.62% | 4 | 10 | 2 |
| 3 | The Erised | "Heroes" | 2 | 11,628 | 6.48% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Laud | "Waiting" | 4 | 20,744 | 11.56% | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| 5 | Vilna | "Forest Song" | 1 | 23,192 | 12.92% | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | Mélovin | "Under the Ladder" | 5 | 60,669 | 33.81% | 6 | 11 | 1 |
| Detailed Jury Votes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song | Danylko | Jamala | Filatov | Total | Points |
| 1 | "Beat of the Universe" | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 3 |
| 2 | "Lelya" | 5 | 6 | 5 | 16 | 6 |
| 3 | "Heroes" | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| 4 | "Waiting" | 4 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 4 |
| 5 | "Forest Song" | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 6 | "Under the Ladder" | 6 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 5 |
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. Ukraine was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[4]
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. Ukraine was set to perform in position 18, following the entry from Slovenia.[5]
Points awarded to Ukraine
| Points awarded to Ukraine (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 to Ukraine (final) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Ukrainian jury: [6]
- Vitaliy Klimov – Chairperson – producer, music video director
- Denys Zhupnyk – radio host, actor, singer
- Artur Danielyan – sound producer, musician. DJ
- Alla Moskovka (Alloise) – artist
- Khrystyna Soloviy – singer, songwriter, musician
| Split voting results from Ukraine (Semi-final 2) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
| D. Zhupnyk | A. Danielyan | V. Klimov | Alloise | K. Soloviy | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Norway | 8 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 02 |  Romania | 10 | 16 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 16 | |
| 03 |  Serbia | 11 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 13 | ||
| 04 |  San Marino | 13 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 17 | ||
| 05 |  Denmark | 7 | 13 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 06 |  Russia | 17 | 12 | 16 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 8 | 3 | |
| 07 |  Moldova | 14 | 15 | 5 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 12 | |
| 08 |  Netherlands | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 11 | |
| 09 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia | 3 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 12 | |
| 10 |  Georgia | 9 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| 11 |  Poland | 15 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 4 | 7 | |
| 12 |  Malta | 5 | 9 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 15 | ||
| 13 |  Hungary | 16 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 2 | |
| 14 |  Latvia | 6 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 15 |  Sweden | 2 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| 16 |  Montenegro | 12 | 7 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 14 | |
| 17 |  Slovenia | 4 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| 18 | Ukraine | |||||||||
| Split voting results from Ukraine (final) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
| D. Zhupnyk | A. Danielyan | V. Klimov | Alloise | K. Soloviy | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 | Ukraine | |||||||||
| 02 |  Spain | 17 | 16 | 25 | 23 | 7 | 18 | 24 | ||
| 03 | Slovenia | 2 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 17 | |
| 04 |  Lithuania | 14 | 22 | 11 | 16 | 17 | 20 | 9 | 2 | |
| 05 |  Austria | 6 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 14 | |
| 06 |  Estonia | 12 | 2 | 16 | 11 | 18 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| 07 | Norway | 10 | 3 | 13 | 14 | 21 | 12 | 11 | ||
| 08 |  Portugal | 24 | 21 | 18 | 24 | 9 | 23 | 25 | ||
| 09 |  United Kingdom | 21 | 20 | 23 | 9 | 23 | 24 | 22 | ||
| 10 | Serbia | 13 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 19 | 22 | 21 | ||
| 11 |  Germany | 20 | 19 | 7 | 17 | 8 | 14 | 12 | ||
| 12 |  Albania | 4 | 15 | 6 | 18 | 15 | 11 | 18 | ||
| 13 |  France | 22 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 7 |
| 14 |  Czech Republic | 8 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 22 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 15 | Denmark | 15 | 18 | 8 | 13 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 16 | Australia | 5 | 10 | 19 | 5 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 19 | |
| 17 |  Finland | 16 | 24 | 22 | 20 | 24 | 25 | 23 | ||
| 18 |  Bulgaria | 23 | 17 | 10 | 19 | 10 | 17 | 13 | ||
| 19 | Moldova | 11 | 23 | 12 | 15 | 25 | 19 | 5 | 6 | |
| 20 | Sweden | 9 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 15 | |
| 21 | Hungary | 25 | 11 | 24 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 1 | |
| 22 |  Israel | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 12 |
| 23 | Netherlands | 1 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 16 | |
| 24 |  Ireland | 18 | 14 | 15 | 21 | 12 | 21 | 20 | ||
| 25 |  Cyprus | 7 | 8 | 20 | 10 | 20 | 13 | 7 | 4 | |
| 26 |  Italy | 19 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 6 | 16 | 6 | 5 | |
Points awarded by Ukraine
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References
- "Ukraine Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- Україна бере тайм-аут на рік у конкурсі Євробачення. 1tv.com.ua (in Ukrainian). NTU. 19 September 2014. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- "Eurovision 2015: Ukraine announces exit". bbc.com. BBC News. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- 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.
- "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
External links
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Note: Entries scored out are when Ukraine did not compete | |||||||||||