Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Country	Malta
National selection
Selection process	Artist: Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Song: Internal Selection
Selection date(s)	Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016: Semi-final 22 January 2016 Final 23 January 2016 Song Selection: 17 March 2016
Selected entrant	Ira Losco
Selected song	"Walk on Water"
Selected songwriter(s)	Lisa Desmond Tim Larsson Tobias Lundgren Molly Pettersson Hammar Ira Losco
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (3rd, 209 points)
Final result	12th, 153 points
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2015 • 2016 • 2017►

Malta participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Walk on Water" written by Lisa Desmond, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren, Molly Pettersson Hammar and Ira Losco. The song was performed by Ira Losco, who had previously represented Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2002 where she achieved second place with the song "7th Wonder".

The Maltese entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden was initially selected through the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). The competition consisted of a semi-final round and a final, held on 22 and 23 January 2016, respectively, where "Chameleon" performed by Ira Losco eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a five-member jury and a public televote. The rules of the Maltese national selection allowed for the winning artist to change the winning song either partially or entirely with the consent of the winning composers. In February 2016, PBS announced that a jury panel consisting of international and local experts would determine the song Ira Losco would ultimately perform at the Eurovision Song Contest from a selection of ten songs, including a revamped version of "Chameleon". On 14 March 2016, PBS announced that Ira Losco would perform the song "Walk on Water" in Stockholm; the song was released to the public on 17 March.

Malta was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing as the closing entry during the show in position 18, "Walk on Water" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Malta placed third out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 209 points. In the final, Malta performed in position 22 and placed twelfth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 153 points.

Background

Prior to the 2016 Contest, Malta had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-eight times since its first entry in 1971.^[1] Malta briefly competed in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1970s before withdrawing for sixteen years. The country had, to this point, competed in every contest since returning in 1991. Malta's best placing in the contest thus far was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 2002 with the song "7th Wonder" performed by Ira Losco and in 2005 with the song "Angel" performed by Chiara. In 2015, Malta failed to qualify to the final with the song "Warrior" performed by Amber.

For the 2016 Contest, the Maltese national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), broadcast the event within Malta and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. PBS confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 30 September 2015.^[2] Malta has selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure, a method that was continued for their 2016 participation.^[2]

Before Eurovision

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition consisted of a semi-final and final held on 22 and 23 January 2016, respectively, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. Both shows were hosted by Ben Camille and broadcast on TVM as well as online at the broadcaster's website tvm.com.mt, while the final was also broadcast on the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.^[3]

Format

The competition consisted of twenty songs competing in the semi-final on 22 January 2016 where the top fourteen entries qualified to compete in the final on 23 January 2016. Five judges evaluated the songs during the shows and each judge had an equal stake in the final result.^[4] The sixth set of votes were the results of the public televote, which had a weighting equal to the votes of a single judge. Ties in the final results were broken based on the entry which received the higher score from the judges.^[4] The five members of the jury that evaluated the entries during both the semi-final and final consisted of:

• Nick Clark-Lowes (United Kingdom) – Video editor/designer having worked in international shows with well-known artists
• Vyara Ankova (Bulgaria) – General manager of the Bulgarian National Television
• Sabrija Vulić (Montenegro) – Head of the Delegation for Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Luke Fisher (United Kingdom) – Journalist specializing in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Quinton Scerri (Malta) – Television producer and presenter

The rules and regulations for the competition allowed for the artist, author and composer of the winning entry to change parts of the winning song or the entire song for the Eurovision Song Contest.^[4]

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 29 and 30 October 2015 to the PBS Creativity Hub in Gwardamanga. Artists were also required to submit a cover version of another song along with their entry application in order to allow the jury to assess the quality of the voice of the artist.^[4] Songwriters from any nationality were able to submit songs as long as the artist(s) were Maltese or possessed Maltese citizenship. Artists were able to submit as many songs as they wished, however, they could only compete with a maximum of two in the semi-final and one in the final.^[4] 2015 national final winner Amber was unable to compete due to a rule that prevented the previous winner from competing in the following competition. 153 entries were received by the broadcaster.^[5] On 3 December 2015, PBS announced a shortlist of 49 entries that had progressed through the selection process.^[5] The twenty songs selected to compete in the semi-final were announced on the TVM programme Xarabank on 11 December 2015.^[6]

Among the selected competing artists was former Maltese Eurovision entrant Ira Losco who represented Malta in 2002. Daniel Testa represented Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Among the songwriters, Elton Zarb and Muxu co-wrote the Maltese entry in 2015; Paul Abela composed the 1991, 1996 and 2001 Maltese entries; Gerard James Borg and Philip Vella co-wrote the 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2008 Maltese entries, while Gerard James Borg also co-wrote the 2014 Russian entry; Paul Giordimaina represented Malta in 1991 and together with Fleur Balzan co-wrote the Maltese entry in 2011; Dimitri Stassos co-wrote the Spanish entry in 2009 and the Greek entry in 2012; Jonas Gladnikoff co-wrote the Irish entries in 2009, 2010 and 2014.

Semi-final

The semi-final took place on 22 January 2016. Twenty songs competed for fourteen qualifying spots in the final.^[7] The running order for the semi-final was announced on 13 January 2016.^[8] The show was opened with a guest performance by the 2015 Maltese Eurovision entrant Amber performing "Warrior", while the interval act featured performances by the local bands The Crowns and The New Victorians.^[9]

Final

The final took place on 23 January 2016. The fourteen entries that qualified from the semi-final were performed again and the votes of a six-member jury panel (5/6) and the results of public televoting (1/6) determined the winner. The show was opened with a guest performance of "Not My Soul" performed by Malta's Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 winner Destiny Chukunyere, while the interval act featured further performances by Destiny Chukunyere as well as performances by Amber and the Southville Dancers dance troupe.^[9]

After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, "Chameleon" performed by Ira Losco was the winner.^[10] "Chameleon" won the public televote with 40% of the votes.^[11]

Song selection

Following Losco's win at the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016, the singer stated that she was open to the idea of performing a song other than "Chameleon" at the Eurovision Song Contest should it improve Malta's chances of winning. The national final rules set by PBS allowed for the winning song to be partially modified or completely changed.^[12] On 19 February 2016, PBS announced that an international jury consisting of representatives from ten countries along with local experts from Malta would be presented with ten songs, including a revamped version of "Chameleon", and would determine which song Ira Losco would ultimately perform at the Eurovision Song Contest.^[13][14]

On 14 March 2016, PBS announced that Losco would perform the song "Walk on Water" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, which officially replaced "Chameleon" as the Maltese entry through the decision of thirteen international and local judges.^[15][16] "Walk on Water" was written by Lisa Desmond, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren, Molly Pettersson Hammar and Ira Losco herself.^[17] The release of the song and official music video was announced on 17 March 2016 during the TVM news bulletin and made available online at the broadcaster's website tvm.com.mt and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.^[18][19] Losco appeared as a guest during a special edition of the TVM programme Xarabank on 18 March to discuss and present the song.^[15] The music video for the song was filmed earlier in March in Gozo and at the Malta National Aquarium.^[15]

Promotion

Ira Losco made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Walk on Water" as the Maltese Eurovision entry. On 2 April, Losco performed during the Eurovision PreParty Riga, which was organised by OGAE Latvia and held at the Spikeri Concert Hall in Riga, Latvia.^[20] On 3 April, she performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Izvestia Hall in Moscow, Russia and hosted by Dmitry Guberniev.^[21] Losco also completed promotional activities in Armenia following her performances in Riga and Moscow.^[22] On 9 April, Ira Losco performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk.^[23] On 16 April, Ira Losco performed "Walk on Water" live during the ČT1 televised broadcast of the charity show Pomozte dětem, which was held at the La Fabrika theatre in Prague, Czech Republic.^[24] On 17 April, Losco performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.^[25]

In addition to her international appearances, Ira Losco also completed promotional activities in Malta where she appeared during the TVM talk show programme Xarabank on 22 April and performed during the Malta Eurovision Party at the Aria Complex in San Ġwann on 23 April.^[26]

At Eurovision

Ira Losco during a press meet and greet

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.^[27] On 25 January 2016, 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. Malta was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2016, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.^[28]

Once all the competing songs for the 2016 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. Malta was set to perform last in position 18, following the entry from Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[29]

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Malta on TVM with commentary by Arthur Caruana.^[30][31] The Maltese spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Maltese jury during the final, was Ben Camille.^[32]

Semi-final

Ira Losco during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Ira Losco took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May.^[33] This included the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.^[34]

The Maltese performance featured Ira Losco wearing a black and gold rhinestone dress, designed by Australian designer Alex Zabotto-Bentley, and performing together with one dancer.^{[35][36][37][38]} The performance began with the LED screen floor projecting Ira Losco's face followed by Losco emerging on stage with the dancer performing choreographed movements. The performance was originally to have featured full 360 degree projection mapping on Losco's dress accomplished by real-time tracking technology; however, during the rehearsals, the Maltese delegation opted not to use the technology in the broadcast performance. The creative director for the Maltese performance was Stephane Boko.^[39] Ira Losco was joined by four off-stage backing vocalists: Pamela Bezzina, Anna Azzopardi, Lars Säfsund and Molly Pettersson Hammar.^[35] The dancer featured during the performance was Skorpion, who also appeared in the music video for "Walk on Water".^[35]

At the end of the show, Malta was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.^[40] It was later revealed that Malta placed third in the semi-final, receiving a total of 209 points: 54 points from the televoting and 155 points from the juries.^[41]

Final

Shortly after the first 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. Malta was drawn to compete in the second half.^[42] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Malta was subsequently placed to perform in position 22, following the entry from Ukraine and before the entry from Georgia.^[43]

Ira Losco once again took part in dress rehearsals on 13 and 14 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show.^[44] Ira Losco performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 14 May. Malta placed twelfth in the final, scoring 153 points: 16 points from the televoting and 137 points from the juries.^[45]

Voting

Voting during the three shows was conducted under a new system that involved each country now 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.^[46] 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.^[47]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Malta and awarded by Malta in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:^{[41][48][49][50]}

Points awarded to Malta

Points awarded by Malta

Semi-final 1 Score Televote Jury 12 points  Russia  Armenia 10 points  Azerbaijan  Russia 8 points  Hungary  Cyprus 7 points  Netherlands  Montenegro 6 points  Cyprus  San Marino 5 points  San Marino  Finland 4 points  Armenia  Moldova 3 points  Iceland  Czech Republic 2 points  Czech Republic  Estonia 1 point  Austria  Austria

Final Score Televote Jury 12 points  Australia  United Kingdom 10 points  Russia  Bulgaria 8 points  Bulgaria  Italy 7 points  Italy  Armenia 6 points  Azerbaijan  France 5 points  Hungary  Cyprus 4 points  Ukraine  Russia 3 points  Netherlands  Australia 2 points  France  Spain 1 point  United Kingdom  Israel

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Maltese jury:^[46]

• Matthew Merceica – Chairperson – songwriter, vocal coach
• Maria Abdilla – vocal coach, music teacher
• Peter Borg – guitarist, songwriter, producer, musician
• Angie Laus – TV presenter, TV producer
• Ismael Portelli – director, creative director

Split voting results from Malta (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		M. Merceica	M. Abdilla	P. Borg	A. Laus	I. Portelli	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Finland	11	8	9	4	7	6	5	13
02	Greece	5	7	16	17	8	11		16
03	Moldova	10	13	6	8	5	7	4	11
04	Hungary	13	9	13	10	13	13		3	8
05	Croatia	15	17	14	14	9	17		12
06	Netherlands	16	12	4	13	14	14		4	7
07	Armenia	2	1	1	2	1	1	12	7	4
08	San Marino	9	3	7	5	12	5	6	6	5
09	Russia	1	2	3	1	3	2	10	1	12
10	Czech Republic	12	6	11	6	11	8	3	9	2
11	Cyprus	8	14	2	3	2	3	8	5	6
12	Austria	7	11	10	7	17	10	1	10	1
13	Estonia	6	16	8	9	10	9	2	14
14	Azerbaijan	14	15	12	16	6	15		2	10
15	Montenegro	4	5	5	12	4	4	7	17
16	Iceland	3	10	15	15	15	12		8	3
17	Bosnia and Herzegovina	17	4	17	11	16	16		15
18	Malta

Split voting results from Malta (Final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		M. Merceica	M. Abdilla	P. Borg	A. Laus	I. Portelli	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Belgium	16	13	17	24	21	20		17
02	Czech Republic	18	16	20	10	17	16		24
03	Netherlands	13	11	15	25	20	17		8	3
04	Azerbaijan	20	9	21	19	8	11		5	6
05	Hungary	19	15	12	16	19	14		6	5
06	Italy	5	4	4	3	5	3	8	4	7
07	Israel	10	14	8	12	11	10	1	18
08	Bulgaria	1	5	6	1	7	2	10	3	8
09	Sweden	11	12	22	22	18	18		11
10	Germany	24	17	16	17	25	22		22
11	France	4	7	1	8	4	5	6	9	2
12	Poland	25	21	24	18	24	25		13
13	Australia	6	10	9	7	6	8	3	1	12
14	Cyprus	12	3	7	2	2	6	5	12
15	Serbia	15	19	23	15	16	19		21
16	Lithuania	14	22	14	20	9	13		16
17	Croatia	21	18	25	21	15	23		25
18	Russia	3	8	5	5	13	7	4	2	10
19	Spain	9	6	10	9	10	9	2	20
20	Latvia	22	20	13	14	12	15		19
21	Ukraine	23	25	18	23	14	24		7	4
22	Malta
23	Georgia	17	24	19	11	22	21		23
24	Austria	7	23	11	13	23	12		15
25	United Kingdom	2	1	2	4	1	1	12	10	1
26	Armenia	8	2	3	6	3	4	7	14

See also

• Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

• Official PBS Eurovision site

Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participation 1971 1972 1973 to 1974 1975 1976 to 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Artists 1970s 1970 Joe Grech Helen and Joseph 1973 Enzo Guzman Renato Enzo Guzman 1977 to 1979 1980s 1980 to 1989 1990s 1990 Paul Giordimaina and Georgina Mary Spiteri William Mangion Chris and Moira Mike Spiteri Miriam Christine Debbie Scerri Chiara Times Three 2000s Claudette Pace Fabrizio Faniello Ira Losco Lynn Chircop Julie and Ludwig Chiara Fabrizio Faniello Olivia Lewis Morena Chiara 2010s Thea Garrett Glen Vella Kurt Calleja Gianluca Bezzina Firelight Amber Ira Losco
Songs 1970s 1970 "Marija l-Maltija" "L-imħabba" 1973 "Paċi Fid Dinja" "Singing This Song" "Sing Your Song, Country Boy" 1977 to 1979 1980s 1980 to 1989 1990s 1990 "Could It Be" "Little Child" "This Time" "More Than Love" "Keep Me In Mind" "In a Woman's Heart" "Let Me Fly" "The One That I Love" "Believe 'n Peace" 2000s "Desire" "Another Summer Night" "7th Wonder" "To Dream Again" "On Again... Off Again" "Angel" "I Do" "Vertigo" "Vodka" "What If We" 2010s "My Dream" "One Life" "This Is the Night" "Tomorrow" "Coming Home" "Warrior" "Walk on Water"
(Note: Entries scored out are when Malta did not compete)