Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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Eurovision Song Contest 2020
CountryFlag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 25 November 2019
Song: 7 March 2020
Selected entrant Victoria
Selected song"Tears Getting Sober"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final resultContest cancelled
Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 •2020• 2021►

Bulgaria originally planned participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Tears Getting Sober" written by Victoria Georgieva, Borislav Milanov, Lukas Oscar Janisch and Cornelia Wiebols. The song was performed by Victoria, which is the artistic name of singer Victoria Georgieva. In October 2019, the Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that they would be returning to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their withdrawal in 2019 due to financial difficulties. On 25 November 2019, the broadcaster announced that Victoria had been selected to compete at the 2019 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The song that Victoria competed with, "Tears Getting Sober", was also internally selected and was presented to the public on 7 March 2020.

Contents

Bulgaria was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2020. However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

Prior to the 2020 contest, Bulgaria had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twelve times since its first entry in 2005. [1] The nation achieved their best result in the contest in 2017 with the song "Beautiful Mess" performed by Kristian Kostov, which placed second. To this point, only four Bulgarian entries had managed to have qualified to the Eurovision final; the nation had failed to qualify to the final with their other eight entries. In 2018, Equinox and their song "Bones" qualified to the final and placed fourteenth.

The Bulgarian national broadcaster, Bulgarian National Television (BNT), broadcasts the event within Bulgaria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. BNT confirmed Bulgaria's participation in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 10 October 2017. [2] In the past, BNT had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select the Bulgarian entry. In October 2018, the Bulgarian broadcaster announced that the country would not participate in 2019 citing financial difficulties as the reason for their decision. Following their one-year absence, BNT confirmed Bulgaria's participation in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest on 31 October 2019. [3] For their 2020 entry, the broadcaster internally selected the Bulgarian entry, a selection procedure that was used between 2016 and 2018. [4]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 25 November 2019, BNT announced during a press conference that they had internally selected Victoria Georgieva to represent Bulgaria in Rotterdam. [4] Victoria previously participated in the fourth season of X Factor Bulgaria where she placed sixth. [5] [6] Her song "Tears Getting Sober" was internally selected and presented on 7 March 2020 through the release of the official music video via the official Eurovision Song Contest's YouTube channel. The song was written by members of the songwriting team Symphonix International which had been responsible for the Bulgarian entries from 2016 onwards: Borislav Milanov, Lukas Oscar Janisch, Cornelia Wiebols, as well as Victoria herself. [7] In regards to the song, Victoria stated: "It tells a story about overcoming your fears and pain and moving forward. We don't speak often about the mental health problems our generation faces and this song aims to inspire them and to give them hope." [8]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (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 28 January 2020, 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. Bulgaria was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. [9] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled. [10]

Prior to the Eurovision Song Celebration YouTube broadcast in place of the semi-finals, it was revealed that Bulgaria was set to perform in position 17, following the entry from Georgia and before the entry from Latvia. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest</span>

Bulgaria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 14 times since making its debut at the 2005 contest in Kyiv. The country's best result is a second-place finish for Kristian Kostov and the song "Beautiful Mess" at the 2017 contest also in Kyiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgaria in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest</span>

Bulgaria participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2007. Bulgarian National Television (BNT), a member organisation of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), have been responsible for the selection process of their participants, since their debut in 2007. The first representative to participate for the nation at the 2007 contest was Bon-Bon with the song "Bonbolandiya", which finished in 7th place out of 17 participating entries, achieving a score of 86 points. There has been four absences from the competition, those being in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Bulgaria's return to the contest in 2014 proved to be successful, when Krisia, Hasan & Ibrahim represented them with the song "Planet of the Children", achieving 147 points and finishing in second place out of 16 participating countries, it compared to Eurovision Song Contest 2017 when the country finished in 2nd place and gained the country's best ever result in a Eurovision competition. They hosted the contest at Arena Armeec in 2015. On 11 June 2016, Lidia Ganeva won the national selection "Decata na Bulgaria sa super", earning the right to represent Bulgaria at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016, in Valletta, Malta. Ganeva performed the internally selected song "Magical Day " at the contest. She received 161 points and therefore finished in 9th place out of 17 participating countries. Their next appearance in the contest was in 2021, where Denislava and Martin achieved the country's worst result to date; 16th place out of 19 participating entries with the song "Voice of Love".

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Angel si ti" written by Miroslav Kostadinov, Mihail Mihailov and Gordon Davis. The song was performed by Miro, which is the artistic name of singer Miroslav Kostadinov. In October 2009, the Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that Miro had been selected to compete at the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway. The broadcaster organised the national final Bŭlgarskata pesen v „Evroviziya 2010” in order to select the song that Miro competed with. Five songs were selected to participate in the national final, held on 28 February 2010, where "Angel si ti" emerged as the winning song with 48.05% of the public televote.

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Na inat" written by Sebastian Arman, David Bronner, Poli Genova and Borislav Milanov. The song was performed by Poli Genova. The Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) organised the national final Bŭlgarskata pesen v „Evroviziya 2011” in order to select the Bulgarian entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. 19 entries were selected to participate in the national final, held on 23 February 2011, where "Na inat" performed by Poli Genova emerged as the winning entry following the combination of votes from a 55-member jury panel and a public televote.

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Samo shampioni" written by Elitsa Todorova and Kristian Talev. The song was performed by Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov, having previously represented Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 where they placed fifth with the song "Water". In February 2013, the Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov had been selected to compete at the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden. The broadcaster organised the national final Bŭlgarskata pesen v „Evroviziya 2013” in order to select the song that Elitsa and Stoyan competed with. Three songs were selected to participate in the national final, held on 3 March 2013, where "Kismet" emerged as the winning song following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. The song was withdrawn on 11 March 2013 after failing to secure its copyrights with its apparent songwriter Jonatan Tesei and replaced with runner-up "Samo shampioni".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Georgieva</span> Bulgarian singer (born 1997)

Viktoriya Georgieva, known professionally by the mononym Victoria, is a Bulgarian singer and songwriter. She began her career after participating in season four of X Factor Bulgaria. Georgieva would have represented Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, with her song "Tears Getting Sober". Due to the 2020 contest's cancellation, Georgieva represented Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 instead, this time with "Growing Up Is Getting Old".

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "If Love Was a Crime" written by Borislav Milanov, Sebastian Arman, Joacim Bo Persson and Poli Genova. The song was performed by Poli Genova, who had previously represented Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 where she failed to qualify to the final with the song "Na inat". In November 2015, the Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that they would be returning to the Eurovision Song Contest after a two-year absence following their withdrawal in 2014 due to financial limitations. On 19 February 2016, the broadcaster announced that Poli Genova had been selected to compete at the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. The song that Genova competed with, "If Love Was a Crime", was also internally selected and was presented to the public on 21 March 2016.

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Beautiful Mess" written by Borislav Milanov, Sebastian Arman, Joacim Bo Persson, Alex Omar and Alexander V. Blay. The song was performed by Kristian Kostov. On 13 March 2017, the Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that Kristian Kostov had been selected to compete at the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. The song that Kostov competed with, "Beautiful Mess", was also internally selected and was presented to the public on the same day.

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Bones" written by Borislav Milanov, Joacim Bo Persson, Trey Campbell and Dag Lundberg. The song was performed by the group Equinox. The Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) organised the internal selection process BG Song 2018 in order to select the Bulgarian entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. On 12 March 2018, BNT announced that Equinox had been selected to compete with "Bones", which was presented to the public on the same day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurovision Song Contest 2020</span> Cancelled Eurovision Song Contest edition

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the 2019 contest with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The contest was cancelled on 18 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making the first time in the contest's 64-year history that an edition was not held.

Latvia originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Still Breathing" written by Samanta Tīna and Aminata Savadogo. The song was performed by Samanta Tīna. Songwriter Aminata Savadogo represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Love Injected" where she placed sixth in the grand final of the competition. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organized the national final Supernova 2020 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Nine songs were selected to compete in the national final on 8 February 2020 where a public televote exclusively selected "Still Breathing" performed by Samanta Tīna as the winner.

Switzerland originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Répondez-moi" written by Gjon Muharremaj, Xavier Michel, Alizé Oswald and Jeroen Swinnen. The song was performed by Gjon's Tears, which is the artistic name of singer Gjon Muharremaj who was internally selected by the Swiss broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation to represent the nation at the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. "Répondez-moi" was presented to the public as the Swiss entry on 4 March 2020.

Cyprus planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Greek-American-German singer Sandro was selected by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) to represent the country with the song "Running", written by Sandro, Alfie Arcuri, Sebastian Rickards, Octavian Rasinariu, and Teo DK. To promote the entry, a music video was released and Sandro appeared at Sweden's selection pre-party to perform it live. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled in mid-March.

Albania was scheduled to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with the song "Fall from the Sky" performed by Arilena Ara. Its selected entry was chosen through the national selection competition Festivali i Këngës organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) in December 2019. To this point, the nation had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixteen times since its first entry in 2004. In March 2020, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the contest's cancellation due to the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its rapid spread across Europe.

Ireland originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Story of My Life", performed by Lesley Roy and written by herself, Catt Gravitt, Robert Marvin, and Tom Shapiro. The song and the singer were internally selected on 5 March 2020 by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) to represent the nation at the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the contest was cancelled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tears Getting Sober</span> 2020 song by Victoria Georgieva

"Tears Getting Sober" is a song recorded by Bulgarian singer and songwriter Victoria. The song was composed and written by the aforementioned artist together with Borislav Milanov, Cornelia Wiebols and Lukas Oscar Janisch.

Switzerland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Tout l'univers" written by Gjon Muharremaj, Wouter Hardy, Nina Sampermans and Xavier Michel. The song was performed by Gjon's Tears, which is the artistic name of singer Gjon Muharremaj who was internally selected by the Swiss broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation to represent the nation at the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after they were due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Répondez-moi" before the 2020 event's cancellation. "Tout l'univers" was presented to the public as the Swiss entry on 10 March 2021.

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, having internally selected Victoria Georgieva as their representative with the song "Growing Up Is Getting Old". She was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Tears Getting Sober" before the event's cancellation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Growing Up Is Getting Old (song)</span> 2021 single by Victoria

"Growing Up Is Getting Old" is a song by Bulgarian singer Victoria released as a single on 19 March 2021 by Ligna Group and Ostereo Limited. The song represented Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The song appears on her debut extended play A Little Dramatic.

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, having internally selected Intelligent Music Project to represent the country with the song "Intention". The band were announced to be the Bulgarian entrants to the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 on 25 November 2021, with "Intention" released on 7 December 2021.

References

  1. ↑ "Bulgaria Country Profile". EBU . Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  2. ↑ "Deadlines". eurovision-bulgaria.tv. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "Bulgaria is back: Participation in Eurovision 2020 confirmed". Eurovisionworld. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Bulgaria's artist reveal set for November 25…suggesting plans are well underway". Wiwibloggs. 31 October 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-11-01. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "Виктория Георгиевa ще представи България на Евровизия 2020". BGRadio (in Bulgarian). 2019-11-25. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  6. ↑ Agadellis, Stratos (2019-11-25). "Bulgaria: VICTORIA to Rotterdam!". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  7. ↑ "Bulgaria: Victoria releases Eurovision 2020 entry "Tears Getting Sober"". Wiwibloggs . 7 March 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  8. ↑ "VICTORIA's 'Tears Getting Sober' released". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 7 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  9. ↑ Groot, Evert (28 January 2020). "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  10. ↑ "Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 18 March 2020. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  11. ↑ Eurovision Song Contest (14 May 2020). "Part two of Eurovision Song Celebration" . Retrieved 3 June 2020.
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