Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

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Georgia in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Participating broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB)
CountryFlag of Georgia.svg  Georgia
Selection processInternal selection
Announcement dateArtist: 19 March 2020
Song: 15 March 2021
Competing entry
Song"You"
Artist Tornike Kipiani
Songwriters
  • Tornike Kipiani
Placement
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (16th)
Participation chronology
◄202020212022►

Georgia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "You" written and performed by Tornike Kipiani, who was internally selected in March 2020 by the Georgian broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) to compete at the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands after he was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Take Me as I Am" before the event's cancellation. The Georgian entry, "You", was presented to the public on 15 March 2021.

Contents

Georgia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 20 May 2021. Performing during the show in position 10, "You" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Georgia placed sixteenth out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 16 points.

Background

Prior to the 2021 Contest, Georgia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirteen times since their first entry in 2007. [1] The nation's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been ninth place, which was achieved on two occasions: in 2010 with the song "Shine" performed by Sofia Nizharadze and in 2011 with the song "One More Day" performed by Eldrine. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest in 2009 after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) rejected the Georgian entry, "We Don't Wanna Put In", for perceived political references to Vladimir Putin who was the Russian Prime Minister at the time. [2] [3] The withdrawal and fallout was tied to tense relations between Georgia and then host country Russia, which stemmed from the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. [4] Following the introduction of semi-finals, Georgia has, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on five occasions. In 2019, Georgia failed to qualify to the final with the song "Keep On Going" performed by Oto Nemsadze.

The Georgian national broadcaster, Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), broadcasts the event within Georgia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. GPB confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest on 19 March 2020. [5] Georgia has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest both through national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2019 and 2020, the reality television show Georgian Idol was used to choose the artist, song or both. For their 2021 participation, GPB opted to internally select the Georgian entry.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 19 March 2020, the broadcaster announced that they had internally selected Tornike Kipiani to represent Georgia in Rotterdam. [5] Kipiani worked with Georgian producer Aleko Berdzenishvili to record his song at the Bravo Records Studios in Tbilisi. [6] The song "You", written and composed by Tornike Kipiani himself, premiered on 15 March 2021 together with the music video on the GPB First Channel programme Dghis kodi, hosted by David Aladashvili and Natalia Kutateladze. [7] [8] The music video was directed by Kipiani and Temo Kvirkvelia. [9]

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 in 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. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, was used. Georgia was placed into the second semi-final, which was held on 20 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. [10]

Once all the competing songs for the 2021 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. Georgia was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Serbia and before the entry from Albania. [11]

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Georgia on GPB First Channel with commentary by Nika Lobiladze. [12] [13] The Georgian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Georgian jury during the final, was 2019 Georgian Eurovision entrant Oto Nemsadze.

Semi-final

Georgia performed tenth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Serbia and preceding the entry from Albania. At the end of the show, Georgia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Georgia placed sixteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 16 points: 15 points from the televoting and 1 point from the juries.

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 a diversity in gender and age represented. The judges assess each entry based on the performances during the second Dress Rehearsal of each show, which takes place the night before each live show, against a set of criteria including: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. [14] Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially. Jury members should also vote independently, with no discussion of their vote permitted with other jury members. [15] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the grand final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form. [16] [17]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Georgia and awarded by Georgia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Georgia

Points awarded to Georgia (Semi-final 2) [18]
ScoreTelevoteJury
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 pointsFlag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria
1 pointFlag of Denmark.svg  Denmark Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria

Points awarded by Georgia

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Georgian jury: [16] [17]

Detailed voting results from Georgia (Semi-final 2) [18]
DrawCountryJuryTelevote
Juror AJuror BJuror CJuror DJuror ERankPointsRankPoints
01Flag of San Marino.svg  San Marino 98151211101112
02Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 1096888312
03Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 547755614
04Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 15161214915210
05Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 7656106513
06Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 1413915121415
07Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova 1312169131316
08Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 434344747
09Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 11101410792101
10Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia
11Flag of Albania.svg  Albania 8111011161192
12Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 2211221011
13Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 352433838
14Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 6711567456
15Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 16151316151665
16Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland 1132111283
17Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 1214813141274
Detailed voting results from Georgia (Final) [19]
DrawCountryJuryTelevote
Juror AJuror BJuror CJuror DJuror ERankPointsRankPoints
01Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 15201418261816
02Flag of Albania.svg  Albania 19231922232322
03Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 13161511151614
04Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 14132020181718
05Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 25261626172174
06Flag of Malta.svg  Malta 1210971610112
07Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 541633821
08Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 20222123202425
09Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 22172625192226
10Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 212522152120112
11Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland 2221221011
12Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 33710856101
13Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 17181721221923
14Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova 24242317252692
15Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 23151113121517
16Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 119259131215
17Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 7741247413
18Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 46851083210
19Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 655454756
20Flag of France.svg  France 26121016111365
21Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan 8146266583
22Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1619121991419
23Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 98181479224
24Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1133111238
25Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1011138141120
26Flag of San Marino.svg  San Marino 18212424242547

References

  1. "Georgia Country Profile". EBU . Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. Bakker, Sietse (10 March 2009). "Georgian song lyrics do not comply with Rules". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. Jonze, Tim (11 March 2009). "Eurovision 2009: Georgia pulls out of contest over 'Putin song'". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. "Putin jibe picked for Eurovision". BBC News . 19 February 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Georgia: GPB confirms Tornike Kipiani as Eurovision 2021 Georgian act". ESCToday. 19 March 2020.
  6. "Teaser of Georgian ESC contender's song You released". 1TV. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  7. "GPB premiered Georgian ESC contender's song". 1TV. 15 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  8. "ევროვიზიის სიმღერის პრეზენტაცია - სტუმრები: თორნიკე ყიფიანი, მუსიკოსი ნათია უზნაძე, ევროვიზიის პროდიუსერი". 1TV (in Georgian). 15 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  9. "Tornike Kipiani takes 'You' to Rotterdam". eurovision.tv. 15 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  10. Groot, Evert (17 November 2020). "2020 Semi-Final line-up to stay for 2021". eurovision.tv. Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  11. "Semi-Final running orders revealed". Eurovision.tv. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  12. "საქართველოს პირველი არხი – 1TV". 1tv.ge (in Georgian). Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  13. "პიკის საათი – "ევროვიზია- 2021"-ის პირველი რეპეტიცია". 1TV (in Georgian). Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  14. "Voting–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 16 May 2019. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  15. "Fairness–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 21 February 2018. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  16. 1 2 "Juries in the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  17. 1 2 "Juries in the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  18. 1 2 3 "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  19. 1 2 "Results of the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.