Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

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Eurovision Song Contest 2023
CountryFlag of Georgia.svg  Georgia
National selection
Selection processArtist: The Voice Georgia
Song: Internal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 2 February 2023
Song: 16 March 2023
Selected entrant Iru
Selected song"Echo"
Selected songwriter(s)Giorgi Kukhianidze
Beni Kadagidze
Iru Khechanovi
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (12th)
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2022 •2023• 2024►

Georgia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Iru Khechanovi was selected as the Georgian representative through the fifth season of The Voice Georgia , while her competing song "Echo" was internally selected and released on 16 March 2023.

Contents

Georgia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 11, "Echo" 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 12th out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 33 points.

Background

Prior to the 2023 contest, Georgia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fourteen 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] Georgia has, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on seven occasions.

The Georgian national broadcaster, Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), broadcasts the event within Georgia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Georgia has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest both through national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2013 and 2014, GPB opted to internally select the Georgian entry, in 2015, the Georgian entry was selected via a national final, and in 2016, the artist was internally selected while the song was chosen in a national final. For their 2017 participation, the entry was selected through a national final. In 2018 the artist was internally selected. In 2019, the entry was fully selected through Georgian Idol, and the show was used again to select the singer the following year. However, after the 2020 contest was cancelled, the broadcaster reverted to an internal selection in 2021, sending the same artist set to take part in 2020. In 2022, another internal selection was made, with the band Circus Mircus and their song "Lock Me In" being chosen to represent Georgia. The entry failed to qualify from the second semi-final, placing 18th with 22 points. For their 2023 participation, the Georgian entry was selected via the reality television show The Voice Georgia . [5]

Before Eurovision

The Voice Georgia

The Georgian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was selected through the fifth season of The Voice Georgia , the Georgian version of the reality television singing competition format The Voice . GPB announced the opening of applications in late August 2022, which would close on in late September. [6] [7] The competition commenced on 8 December 2022 and concluded with a final on 2 February 2023. All shows in the competition were hosted by presenter Gvantsa Daraselia. The live shows were broadcast on 1TV and via online streaming on the broadcaster's website. [8] In the final, the 8 remaining artists performed one after the other, with no eliminations, and the winner was selected exclusively via televote. Iru Khechanovi emerged as the winner of the season and the Georgian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

Final –2 February 2023
DrawArtistSongTelevotePlace
1Tako Kakalashvili"Stand Up"10.09%7
2Lika Siradze"Heroes"13.73%4
3Giorgi Datiashvili"Gethsemane"15.72%2
4Likuna Tutisani"A Song for You"13.76%3
5Tina Datikashvili"I Didn't Know My Own Strength"10.34%6
6Kakha Aslamazishvili"Love You to Death"2.92%8
7Anka Tatarashvili"7 Rings" / "Thank U, Next"11.56%5
8 Iru Khechanovi "Euphoria"21.88%1

Song selection

Khechanovi's competing song for the contest was internally selected by GPB. Titled "Echo", it was released on 16 March 2023. [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 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Georgia has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. [10]

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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 11, following the entry from Slovenia and before the entry from San Marino. [11]

At the end of the show, Georgia was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final. This was the sixth consecutive time that Georgia failed to advance from the semi-finals.

Voting

Points awarded to Georgia

Points awarded to Georgia (Semi-final) [12]
ScoreTelevote
12 pointsFlag of Armenia.svg  Armenia
10 points
8 points
7 pointsFlag of Greece.svg  Greece
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by Georgia

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Georgian jury:

Detailed voting results from Georgia (Semi-final 2) [12]
DrawCountryTelevote
RankPoints
01Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 15
02Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia 112
03Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 14
04Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 92
05Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 83
06Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 65
07Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 56
08Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 11
09Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 38
10Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 101
11Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia
12Flag of San Marino.svg  San Marino 12
13Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 74
14Flag of Albania.svg  Albania 13
15Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 210
16Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 47
Detailed voting results from Georgia (Final) [13]
DrawCountryJuryTelevote
Juror 1Juror 2Juror 3Juror 4Juror 5RankPointsRankPoints
01Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 2524237191614
02Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 26232221202524
03Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland 12211920182025
04Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 24222419242619
05Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 22142025172220
06Flag of France.svg  France 1391815161312
07Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 85610108318
08Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 16161517131815
09Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 43716147447
10Flag of Albania.svg  Albania 23252112262326
11Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 918353865
12Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 3104696522
13Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 1512581210138
14Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 18131424151911
15Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 66923119217
16Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 2212111221
17Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia 14213210112
18Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova 1719129211583
19Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 1171111811210
20Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 10181713221792
21Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 21202514252416
22Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 51110425674
23Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 783544756
24Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 2026161871413
25Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 14152626612101
26Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 19171322232123

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midnight Gold</span> 2016 song by Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz

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The fifth season of the Georgian reality television series The Voice Georgia premiered on 8 December 2022 on 1TV. Stephane Mgebrishvili was the only coach returning from the previous season and Dato Porchkhidze returned after a two-season hiatus. Meanwhile, Sopo Toroshelidze and Dato Evgenidze debuted as coaches, and Gvantsa Daraselia debuted as the show's presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Echo (Iru song)</span> 2023 song by Iru

"Echo" is a song by Georgian singer Iru Khechanovi, released on 16 March 2023. The song represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 after Khechanovi won the fifth season of The Voice Georgia, Georgia's national selection to choose their artist for that year's Eurovision Song Contest. Competing in the second semi-final in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, the song failed to qualify for the grand final, finishing in 12th with 33 points.

Georgia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, with "Firefighter" performed by Nutsa Buzaladze. Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) internally selected the Georgian representative for the contest.

References

  1. ↑ "Georgia Country Profile". Eurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Bakker, Sietse (10 March 2009). "Georgian song lyrics do not comply with Rules". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 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.co.uk. BBC News. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  5. ↑ eurovisiontj (22 October 2018). "Georgia Idol to select both Artist and Song for Tel Aviv!".
  6. ↑ Dobordjginidze, Elene (13 August 2022). "The Voice on GPB First Channel". 1tv.ge. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  7. ↑ "ვოისი". 1tv.ge. 23 August 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  8. ↑ Granger, Anthony (8 December 2022). "🇬🇪 Georgia: The Voice Georgia – Show One Results". Eurovoix.
  9. ↑ Washak, James (2023-03-13). "🇬🇪 Georgia: Iru Khechanovi Entry "Echo" to be Released March 16". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  10. ↑ Groot, Evert (2023-01-31). "Eurovision 2023: Allocation Draw results". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  11. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Semi-Final running orders revealed!". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  12. 1 2 3 "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Liverpool 2023". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union.
  13. 1 2 "Results of the Grand Final of Liverpool 2023". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2023-05-14. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
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