Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025

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Ukraine in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2025
Eurovision Song Contest 2025
Participating broadcaster Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (Suspilne)
CountryFlag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine
Selection process Vidbir 2025
Selection date8 February 2025
Competing entry
Song"Bird of Pray"
Artist Ziferblat
Songwriters
  • Valentyn Leshchynskyi
  • Danylo Leshchynskyi
  • Fedir Khodakov
Participation chronology
◄20242025

Ukraine will be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "Bird of Pray", written by Danylo Leshchynskyi, Fedir Khodakov and Valentyn Leshchynskyi, and performed by themselves as Ziferblat. The Ukrainian participating broadcaster, Suspilne , organised the national final Vidbir2025 in order to select its entry for the contest.

Contents

Background

Prior to the 2025 contest, the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) until 2016, and Suspilne since 2017, had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Ukraine 19 times since NTU's first entry in 2003. [1] It had won the contest on three occasions: in 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana, in 2016 with "1944" by Jamala, and in 2022 with the song "Stefania" performed by Kalush Orchestra. It 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. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Ukraine had managed to qualify to final in every contest it participated in thus far. Its least successful result had been 24th place, which was achieved in 2017 with the song "Time" performed by O.Torvald. In 2024, "Teresa & Maria" performed by Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil placed third.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Suspilne organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Suspilne confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2025 contest on 10 September 2024. [2] In the past, the broadcaster had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select its entry. Between 2022 and 2024, Suspilne had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. The method was continued to select its 2025 entry. [3]

Before Eurovision

Vidbir2025

Vidbir 2025 was the ninth edition of Vidbir which selected the Ukrainian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The competition consisted of a final 8 February 2025 and took place in Kyiv. [4] [5]

Format

The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry took place over three stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition either through an online submission form. Twenty acts were longlisted and announced on 11 December 2024. [6] The second stage will involve the longlisted artists attending a scheduled audition. Up to nine acts will be selected, while an additional act will be selected from an online selection. [7] The third stage was the televised final, which took place in February 2025 and featured the acts vying to represent Ukraine in Basel. The winner was selected via the combination of votes from a public vote and an expert jury, the latter of which its members will be selected by the public. [8]

Competing entries

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries via an online submission form which accepted entries between 17 September 2024 and 10 November 2024. Only artists that had not performed in events organized by/located in the territory of "the aggressor state" or illegally entered the territory of Crimea since 15 March 2014 were allowed to apply for the competition, and songs performed in the "language of the aggressor state" were prohibited. [8] [9] Tina Karol, who represented Ukraine in 2006, was assigned as the new music producer of the competition and was the lead in reviewing the 374 received submissions. 20 entries were longlisted, of which their artists were announced on 11 December 2024. [6] [10] Auditions were held in late December 2024 where nine entries were shortlisted to compete in the national final. On 20 December 2024, the nine selected competing acts were announced. [11] A public online vote among the non-qualifying entries from the auditions will be held by 17 January 2025 to determine an additional competing act. [12]

Longlisted artists
Online wildcard 13-17 January 2025 [14] [15]
DrawArtistSongSongwriter(s)VotesPlace
1Enleo"Supernova"
  • Oleksandr Biliak
  • Mykyta Leontiev
41,6492
2Muayad"Amnesia"
  • Evhen Zapoteev
  • Muayad Abdelrakhim
28,1574
3Brykulets"Kryshtali" (Кришталi)
  • Ivan Ischenko
10,5288
4Ranrawi"Anymore"
  • Kuzianna Fidelska
3,43110
5Grisana"Kohoney"
13,6377
6Slukhai Sashu"Zhyvy" (Живи)
  • Oleksandra Blyzniukova
  • Oleksandra Honcharuk
19,6466
7Mon Fia"Dive Inside"
  • Hannes Volz
  • Michael C. Fischer
  • Sofiia Semeniuk
24,0955
8Yagody"BramaYa" (БрамаЯ)
  • Viktoriia Solovyiuk
  • Serhii Svirskyi
  • Teymuraz Gogitidze
31,6763
9Starykova Hrystyna"Rise"
  • Hrystyna Starykova
9,6529
10 Fiїnka "Kultura" (Культура)
  • Iryna Vyhovanets
  • Oles Mykhailovych
79,6991
Vidbir2025 participating entries
ArtistSongSongwriter(s)
Abiie"Dim" (Дім)
  • Nataliya Shevchenko-Korovina
DK Enerhetyk "Sil'" (Cіль)
  • Vsevolod Shutka
  • Oleksandr Folyanskyi
  • Yakiv Marnyi
Fiїnka "Kultura" (Культура)
  • Iryna Vyhovanets
  • Oles Mykhailovych
Future Culture"Waste My Time"
  • Andrii Lytvynenko
  • Andrii Shulakov
  • Daria Remez
  • Oleksii Rudenko
  • Oleksii Savienkov
Khayat "Honor"
  • Andrii Khayat
Krylata"Stay True"
  • Anastasiia Zavadska
  • Vladyslav Malyi
Masha Kondratenko "No Time to Cry"
  • Masha Kondratenko
  • Roman Grisiuk
  • Stanyslav Malikov
Molodi "My Sea"
  • Kyrylo Rohovyi
  • Andrii Parfenov
  • Anton Chilibi
  • Ivan Stepanishchev
Vlad Sheryf"Wind of Change"
  • Vlad Sheriff
  • Nikita Shkuropat
Ziferblat "Bird of Pray"
  • Valentyn Leshchynskyi
  • Danylo Leshchynskyi
  • Fedir Khodakov

Jury member selection

The three members of the expert jury for Vidbir2025 were selected among nine candidates via a public online vote on the Diia application, open to all Ukrainian citizens from 16 to 23 December 2024. [16] A total of 442,374 votes were cast, with Jamala, Serhiy Tanchynets  [ uk ] and Kateryna Pavlenko being determined as the jurors. [17]

Vidbir 2025 judges
ESC2016 winner's press conference 02 (cropped).jpg
Jamala
Serhiy Tanchynets TorontoBWF.jpg
Serhiy Tanchynets
Kateryna Pavlenko, UNICEF Youth Awards Ceremony (cropped).jpg
Kateryna Pavlenko
Jury member selection 16-23 December 2024
CandidateOccupation(s)ScoreResult
Andrii Hutsuliak Winner of Vidbir2023 and Ukrainian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 as part of Tvorchi 3.07%Not selected
Anna SvyrydovaTelevision and radio presenter1.88%Not selected
Dmytro Shurov Musician, music producer of 2023 and 2024 editions of Vidbir 11.48%Not selected
Dmytro ZezulinLead singer and composer of the band Latexfauna  [ uk ]2.91%Not selected
Jamala Winner of Vidbir2016 and of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 35.28%Selected
Kateryna Pavlenko Winner of Vidbir2020 and Ukrainian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 as part of Go_A 11.84%Selected
Katya TsarykFilm director and screenwriter3.31%Not selected
Oleh Psiuk Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 as part of Kalush Orchestra 7.12%Not selected
Sasha Chemerov Musician, singer and producer2.88%Not selected
Serhiy Tanchynets  [ uk ]Music producer, singer and musician20.24%Selected

Final

The final took place on 8 February 2025. In addition to the competing entries, the guest performers included Alyona Alyona, Jamala, Jerry Heil, Kateryna Pavlenko, Mélovin, Ruslana, Tymofii Muzychuk, Tina Karol and Tvorchi with "Usmikhnysia meni", Ruslana with "Zakrutyla", Badstreet Boys with "Eurosong", and Artem Kotenko and Svitlana Tarabarova with "Hear Me Now". [18] Ziferblat were declared the winners with the song "Bird of Pray". [19]

Final 8 February 2025 [20] [19]
DrawArtistSongJuryPublic voteTotalPlace
VotesPoints
1Vlad Sheryf"Wind of Change"12,3021210
2Abiie"Dim"25,595359
3 Molodi "My Sea"770,8859162
4Future Culture"Waste My Time"52,338278
5 Masha Kondratenko "No Time to Cry"862,4398163
6 Khayat "Honor"1044,2996164
7 Fiїnka "Kultura"652,8587135
8Krylata"Stay True"411,726487
9 Ziferblat "Bird of Pray"990,39010191
10 DK Enerhetyk "Sil"319,556586

Notes

  1. Teslenko withdrew from the competition before the online voting round was opened. [13]

References

  1. "Ukraine Country Profile". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  2. Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (10 September 2024). "Ukraine: Suspilne confirms participation at Eurovision 2025". ESCToday. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  3. Granger, Anthony (13 September 2024). "Ukraine: Tina Karol Music Producer for Vidbir 2025". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  4. "Ukraine 2025: 'Vidbir' returns, with a public vote to finalise the lineup". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 17 September 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  5. Veen, Renske ten (13 November 2024). "Ukraine: Polina Dashkova, Ziferblat and ENLEO among the acts submitting Vidbir 2025 bids". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Суспільне оголосило лонглист Нацвідбору-2025" [Suspilne announced the longlist of the National Selection 2025] (in Ukrainian). Suspilne. 11 December 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  7. "Ukraine: Vidbir 2025 Lineup Revealed!". ESC United. 12 December 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  8. 1 2 "ПРАВИЛА національного відбору на участь у Пісенному конкурсі Євробачення – 2025 -" [Rules for the national selection to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025]. Євробачення 2024 (in Ukrainian). 17 September 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  9. Conte, Davide (17 September 2024). "🇺🇦 Ukraine: Submission Window for Vidbir 2025 Opens". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  10. Thomson, Euan (13 November 2024). "374 songs submitted to Vidbir 2025". That Eurovision Site. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  11. Andersson, Rafaell (20 December 2024). "Ukraine: Nine Finalists Selected for Vidbir 2025". Eurovoix. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  12. Farren, Neil (11 December 2024). "Ukraine: Vidbir 2025 Longlist Revealed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  13. "TESLENKO вибуває з переліку учасників лонглиста Нацвідбору-2025" [TESLENKO is eliminated from the list of participants of the long list of the National Selection 2025] (in Ukrainian). Suspilne. 27 December 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  14. Horlach, Polina (2 January 2025). ""Євробачення-2025": порядкові номери учасників, що претендують на місце десятого фіналіста нацвідбору" [Eurovision 2025: running order slots of the participants competing for the place of the tenth finalist in the national selection] (in Ukrainian). Suspilne. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  15. "Євробачення-2025: Суспільне назвало переможця голосування на місце фіналіста Нацвідбору". Suspilne (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  16. Farren, Neil (16 December 2024). "Ukraine: Vidbir 2025 Jury Voting Opened". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  17. "Українці обрали журі Нацвідбору на Євробачення-2025: трійка лідерів" [Ukrainians selected the jury of the national selection for Eurovision-2025: the top-three] (in Ukrainian). Suspilne. 23 December 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  18. Horlach, Polina (6 February 2025). "Відкриття фіналу нацвідбору-2025: на глядачів чекає виступ від 9 представників України на "Євробаченні" різних років" [Opening of the final of the 2025 national selection: the audience will be treated to a performance by 9 representatives of Ukraine at Eurovision of different years] (in Ukrainian). Suspilne Kultura. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  19. 1 2 "Гурт Ziferblat — переможці Нацвідбору на Євробачення-2025" [Ziferblat band — winners of the National Selection for Eurovision 2025]. suspilne.media (in Ukrainian). Suspilne. 8 February 2025. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
  20. Stephenson, James (23 January 2025). "Ukraine: Vidbir 2025 Songs Released, Running Order Confirmed". Eurovoix News. Retrieved 24 January 2025.