Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Equinox were internally selected by the Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on 12 March 2018 to perform the song "Bones" that represented the nation at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.
Prior to the 2018 contest, Bulgaria had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven 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, together with their 2007 and 2016 entries it is the only Bulgarian entry to have qualified to the Eurovision final; the nation had failed to qualify to the final with their other eight entries.
The Bulgarian national broadcaster, Bulgarian National Television (BNT), broadcasts the event within Bulgaria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, BNT had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select the Bulgarian entry. After consistently being present for every contest since their debut in 2005, the Bulgarian broadcaster announced in November 2013 that the country would not participate in the 2014 contest citing an expensive participation fee and limited funds due to budget cuts as reasons for their decision.[2] Limited finances also prevented the broadcaster from returning in 2015.[3][4] After a two-year absence, BNT confirmed Bulgaria's return at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.[5]
Before Eurovision[]
Internal selection[]
On 8 November 2017, the broadcaster had announced via their official Twitter account that they would internally select the Bulgarian entry for the competition.[6] On 14 November 2017, BNT opened a submission period for songwriters and record labels to submit their entries until 29 December 2017. Songs were required to contain partial Bulgarian involvement and each songwriter and label was only able to submit one entry.[7] The broadcaster received a record breaking 202 submissions and thirteen "workable projects" by the end of the deadline. The song titles of the thirteen projects were announced on 30 December 2017.[8]
The thirteen projects were then evaluated by four focus groups that featured music and television industry experts, press representatives, Bulgarian jury members and voluntary Eurovision fans, and the winner was determined in late January 2018 from three shortlisted projects.[9][10] On 12 March 2018, BNT announced that the broadcaster had internally selected the group Equinox to represent Bulgaria in Lisbon with the song "Bones", which was presented through the release of the official lyric video via the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv. The group was formed specifically for the Eurovision Song Contest and was composed of five members: three from Bulgaria (Zhana Bergendorff, Georgi Simeonov and Vlado Mihailov) and two from the United States (Johnny Manuel and Trey Campbell).[11] As in 2016 and 2017, the song was written by members of the songwriting team Symphonics International, Borislav Milanov, Joacim Bo Persson, Trey Campbell and Dag Lundberg.
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 29 January 2018, 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 first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[12]
Once all the competing songs for the 2018 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. Bulgaria was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Estonia and preceding the entry from Macedonia.[13]
Semi-final[]
Bulgaria performed tenth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Estonia and preceding the entry from Macedonia, closing the first half of the show. At the end of the night, Bulgaria was one of the ten countries announced as qualifying for the grand final, making it their fourth qualification overall and their third in a row since returning to the contest in 2016. Following the semi-final, Equinox participated in a press conference with the other qualifying countries, during which they drew to see in which half of the final they would participate. Bulgaria was drawn to participate in the second half of the final. It was later revealed that Bulgaria placed seventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 177 points: 70 points from the televoting and 107 points from the juries.[14]
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 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. 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.
Bulgaria
Azerbaijan
Iceland
Albania
Belgium
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Israel
Belarus
Estonia
Macedonia
Croatia
Austria
Greece
Finland
Armenia
Switzerland
Ireland
Cyprus
Ukraine
Spain
Slovenia
Norway
Portugal
United Kingdom
Serbia
Germany
France
Denmark
Australia
Moldova
Sweden
Hungary
Netherlands
Italy