Ukraine participated in Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Gravity" written by Karen Kavaleryan and Mikhail Nekrasov. The song was performed by Zlata Ognevich. The Ukrainian broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) organised a national final in order to select the Ukrainian entry for the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden. Nineteen entries competed in the final held on 23 December 2012 and "Gravity" performed by Zlata Ognevich was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote.
Ukraine was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2013. Performing during the show in position 7, "Gravity" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May. It was later revealed that Ukraine placed third out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 140 points. In the final, Ukraine performed in position 22 and placed third out of the 26 participating countries with 213 points.
Prior to the 2013 Contest, Ukraine had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest ten times since its first entry in 2003, winning it in 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Ukraine had managed to qualify to final in every contest they participated in thus far. Ukraine 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. Ukraine's least successful result had been 19th place, which they achieved during the 2005, with the song "Razom nas bahato" performed by GreenJolly.
The Ukrainian national broadcaster, National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), broadcasts the event within Ukraine and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, NTU had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select the Ukrainian entry. Between 2011 and 2012, NTU had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ukraine, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. NTU confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest on 28 September 2012. On 2 October 2012, it was announced that NTU would organise a national final to select the 2013 Ukrainian entry.[1]
Before Eurovision[]
Evrobachennya 2013 - Natsionalyni vidbir[]
The Ukrainian national final took place on 23 December 2012 at the NTU Studios in Kyiv.[2][3] The show was hosted by Timur Myroshnychenko, Tatyana Goncharova and Tetyana Terekhova and broadcast on Pershyi Natsionalnyi as well as online via NTU's official website 1tv.com.ua and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[4]
Format[]
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry took place over two stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition by attending a scheduled audition. Twenty acts were selected and announced on 21 December 2012.[5] The second stage was the televised final, which took place on 23 December 2012 and featured the twenty acts vying to represent Ukraine in Malmö.[6] The winner was selected via the 50/50 combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. Both the public televote and the expert jury assigned scores ranging from 1 (lowest) to 20 (highest) and the entry that had the highest number of points following the combination of these scores was declared the winner. Viewers participating in the public televote during the show had the opportunity to submit a single vote per phone number for each of the participating entries via SMS. In the event of a tie, the tie was decided in favour of the entry that received the highest score from the jury.
Competing entries[]
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 1 October 2012 and 21 December 2012.[1] Auditions were held on 21 December 2012 at the NTU Headquarters in Kyiv where a seven-member selection panel reviewed the 52 received submissions and shortlisted twenty entries to compete in the national final.[5]
The final took place on 23 December 2012. Twenty entries were to compete, however nineteen entries ultimately competed after "Zeleniy dubochok" performed by Oksana Pekun and Maxim Novitskiy was withdrawn during the final. The winner, "Gravity" performed by Zlata Ognevich, was selected through the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. Ties were decided in favour of the entries that received higher scores from the jury. The jury panel consisted of Egor Benkendorf (NTU President), Walid Arfush (producer), Olena Mozgova (music producer), Yuriy Rybchynsky (poet) and Olga Navrotska (stylist and designer). 14,612 votes were registered by the televote during the show. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Matias, Oleg Vynnyk, Pavel Sokolov, Shanis and Tetyana Vorzheva performed as guests.[7]
Following Zlata Ognevich's win at the national final, it was revealed that "Gravity" would undergo a revamp before being submitted to the EBU.[8] On 27 January 2013, the composer of the song Mikhail Nekrasov opened a survey on the social network VK in order to gauge public opinion about possible changes including adding another refrain, increasing the tempo of the song (originally at 85BPM), possibly changing the backing vocalists and making modifications to the beginning and end of the song.[8] On 6 February, the survey had come to a close with the following decisions being taken under consideration by the producers:[8]
35% believe the ending is strong as it is with 25% advising that it should be performed higher and louder.
40% believe 85BPM is optimal with 24% advising an increase to 87-88BPM.
41% believe the lyrics that the backing vocalists sing "You'll never, you'll never break free from gravity" are adequate with 40% advising that Ognevich should also sing these lines.
60% believe a third refrain is required with 45% advising that the third refrain should need more development.
69% of voters believe the beginning has to be more powerful.
86% believe the current backing vocalists should not be changed with 46% believing their vocals should be more simplified so they do not overshadow Ognevich.
Nekrasov revealed that the song's main focus would remain on the instrumental, but that certain modifications have already started to take form such as changes in the backing vocals and the addition of new sounds to the instrumental.[8] In an interview with Novyi Kanal, Ognevich revealed that they have received over 300 ideas for the music video of the song from a competition they opened invited fans to submit their concepts and that Angela Lisitsa would be responsible for designing the outfit for her Eurovision performance.[8] On 11 March, the revamped version of "Gravity" was presented to the public through the release of the official music video on YouTube.[9]
At Eurovision[]
Zlata Ognevich at the first semi-final dress rehearsal in Malmö.
Ukraine was allocated to compete in the first semi-final on 14 May for a place in the final on 18 May.[10] In the first semifinal, the producers of the show decided that Ukraine would perform 7th, following Russia and preceding the Netherlands.[11] On stage, Ognevich was joined by Igor Vovkovinskiy, the tallest living person in the United States, who played the role of a fantasy giant.[12] In addition, four backing singers were also on stage: Ann Bailey, Holly Petrie, Cleveland Watkiss and Dasha Mineeva.[12]
Ukraine qualified from the first semi-final, placing 3rd and scoring 140 points.[13][14] At the first semi-final winners' press conference, Ukraine was allocated to perform in the second half of the final.[15] In the final, the producers of the show decided that Ukraine would perform 22nd, following Greece and preceding Italy.[16] Ukraine placed 3rd in the final and scored 214 points.[17]
Ukraine
