Ukraine's entry to Eurovision 2024 revealed
The winner of the National Selection for Eurovision 2024 has been announced (collage: RBC-Ukraine)
The national selection for Eurovision 2024 took place on February 3. In the final, the duo Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona won with the song "Teresa & Maria" and will have the honor of representing Ukraine at the prestigious song contest in Malmö.
RBC-Ukraine tells you more about how the professional jury and the audience voted in the final of the National Selection, when the contest will take place and interesting facts about the winning song.
What is known about the winning song
With their song, Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona talk about the need for unity among everyone for good deeds and important victories. The singers "sincerely believe in the victory of truth," but "in a world full of noise, we will only be heard if we are united and speak in unison."
Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona (photo: instagram.com/thejerryheil)
"Ukraine has become a model of unity for the whole world. Together, we bravely looked the enemy in the face and worked as a single mechanism. It was so impressive that the whole world started helping us," says Alyona Savranenko about the track.
The reactions of people from all over the world to the song are impressive. Everyone notes the following aspects in particular:
- How beautiful the Ukrainian language is!
- Wow, it's a song about Divas!
- This song could be big in the States! Great production!
- It's a decent song and a good format. It has a great chance of success in Eurovision.
Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona (photo: instagram.com/thejerryheil)
At the same time, Ukrainians on social media criticized the song for the lyrics "Mother Teresa and the Virgin Mary are with us, walking barefoot on the ground like a blade," because the image of Teresa in history is quite controversial.
On the one hand, Mother Teresa is the world's most famous nun, the founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Love, winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, and recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church.
On the other hand, she is accused of having people dying in her numerous hospitals in unsanitary conditions, and of having large amounts of donations that she did not spend on the needy, as well as of having socialized with "world tyrants."
Instead, Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil, commenting on the accusations, claim that their song "is not biographical," and Teresa appears in the track as an image, not a person, and she is mentioned in the song only as a symbol of goodness.
How the jury and Ukrainians voted
In the Diia app, 1,167,176 Ukrainians voted for the winner of the National Selection, and the jury members: Serhiy Tanchynets, Jamala, and Andriy Danylko - also cast their votes for the participants.
The jury distributed the points as follows:
- one point - NAHABA
- two points - NAZVA
- three points - SKYLERR
- four points - Drevo
- five points - ANKA
- six points - YAKTAK
- seven points - YAGODY
- eight points - INGRET
- nine points - MELOVIN
- ten points - alyona alyona & Jerry Heil
- eleven points - Ziferblat.
Screenshot
The viewers voted as follows:
- one point - NAZVA
- two points - INGRET
- three points - Drevo
- four points - ANKA
- five points - NAHABA
- six points - SKYLERR
- seven points - YAGODY
- eight points - Ziferblat
- nine points - MELOVIN
- ten points - YAKTAK
- eleven points - alyona alyona & Jerry Heil.
Screenshot
Performances by all participants of the National Selection
YAKTAK - "Lalala"
INGRET - "Keeper"
NAZVA - "Slavic English"
ANKA - "Palala"
Drevo - "Endless chain"
MÉLOVIN - "DREAMER"
SKYLERR - "Time is running out"
Ziferblat - "Place I Call Home"
YAGODY - "Tsunamia"
NAHABA - "GLASSS"
What's next?
Ukraine will be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest for the twentieth time. The song contest will be held in May 2024 at the Malmö Arena.
The semifinals will take place on May 7 and 9, and the grand final will be held on May 11.
According to the results of the draw, Ukraine's representative will perform in the first part of the first semi-final on May 7.
The venue for Eurovision 2024 is the second largest indoor arena in Sweden, which can accommodate more than 15 thousand people. It hosts hockey matches, handball and floorball games, concerts, and other events.
It should be added that Malmö will host the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time. Previously, the contest was held in the city in 1992 and 2013 (when Ukraine was represented by Zlata Ognevich with the song "Gravity" and took the honorable third place).
Eurovision 2013 took place at the Malmö Arena (photo: Wikipedia)
The previous Eurovision Song Contest was held in Liverpool, UK, on behalf of Ukraine.
The TVORCHI band, which represented our country with the song "Heart of Steel," took sixth place in the final.
Why does Ukraine need to participate in Eurovision
Oksana Skybinska, head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Eurovision Song Contest, believes that the presence of a Ukrainian artist at this event is "extremely important."
"Especially in such a difficult time of war for us. This will allow us to convey Ukraine's voice and message to the whole world," she said.
In addition, Skybinska is sure that the competition will show that "despite the difficulties of war, Ukraine cares about music culture."
