Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Armenia originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The Armenian broadcaster Public Television company of Armenia organised a national final in order to select the Armenian entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. However, due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Europe, the contest was cancelled.
Background
Prior to the 2019 Contest, Armenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirteen times since its first entry in 2006. Armenia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been fourth place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 2008 with the song "Qélé, Qélé" performed by Sirusho and in 2014 with the song "Not Alone" performed by Aram Mp3. Armenia had, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on three occasions in 2011, 2018 and 2019. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest in 2012 due to long-standing tensions with then host country Azerbaijan.Before Eurovision
Depi Evratesil
Depi Evratesil is the national final organised by AMPTV to select the artist and song that will represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 5 November 2019 and 31 December 2019. From all 53 songs submitted to AMPTV, a jury panel selected 12 songs for the competition, with the selected entrants being announced on 28 January 2020. The selection jury consisted of Naira Gurjinyan, Anita Hakhverdyan, Lilia Nikoyan, Ruben Babayan, Vardan Hakobyan, Tigran Danielyan, David Tserunyan, Karen Tataryan and Anush Ter-Ghukasyan. The competing songs were released on 5 February 2020.| Artist | Song | Composer |
| Agop | "Butterflies" | Haik Solar, Arni Rock, Dzovinar Melkom Melkomian |
| Arthur Aleq | "Heaven" | Arthur Aleq |
| Athena Manoukian | "Chains on You" | Athena Manoukian, DJ Paco |
| ERNA | "Life Faces" | Zaruhi Petrosyan, Zarine Mkhitaryan |
| EVA Rida | "No Love" | EVA Rida |
| Gabriel Jeeg | "It’s Your Turn" | Gabriel Jeeg, Tigran Atayan |
| Hayk Music | "What It Is To Be In Love" | Hayk Music |
| Karina EVN | "Why?" | Edward Meison |
| Miriam Baghdasaryan | "Run Away" | Dan Cinelli, Miriam Baghdasaryan |
| Sergey & Nikolay Harutyunov | "Ha, Take a Step" | Sergey Harutyunov, Nikolay Harutyunov |
| TOKIONINE | "Save Me" | TOKIONINE, George Brainshaker, Vova Baghmanyan, Suzanne Khanzadyan |
| Vladimir Arzumanyan | "What’s Going On Mama" | Martin Mirzoyan, Grigor Kyokchyan |
Final
The final took place on 15 February 2020. Twelve songs competed with the winner decided upon by the combination of the votes from three voting groups: an international jury, an Armenian jury and televoting.At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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 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 28 January 2020, 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. Armenia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. However, due to 2019-20 Coronavirus pandemic, the contest was cancelled.After Chains On You won Depi Evratesil, and prior to Eurovision's cancellation, production changes, and changes to the song's finale, were made by Artem Valter, a Junior Eurovision winning producer, and were unveiled with the song's music video, which elicited acclaim from many fans.
In the Eurovision Song Celebration youtube broadcast in place of the heats, it was revealed that the song would have performed 14th, between Finland and Portugal