Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019


Georgia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The Georgian Public Broadcaster announced that they will choose their entrant and entry through the means of the talent show Georgian Idol.

Background

Prior to the 2019 Contest, Georgia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest ten times since their first entry in 2007. The nation's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been ninth place, which was achieved on two occasions: in 2010 with the song "Shine" performed by Sofia Nizharadze and in 2011 with the song "One More Day" performed by Eldrine. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest in 2009 after the European Broadcasting Union rejected the Georgian entry, "We Don't Wanna Put In", for perceived political references to Vladimir Putin who was the Russian Prime Minister at the time. The withdrawal and fallout was tied to tense relations between Georgia and then host country Russia, which stemmed from the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Following the introduction of semi-finals, Georgia has, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on four occasions. In, Georgia failed to qualify to the final with the song "Keep the Faith" performed by Tamara Gachechiladze. Georgia also failed to qualify in 2018.
The Georgian national broadcaster, Georgian Public Broadcaster, broadcasts the event within Georgia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. GPB confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 2 October 2017. Georgia has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest both through national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2013 and 2014, GPB opted to internally select the Georgian entry, in 2015, the Georgian entry was selected via a national final, and in 2016, the artist was internally selected while the song was chosen in a national final. For their 2017 participation, the entry was selected through a national final. In 2018 the artist was internally selected. In 2019, the artist will be selected by "Georgian Idol"

Before Eurovision

Georgian Idol was used to select their artist for 2019. The final was held on the 3rd of March. Songwriters of any nationality were able to submit their song entries from 21 December 2018 to 1 February 2019. GPB received over 200 entries, and a seven-member selection committee cut down all of the submissions to three songs. The selected songs were performed by the final four finalists. From the selected compositions, the candidates will select their respective entries for the national final.

''Georgian Idol''

Contestant progress in the live shows

Colour key

Shows

Auditions (5–19 January 2019)
Second qualification round (19 January 2019)
Live show 1 (26 January 2019)
Live show 2 (2 February 2019)
Live show 3 (9 February 2019)
Live show 4 (16 February 2019)
Semi-final (23 February 2019)
Final (3 March 2019)

Promotion

Nemsadze made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Sul Tsin Iare" as the Georgian Eurovision entry. On 6 April, he performed during the Eurovision in Concert event at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, hosted by Cornald Maas and Marlayne, to over 4500 spectators.

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 2019, 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. Georgia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2019 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. Georgia was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from Belgium and preceding the entry from Australia.

Semi-final

Georgia performed eleventh in the first semi-final, following the entry from Belgium and preceding the entry from Australia. At the end of the show, Georgia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Georgia placed fourteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 62 points: 33 points from the televoting and 29 points from the juries.

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 will be released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to Georgia

Points awarded by Georgia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Georgian jury: