Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018


Malta participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, with a song selected through the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services.

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Malta has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 30 times since its first entry in 1971. Malta briefly competed in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1970s before withdrawing for sixteen years. The country had, to this point, competed in every contest since returning in 1991. Malta's best placing in the contest thus far was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 2002 with the song "7th Wonder" performed by Ira Losco and in 2005 with the song "Angel" performed by Chiara.
For the 2018 Contest, the Maltese national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services, organised the selection process for the nation's entry. Malta has selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure Malta Eurovision Song Contest, a method that was continued for their 2018 participation.

Before Eurovision

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The show aired on the 3rd of February and was presented by the Maltese radio-presenter Colin Fitz.

Format

The competition consisted of sixteen entries competing in a national final which took place on 3 February 2018. The winner was decided by 50% televote and 50% jury voting.

Competing entries

On September 15, PBS announced the list of the 30 songs that had qualified for the last stage before the final. During the 27th, 29th and 30 September these songs competed behind closed doors, where a jury decided which 16 songs would qualify for the televised final. They were revealed on 11 October 2017.
On January 19, a new version of "Dai Laga" was released, replacing the previous edition which was said to have breached EBU regulations due to it including some instrumental music that may have been bought via the internet by the composer. PBS asked the composer to remove the stem or provide a revised instrumentation.

Final

The final was on 3 February 2018. It took place at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali, Malta. All of the sixteen competing songs were released on 4 January 2018. The winner, Christabelle Borg with the song Taboo, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. Each point given during the televoting results equated to approximately 37 phone votes.
The five members of the jury that evaluated the entries during the final consisted of:
DrawArtistSongSongwriterJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
1AIDAN"Dai Laga"Aidan Cassar348424
2Miriana Conte"Rocket"Cyprian Cassar, Muxu951412
3Jasmine Abela"Supernovas"Charlie Mason, Jonas Thander256318
4Matthew Anthony"Call 2morrow"Jonas Gladnikoff, Tom Wiklund, Peder Eriksson266327
5Danica Muscat"One Step at a Time"John Ballard, Ruth Mussie, Jerusalem Yemane, Irena Krstva, Kian Fakhary21316
6Dwett"Breaking Point"Elton Zarb, Muxu3121510
7Lawrence Gray"Love Renegade"Cyprian Cassar, Muxu34715
8Richard & Joe Micallef"Song for Dad"Cyprian Cassar, Richard Micallef3167982
9Tiziana Calleja"First Time"Tina Stenberg481214
10Eleanor Cassar"Back to Life"Jonas Gladnikoff, Michael James Down1917365
11Rhiannon"Beyond Blue Horizons"Rhiannon Micallef, Cyprian Cassar951411
12Brooke Borg"Heart of Gold"Borislav Milanov, Dag Lundberg, Niklas Lif, Brooke Borg3747843
13Christabelle Borg"Taboo"Johnny Sanchez,, Christabelle Borg, Muxu60731331
14Deborah C"Turn It Up"Christian Schneider, Aidan O'Connor, Sara Biglert, Erik Grönwall0131313
15Avenue Sky"We Can Run"Jonas Gladnikoff, Matthew Ker, Glen Vella115169
16Petra"Evolution"Elton Zarb, Muxu276336

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 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. Malta was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
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. Malta was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Poland and preceding the entry from Hungary.

Semi-final

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.

Points awarded to Malta

Points awarded by Malta

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Maltese jury: