Ukraine was represented by Tina Karol in theEurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Show Me Your Love". The song has an up-tempo pop rhythm and is written and composed by Tina Karol. Tina Karol is 20 years old and was born in Magadan Oblast, Russia. She has graduated from music school and Kiev music institute. Tina has participated in numerous different youth, regional and Jewish singing contests and was the soloist of the national ensemble of Military Forces of Ukraine. She also took part in different musicals and theatrical shows. She reached 2nd place at the Russian/Latvia festival "New Wave". Tina Karol, under the name Tatiana Liberman, tried to reach Eurovision in 2005, but did not progress from the semi-finals.
Before Eurovision
Ty-Zirka
"Ty-Zirka" was the Ukrainian version of the Irish show "You're A Star”. A total of four shows were held at the NTU TV Studios in Kiev, hosted by Maria Orlova and Igor Posypaiko. The results of each of the four shows were determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting. In the first three shows, the three lowest-placed artists were eliminated from the competition.
Competing artists
Interested performers were able to attend live auditions that were held in the six cities of Ukraine: Chernihiv, Poltava, Dnipro, Odessa, Chernivtsi and Kiev. 12 performers were selected to compete in the national final.
Show 1
The first show of the competition took place on 21 January 2006 and featured all twelve competing artists performing cover versions of Ukrainian hit songs.
Show 2
The second show of the competition took place on 28 January 2006 and featured the remaining eight competing artists performing worldwide hit songs. Only two artists were eliminated due to the withdrawal of one of the contestants, Olga Sviridenko.
Show 3
The third show of the competition aired on 4 February 2006 and featured the remaining eight competing artists performing cover versions of past Eurovision Song Contest entries.
Show 4
The fourth show, the final, took place on 11 March 2006 and featured the three finalist artists each performing their potential Eurovision entries. "I am Your Queen" performed by Tina Karol received the most votes from the juries and the public televote, thus being selected to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Kirill Turichenko and Irina Rosenfeld accumulated 21 points but it was Irina who finished 2nd following the televote.
Preparation
After winning the national final, a revamped version of "I am Your Queen", titled "Show Me Your Love", was presented for the contest.
At Eurovision
Because Ukraine placed 19th at the 2005 contest, Tina was forced to compete in the Eurovision semi-final, performing 15th, following Turkey and preceding the Finland. She qualified to the final, placing 7th in the semi-final and scoring 146 points. In the final, country placed 7th, scoring 145 points, so Ukraine automatically qualified for the final in the 2007 contest.
