Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Country	Malta
National selection
Selection process	Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Selection date(s)	Quarter-finals: 13 January 2023 20 January 2023 27 January 2023 Semi-final: 9 February 2023 Final: 11 February 2023
Selected entrant	The Busker
Selected song	"Dance (Our Own Party)"
Selected songwriter(s)	David Meilak Jean Paul Borg Sean Meachen Matthew James Borg Michael Joe Cini
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (15th)
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2022 • 2023 • 2024►

Malta participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Dance (Our Own Party)" performed by the band The Busker. The Maltese entry for the 2023 contest was selected through the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). The competition consisted of three quarter-final rounds, a semi-final round and a final, held between 13 January and 11 February 2023, where "Dance (Our Own Party)" performed by the Busker eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a five-member jury and a public televote.

Malta was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 2, "Dance (Our Own Party)" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Malta placed last out of the 15 participating countries in the semi-final with 3 points.

Background

Prior to the 2023 contest, Malta had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-four 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 competed in every contest between their return in 1991, and 2022. Malta's best placing in the contest thus far was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in

The Maltese national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), broadcast the event within Malta and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. In 2022, Malta selected their entry through a national final procedure, a method that was continued for their 2023 participation.^[2][3]

Before Eurovision

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition consisted of five shows which commenced on 13 January 2023 and concluded with a final held on 11 February 2023. All shows were broadcast on Television Malta (TVM) as well as on the broadcaster's website tvmnews.mt.^[4]

Format

The competition consisted of three phases. The first phase was the three quarter-finals on 13, 20 and 27 January 2023 where 40 songs competed and the top twenty-four entries qualified. The second phase was the semi-final on 9 February 2023 where the top sixteen entries qualified to compete in the third phase, the final on 11 February 2023. Five judges evaluated the songs during the three phases and the results of the public televote had a weighting equal to the total votes of the judges in the final result. Ties in the final results were broken based on the entry which received the higher score from the judges.^[5][6] Monetary prizes were also given to the competing artists: the winner received €10,000, the runner-up received €4,000, the second runner-up received €2,000 and the remaining artists received €300 each.^[3] Former Maltese Eurovision entrants Paul Giordimaina (1991), Moira Stafrace (1994), Mike Spiteri (1995) and Ludwig Galea (2004) were appointed as consultants of the competition in order to offer support to the artists.^[7] The five members of the jury that evaluated the entries during all phases consisted of:^[8]

• Sergio Gor – Publisher
• Corazon Mizzi – Singer-songwriter
• Matthew Bugeja – Conductor
• Antoine Farrugia – Artistic director of Notte Bianca
• Dorothy Bezzina – Singer

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 17 October 2022 and 31 October 2022.^[9] Songwriters from any nationality were able to submit songs as long as the artist were Maltese or possessed Maltese citizenship. Artists were able to submit as many songs as they wished, however, they could only compete with one in the quarter-finals. 2022 Maltese Eurovision entrant Emma Muscat was unable to compete due to a rule that prevented the previous winner from competing in the following competition.^[3] The 40 songs selected to compete in the quarter-finals were announced on 21 November 2022. Among the selected competing artists are former Eurovision entrants Fabrizio Faniello who represented Malta in the 2001 and 2006 contests, Jessika who represented San Marino in the 2018 contest, Francesca Sciberras who represented Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and Eliana Gomez Blanco who represented Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019.^[10]

Shows

Quarter-finals

The three quarter-finals took place at the TVM studios in

The Busker made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Dance (Our Own Party)" as the Maltese Eurovision entry. On 1 April, the Busker performed during the Polish Eurovision Party, which was held at the Praga Centrum in Warsaw, Poland and hosted by Poli Genova and Konrad Zemlik.^[28][29] Between 2 and 4 April, the band took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel and performed during the Israel Calling event held at Hangar 11 of the Tel Aviv Port.^[30] On 8 April, the band performed during the PrePartyES event, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain and hosted by Victor Escudero, SuRie and Ruslana.^[31] The Busker also performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held on 15 April at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hila Noorzai, and at the London Eurovision Party, which was held on 16 April at the Here at Outernet venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.^[32][33]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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 2, following the entry from Norway and before the entry from Serbia.^[35]

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Malta on TVM.^[36][37] The Maltese spokesperson, who announced the top 12 points awarded by the Maltese jury during the final, was Ryan Hili.

Semi-final

The Busker took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 3 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional back-up juries of each country watched and voted in a result used if any issues with public televoting occurred.^[38]

The Maltese performance featured the members of the Busker wearing sweaters and interacting with several props, including a park bench, a lamp post, a tiny house, a car and cardboard cut-outs of former Maltese Eurovision acts, in three parts with the background LED screens projecting colorful graphics. Towards the end of the performance, the band faced away from the audience with their sweaters being replaced by silver sequins.^[39][40]

At the end of the show, Malta was not announced as having finished in the top 10 and did not qualify for the grand final. It was later revealed that Malta placed fifteenth (last) in the semi-final, receiving a total of 3 points.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public.^[41] Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. 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, each member of a national jury may only take part in the panel once every three years, and no jury was permitted to discuss of their vote with other members or 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 in an anonymised form as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.^[42]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Malta and awarded by Malta in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Malta

Points awarded to Malta (Semi-final 1)[43] Score Televote 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points  Israel 1 point Rest of the World Points awarded by Malta Points awarded by Malta (Semi-final 1)[43] Score Televote 12 points  Sweden 10 points  Norway 8 points  Israel 7 points  Finland 6 points   Switzerland 5 points  Serbia 4 points  Portugal 3 points  Ireland 2 points  Czech Republic 1 point  Moldova Points awarded by Malta (Final)[44] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Italy  Sweden 10 points  Sweden  Italy 8 points  Finland  Finland 7 points  Norway  Israel 6 points  Israel   Switzerland 5 points  Ukraine  Cyprus 4 points  United Kingdom  Lithuania 3 points  Albania  Portugal 2 points  Serbia  Norway 1 point  France  Austria Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Maltese jury: Emil Calleja Bayliss Gerard James Borg Ludwig Galea Brooke Borg Moira Stafrace Detailed voting results from Malta (Semi-final 1)[43] Draw Country Televote Rank Points 01  Norway 2 10 02  Malta 03  Serbia 6 5 04  Latvia 14 05  Portugal 7 4 06  Ireland 8 3 07  Croatia 12 08   Switzerland 5 6 09  Israel 3 8 10  Moldova 10 1 11  Sweden 1 12 12  Azerbaijan 13 13  Czech Republic 9 2 14  Netherlands 11 15  Finland 4 7 Detailed voting results from Malta (Final)[44] Draw Country Jury Televote Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points 01  Austria 17 4 13 12 11 10 1 13 02  Portugal 6 22 18 5 7 8 3 25 03   Switzerland 4 5 8 7 4 5 6 11 04  Poland 20 25 17 23 14 22 12 05  Serbia 19 26 24 26 12 21 9 2 06  France 15 17 7 15 18 15 10 1 07  Cyprus 9 6 12 6 6 6 5 14 08  Spain 16 24 19 14 25 20 26 09  Sweden 3 1 1 9 1 1 12 2 10 10  Albania 22 15 20 11 19 17 8 3 11  Italy 1 7 4 1 2 2 10 1 12 12  Estonia 21 23 23 17 24 25 24 13  Finland 2 2 2 4 5 3 8 3 8 14  Czech Republic 24 11 21 25 26 19 22 15  Australia 12 9 14 16 10 13 23 16  Belgium 7 16 15 20 13 14 20 17  Armenia 13 10 9 8 15 11 15 18  Moldova 14 21 22 18 23 23 18 19  Ukraine 11 12 10 13 8 12 6 5 20  Norway 8 8 5 10 17 9 2 4 7 21  Germany 25 20 26 24 22 26 16 22  Lithuania 10 18 11 2 9 7 4 19 23  Israel 5 3 3 3 3 4 7 5 6 24  Slovenia 23 13 25 21 21 24 21 25  Croatia 26 19 6 22 20 16 17 26  United Kingdom 18 14 16 19 16 18 7 4 References ^ "Malta Country Profile". 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