Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | ||||
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Country | Poland | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Piosenka dla Europy 2008 | |||
Selection date(s) | 23 February 2008 | |||
Selected entrant | Isis Gee | |||
Selected song | "For Life" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) | Isis Gee | |||
Finals performance | ||||
Semi-final result | Qualified (10th, 42 points) | |||
Final result | 24th, 14 points | |||
Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Poland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "For Life" written and performed by Isis Gee. The Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) organised the national final Piosenka dla Europy 2008 in order to select the Polish entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The national final took place on 23 February 2008 and featured twelve entries. "For Life" performed by Isis Gee was selected as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a four-member jury panel and a public televote.
Poland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 20 May 2008. Performing during the show in position 10, "For Life" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. This marked the first time that Poland qualified to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since the
Background
Prior to the 2008 Contest, Poland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twelve times since its first entry in 1994.[1] Poland's highest placement in the contest, to this point, has been second place, which the nation achieved with its debut entry in 1994 with the song "To nie ja!" performed by Edyta Górniak. Poland has only, thus far, reached the top ten on one other occasion, when Ich Troje performing the song "Keine Grenzen – Żadnych granic" finished seventh in 2003. Between 2005 and 2006, Poland failed to qualify from the semi-final round, once again failing to qualify to the final in 2007 with their entry "Time to Party" performed by the Jet Set.
The Polish national broadcaster, Telewizja Polska (TVP), broadcasts the event within Poland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. TVP confirmed Poland's participation in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest on 8 November 2007.[2] Since 2006, TVP organised televised national finals that featured a competition among several artists and songs in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a selection procedure that continued for their 2008 entry.
Before Eurovision
Piosenka dla Europy 2008
Piosenka dla Europy 2008 was the national final organised by TVP in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The show took place on 23 February 2008 at the Studio 5 of TVP in Warsaw, hosted by Katarzyna Sowińska and Radosław Brzózka. A combination of public televoting and jury voting selected the winner. The show was broadcast on TVP1 and TVP Polonia as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's website tvp.pl.[3] The national final was watched by 2.7 million viewers in Poland with a market share of 26%.[4]
Competing entries
TVP opened a submission period for interested artists and songwriters to submit their entries between 30 November 2007 and 2 January 2008. Only artists that had either released an album or single with national radio airplays, had competed in at least one professional song contest or music festival at a national level, or had a valid contract with a record company or a professional concert agency were eligible to compete.
On 11 January 2008, "Kiełbasa", written and to have been performed by Krzysztof Zalewski, was disqualified from the national final as the song had been released before 1 October 2007 and replaced with the song "Do Something" performed by Plastic.[9] On 15 February, wildcard entry "Noc kupaly", written by Robert Wasilewski and to have been performed by Zywiolak, was disqualified from the national final as the song had been performed before 1 October 2007.[10] The competing artists were required to submit a promotional video for their song to TVP by 28 January 2008.[11]
Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Selection |
---|---|---|---|
Afromental | "Thing We've Got" | Wojciech Lozowski, Bartosz Śniadecki | Open submission |
Edi Ann | "Lovin' U" | Edyta Kuczynska | |
Isis Gee | "For Life" | Isis Gee | |
Izabela Kopeć | "You've Got My Love" | Filip Kuncevicz, Izabela Kopeć | TVP wildcard |
Kasia Nova | "The Devil" | Harald Retinger, Ulrich Fischer | Open submission |
Man Meadow | "Viva la Musica" | Thomas G:son, Andreas Rickstrand | |
Margo | "Dlatego walcz" | Filip Siejka, Malgorzata Gadzinska | |
Natasza Urbańska | "Blow Over" | Rickey Fernand | TVP wildcard |
Plastic | "Do Something" | Agnieszka Burcan | Open submission |
Queens | "I Say My Body" | Lukasz Pilch, Marcin Skoczylas | |
Sandra Oxenryd | "Superhero" | Knut-Oyvind Hagen, Andreas Rickstrand | |
Starnawski and Urban Noiz | "It's Not a Game" | Marcin Urban, Bozena Intrator |
Final
The televised final took place on 23 February 2008. Twelve entries competed and the winner, "For Life" performed by
Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kasia Nova | "The Devil" | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
2 | Edi Ann | "Lovin' U" | 7 | 5 | 12 | 4 |
3 | Izabela Kopeć | "You've Got My Love" | 4 | 6 | 10 | 6 |
4 | Starnawski and Urban Noiz | "It's Not a Game" | 5 | 0 | 5 | 10 |
5 | Queens | "I Say My Body" | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
6 | Isis Gee | "For Life" | 12 | 12 | 24 | 1 |
7 | Man Meadow | "Viva la Musica" | 2 | 10 | 12 | 3 |
8 | Afromental | "Thing We've Got" | 3 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
9 | Plastic | "Do Something" | 10 | 2 | 12 | 5 |
10 | Sandra Oxenryd | "Superhero" | 6 | 3 | 9 | 8 |
11 | Natasza Urbańska | "Blow Over" | 8 | 7 | 15 | 2 |
12 | Margo | "Dlatego walcz" | 1 | 8 | 9 | 7 |
Promotion
Isis Gee made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "For Life" as the Polish Eurovision entry. On 2 March, Isis Gee performed during the presentation show of the
At Eurovision
It was announced in September 2007 that the competition's format would be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008.
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Poland on TVP1 and TVP Polonia with commentary by Artur Orzech. The Polish spokesperson, who announced the Polish votes during the final, was Radek Brzózka.[20][21]
Semi-final
Isis Gee took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 15 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 19 and 20 May. The Polish performance featured Isis Gee performing in a long light blue dress flanked by a pianist on one side of the stage and four violinists on the other. The stage LED screens displayed white and light blue colours with the performance also featuring smoke effects.[22][23] The musicians that joined Gee on stage were: Adam Gołębiowski (pianist), Beata Lapuk (violinist), Jona Ardyn (violinist), Małgorzata Liberska (violinist) and Patrycja Kawecka (violinist).[24]
At the end of the show, Poland was announced as having finished among the ten qualifying countries and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. This marked the first time that Poland qualified to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since the
Final
The draw for the running order for the final was done by the presenters during the announcement of the ten qualifying countries during the semi-final and Poland was drawn to perform in position 10, following the entry from Croatia and before the entry from Iceland. Isis Gee once again took part in dress rehearsals on 23 and 24 May before the final and Gee performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 24 May. Poland placed twenty-fourth in the final, scoring 14 points.[26]
Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Poland and awarded by Poland in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Armenia in the semi-final and the final of the contest.
Points awarded to Poland
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Points awarded by Poland
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References
- ^ "Poland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ Floras, Stella (8 November 2007). "Poland confirms participation for 2008". Esctoday. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ Klier, Marcus (23 February 2008). "Live: national final in Poland". Esctoday. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ "Oglądalność Piosenki dla Europy 2008". eurowizja.org (in Polish). 25 February 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-07-04. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ "Piosenka dla Europy 2008". OGAE Polska (in Polish). www.eurowizja.org. 2007-11-30. Archived from the original on 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
- ^ "Przyjmowanie utworów do Piosenki dla Europy 2008 zakończone". OGAE Polska (in Polish). www.eurowizja.org. 2008-01-03. Archived from the original on 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
- ^ Jurczak, Pawel (2008-02-08). "Polish national final: Wild cards revealed". Esctoday. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ "Sandra Oxenryd in Polish national selection". eurovision.tv. 2008-01-09. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
- ^ Floras, Stella (11 January 2008). "Poland: Piosenka dla Europy songs online". Esctoday.
- ^ Jurczak, Pawel (15 February 2008). "Poland: National final song disqualified!". Esctoday.
- ^ Floras, Stella (30 January 2008). "Polish finalists' video clips online". Esctoday.
- ^ "POLISH NATIONAL FINAL 2008".
- ^ "Natalia Kukulska w "Piosence dla Europy"". onet.pl. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ Murray, Gavin (3 March 2008). "Tonight: Bosnia & Herzegovina's song presentation". Esctoday. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- ^ "UK Eurovision Preview Party". ukeurovision.com. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ "Isis Gee idzie śladami U2!". Plotek (in Polish). 6 May 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ Viniker, Barry (2007-09-28). "Eurovision: 2 semi finals confirmed!". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
- ^ "Semi-Final Allocation Draw: the outcome!". eurovision.tv. 28 January 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ Sietse Bakker (2008-03-17). "Belgrade 2008: The running order!". Eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 2008-03-18. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
- ^ "EUROWIZJA.COM.PL - Konkurs Piosenki Eurowizji". Retrieved 2008-04-14.
- ^ "Radek Brzózka przekaże głosy do Belgradu". Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- ^ "Poland: Violins and a piano". eurovision.tv. 12 May 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ "Finally the first general rehearsal! [UPD]". eurovision.tv. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ "2008: Isis Gee". 25lat.eurowizja.org (in Polish). Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ "First Semi-Final of Belgrade 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ^ "Grand Final of Belgrade 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ^ a b "Results of the First Semi-Final of Belgrade 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
- ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Belgrade 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.