SF 02 - 06 - Ukraine 2011

Ukraine.

Ukraine always brings their A - Game. Always (except 2003, 2005 and 2010). They have produced just some of the greatest ESC entries ever. "Wild Dances" in 2004, "Show Me Your Love" in 2006, "Danzing" in 2007, "Shady Lady" in 2008, "Be My Valentine" in 2009. All just simply amazing songs and in my top for for their years. "Shady Lady" is one of my favorite ESC songs ever and "Wild Dances" will always have a special place in my heart, cause i loved it and it won my first ESC.  That said, their selection process is well spotty at best. In 2005, they hosted a long NF that went over 15 weeks, just to have the Final won by a "Wild Card" thrown in at the last minute. In 2010, they chose a singer and held an NF,....but then decided it was "Unfair" (Meaning that everyone panned the song in minutes) and held a new National Final. This year was no different. They started their National Final back in like...well it feels like 2 days after ESC 2010,  and over the next 4 Months held 5 Quarter Finals and 3 Semi Finals just to whittle down the original 30 songs to 21. It was long and arbitary and well just silly. And then of course, because they are eastern europe so a little behind in technology but way ahead of the world in corruption, once they selected a song, within 24 hours, there was outrage, a petition and a new Final, where the top 3 songs from the previous NF will compete for the actual ticket for Düsseldorf,...not that i didn't leap for joy when i heard the news.

Anywho, i won't submit you to the full NF and follow their model for selection. Of the 24 Songs they selected for the Semi Finals, i mainly agree and when i don't, it's not enough to actually care. So i'll begin with the Semi Finals.

I divided the 24 Songs into 3 Semi Finals. In each Semi Final (After 4 Months of listening to the songs), i awarded Televotes based on how i felt. The top 2 Songs from each SF advanced to the Final, and the 3rd and 4th place songs advanced to a Second Chance Round, along with 2 "Wild Cards'

Semi Finals -
Key -
Gold - Advanced To Final
Silver - Advanced To Second Chance Round
Blue - Wild Cards

Number - Title (Translation) - Televote - Place

Semi Final 01 -
01 - Eyo Imya (Her Name) - 3 771 - 8th
02 - Hero - 21 003 - 6th
03 - My Expression - 32 771 - 3rd
04 - Sever - Jug (North - South) - 24 269 - 5th
05 - The Kukushka (The Cuckoo) - 42 916 - 1st
06 - Gliadi (Look) - 30 159 - 4th
07 - Vse Resheno (Everything's Sorted) - 36 250 - 2nd
08 - Love - 9 157 - 7th
Videos Of Top 4
My Expression -

The Kukushka -

Gliadi -

Vse Resheno -

Semi Final 02 -
01 - Angel - 22 159 - 4th
02 - Ave Maria - 4 248 - 8th
03 - Tsvetok (Flower) - 11 933 - 7th
04 - Superhero (U - La - La) - 27 814 - 3rd
05 - Why Did I Say Goodbye - 32 745 - 2nd
06 - Victim Of My Love - 20 258 - 6th
07 - Aces High - 21 004 - 5th
08 - Action - 37 891 - 1st

Videos -
Angel -

Superhero -

Why Did I Say Goodbye -

Action -

Semi Final 03 -
01 - Allo, Allo (Hello, Hello) - 34 267 - 2nd
02 - My Hope - 17 693 - 8th
03 - Smile - 41 791 - 1st 
04 - Berega (Shores) - 24 528 - 6th
05 - Goodbye - 25 001 - 5th
06 - Shake Your Body - 29 158 - 3rd
07 - Infinity - 18 513 - 7th
08 - Myself - 26 529 - 4th


Videos - 

Allo, Allo - 
Smile - 

Berega - 

Goodbye - 

Shake Your Body - 

Myself - 

SF 04 - 
01 - Shake Your Body - 24 997 Votes - 5th
02 - Gliadi - 36 991 Votes - 1st
03 - Goodbye - 16 238 Votes - 6th
04 - Myself - 13 592 Votes - 8th
05 - Superhero - 29 258 Votes - 3rd 
06 - My Expression - 32 150 Votes - 2nd
07 - Berega - 14 477 Votes - 7th
08 - Angel - 25 217 Votes - 4th




Final - 
In the Final, i selected my winner in 2 Rounds. In the First Round, i awarded points 3 Times to select my top 4 Songs. In the Second Round, i awarded Televotes based on how i felt.


Round 01 - 
Number - Title - Voting 01 - Voting 02 - Voting 03 - Total - Place
01 - The Kukushka - 08 - 12 - 08 - 28 - 2nd
02 - My Expression - 04 - 02 - 01 - 07 - 10th
03 - Allo, Allo - 07 - 08 - 06 - 21 - 4th
04 - Superhero - 01 - 04 - 04 - 09 - 7th = 
05 - Action - 10 - 07 - 10 - 27 - 3rd
06 - Gliadi - 05 - 06 - 03 - 14 - 6th
07 - Vse Resheno - 06 - 05 - 05 - 16 - 5th
08 - Smile - 12 - 10 - 12 - 34 - 1st
09 - Angel - 02 - 01 - 07 - 09 - 7th = 
10 - Why Did I Say Goodbye - 03 - 03 - 02 - 08 - 9th


Round 02 - 
01 - The Kukushka - 79 148 - 2nd

02 - Allo, Allo - 48 997 - 4th

03 - Action - 72 158 - 3rd

04 - Smile - 103 392 - 1st

Actual NF -

Of course, because it's Ukraine, there were tons of scandals and upsets. Going into the Final, the favorites to win were Zlata, Jamala, Mika Newton and Anastasiya Prihodko. The winner were chosen by Internet voting (10%), SMS Voting (45%) and an "Expert" Jury (45%). In the End, Mika Newton won out over Jamala and Zlata, but of course a foul was called at once. It turns out, although Mika revieced the most Televotes, she received them from only 2,000 unique phone numbers, while Jamala (who placed 3rd in the Televote) recieved the most Televotes from unique phone numbers (from about 6,000 numbers, 3 times that of Mika). Just hours after the final was held, a Jury member and a petition signed by over 10,000 Ukrainians called for a revote. NTU complied, chosing to hold a Second final between Jamala, Mika and Zlata. However, Jamala and Zlata decided to withdraw, Jamala in protest and Zlata to avoid drama, and so Mika was offically declared the entrant to ESC.

That wasn't the only drama. In the Final,  Vitalyj Galay (My Expression) and Tanya Vorzheva (Vse Resheno) were disqualified because they used a backing tape with vocals, and hence were declared to not have performed their entries "Live". ARMIYA withdrew from the final, for no good reason, but inexplicabily chose to sing a random song. Whateves. Hours after winning the National Final, Mika declared that she didn't want to sing "Angels", but would rather prefer to new song to be named at a later date.

In the end, it was decided that Mika would sing a revamped version of "Angels".


4 months of Selections and tons of drama all to select a boring ballad. Sigh.

My thoughts -

Smile has been my absolute favorite since the beginning. Not only was it my favorite from Ukraine, but it has been the song to beat from 2011. At first, i thought it was a race between "Smile" and "Action", however over time, "The Kukushka" has grown in my heart to be my current 2nd.