Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Russian entry was selected internally by the Russian broadcaster Russia-1 (RTR). The Tolmachevy Sisters, winners of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006, represented Russia with the song "Shine", which qualified from the first semi-final and placed 7th in the final, scoring 89 points.

Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Country	Russia
National selection
Selection process	Internal selection
Selection date(s)	Artist: 15 March 2014 Song: 19 March 2014
Selected artist(s)	Tolmachevy Sisters
Selected song	"Shine"
Selected songwriter(s)	Philipp Kirkorov Dimitris Kontopoulos John Ballard Ralph Charlie Gerard James Borg
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (6th, 63 points)
Final result	7th, 89 points
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2013 • 2014 • 2015►

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 1 September 2013, RTR announced that a national final, titled Kto?, would take place on 31 December 2013 to select the Russian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. RTR opened a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries and a jury panel was to evaluate the received submissions and select 25 entries for the competition, however RTR announced in December 2013 that the national final would be postponed until March 2014 and the submission deadline would be extended until 28 February 2014.^[1][2] Plans for the national final were later abandoned by the broadcaster due to the poor quality of submitted songs.^[3]

On 15 March 2014, RTR announced that they had internally selected the Tolmachevy Sisters to represent Russia in Copenhagen.^{[4][better source needed]} The Tolmachevy Sisters' selection as the Russian representative was decided upon by a jury panel.^[5] Tolmachevy Sisters previously won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. The Russian song, "Shine", was presented to the public on 19 March 2014.^[6] "Shine" was composed by Philipp Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos, with lyrics by John Ballard, Ralph Charlie and Gerard James Borg; Kontopoulos, Ballard and Charlie had previously co-written the 2013 Azerbaijani entry "Hold Me.^[7]

Competing entries

Internal selection – Known submitted entries^{[8][better source needed]}

Artist	Song
23:45 feat. Fidel Wicked	"Dance With Me"
Alex Jaysen	"Mysterious"
Alex Malinovsky	Unknown
Alexander Elovskih	"One Picture of My Life"
Alexander Project feat. Victoria-Viera	"Give Me Your Hand"
Alexey Serov	"I Am"
Boris Dyakov	Unknown
Buranovskiye Babushki	"Breeze"[9]
D-Bosch	Unknown
DaKi	"Criminal"
Daniel Pride	"Black Heart"
Denesh	Unknown
Dima Lutfullin	"Neon"
Egor Lutsenko	"Emotsiya lyubvi" (Эмоция любви)
Elya Chavez	"Ty so mnoy, ya s toboy" (Ты со мной, я с тобой)
Ilya Gurov	"Beautiful"
	"Lose Control"
Ivan-da-Marya	"Igray garmon" (Играй гармонь)
Katya Volkova	"Otkroy svoye serdtse" (Открой свое сердце)
Marina Sudas	"Dusha" (Душа)
Metodie Bujor	Unknown
Natanika	"As I Desired"
Nelly Turchina	"Zoe"
Oleg Sidorov and Point Charlie	"Playing With a Life"
Olga Makovetskaya	"Proydyot" (Пройдёт)
Olstan van Guard	"How Do You Feel"
Payushchie Trusy	"Moo-Moo"
Polina Smolova	"Sometimes"
Sergey Savin	"Fearless Loving"
Shinshilli	"We Could Try"
Sofi	"Paris"
Sofya and Alyona Kankur	"Rour Is Ap"
Soprano 10	Unknown
Svetlana Surganova	Unknown
Syostry Syo	Unknown
Tim Chikovani and Sergey Ashihmin	"Ne zabyt'" (Не забыть)
Tolmachevy Sisters	"Shine"
Vadim Simonov	"Iyeroglif" (Иероглиф)
Vahtang	Unknown
Vasilina Kee and Funky Fraers	"Tvoy den'" (Твой день)
Victoria Petryk	Unknown
Vlad Tarkovsky	"You Are My Revolution"
Zetandel feat. Victoria Ray	"Never Say Never"
Zlat Khabibulin	Unknown

At Eurovision

The Tolmachevy Sisters presenting their song

The Tolmachevy Sisters at the first semi-final dress rehearsal

The Tolmachevy Sisters with their moving platform stage prop

During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Russia was drawn to compete in the first half of the first semi-final on 6 May 2014.^[10] In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Russia would perform 7th, following Albania and preceding Azerbaijan.^[11] Russia qualified from the first semi-final and competed in the final on 10 May 2014.^[12] During the winner's press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Russia was allocated to compete in the second half of the final.^[13] In the final, the producers of the show decided that Russia would perform 15th, following France and preceding Italy.^[14] Russia placed 7th in the final, scoring 89 points.^[15]

At the contest, the Tolmachevy Sisters were joined on stage by four backing vocalists: Anna Nilsson, Jenny Tärneberg, Anna Strandberg and Rui Andrade.^{[16][better source needed]} The Russian performance featured the Tolmachevy Sisters performing with long translucent sticks and interacting with a platform that moved like a balance and eventually opened into a white sun-like canvas.^[17]

Following the revelation of Russia's qualification into the final during the broadcast of the first semi-final, the announcement was met by an audible booing from the venue audience . The negative reaction was believed to be a response to Russia's involvement in the crisis in Ukraine and its stance on LGBT rights.^[18]

In Russia, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on Russia-1 with commentary by Olga Shelest and Dmitriy Guberniev.^[19][20] The Russian spokesperson revealing the result of the Russian vote in the final was 2000 Russian contest entrant and Eurovision Song Contest 2009 final co-presenter Alsou.^[21]

Voting

Points awarded to Russia

Points awarded to Russia (Semi-final 1)[22] Score Country 12 points  Moldova 10 points  Azerbaijan 8 points 7 points  Armenia 6 points  Ukraine 5 points  Hungary  Portugal 4 points  Denmark  Latvia  Montenegro 3 points 2 points  Iceland  Sweden 1 point  Belgium  Estonia

Points awarded to Russia (Final)[23] Score Country 12 points  Azerbaijan  Belarus 10 points  Armenia  Greece 8 points  Georgia  Moldova 7 points 6 points  Lithuania  Macedonia 5 points  Malta 4 points  Ukraine 3 points  Israel 2 points  Latvia  Portugal 1 point  Estonia

Points awarded by Russia

Points awarded by Russia (Semi-final 1)[22] Score Country 12 points  Armenia 10 points  Azerbaijan 8 points  Hungary 7 points  Ukraine 6 points  Sweden 5 points  Montenegro 4 points  Belgium 3 points  San Marino 2 points  Netherlands 1 point  Moldova

Points awarded by Russia (Final)[23] Score Country 12 points  Belarus 10 points  Azerbaijan 8 points  Armenia 7 points  Ukraine 6 points  Hungary 5 points  Austria 4 points  Greece 3 points  Netherlands 2 points  Sweden 1 point  Iceland

Detailed voting results

The following five members comprised the Russian jury:^[24]

• Sergey Zhilin [ru] (jury chairperson) – conductor
• Margarita Mitrofanova [ru] – radio DJ, television host
• Leonid Rudenko – DJ, musician, label producer
• Dominik Joker [ru] – musician, singer, poet, composer
• Yulia Nachalova – singer

Detailed voting results from Russia (Semi-final 1)^[25]

Draw	Country	S. Zhilin	M. Mitrofanova	L. Rudenko	D. Joker	Y. Nachalova	Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Points
01	Armenia	4	1	4	2	3	3	1	1	12
02	Latvia	14	8	15	10	8	11	11	12
03	Estonia	2	7	10	7	5	5	14	11
04	Sweden	11	11	11	6	9	9	6	5	6
05	Iceland	15	13	13	12	11	15	10	13
06	Albania	13	14	8	11	15	13	15	15
07	Russia
08	Azerbaijan	3	2	3	1	2	2	3	2	10
09	Ukraine	7	5	5	5	6	4	2	4	7
10	Belgium	8	10	2	8	4	7	9	7	4
11	Moldova	5	4	9	4	10	6	12	10	1
12	San Marino	9	15	12	9	12	12	5	8	3
13	Portugal	12	9	14	13	13	14	13	14
14	Netherlands	10	6	7	15	14	10	7	9	2
15	Montenegro	6	12	6	14	7	8	8	6	5
16	Hungary	1	3	1	3	1	1	4	3	8

Detailed voting results from Russia (Final)^[26]

Draw	Country	S. Zhilin	M. Mitrofanova	L. Rudenko	D. Joker	Y. Nachalova	Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Points
01	Ukraine	9	5	7	8	2	6	4	4	7
02	Belarus	2	1	3	2	1	1	2	1	12
03	Azerbaijan	1	7	1	1	3	2	5	2	10
04	Iceland	13	17	16	16	18	13	11	10	1
05	Norway	10	18	12	3	12	10	15	11
06	Romania	19	19	24	18	20	22	21	23
07	Armenia	6	9	10	10	5	8	1	3	8
08	Montenegro	24	11	19	12	16	15	20	19
09	Poland	16	25	23	19	19	24	13	20
10	Greece	3	2	6	5	7	3	12	7	4
11	Austria	7	10	9	21	9	11	3	6	5
12	Germany	21	12	20	25	23	23	14	21
13	Sweden	14	24	11	22	13	17	6	9	2
14	France	18	21	22	13	24	21	23	24
15	Russia
16	Italy	23	22	25	20	25	25	25	25
17	Slovenia	15	14	18	14	22	16	17	17
18	Finland	22	20	14	11	14	14	16	16
19	Spain	17	23	21	15	17	19	18	22
20	Switzerland	20	15	17	24	21	20	7	12
21	Hungary	4	4	5	6	8	5	8	5	6
22	Malta	5	3	4	7	4	4	24	15
23	Denmark	11	16	2	17	10	12	22	18
24	Netherlands	8	6	8	9	6	7	10	8	3
25	San Marino	25	13	15	23	11	18	9	13
26	United Kingdom	12	8	13	4	15	9	19	14

References

1. Jiandani, Sanjay (1 September 2013). "Russia: Rossija 1 announce national final on December 31". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
2. Vranis, Michalis (12 December 2013). "Russia: National final date change". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
3. "Russia 2014: Internal Decision on March 8". 4 March 2014.
4. "Eurovision 2014 - Russia". ESCKaz. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
5. Omelyanchuk, Olena (15 March 2014). "Russia sends the Tolmachevy Twins to Copenhagen". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
6. Romero Hidalgo, Rodrigo (19 March 2014). "Russia: 'Shine' is presented". escXtra. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
7. "About The Tolmachevy Sisters". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
8. Mikheev, Andy. "Eurovision 2014 Russia". ESCKaz. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
9. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Eurovision 2014 Russia. Бурановские Бабушки (Buranovskiye Babushki) | Ветерок (Official video)". YouTube.
10. Escudero, Victor M. (20 January 2014). "Allocation Draw results: Who's in which Semi-Final?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
11. Siim, Jarmo (24 March 2014). "Running order for Eurovision Semi-Finals decided". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
12. "First Semi-Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
13. Brey, Marco (7 May 2014). "First Semi-Final: Meet the winners at the press conference!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
14. Storvik-Green, Simon (9 May 2014). "Running order for the Grand Final revealed!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
15. "Grand Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
16. "ESCKAZ - Eurovision 2014 - Tolmachevy Sisters (Russia)". ESCKaz. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
17. Brey, Marco (28 April 2014). "Russia: A balanced performance by the youngest artists". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
18. "Russia booed at Eurovision semi-final". BBC News. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
19. "ЕВРОВИДЕНИЕ-2014" НА ТЕЛЕКАНАЛЕ "РОССИЯ". Russia-1 (in Russian). 5 May 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
20. Egorov, Dmitriy (7 April 2014). Дмитрий Губерниев: Киркоров интересуется спортом (in Russian). Sovetskiy Sport. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
21. "Eurovision Song Contest 2014: ecco l'elenco degli spokesperson" (in Italian). Eurofestival News. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
22. "Results of the First Semi-Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
23. "Results of the Grand Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
24. Brey, Marco (1 May 2014). "Who will be in the expert juries?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
25. "Full Split Results | First Semi-Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
26. "Full Split Results | Grand Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2021.