Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Scream", written by Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos and Sharon Vaughn. The song was performed by Sergey Lazarev, who was internally selected by the Russian broadcaster Russia-1 to represent the nation at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country	Russia
National selection
Selection process	Internal selection
Selection date(s)	Artist: 7 February 2019 Song: 9 March 2019
Selected artist(s)	Sergey Lazarev
Selected song	"Scream"
Selected songwriter(s)	Philipp Kirkorov Dimitris Kontopoulos Sharon Vaughn
Placement
Semi-final result	Qualified (6th, 217 points)
Final result	3rd, 370 points
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

Background

Main article: Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2019 contest, Russia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 21 times since its first entry in 1994. Russia had won the contest on one occasion in 2008 with the song "Believe" performed by Dima Bilan. In 2016, Russia finished third with the song "You Are the Only One" performed by Russia's 2019 entrant Sergey Lazarev.^[1] In 2018, Russia placed fifteenth in the second semi-final with the song "I Won't Break" performed by Julia Samoylova, making it the first time Russia did not qualify for the final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 7 February 2019, Russian broadcaster RTR announced that Sergey Lazarev would represent Russia in 2019.^[2] His song for the contest, "Scream", was released on 9 March 2019.^[3] Sergey Lazarev was selected as the Russian entrant by an expert committee from seven shortlisted candidates, among them which also included Aleksandr Panayotov, Egor Kreed, Elena Temnikova, Manizha,^[a] Olga Buzova and Philipp Kirkorov, as reported by Russian media.^[5][6] After several Russian online media outlets published information about the shortlist of entrants for Eurovision 2019, RTR stated that "The list of candidates does not exist and is unlikely to exist" and the entrant will be named at the end of January.^[7]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Russia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.^[8]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 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. Russia was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from Lithuania and preceding the entry from Albania.^[9]

Semi-final

Russia performed thirteenth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Lithuania and preceding the entry from Albania. At the end of the show, Russia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Russia placed sixth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 217 points: 124 points from the televoting and 93 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. 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, no member of a national jury was permitted to 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 as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.^[10]

Points awarded to Russia

Points awarded to Russia (Semi-final 2)[11] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Armenia  Azerbaijan  Latvia  Azerbaijan 10 points  Lithuania  Moldova  North Macedonia 8 points  Romania  Albania  Malta  Moldova 7 points  Germany  Ireland  Italy  North Macedonia  Armenia  Netherlands  Sweden 6 points  Romania 5 points  Malta 4 points  Austria  Norway  Lithuania 3 points  Croatia  Denmark  Netherlands  Sweden   Switzerland  Croatia  Denmark  Latvia  Norway  United Kingdom 2 points  Albania  United Kingdom 1 point   Switzerland

Points awarded to Russia (Final)[12] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Albania  Armenia  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Czech Republic  Estonia  Israel  Latvia  Lithuania  Moldova  San Marino  Azerbaijan 10 points  Cyprus  Montenegro  Portugal  Cyprus  Greece  Malta  Montenegro  San Marino 8 points  Georgia  Germany  Greece  Italy  Serbia 7 points  Hungary  Romania 6 points  Estonia  North Macedonia  Romania 5 points  Austria  Ireland  Armenia  Moldova  Netherlands 4 points  Finland  Malta  Australia  Latvia  United Kingdom 3 points  France  Poland  Denmark  Ireland  Sweden   Switzerland 2 points  Spain  Croatia  Spain 1 point  Belgium  Norway  Albania  Belarus  Lithuania

Points awarded by Russia

Points awarded by Russia (Semi-final 2)[11] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Azerbaijan  Romania 10 points  Armenia  North Macedonia 8 points  Norway  Malta 7 points  Netherlands  Albania 6 points  North Macedonia  Armenia 5 points  Moldova  Moldova 4 points   Switzerland  Azerbaijan 3 points  Croatia  Denmark 2 points  Sweden   Switzerland 1 point  Lithuania  Netherlands

Points awarded by Russia (Final)[12] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Azerbaijan  Azerbaijan 10 points  Norway  Greece 8 points  Belarus  Cyprus 7 points  Iceland  Belarus 6 points  Slovenia  Malta 5 points  Netherlands  San Marino 4 points  Australia  North Macedonia 3 points  Serbia  Albania 2 points   Switzerland  Iceland 1 point  Italy  Spain

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Russian jury:^[10]

• Lora Kvint [ru] (jury chairperson) – composer, pianist
• Simon Osiashvili – poet, singer
• Igor Gulyaev [ru] – fashion designer, TV host
• Anastasia Tolmacheva – singer, winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006, represented Russia in the 2014 contest
• Maria Tolmacheva – singer, winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006, represented Russia in the 2014 contest

Detailed voting results from Russia (Semi-final 2)^[11]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		L. Kvint	S. Osiashvili	I. Gulyaev	A. Tolmacheva	M. Tolmacheva	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Armenia	10	8	4	2	7	5	6	2	10
02	Ireland	15	15	7	12	11	14		16
03	Moldova	5	6	12	5	5	6	5	6	5
04	Switzerland	9	16	2	17	8	9	2	7	4
05	Latvia	8	12	14	13	10	13		15
06	Romania	2	3	11	1	3	1	12	13
07	Denmark	14	10	1	8	16	8	3	11
08	Sweden	13	9	8	15	15	16		9	2
09	Austria	7	14	13	14	9	12		17
10	Croatia	12	13	9	11	12	17		8	3
11	Malta	3	2	10	6	1	3	8	12
12	Lithuania	11	17	3	10	17	11		10	1
13	Russia
14	Albania	6	5	16	4	2	4	7	14
15	Norway	17	11	6	16	14	15		3	8
16	Netherlands	16	4	5	9	13	10	1	4	7
17	North Macedonia	1	1	15	3	6	2	10	5	6
18	Azerbaijan	4	7	17	7	4	7	4	1	12

Detailed voting results from Russia (Final)^[12]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		L. Kvint	S. Osiashvili	I. Gulyaev	A. Tolmacheva	M. Tolmacheva	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	8	6	13	1	10	5	6	19
02	Albania	14	10	2	6	11	8	3	22
03	Czech Republic	13	22	21	14	23	21		18
04	Germany	22	17	22	25	24	24		23
05	Russia
06	Denmark	17	13	25	18	9	17		14
07	San Marino	10	8	9	3	6	6	5	13
08	North Macedonia	6	5	6	12	8	7	4	11
09	Sweden	16	12	11	22	22	18		17
10	Slovenia	15	15	17	21	16	20		5	6
11	Cyprus	7	1	4	7	4	3	8	20
12	Netherlands	18	3	18	17	19	14		6	5
13	Greece	11	2	10	2	2	2	10	24
14	Israel	25	25	20	24	21	25		21
15	Norway	20	14	23	19	12	19		2	10
16	United Kingdom	19	16	19	23	17	23		25
17	Iceland	1	18	8	10	20	9	2	4	7
18	Estonia	23	20	16	16	15	22		15
19	Belarus	5	7	3	5	5	4	7	3	8
20	Azerbaijan	4	4	1	4	3	1	12	1	12
21	France	2	21	15	20	14	13		12
22	Italy	24	19	14	15	1	11		10	1
23	Serbia	12	11	7	8	7	12		8	3
24	Switzerland	9	23	24	11	18	16		9	2
25	Australia	21	24	5	13	25	15		7	4
26	Spain	3	9	12	9	13	10	1	16

Notes and references

Notes

1. Manizha stated that she would like to perform with "I Am Who I Am" at Eurovision, but it is not known whether she sent this song to RTR^[4]

References

1. "Russia". EBU. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
2. Herbert, Emily (7 February 2019). "Russia: Sergey Lazarev to Eurovision 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
3. Granger, Anthony (9 March 2019). "Russia: Sergey Lazarev Returns To Eurovision With "Scream"". Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
4. "Домашнее насилие, Евровидение, абьюзеры | MANIZHA". YouTube.
5. "Кандидаты «Евровидения-2019»: кому уготована участь «музыкального Навального»".
6. "Super.ru".
7. "Скандал на "Евровидении": кто обманул россиян". Газета.ру.
8. Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
9. "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
10. Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "Exclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
11. "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Tel Aviv 2019". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
12. "Results of the Grand Final of Tel Aviv 2019". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.