Belarus’s Belteleradiocompany (BTRC) announced today the 49 artists who will audition for one of 12 available spots in the national selection final to represent Belarus at Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
BTRC said that they had received “around a hundred applications, 30 of which were from foreign performers.” In 2019, BTRC allowed foreign entrants into the national selection, which resulted in some criticism due to the (lack of perceived) quality of some entries, particularly Daz Sampson’s “Kinky Boots.” This year, BTRC has reversed course and restricted the contest to Belarusian nationals only.
On the list of 49 entrants, there are some familiar names. NAPOLI (the musical project of Olga Shimanskaya) has returned to the national selection again with a song called “Don’t let me down.” Perpetual Eastern European The Voice entrant and Belarusian based Georgian singer Gabriel Kupatadze enters with “Silver.” KeySi, as with NAPOLI, is another 2019 returnee, this time with “Chili Pepper.”
An internal jury or focus group will trim the list of 49 auditioning acts down to “up to” 12 participants for the national final.
The full list of 49 entrants are as follows (in order of reveal by BRTC):
1. Blagodir Elena Aleksandrovna (ELEN) – “Broken”
2. Lomako Natalia Olegovna (Natali Domini) – “I Believe”
3. Tsubikova Veronika Aleksandrovna – “True to myself”
4. Timokhina Polina Ivanovna (PAULINN) – “Guess”
5. Glamozda Anastasia Igorevna – “Burning again”
6. Voronko Vitaliy Pavlovich – “Listen to your Heart”
7. Denis Ekaterina Aleksandrovna – “Your New Zen”
8. Parade of Planets – “Pour lui”
9. Serge Berkov – “I Fell in Love With the Devil”
10. Katrin Leoni – “Closer”
11. Fuchs Anna Alexandrovna – “Fly higher”
12. Khmelnitskaya Daria Pavlovna – “On Fire”
13. ALEN HIT – “# 1 Problem”
14. Zdonyuk Ivan Sergeevich – “Shake it up”
15. Elline Day – “Alien”
16. Nika De & Breesku – “Chains”
17. AURA – “Ram pile”
18. VAL – “Yes Yes”
19. Pushnova Angelika Dmitrievna – “True Love”
20. King Catherine and King Olga (KATYA and VOLGA) – “Noah”
21. Vitaliy Vasilievich – “By One Sun”
22. Augusta – “My Light”
23. NAPOLI – “Do not let me down”
24. Kovalenko Apollinaria Olegovna – “I will not bow” / “I Will Not Give Up”
25. Mikhalenko Artyom Vasilievich – “MOVE”
26. Sasha Zakharik – “Rocky Road”
27. 2morrow2late – “Paradise”
28. Gabriel Kupatadze – “Silver”
29. Arseniy Sergeyevich Hakobyan (ARSI) – “Song of peace”
30. Batteries ltd – “You for me”
31. KeySi – “Chili Pepper”
32. Absolem Cloud – “It’s ok”
33. Yarosh Yan Gennadevich – “Fire”
34. July – “Every Hour”
35. Zhanet – “Flying”
36. Gorbacheva Alyona Igorevna – “Moments of love”
37. Razvadovskaya Anastasia Aleksandrovna – “Hello”
38. Demenkova Maria Gennadyevna – “Shake”
39. NEZABUDKI – “Paradise”
40. PROvocation – “Suddenly”
41. Pavel Pashkevich Alena Grand & Pasha Pashkevich – “Can you feel?”
42. Julia Glebova & Chas Speak – “Payzem with Me”
43. CHAKRAS – “La-ley-la”
44. Tani Faredo – “Travel lifestyle”
45. Krasnovskaya Polina Sergeevna – “Current Impulse”
46. PAVLONI – “Stones of My Soul”
47. Shkrabo Alexey Alexandrovich – “Don’t Fear”
48. Jenifer – “Making our universe”
49. Vakhomchik Anastasia Igorevna (Anastasia Malashkevich) – “Invisible”
Auditions will take place in and will be streamed live from BRTC’s studios in Minsk, Belarus, at noon on January 27, 2020.
One plus – BRTC states that their final will be held no later than March 6, 2020, thus BRTC sparing us an even busier pile-up of finals already slated for Saturday, March 7, 2020.
BRTC will be looking to improve on last year’s result. Though they narrowly edged into the Grand Final with ZENA’s “Like It,” they ended up in 24th in the Grand Final and their delegation took a battering after it was revealed there was a mix-up in their scores, resulting in some changes in points and positions on the scoreboard after the final announcement.
Any entries that #YOU recognize and fancy to make the final? Do #YOU think any of these have a shot of bettering ZENA at Eurovision 2020? Let us know in the forum, in the comments below, or on social media.
