When Malta’s PBS revealed that Eurovision 2002 singer Ira Losco would sing in the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016, the collective cheer was felt all across the Mediterranean. As an added bonus, Miss Losco, who hung out with us at the luxurious Palace Hotel during Junior Eurovision 2014, will sing two songs. Given the hype surrounding her, it’s only natural that she’ll be opening MESC on January 22: Producers want to make sure the whole island tunes into the show on time. And they probably want to let her rest her voice before she launches into her second entry later in the night.

Earlier today PBS revealed the official and final running order for the first phase of  the national selection. Ira performs first with “Chameleon (Invincible)”, the more popular of her two songs. She’ll be followed by MESC stalwart Corazón (“Falling Glass”) and Stefan Galea (“Light Up My Life”). Christabelle, who is widely thought to be Ira’s biggest competition, will perform 14th with “Kingdom”. Miss Losco will appear again in spot #17 with her ballad “That’s Why I Love You”. Deborah C — the saucy lady who has been drinking margaritas down in Mexico and spending all her money in Monaco — will close out the show.

The winners will be revealed in random order at the end of the night, but the rankings will not be revealed until after the contest is over. In true Eurovision style, producers do not want the results of the semi to impact voters on the night of the final.

Read our reviews of the MESC 2016 songs.

MESC 2016: Full running order

  1. Ira Losco – Chameleon (Invincible)
  2. Corazón – Falling Glass
  3. Stefan Galea – Light Up My Life
  4. Domenique Azzopardi – Empty Hearted
  5. Dario – I Love You
  6. Daniel Testa – Under the Sun
  7. Jessika – The Flame
  8. Jasmine Abela – Alive
  9. Raquel – Flashing Lights
  10. Brooke – Golden
  11. Kim – Lighthouse
  12. Sarah Crystal – Right Here With You
  13. Danica – Frontline
  14. Christabelle – Kingdom
  15. Franklin – Little Love
  16. Dominic – Fire Burn
  17. Ira Losco – That’s Why I Love You
  18. Laurence Gray – You’re Beautiful
  19. Maxine – Young Love
  20. Deborah C – All Around the World

Reacting to the MESC 2016 song snippets

Reacting to the MESC 2016 songs in full

Read even more Malta Eurovision News

8 Comments
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Kjetil H
Kjetil H
8 years ago

Don’t know all the details about the content but Chameleon first seems like a bad choice

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
8 years ago

Then again, if this is the qualifying round, Ira may very well qualify with both songs. How will they arrange the order of the final 14?

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
8 years ago

Methinks that opening spot for Ira could hurt “Chameleon” (my #2 pick) as more songs are heard, thereby giving her other song, “That’s Why I Love You” (my #4), a better shot because it’s near the end of the show.

Paul
Paul
8 years ago

Actually my maltese friend translated an article for me that that was in maltese which said that the running order is done by first selecting the 1st and last competing song randomly and then the others are determined by the producers of the show. So I guess nobody picked Ira to be first because they wanted to bring a lot of attention in the beginning of the show

Jack
Jack
8 years ago

So happy that Maxine has a good spot in the running order should definitely get to the final as it performs after quite a few slow dire ballads. Hoping that she wins 🙂

SassyPants
SassyPants
8 years ago

Ira & Corazon opening two? Parculiar seeming as they are two of the fan favourites.

SpirK
SpirK
8 years ago

A prediction before the performances :
1. Chameleon
2. Kingdom
3. Young love
4. Falling glass
5. Little Love
6. Lighthouse
7. Right Here With you
8.The flame
9. Golden
10. Flashing Lights
11. All around the world
12. You’re Beautiful
13. Frontline
14. Empty Hearted
……………………
15. Under The sun
16. Fire burn
17. Light up my life
18. I love you
19. Alive
(not counting that’s why I love you, cause only one song of Ira can qualify from the semis)

2015
2015
8 years ago

Why can Ira Losco sing 2 songs? Would be fair if she just performed Chameleon only.