Belarus’ Eurofest 2018 may have endured drama and controversy in the weeks leading up to Friday’s live broadcast, but the show definitely went on. Shuma brought their electro folk flavour. The hosts entertained us with their electric chemistry and the ultra cheesy Teo showed off his football skills. And in the end, it was fan favourite Alekseev who took the top prize and will fly the Belarusian flag to Lisbon!

Alekseev served intense and atmospheric staging for “Forever”. The Ukrainian sensation was strong from the start, blowing away the competition with his instantly recognisable vocals, as well as a light jumpsuit that would make Norway’s JOWST jealous.

Alekseev – “Forever” — Eurofest 2018

The ten competing entries were:

  1. Shuma – “Chmarki”
  2. Alekseev – “Forever”
  3. Kirill GOOD – “Deja Vu”
  4. Gunesh – “I Won’t Cry”
  5. Alen HIT – “I Don’t Care”
  6. NAPOLI – “Chasing Rushes”
  7. Anastasiya Malashkevich – “World On Fire”
  8. Lexy – “Ain’t You”
  9. Adagio – “Ty i ya”
  10. Radiovolna – “Subway Lines”

Ultimately, it was a clean sweep for Alekseev, who took the top points from both the public and the jury, ending up on 24 points. Gunesh and Shuma rounded out the top three, scoring a total of 14 points each to secure second and third respectively.

The national final also featured an interval performance by Naviband with “A Dzie Zyvies Ty?”.

Ksienija glowed on stage, showcasing her growing baby bump. She announced in December that she is expecting her first child with fellow Naviband singer and husband Artem.

Angelika Pushnova, who we interviewed back in January about her entry “Fighting for Love” (which was ultimately rejected for the final), performed her failed Eurofest entry. We guess it was a matter of good enough for the interval, but not good enough for a national final?

In any event, Angelika delivered a flawless performance arguably more engaging than some of the finalists.

Do you agree with the final results? Is Alekseev the man to bring Belarus’ best results at Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below!

Read more Belarus Eurovision news

177 Comments
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Maryna
Maryna
6 years ago

Here is a big drama around Alekseev and state TV company. Euroradio is investigating the jury decisions and asking for comments from the jury. See how it is going on here https://euroradio.fm/en/why-eurovision-selection-tour-jury-voting-secret-belarus

Yuliya
Yuliya
6 years ago
Reply to  Maryna

He’s a nice singer but during this performance he was too nervous!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4MboQMBvxc

Roxy
Roxy
6 years ago

He should have kept the song in Russian. Or change into Belarussian or something. Also, he looks so nervous on stage, he needs to work on that too. Overall, I’m glad he’s won.

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago

Obviously, he was very nervous with all the expectations.

Here is his performance after the win. Way better! So, relax: He can sing! 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwSYv-lBV54&feature=youtu.be

Johan
Johan
6 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

The performance of Alekseev after the win with prerecorded vocals 🙂

Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga
6 years ago

Good grief at those live vocals, Alekseev :O and that diction & gibberish English lyrics :O I listen to Alekseev & I’m quite aghast that from his discography, he will settle for this garbage. For the sake of your image, just sing in Russian/Ukrainian/Belarussian & revamp/change the song. My ears bled for this

Ana
Ana
6 years ago

The songs itself is beautiful, I love the audio version. Live is bad though. I hope Alekseev will work on that until May.

beccaboo1212
6 years ago

Hi, Alekseev. I’m sorry you had to read all those mean comments. 🙁 Hopefully you’ll do good in Lisbon. 🙂

ira
ira
6 years ago

I liked the studio version of this song, but the live version is terrible ! He cant sing.
1.Italy
2.Denmark
3.Albania
4.Greece
5.Switzerland
6.France
7.Malta
8.UK
9.Czech Republic
10.Belarus
11.Spain

Niels
6 years ago
Reply to  ira

Andrew Taggart, is much worse

Currikitaum
6 years ago

“blowing away the competition with his instantly recognisable vocals”

Does this mean his vocals sound like a toilet flushing? Cause they do.

Sasha
Sasha
6 years ago

Wow this guy cant sing live. The one time I actually wish it was lip sung to an auto tuned track.

beccaboo1212
6 years ago
Reply to  Sasha

Hopefully he’ll do better in Lisbon. 🙂

shark
shark
6 years ago

BTW I think people from other countries may actually be able to vote in Ukrainian selection through the mobile app Teleportal by JSC Lux. I tried to access it with German IP and it seems to work. It’s all in Ukrainian though but not too hard to figure out

shark
shark
6 years ago
Reply to  shark

Also, Madame Monsieur will perform at today’s Vidbir : https://eurovision.ua/2018/news/45

Skimur
Skimur
6 years ago
Reply to  shark

I doubt it. For voting, you need to receive confirmation of registration, it is sent only to Ukrainian phone numbers, as far as I know.

Mil
Mil
6 years ago
Reply to  Skimur

No, you can register with Facebook or Twitter account, no confirmation needed

DOWN
DOWN
6 years ago

AS MORE SONGS GET CHOSEN…SPAIN STARTS GOING DOWN

Rayne
Rayne
6 years ago

my top 11:
AMAZING:
1. ITALY
2. FRANCE
VERY GOOD:
3. Albania
4. Greece
5. Spain
GOOD:
6. Czech Republic
7. United Kingdom
OK:
8. Switzerland
9. Denmark
MEH:
10. Belarus
11. Malta

Laline
Laline
6 years ago

His first performance was quite bad, I agree…But it was probably because he was very nervous. At his winning performance he sounded much better already:
https://youtu.be/HkwrqqVhdIM

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago
Reply to  Laline

Indeed. He sounded better. But many need someone to bully, and show they are music experts and all… 🙂

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

The song itself is fine. I kinda like the melody and everything… But they f*cked it up bigtime. First: If the Songwriter isn’t able to write good English lyrics and if the singer isn’t able to say the words properly,maybe you should leave it in Russian… Second: Oh my god, his vocals are awful…Wow, how did he become that famous?

My top 11:

1.Czechia
2.Italy
3.Denmark
4.Greece
5.Spain
6.France
7.Albania
8.Malta
9.Switzerland
10.Belarus (If they wouldn’t have ruined everything, he’d probably be around 6)
11.UK

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

Have you ever thought maybe there was something wrong with the sound system? just saying…. I saw other videos of Alekseev performing live in concerts and he is quite good.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

He sounded horrible, that’s what I heard yesterday. And even if he’s going to Sound better at Eurovision, that wouldn’t change his terrible pronunciation and these terrible lyrics. Overall the song doesn’t seem competitive.

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

Geez, you are hard to please. May I ask what songs you like so far? just curious. 🙂

I like songs that make me listen to it again. And ‘Forever’ is one of them. I can’t say the same about ‘Amar Pelos Dois’ 🙂

Rhy
Rhy
6 years ago

I’m just wondering, will he change the song? Because there were rumours that the song was released a year ago or something like that..

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago
Reply to  Rhy

Have you ever thought maybe there was something wrong with the sound system? just saying…. I saw other videos of Alekseev performing live in concerts and he is quite good.

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

sorry… commented under a wrong posting. cheers

allexo
allexo
6 years ago

1 France
Madame Monsieur
Mercy
2 Greece
Yianna Terzi
Oneiro Mou
3 Denmark
Rasmussen
Higher Ground
4 Belarus
Alekseev
Forever
5 Spain
Alfred & Amaia
Tu canción
6 Albania
Eugent Bushpepa
Mall
7 Italy
Ermal Meta
& Fabrizio Moro
Non mi avete fatto niente
8 Czech Republic
Mikolas Josef
Lie to Me
9 Switzerland
Zibbz
Stones
10 United Kingdom
SuRie
Storm
11 Malta
Christabelle
Taboo

RealMusicLover
RealMusicLover
6 years ago

I don’t know what is more deplorable: his voice, the song, the visuals. There is nothing there to hold in to. What a great disappointment after last year’s entry

Edgar
Edgar
6 years ago

I liked the studio version, but his live performance was a disaster.
P.S. To all countries – don’t ruin the song/distract from low-quality song by special effects and overstaging. In the end this is a song contest.

Sarah Boucher
Sarah Boucher
6 years ago
Reply to  Edgar

his live performance had the tolmachevy sisters as backing vocalist.

DOWN
DOWN
6 years ago
Reply to  Edgar

iF IT’S A SONG CONTEST…….WHY DO WE NEED A STAGE

Roma
Roma
6 years ago

Check out this link, guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpxx9TZgV8Y
This guy literally made the modern version of this jewish song. shame on you alekseev and belarus

Edgar
Edgar
6 years ago
Reply to  Roma

Yes, the song is just the revamp of this jewish song. Really disappointed.

Aiko
Aiko
6 years ago
Reply to  Roma

What are people thinking when they steal like that? It’s a small world, you know?

GuyGuy
GuyGuy
6 years ago
Reply to  Roma

I would use the term Israeli rather than Jewish…And fun fact: the singer is Gali Atari, who won the Eurovision back in 1979 as part of the “Milk and Honey” group, with their song “Hallelujah”.

Maya G
Maya G
6 years ago
Reply to  Roma

Indeed it is an *Israeli* song (or a Hebrew song, if you refer to the language it’s sung in). Gali Atari is Jewish but her song is not, just like Aleseev’s isn’t a Christian song. Gali Atari’s song, BTW, is from her 1988 Album which is the most successful Album in her long musical career of over 40 years, And though there’s a strong resemblance between the two song I believe it’s a coincidence and there’s no case for a disqualification, especially when other songs in recent years that were much more blatantly ripped off from other songs were allowed… Read more »

Magistr
Magistr
6 years ago

Ukraine has professional jury which does not follow geographical vote, definitely he is going to get 0 points from them.

Alex M
Alex M
6 years ago
Reply to  Magistr

Indeed.

blondboybc
blondboybc
6 years ago

OMG…I already miss NAVIBAND sooooo much….this is flashy without substance…he’ll need to up his vocals if he wants to make the final in May…wasn’t a fan of the song in the first place…5/10.

Boy
Boy
6 years ago

This is the best Song so far. Belarus 9/10. France 1/10 Italy 0/10

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
6 years ago

I feel like it wasnt His singing, but His DREADFULL English. It was awfull, too bad of the song because I love it a lot.

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

LOVE – 1. France, 2. Italy, 3. Czech Republic, 4. Denmark

LIKE – 5. Spain, 6. Switzerland, 7. Greece, 8. Malta, 9. Albania

OKAY WITH – 10. UK

MEH – 11. Belarus

Moki
Moki
6 years ago

This revamped version that he sang in the final makes him sound so flat. Honestly this song should be disqualified because it came out before September 1 and it’s just bland. I’ll be surprised if the EBU lets it slide. Also, the revamp is such a pathetic attempt to differentiate the song from the original Russian version; all they did was make it sound worse.

Stating Facts Only
Stating Facts Only
6 years ago

Boring, dull, we’ve seen it before. Also did Belarus forget that the stage in Lisbon doesn’t have LED screens? OOF
And the thing that annoys me the most is that Belarus keeps sending solo male acts, in this decade their best placing was in 2013 with a WOMAN. I’m sick of them sending male acts who have americanized songs with bad pronunciations and their accent. Like, if you’re going to sing a song better let it be in Belorussian and not in English… Last year was a great song, this year I can’t see Alekseev qualifying. True tea.

Efraim
Efraim
6 years ago

I just don’t get the hype with this one. The song’s not inherently bad, but it feels like I’ve heard it 2 trillion times before. And there’s something about the live vocals that just doesn’t sound right.

Chocolate
Chocolate
6 years ago

I like the song. Why so much hate? Each year, esc community needs somebody to bully. Last year was Manel. Where is the tolerance that you claim to be the most important thing for you? Would you bully the Grecian singer too, because it was obvious a shady selection, because she is the daughter of…

Efraim
Efraim
6 years ago
Reply to  Chocolate

Manel ended up bearing the brunt of a disastrously organized national final. It’s hard to believe that nobody in TVE could bother checking that one of the members of the jury (which was announced 24 FREAKING HOURS BEFORE THE NF) had personal links with Manel. And then came the jury vote, in which two of the juries (including, obviously, Manel’s friend) gave their lowest mark to fan-favorite Mirela while Manel took top marks; and the last straw was deciding that it would be the jury and not the audience who would break the tie as opposed to previous NFs. I… Read more »

liam
liam
6 years ago
Reply to  Efraim

How do you check personal links? Do you make then swear on the Bible that they’ve never talked before?

jim
jim
6 years ago

the only likeable thing about this was the jumpsuit lol

Dew
Dew
6 years ago

Average vocals and staging was so not original. Wiktoria has done that 2 years ago. Juries will bury this average track and vocals!

Chocolate
Chocolate
6 years ago
Reply to  Dew

Outfit with lights was not invented by Wiktoria.
Polina Gagarina, Tamara Gachechiladze in NF, ……

Fast Food Music Lover
Fast Food Music Lover
6 years ago

The jumpsuit looks cool, I give him that.

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago

Let’s give him a chance…if you check him out on youtube you will see he can sing. And he is handsome, charming, has super nice teeth, and can dance too 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIF5ZgNWZmY

Lourdes
Lourdes
6 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

This performance is still bad and those things you mentioned are irrelevant as this is not a beauty contest.

Max
Max
6 years ago
Reply to  Lourdes

Well, EuroVISION is about staging songs. It’s a song contest, but you have to present your song to the audiance with a performance no matter of what kind. Like one of Sarbel’s dancers in the 2007 greenroom said: If it helps? Maybe. But I believe the beauty comes from the heart.

Lourdes
Lourdes
6 years ago
Reply to  Max

Yes, but being charming and having beautiful teeth aren’t that crucial for a good performance. Nevertheless, I’m a fan of minimalistic staging. Sometimes too much work done on the staging simply serves to cover up for a weak song or singer. This song is e perfect example of this.

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

My top 11 for the moment, now with tentative scores:
1. Spain (9.5/10)
2. Czech Republic (9/10)
3. Italy (9/10)
4. France (9/10)
5. Albania (8.5/10)
6. Malta (8/10)
7. Greece (8/10)
8. Switzerland (8/10)
9. The United Kingdom (7.5/10)
10. Denmark (7/10)
11. Belarus (3/10)

Nikos
Nikos
6 years ago

Not trying to defend his seemingly horrible vocals tonight, but I think the biggest crime overall is the awful sound in these videos! I watched a few other performances as well and noticed a common theme. It seems like they tried to do something like “filter” out the audience (they sound distorted and unusually quiet). And so everything sounds bad, distant, and isolated.

Victoria
Victoria
6 years ago

Hey, come on now!!! The boy can sing… One can see he was very nervous. It’s not easy to work under pressure. 🙂 Even one of Adele’s Grammys performance sounded a bit off. 🙂

I’ve watched his Winner performance and sounded better. Have a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkwrqqVhdIM

Alekseev: Now relax, and show us what you can do. Looking forward to see/hear you on the Eurovision promo tour: London, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and Madrid. Impress us. 🙂

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

That performance is on playback!

Lagead
Lagead
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

Nope.

Marco A.
Marco A.
6 years ago

The best song of the evening. He has to improve vocally though (and he’s already started the improvement, comparing with the auditions tonight’s performance was better).

Sabrina
Sabrina
6 years ago

I didn’t even bother following Belarus selection, because we all know how it would end. His very weak performance getting the 1st place on the jury vote only made it look worst. The biggest problem is that even if he improve his vocals (it can’t get worst than that) the song will remain bland and repetitive. Even the staging hasn’t impressed me, since they have a cool technology, but it seems that they haven’t thought much about how to use it. There’s space to grow (not much), but at the moment it took from Malta the last place on my… Read more »

Héctor
Héctor
6 years ago

Tbh, his vocals are a joke. How Alekseev has won without hitting a single note?! He even got the 12 pts from the jury. That should be embarrasing. The worst vocalist receives the 12 pts from the jury, very suspicious. It was obvious he was going to be the 1st with the televote, as he’s more famous than the other contestants and also has more money for Sim cards, but I was hoping the jury to fix it. Let’s not forget about the uninspired staging: a led suit. Really? It does’t even has anything to do with the song. A… Read more »

Jo
Jo
6 years ago
Reply to  Héctor

I bet they will hire Sasha-Scam Baptiste for staging direction.

Vic
Vic
6 years ago

Yes, happy he won, and gets to perform on the ESC stage. Now, I’m waiting to be impressed with his ESC show and live performance in Lisbon. I’ve seen many of his performances… He can do it!

So, Alekseev: Make it good!

Steve
Steve
6 years ago

Terrible

azaad
azaad
6 years ago

Don’t want to be a hater because this isn’t AWFUL and for Belarusian standards is fine- but he entered Eurofest and not Vidbir (a far more competitive national final)…..

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago
Reply to  azaad

Yeah, because Ukraine has many amazing Songs and Alekseev probably knew that he won’t have any Chance at all.

Azaad
Azaad
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

Exactly.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

Right, now that the farce is out of the way, time to get Alekseev a new song that will actually be allowed to compete. Let the ridiculousness continue!

Henrikh Mugosa
Henrikh Mugosa
6 years ago

I don’t like his costume or anything about the visuals in this video, his vocals started too breathy and never really improved, but the song isn’t bad.

Denis
Denis
6 years ago

Not bad but uninteresting, boring even. It does nothing. At least there is a foundation of a song in there somewhere..
I have no idea what is going on or in what language he sings in. Nor I do care about it.
Will struggle

Adam
Adam
6 years ago

Ok, this is the first time I’ve even heard of him but I’m sorry, that sounded horrendous. I’m not sure if it’s the recording or he was just having a bad night. I haven’t listened to any of the others yet but I am shocked ‘this’ is the what they choose to send to Eurovision. I don’t give a hoot about his electric suit, but that voice was almost as bad as nails on a chalkboard.

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

I read the comments and I feel many of you are too harsh on this entry. First, it’s not a masterpiece. Don’t wait for the WOW song from Belarus! But this song is really good for their standards. Also, Belarus has proven that it can’t rely on its neighbours only. They have to present sth really good to stand a chance. The most moderate comment I read and I completely agree is from @Emia. (The best choice but it needs improvement.) Personally, it’s my favourite song from this NF. The live performance was underwhelming indeed. Maybe he was sick, or… Read more »

Jonas
Jonas
6 years ago
Reply to  AngieP

Why should the EBU “decide” what to do? The rules are clear, there is no choice to be made. If they blatantly ignore every rule in the book, why is there rules at all?

Anything goes?

If he is disqualified, the slot should go to Gunesh. No picking another song, that just makes a mockery of the whole national selection. Try again next year, Alekseev.

James
James
6 years ago

He’ll have time to practice the new version of his song before May but yeah, his live didn’t meet expectations. Even his audition a few weeks ago was better than this.

escESCesc
escESCesc
6 years ago

A shame

escESCesc
escESCesc
6 years ago

This bad performance proves that he was playback at the audition for the NF so all is prepared in advance because with such a bad voice he should not have been selected.

EscAU
EscAU
6 years ago

lol when russiany people try to speak english… sounds like borat, at least in the russian version most people can’t understand what he’s saying