Since returning to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014, it’s managed to make the final every single year — coming as high as third in the televote in 2016. And today Poland’s TVP started its quest for even greater success with the publication of the rules for Krajowe Eliminacje 2018 — its national selection.

Their 15-page document of regulations, which you can read in Polish here, includes the following details.

Artists have until February 1 to submit their entries to TVP, at which point its internal jury will select five to ten acts for the final. TVP plans to reveal those ten acts by February 6.

The show is open to Polish and non-Polish artists. And those artists are welcome to work with non-Polish composers from anywhere in the world. Interestingly, the rules state that song lyrics “must be in Polish or English”. So leave your “Despacito” copies at home!

During the actual national final, the winner will be determined through a 50-50 jury/televote split.

Last year Poland set a deadline of January 20 for submissions, but ultimately extended the submission period to February 10. Publicly they said it was because of “great interest” from artists. But fans suggested the real reason was because they did not think they had received a strong enough batch of songs.

This year’s deadline is later, which may help avoid a repeat of last year.

Interestingly, they have not yet revealed the date of the national final. A number of fans have suggested this may be because much-loved Polish star Margaret is competing in Sweden’s Melodifestivalen and Polish songbird Mila (Emilia Debska) is competing in Slovenia’s EMA. If these acts fail to win those selections, producers could tap them on the shoulder for Krajowe Eliminacje, which would certainly help build hype and capture the interest of the broader Eurovision community across Europe. This scenario may be wishful thinking, but it’s worth mentioning nonetheless.

We’ll be watching social media to see who applies for the show. One name that fans have been whispering is Michal Szpak.

In November the Eurovision 2016 contestant released a new single “Don’t Poison Your Heart” to much fanfare, and later performed it on The Voice of Poland, where he is a judge, with his act Marta Galuszewska.

The song is an upbeat rock song with electronic undertones. The song has a 1980s indie rock flavour, with a hint of the influential band the Pixies coming through in the chorus. But at the same time, it’s not stuck in the past. Szpak’s vocal warmth gives the song a contemporary flavour.

The lyrics share a message of staying true to yourself and to not give into negative influences. At a time when the world sometimes feels chaotic and uncertain “Don’t Poison Your Heart” shares a message of personal strength.

Thank you to wiwireader Krzysztof for his help with this article.

READ MORE POLAND EUROVISION NEWS

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pipa
pipa
6 years ago
xd
xd
6 years ago

Margaret dosen’t want to go to Eurovision. She just want take part in Melodifestivalen to become more popular in Sweden. She even said that in recent interview. And that girl from Slovenia, she isn’t popular in Poland, no one knew about her. So TVP definitly don’t wait for them to lose to revealed the date of the national final.

TheDrMistery
TheDrMistery
6 years ago

^^If either of them fails to win abroad, then it won’t be more than 1 country.

ruda
ruda
6 years ago
Reply to  TheDrMistery

last year candidates couldn’t even be in other national finals. that’s what i meant. if this year it stays the same the cannot compete in Krajowe Eliminacje. They don’t have to win other selections. the fact of taking part in national finals means that they cannot compete in Poland.

ruda
ruda
6 years ago

According to “10. ?aden artysta nie mo?e w danym roku reprezentowa? wi?cej ni?
jednego pa?stwa.”I think both Margaret and Emilia Debska are not allowed to take part in Krajowe Eliminacje 2018 since they try in other countries this year. Last year there was similiar point among the rules.

ruda
ruda
6 years ago
Reply to  ruda

yes, songs rejected from other NFs were not welcomed. But if they were sent to other selections and then not qualified for other NFs they could take part in Krajowe Eliminacje. This year Lidia Kopania and Gosia Andrzejewicz were given songs from Swedish producers after the artists for MF were revealed so one can assume that they were offered songs that were rejected there… and that’s ok. Last yesr they brought this idea after Napoli-My Universe in 2016 got qualified for KE and earlier it was in Belarussan preselections and this situation was bizzarre for everybody.