In just one week all eyes will be on Minsk-Arena as 20 countries head to the Belorussian city to battle it out for the Junior Eurovision 2018 trophy.
It’s a record breaking year. 2018 sees the largest number of countries ever to compete at an edition of the contest.
Kazakhstan and Wales both debut at the contest and will no doubt be wanting to make a big impact on their first outing.
Azerbaijan, France and Israel all make a comeback to the contest following hiatuses of varying length. Each country will be aiming to show that the time away from the contest has been beneficial.
Despite not hosting the contest following their victory last year, Russia will be hoping to become the first country in the contest’s history to win two years in a row.
And across the 20 songs we’ll be hearing 18 different languages, making the show a true lingual feast.
However, before the professional juries and viewing public cast their votes next Sunday 25th November, we want to hear from you. Who do you think deserves to take home the crown this year?
You can listen to all 20 competing songs in the recap above, or check out the full songs in the playlist here. Then head to the poll below to cast your votes. You can vote for as many countries as you want, but you can only vote once. Finally, make sure to sound off in the comments below about who you’ll be voting for next weekend.
Like last year, the online voting system means that anyone in the world, no matter if their country is competing or not, has the opportunity to vote for three to five of their favourites in the few days before the contest, and in a 15 minute period during the actual show following all the performances. If your country is competing you can even vote for yourself.
Therefore, this poll may just be able to give us an indication of who the world will be voting for on the day, and who will walk away as a Junior Eurovision champion. Every vote counts!
Poll: Who should win Junior Eurovision 2018?
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Photo credits: EBU
I agree daneliva tulyshova from kazakhstan could win adult eurovision. A clear jr eurovision winner singing in three languages is amazing
Have you listen to daneliya tulyshova she has youtube videos in three languages i think if you checkout her work your opinion may change kazakhstan is easy the Winer
Daneliya tulyshova is by far the best singer.
Is there any word on interval acts?
I think it would be perfect for Alexander Rybak to sing his entry from this year, as it’s fitting and he is part Belarussian himself
L.e.v.o.n. from Armenia is the best! His style, song and spontaneity, confidence are unique! L.e.v.o.n. – you are the brightest and the best! Forward to the victory!!!
Keep away your politics from JESC! Gosh!
And Jewish reality? Dude, what are you smoking?
This is tough. For now I’d say either France or Armenia.
Ukraine,France,Kazakhstan and Georgia are my favs:))
Am I the only one who thinks “IOU” sounds a bit like Polish song “Nie daj si?” by Doda :D?
I am a big fan of Belarus.
PiSS supporters still live in the 20th century so I don’t think they have the technology to vote.
Now with the Running Order now Revealed, I still think Kazakhstan will win if not it will place Top 5. Wales is the only viable winner after Kazakhstan and now the running order proves it, Poland will do well and Ireland will be a Dark Horse and one to keep an eye on not a winner mind you but a potential Top 5 result looming for the Republic, the same goes for Australia. Azerbaijan, France and Armenia will round-out the Top 5 but Azerbaijan Top 5 finish will SOLELY be based upon her performance and heavily reliant on the jury… Read more »
Aremnia will win
Nope
Voted for Kazakhstan and France, my two favourites to win!
LEVON-ARMENIA!!!!!?
Armenia-Levon
Umm… who is voting L.E.V.O.N multiple times? No way they are beating France, Kazakhstan, and Poland.
I voted for L. E. V. O. N once. It is one of the two songs (Ukrainian song being the 2nd one) from this year’s ESC that I can actually stand to listen. The rest of the songs are either boring, or with singers impersonating diva voices which they CAN’T do well. I hope that the final result will be: 1. Armenia, 2. Ukraine
Props for Ireland for being brave enough to be different and awkward, and for the best music video in the history of Junior Eurovision. Yet, I feel Macedonia should win. Providing that the girl can sing live and that the staging is not totally horrible. They have been sending good tunes, but “Doma” is their first credible attempt at a Junior Eurovision victory.
Is it me, or many of these songs sound quite similar? the stand out for me is France, which gives me original Eurojunior realness. I miss the old days, when the contest was full of more playful songs.
You’re right. France’s song is about friendship and not ‘love’ which certainly wasn’t on my mind when I was 12.
Easy:
Doma Doma Doma Doma
Ya na ne, na na na nee
donuts donuts donuts donuts
I personally hope either Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Armenia, or Ukraine win. But good luck to all of them, because this year (IMO) all the songs are pretty good 🙂
Why are all the Scandinavian countries not participating, seeing they are so obsessed with Eurovision?
They objected the format JESC has taken now, as they found it “too similar” to adult ESC.
Lol last time I checked the results, Armenia was like 16th or sth. Stop cheating, people. 😛
1. France
2. Kazakhstan
3. Ukraine
I’m glad you are covering some JESC. Although I wish it was more.
The Armenians have messed up this poll, too. In the end, Kazakhstan will be the winner, as they do have the best song this year…
My Top 5:
1. Kazakhstan
2. France
3. Poland
4. Albania
5. Georgia
I’m sad y’all don’t cover JESC as much as you used to. The less press give it attention to, the less it’ll survive. Y’all are an example of that.
Press coverage requires a lot of time and resources which the Wiwi team may not have this year. But fan sites such as Eurovoix, ESC Insight and ESC Xtra are more than filling the void so all should be well. 🙂
Because it’s rubbish, and very few people care. If this was the last one, it would make no difference to me. Also, why do you need to start every sentence with “Y’all”?
They are all so cute, but my personal favorite songs are from Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Albania and Israel.
LOL, it seems the poll is hacked by Armenians (as always). :p
My Top 5:
1. FRANCE
2. UKRAINE
3. KAZAKHSTAN
4. GEORGIA
5. WALES
Awww. It’s so sad to see Azerbaijan that low. She’s so adorable. My favourites: 1. France (It’s such a lovely song, I love her. I have no idea how it is going to be on stage, but as for now I think that they have the biggest chance to win the whole thing) 2. Ukraine (the song is very cool and catchy and there’s a strong message, she will be in Top 3 I think) 3. Wales (this one is very relaxing and it stands out, but for some wrong reasons I fear she’ll end up like Ireland’s JESC 2017… Read more »
Have you seen the rehearsals, Anna?
Yes, I have. I think that France definitely deserves to win. Ukraine is also very strong. Wales is a bit of a let down for me. That choreography seems unnecessary and distracting, but the background looks beautiful. Kazakhstan went for simplicity which can be risky considering the fact that there is a similarly simple staging from Australia as well. Azerbaijan is much better than I expected, I hope they’ll get enough support. I love Macedonia, but once again they’ll lose the game because of staging IMO. Serbia has almost the same staging as Macedonia, I have a feeling they’ll get… Read more »
My TOP 3
1. France
2 .Russia
3. F.Y.R Macedonia
I think TOP 5 will be
1. Armenia (thanks to televote)
2. Kazakhstan
3. Australia (thanks to juries)
4.Russia
5.France
bottom 3 fight between Walles, Serbia and Israel
Albania or Wales!!
Full running order revealed:
1. Ukraine
2. Portugal
3. Kazakhstan
4. Albania
5. Russia
6. Netherlands
7. Azerbaijan
8. Belarus
9. Ireland
10. Serbia
11. Italy
12. Australia
13. Georgia
14. Israel
15. France
16. FYR Macedonia
17. Armenia
18. Wales
19. Malta
20. Poland
Absolute R.I.P. to Portugal. I still think Kazakhstan and Ukraine will do well, and I’m happy Wales is after Armenia, it’s nice and calming. I think Serbia will be the last place this year as it’s extremely boring next to Ireland.
I’d think they’d give a better spot to the debutant Kazakhstan but what do i know
Don’t write them off. Slovenia performed 3rd in 2015, and they got a podium spot. Same with Armenia in 2016.
F.Y.R Macedonia Marija Spasovska Doma
No bad song this year if you ask me. My top 10:
1. Ukraine
2. Albania
3. FYR Macedonia
4. Israel
5. France
6. Wales
7. Serbia
8. Georgia
9. Kazakhstan
10. Poland
I’d say France Ukraine Kazakhstan and Georgia (the juries will eat this up) could all be winners, but I can see half of the counties winning actually.
My top 3:
1 – Ukraine
2 – Macedonia
3 – Kazakhstan
Is it me or the chorus in Georgia’s “Your Voice” has a similar beat to Rihanna’s “We Found Love”? Anyway, talking about the competition, there are some good-average songs. I just can’t feel anything with almost any of them. But my fav would be Armenia if I had to choose right know (change that suit, pls). Like many others here, I don’t think there’s a clear winner this year and may be some surprises. Other countries I wouldn’t mind to see winning would be Georgia, Ireland (GUILTY PLEASURE!!), France, Belarus (JB impersonator though), Malta (a bit too shouty, but good… Read more »
Can’t really say I heard it myself
But my sister said the same thing about Georgia’s song , so it must be true
I don’t hear it myself. However, this could be due to the melody of both songs sounding alike, but not entirely. This melody usually to accompany the lyrics that tend to be written first by songwriters in many if not most cases in the process of songwriting. Any similarities with another unrelated song is likely to just be coincidental.
This is probably why some fans had an issue with Malta’s song last year when they thought it sounds so much like Armenia’s from a few years back even though it may not have been the case.
I have to favorite entries: Ukraine and Kazakhstan. I’m impressed by how serious Kazakhstan took their debut. Ireland might give us a surprise.
I only like Ukraine.
France is a bop
Nobody else talking about Australia here? So I will SPEAK UP (Australia 2017) to MY GIRLS (Australia 2015) and say that WE ARE (Australia 2016) strong enough to be a CHAMPION (Australia 2018) 😉
Ayyy!! You’re punny! 😉
I usually do not really follow the contest, I mean I do know the winners and some other songs, but I don’t follow everything in detail. However, this year, I listened to the songs, and surprisingly found a lot of good songs. These are the countries which in my opinion could win this year: Georgia , France, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Albania, Wales. Actually, I do think that Macedonia will mess up the staging, as they always do so, but I hope they prove me wrong. Regarding Kazakhstan, I can say that both the singer and the song are great, however I… Read more »
You can see part of Macedonian performance on my YouTube channel, as well as other, just search up for Milan ESC.
Macedonian backdrop in beggining is dark, almost black with few lights but in the chorus it lights up to blue background with snow falling from the top of stage, it is very cool! But still I doubt they will win, even though they deserve it!
Am i the only one thinking people are overrating Kazakhstan’s entry a bit in the hope that they will be invited to the adult ESC if they win?
Im not a fan of vocal theatrics (read diva)ballad especially in a kids contest
Kazakhstan is my personal favorite. However, it is not the type of song that I would normally expect to be the pre-contest Youtube favorite like we’re seeing now, so maybe you’re on to something.
I think Kazakhstan can win but if it does, I have a feeling it will not win either the jury vote or online vote, but could take advantage of vast differences between jury and online votes like Russia did last year and slide into 1st place.
Hands down, Kazakhstan. Macedonia is a close 2nd.
I just listened all the songs and here are my Top 5 picks:
France
Macedonia
Ukraine
Poland
Georgia
Kazakhstan is good too. Overall quality of the songs are rather disappointing though. Good luck to all the kids. (:
Great year, but Kazakhstan will win and France/ Ukraine will finish second and poland will follow because of the online voting. Can’t wait for Saturday, the stage also looks amazing.
I’m torn between Kazakhstan and Poland but I really want Kazakhstan to win. Hopefully they can prove the EBU that they do take these competitions seriously and invite them for 2020 ESC. Honestly if Australia which is miles and miles further away from Europe can get a waiver , I see no reason why Kazakhstan can not.
Well i’m rooting for Doma and Barby, while i can’t see them winning i want them to get high places
Junior Eurovision? Really. I couldn’t care less about thi stuff. It’s kinda creepy that adults like to watch a show about kids and for kids tbh.
Sure cause all kids even very young ones know how to vote on a computer, right?
Well, why not? Do you also expect kids to watch this on their own?
Then you’ll probably be just as freaked out to know that there are also two other Eurovision-branded contests where young dancers and musicians each compete in as well.
I’m an adult and I started paying attention to JESC two years ago. It’s just for fun and it’s like watching my children, nieces, nephews or even little siblings participating. I agree that entrants shouldn’t pretend they’re adults, though -children should enjoy their childhood, something that is too short. I’m also amazed by the quality of many entries, they’ve got absolutely nothing to envy adults’ ESC. Another fact is that we could see a few of these singers taking part in ESC in a near future. In addition, I enjoy entries in local languages -Kazakh, Welsh, Irish, Azerbaijani, Dutch, Armenian,… Read more »
30 dislikes! I think that’s the record on Wiwibloggs. 😀