After more than a month of shows and spectacular performances from dozens of candidates, Georgian Idol finally reached its climax tonight. Four acts sang, and in the end Oto Nemsadze emerged as the winner with the song “Sul Tsin Iare”(Go Ahead), earning the right to sing for Georgia at Eurovision 2019.
The public was able to vote for their favourite via both telephone voting as well as through the Facebook Messenger app. He topped the table with 44.13% of the 234,383 votes.
“Sul Tsin Iare” (Go Ahead) is a rock ballad that comes with plenty of aggression and thrust. Oto has a scratchy quality in his voice that works well with the genre. The tune features a great deal of musical mumbling and all-male choral backing for added power. It has a strong patriotic spirit: it expresses Georgian strength and calls for an end to war and conflict.
Who is Oto Nemsadze?
Oto is a 29-year-old musician. He returned to Georgian Idol after previously winning the 2011 edition of the show. In 2013, he competed in Holos Krainy (The Voice Ukraine) and placed third. In 2017, he competed in Georgia’s national final as part of Oto Nemsadze & Group Limbo. Their song “Dear God” placed tenth.
Full Results
- Oto Nemsadze – 44,13%
- Liza Kalandadze – 35%
- Giorgi Nakashidze – 11%
- Giorgi Pruidze – 9%
Do you agree the result? What do you think of the winner? Are Georgia in the running to win Eurovision 2019? Let us know in the comments below.
Interesting…You can feel there’s a meaning here. Really looking forward to watching this on stage!
I am not sure if such a weirdly patriotic disply isnt as political as Hatari on the other extreme (with their clear message to go beyond nation states in the past and their very right statment that hatred seems to be prevailing in our society) is. I am german and get super unkomfortable when people start displaying flags in their performance, scream about patriotic glory and seem to make the contest a platform for nationalism. Do we really need “patriotic” songs in a time when right wing populism is on the rise in all of europe and seperation is hightlighted… Read more »
You may get voted down a lot but you got my support.
You probably would feel different about the song if you understood the lyrics. There is no hatred there at all, no nationalism and especially no patriotic glory. There is a very subtle reference to Russian occupation (which, by the way, keeps creeping into Georgian territory every month with it’s barbed wire, little green men and a false “border” , with Europeans like you turning a blind eye), but the song is about hope, strong spirit and overcoming violence and division with songs coming from one’s heart
Always walk forward, walk a lot, search, find… keep walking forward someone is singing somewhere, singing from the heart, behind the barbed wire, wounded, but still singing varada varada, varada rada hee varada varada, varada rada hee Always walk forward and you will recover your lost songs, Sing at the top of your voice – If you want to get heard. Always walk forward, Follow your heart, The old wounds are there, Still, walk forward – And you will walk across that barbed wire Fathers and children are sing “varado” Tune your guitar, we will not break apart Follow your… Read more »
This comes across as strong and sincere to me, and the melody is really pleasing. Oto has a fantastic voice and good solid presence. He really just needs to be dressed and styled by a pro (or a better pro), and I think this will be a really powerful entry. Georgia knows how to give good stage when they want to. An early favorite for me.
Really don’t get the negativeness, I like it very much, great effort neighbours, will surely votefor it in final couse Armenia is in the 2nd semi.
I like it. He is giving it his all. I feel the emotion. I think Georgia is very often underrated in this contest.
So this is the song about the occupation.
20% of Georgia is occupied by Russia.
This style of music is not my thing, but having said it, the melody is super well structured and has a geat build-up. I also love the traditional chorus, which makes a nice contrast with his husky voice. Singing in the national language is always a big plus, which I hope he will keep. I am not sure if it will qualify, though.
I always support rock music in Eurovision but I’ve yet to warm up to this particular song. It feels a bit amateurish overall. It seems like the songwriter tried to get an idea and an emotion across but didn’t really manage to translate it into the language of music.
Interesting choice, but under Eurovision standards I don’t see it qualifying. I didn’t watch the NF so I don’t know if there were better songs.
3 minutes felt like 1 minute!
I was curiously following him and the story (though I understood absolutely nothing)
His raspy voice sounds great and with great staging, it will rock!
So happy to have Georgian language back again 🙂
Also, is it just me or is the left backing singer the one from Iriao from last year?
Where is the chorus??? The build-up is good and then it’s going nowhere.
Can I ask for a translation, please?
Always walk forward, walk a lot, search, find… keep walking forward someone is singing somewhere, singing from the heart, behind the barbed wire, wounded, but still singing varada varada, varada rada hee varada varada, varada rada hee Always walk forward and you will recover your lost songs, Sing at the top of your voice – If you want to get heard. Always walk forward, Follow your heart, The old wounds are there, Still, walk forward – And you will walk across that barbed wire Fathers and children are sing “varado” Tune your guitar, we will not break apart Follow your… Read more »
I was reading the comments first, before listening to the song, and was preparing for the worst.
But I have to admit that I was actually positively surprised. His voice is interestingly different and the song itself has some authentic earthy quality on it. Esp. the final minute is delivering where the song builds up to…
Can someone explain to me how this guy won Georgian Idol in 2011 and now has won it again?!?! They bring back past winners to compete again?! Isn’t he already being idolized by the Georgian public? It’s as if Kelly Clarkson returned to compete on Idol.
Georgian Idol was revamped for the sole purpose of becoming a Eurovision national selection so perhaps, it starting off on a clean slate.
The version he won previously aired on a different channel, Rustavi 2, under the title “Geostari”. That version ended a couple of years after he won it, and it’s since been redeveloped a couple of different times under different titles. The current version is called “Saqartvelos Varskvlavi” in Georgian (which was the second version that originally aired on Rustavi 2 but has been revived for Channel 1, Georgia’s public broadcaster and EBU member station), and as the other reply said, was revived to function as Georgia’s national final for Eurovision. Oto obviously fell within eligibility rules, so he was eligible… Read more »
?????
I’m always puzzled on these Idol/The Voice/X-Factor contestants. I’m surprised to see how many of them jump from show to show, how many have great careers from before or even how many of them won some other contests. Saara Aalto? Lidia Isaac? Lisa Angell? Ect… I always believed that these shows should be a stepping stone for NEW singers. Those who had little to no exposure up till then. This way, it comes off as a criss-cross pat on the back, affirming that people who we know can perform, indeed can perform. Makes little sense to me. Then again, it’s… Read more »
I can find a reedeming quality in 99.999% of the songs but this one has none. This song is so bad it’s actually impressive.. Didn’t watch the NF but I’m sure there were better songs. Montenegro won’t be last place after all!
Excuse me, but this is not true at. In 99,999% of the cases you trash the songs just to finalise that Croatia is great, which is not…
Love this song!! It’s in my top 5! Well done Georgia!!
And here we can see how little eurovision fans care about being different and thinking out of a box.
It’s now more than ever obvious that all of the hype generated about Portugal originates only from the fact that he is lgbt guy.
He’s LGBT? I didn’t know lol (#Serhat)
Anyway, Portugal is my last place
But yea, people are hypocrites
And so are you!
This is such a lie. This fact has not come up at all (unlike Bilal for obvious reasons). And anyway this song is not out of the box at all, unless it is the box of horrors.
Georgia sends masterpieces to JESC (2015 is a big exception), yet can never manage to rival that in ESC. 🙁
Why? Why people hate this song?!
It makes me cry even I dont understand the lyrics, and that is the magic of music!
In my opinion he has the best voice so far, his song is EPIC and grows every second. That male chorus make it bigger and give more dimension to the song.
Happy for Portugal, Georgia, Slovenia, Italy, Belgium and Norway.
I know you disagree with me.
I agree….this song builds nicely from the beginning to the end. Good job Georgia. This should give you a solid chance to make it to the finals. The only thing I would suggest is change your wardrobe. You looked homeless and a long jacket on a short guy just makes you look shorter.
Not a fan of Georgia’s choice. Like his rock voice but there’s not enough. Song doesn’t suit him and takes too long to get going but in truth doesn’t really get going until the last 10 seconds. Don’t think they will be in the final this year either.
Georgia has been my favourite country in JESC since they entered it, but in the adult contest I’m not really feeling their songs… Though I like the last minute of this song, just not the beginning.
Georgia never disappoints in sending in the barrel songs. He has a good voice, shame nothing else is good. Even in a weak year such as this, it would do bad.
I like his jacket.
That’s about it.
Interesting choice, I like that it is in Georgian language. And y’all need to chill with that ”no qualification”, I prefer these kind of entries than try-to-hard-made-for-eurovision.
You are right, that’s what Eurovision is about. Too easy to win with English
I actually really like this. Build the end up a bit more and they should do great
Oh my gosh, this ESC year is getting worse. Such a weak year, I’m not even half enthusiastic as I were previous years.
The song doesn’t have a very clear structure, but a number of songs have rejected a clear structure this year, what I think this song needs is more bite, he’s saving it all for the very end, and he’s lost everyone by that point, this would be more effective if he was giving it everything earlier and it finished more minimalist, like at the beginning. It would need very good or unusual staging to qualify, but Georgia’s managed that before so, we’ll see, I’m not writing this off like others seem to be.
“Welcome to My Belarus” by Mariya Zhilina will always be the patriotic bop we all wanted but never got.
Nevena wins Beovizija! She won the juries, the rapping duo won televote.
BEAUTIFUL BALLAD
The juries saved the day on this one.
I agree. Juries voted with taste. Top 4 were expected – Nevena, Sashka, Ivana and Dženan. The televote was more unpredictable. Nataša and Una won, Dženan was second, Nevena third. Ivan Kurtic was above Sashka and Ivana.
Yes! Congrats, Nevena!
I’m so happy! She was my favourite tonight! ?
rapping duo were awful . Complete hot mess. ten years olds at JESC could do 100% Better. made San Marino last years look great. We Done Nevena, its a great song. Plenty of time to tweak and improve.
Croatia got some competition in the Worst Song Ever category!
Come on! Worst song *ever*? Certain Moldovan semi-finalist has that in a bag this year.
Include Montenegro in that too. At least their vocalists can sing.
Another disappointment… I have a feeling (and I hope) that countries which surprisingly didn’t qualify last year (Greece, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan…) will give their best in Tel Aviv. Someone has to save this year!
I hope you’re not implying the gimmicky entries of Iceland and Portugal. Both have interesting compositions but their performances are ridiculous. Don’t even get me started on Hatari’s “anti-capitalist” joke. Anyways we need more powerful entries to make up a decent final. Also I can’t see a winning song so far..
I hope you’re not implying the joke entries of Iceland and Portugal. No winning song so far
This year is fine as it is. You just want another stupid banger so that the emptiness of your head doesn’t hurt you so much.
It’s bad when your Junior Eurovision entries are consistently better than your Eurovision Song Contest entries.
One less candidate on SF1, it’s good for Iceland, Portugal, Slovenia…
OMG and it’s like almost all non english songs are on SF1
I mean, this is nowhere near my top 10, but I like the power of his voice, the slow buildup of the song, and the fact that he’s singing in Georgian. Anyway it’s a bit too dramatic for me, especially not having any idea about the lyrics.
You know you can google search for the English translation.
I like it but I do not think it will qualify..
By the way, Beovizija has turned into a Zeljko Joksimovic concert. Oh my.
Which is amazing on its own. Željko is the best composer of the Balkans
O come on, as if Georgia doesn’t know you make zero chance with this?
What is it with country’s showing their absolute worst this year?
It almost will be painful to sit through some of these chosen entry’s.
Nonetheless, good luck Georgia!
Eurovision 2019 curse didn’t say its last word. And Georgia, you could pick Liza, with that nice, Rosemary’s Baby theme’s groove piece. I really would like to love Georgian song, but I can’t! I just can’t! To me it doesn’t sound like a song, more like 3 minutes of yelling to the randomly chosen sounds. He’s got a good voice and maybe it has some great lyrics, but to me it seems like Georgia really likes being last in its semi.
Hahaha, loved the “Rosemary’s baby theme’s groove piece”.
Meanwhile, after Željko Joksimovi?’s half an hour ego burst ends, we might actually find out who wins Beovizija. I’m now for Jana, Nevena or Ivana.
Oh, Sashka. Her song is good, but she’d have to work on staging. Also, IDK how the full English version sounds. She said that she originally wrote it in English and that she’ll perform that version. Only “za tebe babo/mamo” parts will remain in Serbian.
please withdraw…
Ha ha ha … “I love Belarus” 🙂 So awful, but quotable and funny. I’ll still wait for lyrics to see in which amount is this patriotic.
After all, “patriotic” is a tricky word these days.
This song is structureless. At times he was just shouting and I was saying “Hvala Ne”. And the drumkit in the background confused me, no one used it in the entire performance and it was a percussion heavy song. And even those backing vocals reminded me of their entry last year, the one that came last in its semi.
Georgia never dissapoints. They can always manage to send one of the worst songs. Even in a year as bad as this they send a bottom 5 song.
Sorry, but now I really think that Georgia deserves another last place. I mean, just compare their Junior Eurovision entries with their actual Eurovision ones.. nearly all of them are better.
They don’t even give an effort for a good entry.
Honestly, Liza was the best tonight, she had the best song out of the 4, and funnily enough she placed 2nd tonight, although she had nearly always finished first.
Sorry, no final again for you Georgia! Who knows, maybe a revamp can help..
I was hoping for Liza to be chosen, because there’s something really intriguing about her (it also doesn’t hurt that she’s absolutely beautiful), but “Sul Tsin Iare” seems to have more layers than the song they gave her. Though I would say it was unfair to give the same song to 2 finalists, because the audience had an extra chance to get captivated by this one than by the others. I like his voice, but I think he got a little shouty near the end. I’ll wait for the translated lyrics to form an opinion on it.
Oh, my mistake then. Anyway, it shouldn’t be a possibility. And I’m not even getting into the problem that is to mix the Georgian Idol vote with the selection for Eurovision. If you loved a particular singer for the whole reason, should you vote for a different one in the final because of the song?
The audience picked a good singer. Now they have to come with a good song. Shared responsabilities.
Yes, too shouty – if he changes the way he sings the song it might get a better result. It will not qualify, I think.
He’ll be on the 2nd half of the 1st semi, which means that it will be very difficult to stand out when you’re surrounded by Conan, the-anticapitalist-band-the-blog-filter-hates and Kate Miller-Heidke. Plus, other potential qualifiers like Eliot, Victor Crone and Katerine Duska. Not mentioning Serhat’s exuberance, of course.
Eurovision 2019 is such a sausage party. Anyway, the song is not good. Sorry.
We have Tulia, Tamta, Kate Miller-Heidke, Srbuk, S!sters, Katerine Duska, Leonora, Ester Peony, Paenda, Anna Odobescu, Jonida Maliqi, Tamara, Michela Pace so its even. I don’t know what you are talking about
Nevena, anybody?
Wow
This is epic!!
Could suprise many in Tel Aviv
Good luck Georgia
I don’t know. Right now I’m not into it, but it might grow on me. Anyway, I appreciate the style, the voice and for being in Georgian. Congrats.
I was prepared to not like it but i LOVE it.
It builds up nicely and is really dramatic. His voice is stunning!
I’ve always appreciated Georgia for stepping out of the box, but this act as a whole does nothing for me. It sounds rather unpleasant.