It was over almost before it started in Belarus‘ national final. Junior Eurovision 2018 host Zena convincingly won the jury vote with an almost perfect score, and will represent the country at Eurovision 2019 with “Like It”.
In one of the strangest national final formats, Zena’s victory seemed assured from early on. With a 100% jury vote, each song was publically scored immediately after the performance.
With Zena performing second of the ten songs, she took 69 out of a possible 70. That meant a perfect score was required from one of her nine rivals to topple her. In the end, no song could beat “Like It” – and that meant Zena would be going to Tel Aviv!
Zena – “Like It”
Zena was your favourite to win the national final in our flash poll earlier today. She also hit the top marks with several members of the Wiwi Jury.
Belarus National Final 2019 – Results
- Michael Soul – “Humanize”, 59 points
- ZENA – “Like It”, 69 points
- Eva Kogan – “Run”, 54 points
- BLGN & Mirex – “Champion”, 65 points
- Sebastian Roos – “Never Getting Close”, 62 points
- Alyona Gorbachova – “Can We Dream”, 59 points
- PROvokatsiya – “Running Away from the Sun”, 55 points
- Aura – “Čaravala”, 55 points
- NAPOLI – “Let It Go”, 58 points
- KeySi – “No Love Lost”, 59 points
Unsurprisingly, the format of the results caused a few tensions amongst the acts, as they saw their hopes dashed before their eyes.
Further eyebrows were raised by some of the generous reasons given for songs. One juror gave PROvokatsiya a score of 9/10, apparently based on combining her birth month and the number of band members on stage. We’re serious, y’all.
About Zena
Aged just 16, Zena — or Zinaida Kupriyanovich — will most likely be one of the youngest participants at this year’s contest. She’s previously attempted to represent Belarus at Junior Eurovision in 2015 and 2016.
Whilst she didn’t win those contests, Zena finally got to Junior Eurovision in a different way. She was a co-host of Junior Eurovision 2018, alongside Evgeny Perlin and Helena Meraai.
Do you love “Like It”? Or do you think Belarus could miss out on the final once more? Let us know all your thoughts on Zena and her song in the comments section below.
I’m usually dissapointed by Belarus. This is not bad at all, but I don’t really like it. It seems like I’ve heard it again and again.
Is it really a national final if there’s no public vote to it?
Not bad, good chances of qualifying but there is tough competition in semifinal 1..
Zara Larrson 2.0 even her song sound like reject song from Zara
Like It Belarus!!!!! WOW
Im surprised. I really like this! Sounds a bit like a Melfestentry. Well done. Semi 1 is gonna be soooo tough 🙁
an unapologetic bop, such a shame it ended up in the stronger semi. the other one is mostly ballads n it woulda had bigger chances there
Nice, vocals could be better but welcome back to the final Belarus
We know will open semi 1 now.
finland will – they are 5 group/pair in first half of 1 semi
Thought I would pass on an interesting statistic about the singer. Apparently Zena (if she reaches the grand final) will be only eight days younger than Lindsay Dracass was when she represented the UK at the 2001 contest. (I don’t understand the maths personally, but I’m told this is the case.)
Both were/will be 16 at the time of the contest, and both can belt out some high notes when needed. Beyond that, the similarities pretty much end. 🙂
lindsey carcass served one of the most uncomfortable performances in history, i hope this ‘statistic’ is completely unrelated
Yeah, so do I.
this year is no joke ,who do i vote,its gonna be bloodbath
I found out something very interesting about Zena—She’s The voice of Moana (or Vaiana for the European market) for the Russian dub of that Disney movie! Here’s how far i’ll Go in Russian: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XNpDHXHUntE
Here’s Zena performing with Alexander Rybak a few years ago if anyone’s interested!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTXwvItZF94
Actually this song is not that bad I dont get it why Belarus hate their own entry come on this is miles better than last year….
Switzerland, Belarus and Cyprus wow glad Ukraine withdrew Maruv would have slay them all LOL
I doubt that Belarus is glad that Ukraine is absent, because Ukrainians traditionally would give Belarus 12 points.
A big majority of the Belarusian public hate the act because of the fact that the election process was veeery fishy. It hasn’t been talked about much on any English speaking platform, what I know of at least, so let me sum it up (as a person who speaks both English and Russian). Soo, here’s the scandal: Zena is the daughter of a very well-known music producer in Belarus and the judges were *allegedly* paid / under the influence of her connections to give her the highest score. Michael Soul, a big favourite in Belarus and act 1 in the… Read more »
Exciting time for a 16yr old, representing her country in Eurovision. I just hope I don’t see too many adults lusting over her.
For starters, Zena should not be an option in Top Model Wiwi Poll.
Hey @William Lee Adams staff, if you’re reading this please take colin’s suggestion. Zena is still a minor and should not be counted when it is mostly adults voting.
Why the ESC does not follow the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a question I will keep on asking. Again and again. The Convention currently clearly defines adult age as 18 (but this might change in the future).
Yes, there should not be childern in esc. They should be protected from all interviews, the attention and the fact that people write about them.
Thank you Robyn 🙂
Is this ok ? Why doesn’t the publisher delite such thing that is written about a child?
https://wiwibloggs.com/2019/03/07/melfest-wiwi-jury-reviews-bishara-on-my-own/232240/#comment-944932
Yes! And I think the publisher of this blogg has a huge responisbillty to delite every comment that isn’t prorate …. about every child that compete in a national selection or esc. I think they need to take this serious.
I think it’s not ok that children get this exposure. There is to much hate and negative comments that children shouldn’t read about the themself.
We need to think more than one time when we write about this girl. Thoughts from a Swedish mother.
Good Luck Zena. <3
Michael Soul immediately turned into Michael Sore real quick
oh wow i like me a cute bop
For once I like Belarus entry…
by far the best one from nationalny otbor. everyone here that hates on it probably didn’t listen to the other train wrecks. that being said, idk if it will qualify
Oh yeah, Shuma was the one that could make Belarus fight for a top 10 placement.
Poor music understands Lukashenko. And we suffer.
don’t LIKE IT
Round of applause for all the selected songs today. They are all really good from the ambience and originality of Duncan, the tropical Mediterranean bop from Luca, the urban feel good song from Zena and the pleasure of Serhat.
Two patterns to point out: First, as everyone knows no one performing 2nd in the Eurovision Grand Final has ever won the competition, however the last two winners of Belarus’ national selection performed second there and even in Junior Eurovision with Daniel Yastremskiy. Secondly, let’s look over the last couple of years with the running order draw of the host country in Junior Eurovision and their draw in the Eurovision semi finals the following year: Bulgaria- JESC 2015: 13th ESC 2016: 12th Malta- JESC 2016: 5th ESC 2017: 4th Georgia- JESC 2017: 9th ESC 2018: 10th Belarus- JESC 2018: 8th… Read more »
wig
wise choice but next time just internally select her and save the money for the staging in May
Shame jury. While everyone was choosing between Soul and BLGN… Another victory of the artist from Drobysh. Shame
The song is fine, she’s at a disadvantage to Cyprus and kind of Greece because we’ve heard the live version first, in terms of stage presence she’s not setting a very high bar for them to beat, and those vocals were okay, reminded me of Zara Larsson only Zena’s voice wasn’t quite as big, and as I mentioned she just doesn’t have the same stage presence. I feel like I’ve been a bit tough, I know she’s young but I stand by what I’ve said. On the other hand they have time to work on this, and it’s not like… Read more »
There’s a lot of work to do here and I’m afraid 2 months maybe won’t be enough. Zena has so much energy that I felt that sometimes she doesn’t even know how to control it. So when she gets to the chorus, she becomes a little strident. Also, some enunciation problems, but those are easier to solve. The song itself is harmless generic pop. I’m curious to listen to the studio version to get a better notion of how much it can improve yet.
It’s the first year in a while that I don’t see a really obvious winner. There are good songs that have been selected, for sure — but I don’t yet see any that will storm to victory.
I really like/appreciate Iceland, Portugal, Italy, Australia, for example, but they seem more like love it/hate it entries rather than an obvious runaway success. Maybe that leaves the door open for Norway (or Russia)? I’m curious if others a clear obvious winner has emerged?
I need the studio version
And a music video 🙂
I don’t know if it’s the song or the performance but it feels like something that wants to be a bop but is all over the place. Jigsaw pieces are there but they’re thrown out in a mess on the stage.
Glamorous karaoke.
Not bad. This song >>>>>>> Replay
It’s actually decent. Y’all would stan if this song was representing Cyprus lol
oh this is great will def bring belarus back to the final. teens will probably vote for her. the best to represent belarus in my opinion
I feel bad for saying it, but unless the staging gets turned way up and her vocals improve just a little bit, it’s gonna be another year on the outs for Belarus. At the very least, we now know every artist competing in the first semi-final, and almost all of the songs (save for Poland).
I’m reserving judgment over qualification predictions until Poland’s entry is released.
I’m confident Poland is going to do a marvellous job with Tulia.
Fingers crossed. And when are Armenia, Malta, and Russia going to release their artists’ songs?
An all-jury national final is not a national final at all. At least they put the performances online in a decent (and viewable) resolution this year.
At least they didn’t go throw the charade of a public vote.
A bit generic; now we have 3 dance songs which sounds a bit like the same
Wow, now that’s the way to turn your national selection into a joke
Uta a good entry from Belarus May be in final
Is the audience gonna like it? Are they gonna like it?
I don’t think so-o-o.
Very middle of the road. Not memorable at all.
Also, what’s the point in making national final with 100% jury vote? It’s like internal selection + costs + anger of fans whose favourite didn’t win.
I don’t dislike it, I just find it generic. It is enjoyable, don’t know if enough to qualify though.
The song is trash, with awful nonsensical lyrics. I almost certain she’ll stay in the semi.
Well this was the only option, really. The only other good song was Michael Soul, but we already have songs like that and Netherlands and Belgium are both a lot better. The big problem now is that in Semi 1 we already have Cyprus. So Tamta and Zana will battle it out for the pop banger spot and I guess Tamta will win. But I would prefer Belarus to Replay, if I’m honest.
It’s what she deserves.
I thought they were gonna fix the song as it is a mess, but they didn’t. It’s still a mess.
Not a bad song but her pronunciation needs a lot of work. I only understood the first word at the chorus and that was the title of the song. Belarus isn’t my favourite Eurovision country based on past entries but this is a good effort!
I ranked Zena in my Top 3 after hearing all 10 songs a month ago so I’m not complaining, well done to her although the voting format was ridiculous and unexciting, none of the judges gave any of the performances a mark lower than 7(/10) that’s too generous! Zena is also the first solo artist to participate in ESC who was born after 9/11, I feel so old…
Oh lord. Haha, gurl no. Bye. NEXT.
My 2nd favourite after Michael Soul, Hope Zena well at Israel!
Well, Belarus will stay in semi final and I’m not even sorry. This whole “National selection” was ridiculous. They decided that Zena is going to win after just 10 minutes of the show, without seeing the rest. I feel bad for all the artists that were after Zena, they knew they don’t have any chance of winning.
Belarus, seriously, either give the public right to vote, or choose your song completely internally, it’s not fair what you did to those artists.
At least they got decent ratings (7-9) and some compliments. The jury was totally predetermined who to send, but they acted respectful when communicating with the artists.
But the artists prepared themselves for the national selection. If they already knew who they’ll be sending to Eurovision that means they just wasted performer’s money, time and energy for this show. In my opinion that’s disrespectful.
Well, we all knew that in Slovenia as well. Everyone knew that Raiven and Zala & Gasper will go to the televote final. The other 8 performers were just fillers.
I think that national selection is almost the only opportunity for young singers to show themselves on Belarusian TV. So in any case it was not a waste of time for them.
Colin: did you get some of the absurd comments made by some of the juries though? For example, one did not give Mirex Silva (BLGN feat. Mirex) high points because of the reason that he is not a Belarusian citizen. Pretty disrespectful and xenophobic for a black guy like him if you ask me.
Oh, that’s beyond disgusting! Did (s)he actually say that? If so, they should publically apologize ASAP. That kind of people shouldn’t be judging anything. 🙁
I actually think that Mirex vastly improved his performance in the finals. He had much better vocals and pronunciation.
I just saw that there is a lot of gently said stuff, clapping and “spasibo” on all sides. I got that one jury member gave Napoli a 9 on great vocal skills. However, I might have made an educated guess and missed. Sorry.