The Georgian Public Broadcaster has confirmed that it will once again use Georgian Idol to select its act for Eurovision. The upcoming series of the international reality talent show franchise will serve as Georgia‘s national final for Eurovision 2020.

National broadcaster GBP confirmed the news this week, and noted that the new series will begin broadcast in October. This means that Georgian Idol is likely to be the first national final of the Eurovision 2020 season. If the show follows the name nine-week format of the previous series, Georgia’s act for the Netherlands will likely be decided by late December.

Applications to audition for the show are now open. The broadcaster is casting its net wide, with the show open to both beginners and experienced acts.

Live auditions started earlier this week in Tbilisi, while further auditions will be held on these dates:

  • 24 August: Kutaisi, Second Zakaria Paliashvili Music School
  • 25 August: Batumi, Vakhtang Chabukiani Classical Ballet School
  • 30-31 August: Tbilisi, First Channel of Georgia

By using Georgian Idol for a second year, Georgia is breaking from its tradition of mixing up its Eurovision selection method. The popular talent show was brought back earlier this year, where ten young Georgian singers competed over six live shows.

The series was won by Oto Nemsadze, who had previously won an earlier version of Georgian IdolGeostar — in 2010. Oto performed the patriotic rock ballad “Sul tsin iare” at Eurovision 2020, where it was retitled “Keep On Going”. Sadly the song finished only 14th in its semi-final, keeping Georgia from the grand final for the third year in a row.

Georgia’s selection methods

Georgia was previously known for never using the same Eurovision selection method twice. In 2015, Nina Sublatti was chosen via a modest five-act national final. The following year, Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz were internally selected but their song was chosen in a national final.

In 2017, Georgia went all out with an extravagant 25-act national final, thought to have been held as an “audition” for hosting Junior Eurovision 2017. And in 2018, Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao were internally selected.

What do you think? Are you pleased to see Georgian Idol return? Who would you like to see on the new season? Tell is your thoughts below!

Read more Georgia Eurovision news

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Paule
Paule
4 years ago

Didn’t work well in 2019, will most likely not work well next year. Countries should stop sending the winners of casting shows automatically to Eurovision because there is a heavy bias for artist personality and not much thought goes into the song.

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  Paule

Unless said talent shows are revamped as actual Eurovision national selections. Israel did that with Rising Star.

No national selection is perfect anyway.

Loin dici
4 years ago

Sul tsin iare was not good in the Idol, but the revamp made it epic enough. Hoping for another song in Kartuli, just for the sake of persistence.

Jayy R
Jayy R
4 years ago

I was rooting for Oto so much last year, probably one of my favourite songs from 2019… it really didn’t deserve to stay in the semis! Let’s hope next year’s song is good too 🙂

Jai
Jai
4 years ago

I don’t understand why Georgia keeps changing the way they picked their act over the years. Some of the methods they used in the past (like in 2015) yielded good results. Maybe they should return to something like that

Polegend Godgarina
4 years ago

they better pull an x factor malta n select the singer first n then internally select a song

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

If they’ll pick an artist in December, maybe they’ll only select the song internally in early 2020? I think it would make more sense than doing it on X-Factor, since people tend to vote more for the artist than for the song. Though it would be nice to end the year with 2 released songs for a change.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
4 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

I think if they learn from their mistakes from last year, they should just pick the artist through idol first and then internally select/create a song suited for the winning artist. That’s what Malta and Israel did last year.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

I believe they’ll do that. After all, they’ll have plenty of time to work on a song this time.

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
4 years ago

Since it worked so well for them this year. 😛
(I really liked their staging though and I actually would have preferred them to qualify over a couple of others)
Varada varada, varada rada hee, Georgia!

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

I can’t say I ever became a huge fan of it, but the fact that they leaned into the intensity made it a lot more engaging live and turned a definite non-qualifier into a potential comeback. Georgian is not a pretty language, with all due respect, so it lends itself better to pump-up fight songs than lighter stuff (as far as I’ve heard – I’d be happy to be proven wrong).

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
4 years ago
Reply to  Joe

I agree. I didn’t really like keep on going until it’s eurovision performance. It’s not my least favorite 2019 song anymore (that would be the dream).

Polegend Godgarina
4 years ago

i still don’t get what y’all saw in a purple mountain led it was nothin special

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

Cos it was Purple.

Tajikistan
Tajikistan
4 years ago

Hope they keep on going with sending Georgian language songs!

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
4 years ago

Georgia has sent so many great entries in the past and I wanna see them do well.

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

Let’s see what happens here. Want them to find that sweet spot between pop and intensity.

KESC
KESC
4 years ago

I’m tired of saying this, but I really hope they will come with a great entry like Warrior. It’s Georgia in the end, still hope never dies.

Jowst Nej
Jowst Nej
4 years ago

We know the first country not winning Eurovision 2020

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  Jowst Nej

One out of 43 chances.