On Wednesday 17 October, Ukraine unveiled its plans for Eurovision 2020. The country’s act will be chosen through the popular Vidbir format yet again. But there is one big change.
Following last year’s debacle, organisers have inserted a new clause whereby artists who have performed in Russia since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 cannot participate.
And in one fell swoop, a whole swathe of the Ukrainian music scene was blocked from entering.
Here are ten familiar faces who can’t participate in the upcoming series of Vidbir, even if they wanted to.
Note, this list is not exhaustive.
10 acts that can’t enter Ukraine’s Vidbir 2020 Eurovision selection
Maruv
It was because of her Russian links that Maruv’s 2019 victory caused so much controversy. And in the months since, the “Siren Song” singer’s bonds with Russia have only become stronger. She’s even been nominated for the Best Russian Act at the MTV EMAs.
Jamala
The Eurovision 2016 winner and Vidbir judge performed in Russia twice in 2014. First in Moscow and again in Sochi, on New Year’s Eve. However, her team has said that this was to fulfil pre-existing contractual obligations. She has not performed inside Russia since.
anyway, if you want a source on how the Sochi situation was handled, allow me to (roughly) translate what Jamala's PR director has to say abt this: https://t.co/5MUfNfUCtO pic.twitter.com/tw4RUrZChP
— Drac (@virkyncha) October 16, 2019
Verka Serduchka
Jamala’s fellow Vidbir panellist is no stranger to Russia either. Although Verka went five years without performing there. However, the streak came to an end in 2018 when the drag artist performed at a New Wave after-party in Sochi.
Ani Lorak
Arguably, Ukraine’s most successful Eurovision alum, Ms Lorak is effectively completely based in Russia these days. Eurovision 2008’s “Shady Lady” continues to tour the region, attend award shows and make TV appearances. In 2015, she even held a show at the Kremlin.
Svetlana Loboda
Like Lorak, Loboda also operates primarily in Russia. The Eurovision 2009 singer has seen her star grow ever brighter in the region, topping the charts on numerous occasions. And in 2017 she too performed for audiences at the Kremlin.
Alekseev
He’s the Ukrainian that famously represented Belarus at Eurovision 2018. And he definitely won’t be repping his homeland soon. As recently as August 2019 he performed in Moscow’s Gorky Park.
The Hardkiss
The Hardkiss very nearly went to Eurovision 2016, tying with Jamala for the top spot in the Vidbir final. However, they lost out due to a lower televote score. Any plans of a Eurovision comeback would be scuppered by a June 2014 appearance at Moscow’s annual Park Live Fest.
Sofia Tarasova
The 18-year-old represented Ukraine on home soil at Junior Eurovision 2013. But a stint on The Voice of Russia in 2018 will put paid to any intentions she might have of entering the adult version. For what it’s worth, she reached the semi-finals on The Voice.
Freedom-Jazz Band
The Vidbir 2019 runners-up turned down the offer to go to Eurovision after Maruv withdrew. But they too have performed in Russia, including a June 2018 dinner show in Moscow.
Max Barskih
A runner-up in the country’s 2012 selection, Max Barskih has gone on to become one of the region’s biggest popstars. As a result, he’s performed extensively throughout Russia, including tours in 2017 and 2018.
What do you think of the new rules? Let us know in the comments below.
If Alyona Alyona decides to participate this all won’t matter a bit because there will not be a contest and all other contestants may as well just quit.
On one hand, good. It will increase the chance we’re going to hear the Ukrainian language again since Russia 2009. Also, that means KAZKA, LETAY and some other favourites of mine last year will have a better chance 😉
On the other hand, Idk if the EBU will let them get away with these rules, even though I do get that Ukraine is still in a state of war with Russia.
the EBU do not get involved in how people organise their local TV shows used to select an entry -0 this was made clear this year with the whole Vidbir debacle.
It only becomes the EBUs business once a song is submitted to them as an entry to their competition
The fact that EBU allows this just blows my mind. It goes against everything Eurovision represents, join cultures, bring people together… seriously this is unacceptable at so many levels 🙁
When Hattari openly made political statements before and during the contest, with full support from the Icelandic public and broadcaster, ultimately ending with the Palestinian flags on live tv, why most of the fans were so cool with it? Why Ukraine, that is in war, can’t make some bold political statements, but freaking Iceland, that I don’t recall to be in war with Israel, makes all this political s^*t show using ESC and everybody is cool with that? Why Iceland is even still in the contest after 2019?
You need to bear in mind that this has nothing to do with the EBU – it’s not their show or their rules. It only becomes their business once an entry is submitted. How local organisations choose their song is their own affair!
Most Ukrainian artists rely on Russia for their careers.
So this means that they will kick Jamala from the jury? If so, thats great news
also Verka will be kicked
Vidbir 2019 –> 1600 entries in total (including ineligible ones).
Vidbir 2020 –> more then 800 entries (as of 14:00 yesterday).
Yees nq, nobody will participate. Keep going. Scandal with Maruv only raised interest to the selection
As the saying goes: quality before quantity.
Russian pop industry is a horror show. It’s like they took all the worst stuff from the Americans without taking the good stuff. If you’re successfully performing in there, that doesnt mean at all that you’re a good artists.
I guess most of us can understand why the broadcaster doesn’t want to be represented by someone that has ongoing connections with the country Ukraine is currently at war with. So I think the problem is how clumsy the broadcaster has been while dealing with it. If they have actual reasons to believe a particular artist is supporting Russian interests, just don’t invite them to perform at Vidbir. Don’t interrogate them in live TV or announce a rule that equals performing an isolated concert in Russia to being favorable to Russian government’s actions.
this will definitely make it harder for them to do well but i confide they’ll manage to come up with sumthin worthy anyway. i kinda got how much they dislike russians when i noticed they sell toilet paper with putin’s face everywhere in ukraine.
Russian troll… nobody needs toilet paper with putin’s face here
Dear Ukraine, this is not how to do it. You will outshine Russia any time in Eurovision, do it with a friendly mocking smile and laugh at their troll armies.
If they run out of singers to convince, they could always settle for their own President instead. After all, the dude was a celebrity for most of his life. I’m sure he can come up with an entry that’s just as good as a Verka Serduchka entry (pity that we can’t see Verka compete for Ukraine anymore because of the current rules of the country’s NFs), if we consider his background in comedy. If he does well enough, we might be in for a Kyiv 2021.
If all else fails, they can always go for Vasilije Ojdanic. But that would require them to open their NFs to people outside of Ukraine, you know, ala Switzerland or Moldova?
Is that guy still alive? ?
Wasn’t Russia even represented by a Ukranian when they hosted? On home ground, no less.
2009 were different times, they were still bffs, then russia tried to snatch ukraine’s land and here we are. would u forgive your friend for trying to snatch your hair? i don’t think so
No way. I have rather thin hair that are a nightmare to style, if anything, my friends should give me some of theirs. However, when it comes to the Russia/Ukraine conflict, I don’t think it’s such a black and white issue. I for one don’t feel informed enough to have an unshakable opinion here. Granted, there was no referendum on my hair yet.
what both russia n ukraine should do but aren’t doing is wear a wig with style. i hope the metaphor is clear enough!
Nobody should wear a wig unless they’re cancer patients, maybe. This metaphor doesn’t work for me, I find wigs and their clientele awful.
LOL What a fun hypocrisy on Jamala’s part. As for the others mentioned, this list just shows how out of control this broadcaster is. None of them did anything wrong. I’m starting to wish Ukraine would just be axed from Eurovision.
I’m afraid it might hurt them in Eurovision and destroy their perfect qualification streak, let alone their quality entries
Ukraine’s my favourite Eurovision country, please don’t ruin it because of politics
People don’t seem to understand the difference between Russia as a country at Eurovision, Russian artists and the Russian government. Everyone complain over the fact that Eurovision is sometimes too political while the very same people hate Russian entries and don’t want that specific artist and song to win just because of Russian politics: decisions made by a rather small amount of people. I’m not trying, in any way, to defend the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, which I strongly condemn. I’m trying to defend Russian artists. And this one big thing. On this page, you automatically get so many dislikes… Read more »
I think most europeans these days forgot what the word WAR means. It means every day in my feed i see faces of 20year olds who were killed by russia. People who get upset over this rule are frankly pompous, over-privileged, and take peace for granted. Vidbir is first and foremost a platform to showcase new Ukrainian acts before UKRAINIANS. This rule will give opportunities to new artists, so as a Ukrainian im very much for it.
Look, I totally understand where this rule is coming from from an Ukrainian perspective; they are at war after all. However, I think that creating this rule goes against the core idea of uniting countries and singers from those countries. UA:PBC knows that the biggest market for Ukrainian artists is in Russia, so I just see this rule as them shooting themselves in the foot.
How many thousands of euros were those suitcases with gifts you guys got from the Russian delegation again?
Well there goes my support for Ukraine next year.
Is this journalism?
Certainly more so than the tabloid articles about unimportant wannabes. This is actually relevant.
Did you just call Aly Ryan irrelevant?
Mmmmm, this is gonna be the thing that finally gets Ukraine to NQ
I heard that rules forbid participating only artists who performed on events organized by Russian government or TV-channels. Maybe just a fact of traveling and performing in Russian on private party or event will not count.
Unless, they manage to reel in some folks from Sweden to help them come up with a better NF. But they’ll have to shell out a lot of money for that, of course.
lmao nobody needs swedes to do well, especially now that swedish type of pop isn’t cool anymore
I sometimes feel this site has very much a pro-Russia agenda… a lot of the writers don’t understand the feelings in the post-Soviet countries towards Russian colonialism of our countries, specifically in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia
Before anybody accuses me of being anti-Russia, my father was born in Russia so I am half Russian and I have family in Russia, but first and foremost I am a Lithuanian so I know both perspectives
After the shenanigans UA:PBC pulled last year, almost everyone has turned anti-Ukraine.
And you’re just running into Putin’s hands
I mean yeah, but Ukranian people don’t really care if you perform in Russia or not, I mean last year Maruv won the televote – and everyone knew she is performing in Russia(a lot), like it has nothing to do with politics, it’s just the fact. Plus a lot of Ukranians are working in Russia
Most Lithuanians speak a good level of Russian, and we enjoy Russian TV and music, and many here are ethnic Russian, however we weigh that up with what Russia has done to our country over the past 250 years. That is mostly the same in Ukraine and Moldova, we have a love for Russian culture but not for the Russian state. Sadly, the two are becoming more and more interlinked so it is becoming harder and harder in Lithuania, the Baltics, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova to justify this
y’all PRETEND u don’t speak russian…. i tried to communicate in basic russian with a lady in kaunas and she’d rather use sign language than spit out a word in r*ssian
Ahaha you’re right, it is more a matter of pride than anything, many Lithuanians would rather speak Swahili but really everyone knows at least basic Russian… we normally speak it in front of kids when we don’t want them to understand us
Put Russia and Ukraine on a alternating system for instance Russia competes one year and Ukraine the next and it cuts out all of the pseudo political bs
That makes it seem like Ukraine and Russia are interchangeable. Ukraine is a sovereign nation. Russia can’t take whatever they want. We need to support Ukrainians who support Ukraine.
Well it looks all the more likely that Tayanna could finally represent Ukraine in 2020
Why participate then? I mean, these countries don’t know or don’t care about the real meaning of the contest. It’s beyond ridiculous.
Kinda hypocritical that two of the panelists don’t even pass this test.
If only panelist – when even the winner of esc can’t compete again, then it’s hypocritical.
Will Jamala and Andriy Danylko (Verka) no longer be allowed to serve as judges now because of the rules? Or is this law only applied selectively?
They’re not participating as contestants so I think they’re good. But someone mentioned that the panel might get revamped so either or both Jamala and Andriy may be replaced.
i could go without jamala as a juror next year
This new rule is ridiculous. I understand the motivation for it but it would affect many innocent artists who have done nothing wrong. Two of my favorite countries in Eurovision have always been Bulgaria and Ukraine. Its sad now to see one of them be financially bankrupt and the other one artistically bankrupt
Just send Melovin again… 😀
After him getting such a bad jury score last time i doubt he’ll be considered
How about Olya Polyakova? She participated in the 2012 national final and is also popular in Ukraine. I have no idea if she had any concerts in Russia.
I want to see Laud representing them <3
Absolutely…me too!!!
So I guess Kadnay, Kazka, Laud, and Tayanna are on the clear.
And Brunettes Shoot Blondes!
I almost forgot to mention Letay.
Yes, I’m praying for Kazka and Letay especially <3!
I hope Tayanna or Kazka will get the chance to represent Ukraine next year:):)
In conclusion:
Ukraine is shooting itself in the foot
Neither of those artists were interested in participation though to be honest…
Maybe Alekseev and Freedom Jazz, but I wouldn’t think they can get good result on ESC.
I mean these are just examples. There are many more artists that are just not eligible anymore. They are really making their pool of artists smaller and this might be the thing to make them nq for the first time
Their only chance is Tayanna. That’s it. They might as well revert to internal selection AND pick Tayanna. That should solve their “boo hoo we might be NQ’d” problem.