She is considered one of the most iconic Ukrainian Eurovision acts of all time. And now, Tina Karol will be able to pass on her wisdom to the country’s future song contest acts as she takes up a place on the Vidbir 2020 judging panel.
Tina Karol on Ukraine’s Vidbir 2020
The “Show Me Your Love” hitmaker will sit alongside Andriy Danylko — the man best known as his drag alter ego Verka Serduchka. They will be joined by a third, yet to be confirmed juror. The 2019 panel consisted of Danylko, Eurovision 2016 winner Jamala and musician Yevhen Filatov.
Typically, the three-person jury is responsible for half of the result in every Vidbir show, with the televote making up the remaining 50%.
Speaking to segodnya.u, Karol shares her excitement at joining the panel. She speaks about the importance of striving to win, while acknowledging that victory is not everything. In what could be seen as a subtle nod towards the 2019 fiasco, the popstar stresses that the artist must compete with dignity because Eurovision is a complex machine.
Tina is well seasoned when it comes to judging talent. Since representing Ukraine in 2006, where she finished seventh, she’s gone on to become a TV talent show regular. She’s coached on several seasons of The Voice since 2012 and hosted Dancing With The Stars on and off since 2006.
Ukraine at Eurovision 2020
Ukraine’s public broadcaster UA:PBC and private network STB will once again organise the Vidbir selection for Eurovision 2020. The three-show series will kick off with two semis on 8 and 15 February, followed by a 22 February grand final.
In a bid to avoid the controversy which erupted after Maruv’s 2019 victory, entrants must not have performed in the territory of the Russian Federation since 2014. They also can’t have entered Crimea “in violation of the legislation of Ukraine”. Furthermore, they cannot have plans to do either during the competition or Eurovision.
This rule change comes in the wake of the chaotic Vidbir 2019, which saw the winner Maruv withdraw due to a breakdown in contract negotiations. Much of the disagreement related to the singer’s close ties to Russia.
These links came centre stage when Eurovision 2016 winner Jamala pointed a finger at the “Siren Song” singer and asked her an “uncomfortable question” on the issue.
Ukraine and Russia have been in conflict since 2014 when the latter illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula.
Maruv’s withdrawal triggered a spectacular chain of events which resulted in the second and third place acts, Freedom Jazz and Kazka, also turning down the offer to represent Ukraine in Tel Aviv. The country called it quits before fourth-place finishers Brunettes Shoot Blondes had the opportunity to say no.
Are you excited to see Tina join the panel? Who would you like to see take the third seat? Let us know in the comments.
I hope she enjoys every (breathe)…
dayyyyyyyyyy-ay-ayyyy-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Of Vidbir. 🙂
I am very happy to hear Tina will be a judge. She has a great ear for judging, unlike Jamala.
Great news! Tina is a professional, she earned her place on Olympus with her hard work. It would be ideal if Svyatoslav Vakarchuk became the third judge.
What’s the point of having a national final when as they said it “winning the national final does not guarantee you will represent the country”. Instead of going through this Vidbir fiasco, they should just internally find someone who’s crazy enough to agree to their representation contract.
Also, did EBU ever enforce late withdrawal punishment on Ukraine? They were very quick on enforcing it on Armenia for withdrawing for legitimate concerns in 2012.
People need to stop disrespecting Jamala. She brought Ukraine its second victory and deserves a spot on the judges panel. Although the situation regarding Vidbir last year was unfortunate It wasn’t her fault and she shouldn’t be blamed
Maybe not her fault, but she certainly gaslighted it.
This queen hasn’t aged a day
That means no Jamala? Finally!!!!! Hope Ruslana will be back, though. But Jamala, keep that woman away from this panel, she’s horrible as a juror…
I wonder if last year’s fiasco will have an impact on the song quality of vidbir this year.
You mean, there might be a lesser quality of entries that if selected, could result in Ukraine’s first non-qualification.
It’s very unlikely that Ukraine will not qualify. There are plenty of promising, young and up-and-coming artist in Ukraine.
The new rules will most likely just prohibit the participation of those more established artist. There are also plenty of established artists who gave up touring in Russia after the annexation and the start of the war. (Karol is amongst those)
Of the top of my head there is Kazka, Tayanna, Khayat are still able to participate. And those artists deliver quality songs.
I’m kinda scared of Vidbir
She deserves being in Vidbir. She has the charm that can make people really like her.
Her long note in “Show Me Your Love” was so good that I could listen to it everydaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
When I saw a picture of Tina I hoped she will take part in Vidbir as a contestant…I would love to see her on Eurovision again
Guess we won’t be seeing Jamala on Vidbir again…
Sad, she was lit.
People are blaming her for the entirety of the Maruv fiasco when in reality she barely did anything. It’s also good to have an actual ESC winner on the panel, since the point of the national final is to get Ukraine its third victory