The first live show of X Factor Malta is due to begin this Sunday, 12 January. But the show producers are looking further ahead. They have now opened submissions for original songs that will be performed by the lucky four acts who make it to the grand final on 8 February.
The show announced the song search with a post on Facebook, asking songwriters, “Have you got what it takes?” It also includes a link to the official guidelines of the song submission process.
CALL FOR ORIGINAL SONGS ??Have you got what it takes? Click on this link and get in touch ??https://issuu.com/xfactormalta/docs/xfactor_malta_-_call_for_original_songs#XFactorMalta
Posted by X Factor Malta on Wednesday, January 8, 2020
The song submission rules confirm that the songs are intended for the four acts who will make it to the grand final. Songwriters are given links to previous performances from the final 12, and the rules imply that songs should have a specific artist in mind.
The show producers also have a clear idea of what they want. They describe the songs as needing to be, “three minutes long, modern and relevant to 2020 music landscape, identifiable and ideally stand-out songs.”
They also make it clear that this isn’t the place for songwriters to send in their reject pile, noting that, “poor songs will be eliminated straight away.”
Interested songwriters won’t have long to get their songs in. The submission deadline is 18 January, giving songwriters just ten days. X Factor Malta requires a full demo of the submitted song, a version with backing vocals, and an instrumental version.
Will the X Factor Malta be used to select Malta’s song for Eurovision?
The three-minute time limit suggests that the songs may also be considered for Malta’s Eurovision entry, though the submission guidelines do not specifically mention this.
As the contest format currently stands, the winner of X Factor Malta will get the ticket to Rotterdam. The winner’s song selection method has not been confirmed.
Last year’s X Factor winner, Michela Pace, had her song internally selected. Working with submissions from international songwriters, she recorded a number of demos before settling on “Chameleon”.
If the show producers can find four suitable songs, they may also use the X Factor grand final as the song selection, similar to the system used by Georgian Idol for selecting Georgia’s entry for Eurovision 2019.
X Factor Malta also held a song submission period for last year’s series. Submissions were only open for a few days and before the final 12 acts were known.
In the end, the live shows did not end up using any of the submitted songs. Three original songs were performed in the live shows, but those were ones written by the acts themselves. Rapper Owen Leuellen performed two original songs and went on to be the series runner-up.
The first live show of X Factor Malta‘s second series begins this Sunday, 12 January.
What do you think? Who would you like to see in the grand final of the X Factor? What sort of song should Malta send to Rotterdam? Tell us your thoughts below!
So Malta is shopping songs, lets see if Borislav Milanov or a swedish team will get the gig
As a greek, i apologise for that comment. Who on earth is he? Greek male version of Aly Ryan? Pleaseee
More realistically they should call this ‘A Song for Destiny’.
Not really. I mean she has a good chance of winning but not a dead certain winner.