In a press conference on Monday, Suspilne announced the acts that are going to compete in Vidbir 2022, Ukraine’s Eurovision 2022 selection. This was after the broadcaster earlier published a longlist of 27 acts. A total of eight acts will fight for the right to represent the country at Eurovision in Turin on 12 February.
This year, the Ukrainian selection will be decided on one night. This is a drastic change from the original Vidbir selections produced by commercial broadcaster STB, where the production company held a show that was similar to the country’s X Factor format.
Friends Production, who earlier won the tender to produce the new Vidbir, was responsible for the local adaption of Star Academy – Fabryka Zirok, which ran on Novy Kanal from 2007 to 2011. During the press conference, Suspilne producer Yaroslav Lodygin said that the producers listened to every single of the 284 entries.
Vidbir 2022 show details
The production company’s general director Oleksiy Honcharenko told Eurovision commentator Timur Miroshnychenko in his online show Eurovision Dressing Room that the choice of a one-night national final was very deliberate. He stated that he only wanted the eight most interesting acts to take the stage to give the audience a feeling that the choice would be difficult. On top of that, he said that he wanted to incorporate a variety of genres.
During the press conference, Honcharenko said that it is not “Euroradio”, but “Eurovision”, stressing the importance of not only the vocal aspect, but also of the visual aspect of the performances.
Responding to a question from Eurovision blogger Lyonya Polishchuk, the producers confirmed that the body of the jury is not yet fully decided. The producers confirmed that Mariya Yefrosinina will host the show after Serhii Prytula hosted the show on STB for several years. Timur Miroshnychenko will be the Green Room host.
The show’s will be held in a different studio than earlier Vidbirs too. This year show will be held in the Centre of Culture and Arts of the National Aviation University in Kyiv. In addition to the announcement of the acts, a draw to determine the running order was held, similar to the Eurovision semi-final allocation draw.
Vidbir 2022: list of participants and draw
First half
Cloudless – “All Be Allight”
Michael Soul – “Demons”
Our Atlantic – “Moya lyubov”
LAUD – “Head Under Water” (DISQUALIFIED)
Barbelen – “Hear My Words” (REPLACEMENT)
Second half
Alina Pash – “Tini zabutykh predkiv” (“Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”)
Kalush Orchestra – “Stefaniia”
Roxolana – “Girlzzzz”
Wellboy – “Nozzy Bossy”
Vidbir 2022: acts and songs
Alina Pash – “Tini zabutykh predkiv” (“Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”)
Alina Pash will definitely bring some flair to the contest. The title of her song is a reference to an extremely famous 1960s film about the culture and spirit of her home region. The Transcarpathian-born “Bitanga” hitmaker has been topping fan wishlists for several years. Alongside Wellboy, Alina Pash was one of the young Ukrainian artists to appear on the Tina Karol collaboration album Молода кров (Young blood). She has received international criticial acclaim too. Most recently, Alina won a Music Moves Europe Talents Award (a successor of the EBBA Awards) at Eurosonic Noorderslag, following in the footsteps of alyona alyona.
Wellboy – “Nossy bozzy”
One of the hottest names on the list is Wellboy. Born as Anton Vel’boy in the Sumy Oblast village of Hrun’, he rose to fame participating in the 2019 series of X Factor Ukraine. There, he was an outspoken favourite of judge Andriy Danylko. He scored one of the biggest local hits of 2021 with “Husy” (“Geese”). Similar to that single, his current music style combines countryside kitsch with rap and alternative pop — in stark contrast with the typical Ukrainian pop star.
Kalush Orchestra – “Stefaniia”
Hailing from the Carpathian town of the same name, Kalush Orchestra combines ancient Ukrainian traditions with modern sounds of rap and hip hop. One of its members, Ihor Didenchuk, already has some experience under his belt. In 2021, he stood on the Eurovision stage as part of Go_A. Besides him, the group consists of rapper Oleh Psyuk, backing Dzhonni Dyvnii, multi-nstrumentalists Tymofii Muzychuk and Vitalii Duzhyk — as well as Kylymen, a DJ and man of the dark Kalush streets. One of the latest singles the band released, “Shtomber Womber”, is three minutes long.
ROXOLANA – “Girlzzzz”
Prior to her participation in the ninth season of Holos krainy, Roksolana Sirota worked as a manager in an agricultural business. During Holos krainy, she reached the Knock-Out stage as part of Potap’s team. After this, ROXOLANA signed to the Mamamusic label, which houses some of the country’s biggest acts including Verka Serduchka. Although she has yet to break through to the mainstream, ROXOLANA has collaborated with the likes of KAZKA and Nina Matvienko.
LAUD – “Head Under Water”
Having participated in multiple editions of Vidbir, LAUD – whose real name is Vladyslav Karashchuk – was always a jury favourite. He participated in the 2016 edition of Holos krainy, but his Vidbir participations were his big breakthrough. Since those, he has duetted with Tayanna, performed at Atlas Weekend and most recently, released his album Dual.
Michael Soul – “Demons”
Vidbir 2022 got the Belarusian flavour in its selection as Michael Soul made the final eight the selection. The Belarusian singer has worked from Kyiv since 2021. Eurovision fans might remember him from his attempts to represent his country of birth. In 2019, he was a local fan favourite with the Vlad Freimann-produced (that’s Vlad from VAL) song “Humanize”, but eventually came fourth. He previously sang as a backing vocalist for NAVIBAND at the contest in 2017.
Our Atlantic – “Moya lyubov” (“My love”)
Our Atlantic is an indie-pop group from Uman, consisting out of graduates from the P. D. Demuts’kiy Uman Regional Musical College. The group took part in Koza Music Battle, one of the largests music competitions in Western Ukraine and performed at the festival Faine misto. In 2018, the group released their first mini-album Pillows, followed by their debut EP Час розваг in 2020.
Cloudless – “All be alright”
Pop-rock electronic four-piece band Cloudless rose to fame during the 2020 edition of Vidbir. The group participated in the first semi-final of the show, but was just eliminated, finishing in fourth position. The Kyiv group have since used 80s rock influences in their music, which is noticible in their Eurovision 2022 bid “All be alright”. Their songs have been featured in countless popular Ukrainian films and series, including Oryol i reshka and #Shkola.
Are you happy with the acts chosen for Vidbir 2022? Did any of your favourites make the list of participants? Let us know in the comments down below!
Just listened to all songs release, except Nossy Bozzy, and I think Ukraine will fail to qualify this year. I hate to say this, but I think they should pull out and blame it on Russia’s incursion.
Ok, having had some time. Alina and Kalush are starting to grow on me. One thing Ukraine ALWAYS gets right when it comes to the Eurovision perfomance (not so much Vidbir) is the STAGING. That can definitely uplift the songs
‘they should (…) blame it on Russia’s incursion.’
I get it, you don’t like the songs but at least have the decency to not joke about something so tragic. Ukrainian people would definitely not laugh about such an insensitive comment about a real threat for their country. I despise the statement of yours.
So far, having listened to the available songs, I am NOT impressed. I think that if any of them were chosen, they would fail to qualify. I hear a lot of hype about Alina. Well, she better bring it. Having listened to her songs, she is unique, but I question whether she would be able to score well with the jury or audience. Her songs are not melodic enough and do not have a hook to them. And let’s face it, Wellboy and Kalush Orchestraas a rap/hip hop artists will not do well at Eurovision, such groups never do.
To be honest, the jury will do her dirty – that’s for sure, but seeing how Alina Pash performs live I can definitely see her being an audience favourite. I’m quite confident in her being able to fit a song to Eurovision, she has the vocals and the creativity. Seems like a perfect fit to me.
Alina Pash shouldn’t have part at Vidbir as she visited Crimea in September of 2015 (after Russian anexion) violating the rules of Vidbir which startes that any singer can’t take part if vist Crimea under Russian occupation, even more that she enter it via Russia!
Here are are many proffs of it: https://www.dialog.ua/ukraine/187667_1566838574
Ukraine decides only to give me eight songs and Moldova just released almost 30.
Sometimes, I think the universe just hates me.
I mean they only need one song in the end and too many songs can lead to the paradox of choice.
In wake of how well received Finland’s streamlined selections of the 2020s have been, and especially when the country came sixth in 2021, I can see a lot of countries opting for less songs in their selections to maintain quality over quantity.
i miss in this final mavka from eria and bomba from antsya – both songs belong into the final especially when you hear the 4 already known songs.
why not 10 acts? it makes no big difference.
last hope for cool ethno vibes will be alina pash.
Loud replaced with Barleben – “Hear My Words”. Are they nice?
Is allight a typo, slang, or bad English from the songwriters?
Loud just been disqualified bc his song was published earlier in 2018, there will be another artist who replaces him
well… LOUD is disqualified
I personally think none of these 4 (All Be Allright, Demons, Girlzzzz and Head Under Water) are good. None of these would’ve been good enough for the Vidbir 2020 final. Hoping that the other 4 are good, otherwise this would be the Australia Decides 2020 situation.
As a Ukrainian I can say that Alina is the most famous and popular one here. The second place is Wellboy. (he is relatively new). The rest are not very known. Alina is a great artist, so it can be the easy win for her.
Kalush is pretty famous. I would say they are the most popular out of 8 finalists
I do not know them
Snippet song Kalush – Stefania
https://t.me/ogaetalks/592325
I like Ukrainian language. Would love to hear it this year <3 in fact there isn’t a language I don’t like 🙂 🙂
Ihor of Go_A and Kalush Orchestra is an amazing musician… but anyway, the Vidbir_2022 winner is unpredictable…
I don’t know what it sounds like, obviously, but Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a SUPREMELY badass name for a song so I hope it delivers.
it’s also a name of legendary Ukrainian novella and legendary movie by Paradganov who was imprisoned by Soviets bc of his homosexuality but of course a real reason was his anti sovetic views and unapologetic love for Ukraine
exactly!
not only a film, but also a genius short novel written by famous Ukrainian writer Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi in the beginning of the XX century!
Personaly think roxolana win because she’s really pretty so she’d probably be my favorites at esc.
she has a great song and this is why she can win. Not because she is pretty
Are these artists’ songs out yet? I want to listen to them to assess the quality of this national final.
Roxolana’s song is published
Roxolana, Laud, Claudless and Michael Soul songs are out
Isn’t Ukraine in the brink of war right now with Russia?
We are. But, firstly, half of country doesn’t believe it will happen (including myself), because if they really needed more than Donbas and Crimea they would get it in 2014, when we didn’t have a government and army at all. And, secondly, this stuff is mostly on TV. Donbas is 0,5% of country. Most people run pretty ordinary lives that are affected by ongoing war only partially. Like, somebody’s son died at the battlefield, maybe, some news on TV, but we ain’t hiding in houses from bombs in other regions. There are fireworks, TV shows, schools and colleges. Life didn’t… Read more »
That’s been on my mind and it had me worried about how a hypothetical war could affect Ukraine’s participation at Eurovision.
I’m worried for Ukraine generally but I guess I’m also worried about their participation at Eurovision
I don’t want anyone to withdraw.
Thank you for thinking about us, all the support is very appreciated <3
Most likely it won’t happen (as long as people in Russia’s government hadn’t lost their minds completely). As for what #synthsareawesome said, they wanted half of Ukraine (South-East part) back in 2014 but couldn’t take it while also pretending that it’s a civil war
Well, formally, it’s still a civil war ( at least, Soloviev and Skabeeva sometimes say so). Also, if they really wanted to they’ve could’ve make the whole country’s occupation a civil war, because a lot of Ukrainians don’t mind being a part of Russia.
Well, when Russia seized Crimea, it became more positive for Crimea than negative. I think that in the case of the capture of all of Ukraine, the result will be approximately the same. Although some Ukrainian Nazis may resist. Personally, I do not see the difference between a Ukrainian or a Russian, I myself have 80% Ukrainian mentality and at the same time 100% Russian mentality.
you’re 100% a weirdo, that’s 4 sure 😀
Crossed my fingers for Alina Pash. Slay, girl!
Tini Zabutykh Predkiv and Girlzzzz seem cool, I’ll give them a listen
Kalush Orchestra give me Urban Symphony vibes, Really looking forward to this.
A piece of cake for Alina Pash
Roxolana’s song is nice one. Cant wait to hear Alina.
Omg! I guessed 7 out 8, yes! can’t wait for live concert 😀