Less than ten hours after Suspilne revealed him as one of the eight acts for Vidbir 2022, LAUD was disqualified from the Ukrainian Eurovision selection. In an interview to Ukrainian newspaper KP, broadcaster Suspilne has now explained their decision to disqualify his bid.
LAUD intended to sing “Head Under Water” at Vidbir 2022. However, Eurovision fans discovered that the song’s Dutch composer Daniël Boting had uploaded the track before 1 September.
In 2018, Boting published an acoustic live version of the song on YouTube, where only a few hundred people watched the video in between the time of uploading and the Vidbir 2022 press conference.
In the interview to KP, Suspilne acknowledged that they did not know of the song’s 2018 upload. During the submission period, LAUD only submitted “Head Under Water”. This made it impossible for the broadcaster to allow him to participate with another entry. Instead, the broadcaster took the decision to let another contestant, Barleben, join the line-up and to remove LAUD from the list.
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Suspilne claims the EBU’s 1 September rule changed for Eurovision 2022
In the KP interview, the Ukrainian public broadcaster also made an interesting comment towards the so-called “1 September rule”. This rule forbade contest entries to be commercially released prior to 1 September of the previous year. Suspilne claims the rule was modernised prior to Eurovision 2022. A representative of the broadcaster said:
“With regards to the international rules, where previously there were limitations on early commercial releases…from 2022 onwards, that condition also changed: the understandings of a commercial release changed, so that the emphasis is no longer put on precisely the commercial release component, but it forbids any publication of a song before 1 September 2021. (…)”
In the past, the EBU held to a strict 1 September, or previously 1 October, date, which did effectively forbid entries to take part in the contest. The Eurovision organisers relaxed that rule in the past decade. In recent years, several Eurovision songs were allowed to participate in the contest although they had been published before September.
Non-commercial releases that had received very limited exposure online were still allowed to take part. If we are to believe Suspilne’s statements, that has now all changed.
What do you think about this alleged change? Do you think it is a good development? Let us know in the comments down below!
Why? Russia isn’t ashamed of harassing Ukraine
I’m ready to throw a tantrum if Alina Pash doesn’t win.
Alina + KALUSH = <3~
I think we may view “1944” and “what was done to Maruv” in a different light, If Russia invades Ukraine in mid-February, and starts marching towards former-communist countries.
What if a song is not released but rather leaked?
Now I’m worried about one particular song that’s a fan favorite in one of the national finals but has been performed on concerts before :O
What song are you talking about?
As I’ve previously said – if only he was Jamala…
Sorta off topic, but it seems like Alina Pash has visited Crimea through Russia (flying from Moscow) after its annexation, which would be in violation of Vidbir rules and Ukrainian laws. She confirms it in this interview in Ukrainian (https://youtu.be/sgeD84Dlpxo ). It was apparently before she became a known artist and she says she didn’t consider the possible consequences at the time. Not sure whether Vidbir organizers missed this information or maybe they decided it wasn’t that big a deal. I wouldn’t want a repeat of Maruv if it’s the former.
She’s winning that’s %100 but we don’t know yet if they will force her to quit. I don’t think so
I’m here for the drama
She did perform in Russia before, however she cancelled a few gigs in 2018 because ‘Music is not a place where there is noise and hatred’. I assume that may be also has an impact on whether they force her out or not.
Alina Pash for Torino 2022 ?? Ukraine is really getting used to send folk/techno songs to Eurovision.
didnt stop jamala from winning :s
Read the article again, please
Maybe when Russia and Ukraine are finally friendly with each other, there’d be no reason to be ashamed about.
Ukraine did nothing to Maruv. She was given a choice and made her decision. If you look at her schedule you’ll see that she’s basically a russian singer now
If that’s the case then it’s a good thing in my opinion. Stricter rules mean less space for misinterpretation
I agree but it’s also comical that they can interpret “commercially” one way when it’s Jamala (that song also wasn’t political at all) and another way when it’s someone else. If they decided to make the rules stricter why didn’t they comunicate that in advance?