It’s a national selection quite like no other. And, after three years away, the Malta Eurovision Song Contest is returning to our screens. As was the case before its hiatus, MESC 2022 will take place across two shows — tonight’s semi-final, followed by the grand final on Saturday.
The semi-final will see 22 acts perform, but only 16 will qualify for Saturday night. The line-up includes San Marino’s Eurovision 2018 singer Jessika, Malta’s 2014 representative Richard Edwards, local star Emma Muscat, as well as MESC regulars like Aidan and Janice Mangion.
- The show begins at 21:00 CET. You can find viewing instructions here.
You can share your thoughts and opinions throughout the show. Simply toggle the “Newest” button at the top of the comments’ section to see the latest comments from other readers. Alternatively you can refresh the page. Happy viewing, and may the best songs qualify!
Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022: Semi-final
Qualifiers
The 16 qualifiers will be revealed during a special programme on Friday evening. Voting remains open throughout the day.
Running Order
- Aidan “Ritmu”
- Janice Mangion “Army”
- Nicole Hammett “A Lover’s Heart”
- Sarah Bonnici “Heaven”
- Mark Anthony Bartolo “Serenity”
- Denise “Boy”
- Richard Edwards “Hey Little”
- Francesca Sciberras “Rise”
- Miriana Conte “Look What You’ve Done Now”
- Giada “Revelación”
- Baklava feat. Nicole “Electric Indigo”
- Derrick Schembri “II”
- Norbert “How Special You Are”
- Raquel “Over You”
- Jessica Grech “Aphrodisiac”
- Matt Blxck “Come Around”
- Rachel Lowell “White Doves”
- Nicole Azzopardi “Into the Fire”
- Emma Muscat “Out of Sight”
- Malcolm Pisani “We Came for Love”
- Enya Magri “Shame”
- Jessika “Kaleidoscope”
What do you think of the MESC 2022 line-up? Is there a winner in the mix? Let us know down below.
Fully agree!!!
I don’t think they can anymore. After 2016, I think TVM changed the rules to prevent that from happening in MESC again.
am i the only on who doesnt like ritmu?
i liked emma before but i think aidan will do better at eurovision it’s more catchy and memorable. malta should defiantly send Aidan
Agree Aidan is the best option for Malta with some tweaking. Would be nice if his colleagues from “boyband” Avenue Sky joined him, some of whom must be double his age by now.
Emma Muscat is an amazing performer and her staging is great, but the song is as bland as unseasoned chicken.
Aidan on the other hand has a great song and staging, so he deserves the ticket to Turin.
His vocals were awful.
12 pts. EMMA
10 pts. AIDAN
08 pts. NICOLE A.
07 pts. DENISE
06 pts. RACHEL L.
Thoughts and prayers…
(Deleted; wrong thread)
Sorry but I have to say that this is the weakest year Malta has had in a long while. The vocals on most of the songs were well under what Eurovision expects, including AIDEN. Emma Muscat was by far the best singer on the night.
At the minimum you could have made a poll with readers favorites of Dora (Croatian national selection final), which is happening tomorrow. But I guess they didn’t pay you enough as some other national broadcasters pay for their promotion on your website. What’s the law in UK regarding paid promotional posts I wonder?
There is this poll: https://wiwibloggs.com/2022/02/14/poll-who-should-win-dora-2022-in-croatia/269676/
I always got the vibe that Aidan is gay… but how touches his background dancer… I see you Aidan, go get it! And while you’re at it maybe some better fitting pants as well.
And this matters why?… 😀
The more queer people are on that eurovision stage, while homophobic countries are watching, the better.
You are right. People growing up need visible examples to show that being gay is okay – for a long time there was none. Ignore Lars and his stupid upvoters. It matters.
Sorry to pull you up on a technicality, Jonas. I agree with you about the representation on stage, but, Brötchen’s comment was asking about Aidan’s personal life, not how Aidan presents the song on stage. These are technically two separate issues. I agree with you with regards to the stage presentation. As for Aidan himself, he is who he is and he can live his life however he chooses – that should never be a question.
Nobody asked about his personal life, just a simple observation was made. It is no more intrusive than noticing he has blue eyes, or is a man, or has brown hair. Aidan mauled that man in front of us, he volunteered to do that – inviting people to wonder.
Indeed, an observation, leading to questioning of Aidan’s… choice of choreographic presentation? This is why I like discussion, to get to the heart of the issues. 🙂
I am happy that he is able to do that and that people are noticing, yes. But, his personal life is a separate matter.
It seems like the only part we disagree on is if a simple fact of nature qualifies as personal life. I’m not so sure.
If people only commented on things that mattered, it would be very quiet around here.
Does it make any difference if Aiden is Gay or Not?!!!!….& What about his pants?
Sadly today Chris from Chris and Moira who represented Malta with the song More Than Love passed away. His wife Moira just shared a heartfelt social media post.
Oh, very sad. They were there for Malta in both 1993 and 1994. Thank you.
when will the results be known?
Tonight
Just woke up and am catching up with these now.
I’m still with “Out Of Sight” but the gap between that and the other ones is a bit more narrow. “Ritmu” in particularly, is looking more and more like it’s made for Eurovision.
Discussion post: what is the reason for not having a single article about Croatian selection that occurs this weekend? I thought they deserved it since they’re finally starting to take the contest seriously; there are slight improvements that are easy to notice. So much about Swedish snippets and interviews, or even making reactions on Serbian entries, one song per video.
Oh, so the community is downvoting this? You think it’s okay to react to every selection except for some you decide to ignore? Don’t complain when Croatia scores low or even withdraws. I wouldn’t blame them.
If the community all downvoted you, you would be at least -250 by now.
The silence from me is because I don’t work for Wiwibloggs, so I don’t have the answers to your questions. I could speculate about it, but I’d probably be wrong. Better for someone at Wiwi to give you an answer.
At the bottom of this discussion post, Edgar says the results will be released tomorrow (Friday). So, have a good night.
Or good morning for me and Robyn here on the other side of the world. 😀
Indeed. It’ll probably be good night for you by the time TVM announce the results though.
My personal top 5 and bottom 4 didn’t change after performances, but some have shifted up and down in between.
Up – Matt Blxck and Denise
Down – Mark Anthony Bartolo
Whenever they tell Wiwibloggs I suppose. 🙂
Televoting is open until tomorrow night. There is a special show tomorrow and at the end of it the finalists will be announced. 16 songs to make it through.
So I could have gone to bed hours ago. Is there an interval act playing all night until the voting closes?
If you’re in the UK, it’s called “Storm Eunice.” 😛
More seriously, it looks like TVM didn’t think of announcing the results on the same night.
They probably thought we would all be busy booking our trips to Gozo and buying Kenwood kitchen appliances.
Not only in the UK. It will also hit the Dutch and Belgian coasts and inlands.
If it was for me, ones out would be Aphrodisiac, We Came For Love, Revalacion, and Heaven. Probably Serenity too (sorry to say, as the studio version has some low-key sweet aspects). 6th NQ would probably be Electric Indigo, as only the instrumental solo works for me.
Wow, we are really not agreeing this season. 😀
Best of luck to your favourites. x
Those would be the ones *out*, as in bottom 6. 🙂
Ohh! Oops! In that case, we do agree!
I figured, as this semi for some reason has 16 entries qualifying, that it would be easier to just list those I think aren’t on that level. Of course, there are various shades among the 16 I’d personally put through, but that’s the topic for 2 days later. 🙂
My favourites tonight in order are:
Emma Muscat (my clear favourite), Norbert, Aidan, Nicole (both of them, tied), Matt Blxck (yes really), Jessika, Denise, Rachel Lowell, Francesca, Mariana Conte/Enya/Janice (all tied). So that’s 12. Then maybe Richard, Electric Indigo. Struggling to get to 16 after that.
Are you counting ONLY performances or songs + performances?
The usual 50 points breakdown per act. 20 for the song (10 for lyrics, 10 for music); 10 for vocals/performance, 10 for choreography, 10 for styling/presentation.
Thanks for explaining. 🙂
Based upon the Malta Eurovision Instagram only 6 songs have been voted by the majority to advance to the final, they are: Ritmu, Boy, Into the Fire, Look What You’ve Done Now, Revelacion and Out of Sight. I’d agree that these 6 songs MUST advance
I also really enjoyed Jessika’s song, not a contender for the win but she’s so lovely and it’s a nice song from her.
I don’t like “Revelación”, but I agree that these other 5 were the best tonight, with Emma, Nicole and Jessika as the highlights.
Emma performance did nothing for me no offence but she needed a better song
I love Jessika so much as a performer. Both her appearance and vocals are very charismatic. Kaleidoscope is a fun song, and she is obviously natural in her delivery. But I’d wish for something even stronger for her (hopefully happening) return on ESC. However, she should definitely qualify tonight.
Thinking about it, why not? Sure, Hypnotica and The Flame were even better, but I’d be happy to see Kaleidoscope on ESC, as long it’s performed by Jessika!
Song 22 (Jessika) – Awww, it’s so lovely to see Jessika again. She’s fantastic on camera and a solid performer. The song is fun; probably the most light-hearted entry of the night.
I don’t care how good a performer is if the song is just awful. There’s no way Emma should win. If she does, maybe they should just do a 2016 Ira Losco and find her something else.
Interesting. In my opinion, Emma’s song is nowhere near as flat-line as “Chameleon” was for Ira. But I hear you and I wonder what Emma and TVM think about it.
Sorry, but if that happens, I’d feel like I’ve burned my money to crisp if I was a Maltese voter. This isn’t ”The Voice”, but a song selection.
Exactly why Emma should not win.
Point taken. Song-wise, I’d pick Nicole Hammett, Derrick, and Jessika ahead of her. Maybe Aiden too, but he’d need more vocal practice. 🙂
Oh, yeah, Nicole Azzopardi too.
Well, there isn’t a single song I like in this selection. So I would prefer sending someone whose performance screams “I’m a pro”, even more when Malta has a recurring problem with the televote.
Do we know if there is a jury vote tonight or is it all about the public to elect the 16 finalists ?
Song 19 (Emma Muscat) – Outstanding. World class. The clear winner for me. Forget the final, just select her now.
Song 20 (Malcolm Pisani) – I love how he owned the stage straight after Emma; not an easy thing to do. Very solid vocal. Not a fan of the biology lesson on the screen behind him; that’s quite hideous actually. The other issue is the song doesn’t touch me.
Song 21 (Enya Magri) – A solid performance and fire everywhere. The song is a bit too dark and serious for my liking, but this will have its fans for sure.
I think that We Came For Love couldn’t feel more plastic if it was a literal manequin. Aside that, it competes with Revalacion and Aphrodisiac for the corniest lyrics of not only this selection, but this NF season in general.
Sorry, nothing personal. All the best to the performer and songwriters.
As I said before, Emma is the best, if only had a better song!
Malta. If you pick Ritmu over Out Of Sight you are not gonna qualify this year. Ritmu is unhearable
Well, Aidan was my favourite from the studio tracks. I change my mind now, Emma is my number 1 spot.
After seeing so many terrible fashion choices tonight, Emma’s outfit is a delight to my eyes. She looked amazing and also give what I considered the most professional performance of the night.
And Emma Muscat just proved her superiority over every other contestant of MESC
For a song that is about 50% a ballad and 50% a banger, Out of Sight had a staging that managed to highlight both aspect with a great blend.
I don’t like when people pretend to play the piano and then just give up halfway through the song.
She could at least have set fire to it first
I feel sorry for that poor little girl who was pushed on early.
The show was meant to end at 10. 30 hahahahaha
i’m really surprised, i didn’t really like most of the songs from the initial clips but a lot of these performances are actually pretty good
Just saw Aidan during a break. It’s indeed a fun (and sizzling) performance. Why not?
I mis-read that and thought you were backstage with him. 😀
It’s fun, sizzling, sexy, but the vocal is a quarter-tone flat throughout. Not sure why.
Me in Valletta next to Aiden… That would be a great experience, I bet! 🙂
Song 16 (Matt Blxck) – Surprise: I love him. He’s great; I didn’t expect that. The most “marmite” entry for sure.
Song 17 (Rachel Lowell) – Good song, beautiful voice. Not a fan of the backing track; this song would do much better with a live orchestra, in my opinion.
Song 18 (Nicole Azzopardi) – My personal favourite track in the selection before we started. A solid performance; needs to loosen up a bit at the start, but once we get going, it gets better and better as it goes along. Also, those high notes. Bravo.
“White Doves” is a quite charming song. But it could use a bit of revamp to pump it up
Matt Blxck was… an experience. Ha ha ha… He really enjoys performing this.
It’s a difficult one for me this year. I have only listened to clips of songs. Watching this semi is crazy. The songs I thought I’d hate I don’t. I’m loving some songs so much. Up to now I don’t see us winning ESC so let’s just see what happens with the remaining songs
Song 13 (Norbert) – This is the big surprise. This could actually win the Malta selection. Such a simple song with a great voice and emotion behind it. Bravo.
Song 14 (Raquel) – Another song from Aidan’s catalogue, lol. Nice to hear the old “I-V-VI-IV” chord progression make a comeback, and with a flattened 2nd as well. Music theory icing on the cake. The performance wasn’t great though, sorry.
Song 15 – Sweet fun. Not the right song for that singer, but I’m glad that she looked like she enjoyed it.
The head of the Israeli delegation just buys dozens of numbers to vote for Jessica Grech. 😉
“To get to you, I’d learn to fly a plane!”
I wish my ears could fly and take me away with them for 3 minutes
That long-ish note…
Norbert is better than the song.
A guy called Norbert sending a song called How Special You Are is just asking to be laughed af really
I didn’t laugh.
There’s a Tony-winning singer called Norbert Leo Butz. Leave Norberts alone.
He’s quite possibly one of the best musical theatre stars of all time.
I agree. Anyone doubting that should listen to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or The Last Five Years.
Just saw Nicole Hammett’s uploaded performance on YT… Wow, this wouldn’t go unnoticed! In a good way!
Norbert – Musically very low-key, but he really feels these lyrics, doesn’t he?
Raquel did solid. The song is something I neither mind nor gravitate towards.
Aidan with ritmu is the only one that should win tbh
Downvoted for giving an opinion not surprised tbh