Since Sunday fans of Junior Eurovision have been humming Maléna’s winning entry “Qami, Qami”. And now, following Armenia’s second win at JESC, the country’s team says it is ready to host the contest.
Writing on Instagram, Armenian Public Television’s Eurovision boss David Tserunyan made it clear the nation is ready to embrace fans once again following their last hosting in 2011.
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David, who is also the producer of the domestic hit Masked Singer Armenia, punctuated his message with a series of high-impact emojis, including the “heart eyes”, “celebrate” and “red heart” icons. His love for JESC is real and Yerevan is ready to unleash its passion once more.
The Armenian delegation has been riding a high ever since their victory on Sunday. They topped the televote and came third with the professional juries, showing there was widespread agreement on the quality of their song and stage show.
Despite weeks of whispers that they were in contention to take the crown, the delegation looked truly shocked (and maybe a little relieved!) when Maléna was confirmed as the new JESC queen.
As you can see in the video gallery below, particularly the second slide, both adults and children were overwhelmed by the enormity of what was unfolding.
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The men in suits are happy too.
Hovhannes Movsisyan, CEO of Armenian Public Television said:
“From the very first day we released Qami Qami we believed in Malena’s victory and were looking forward to hosting this major event. Armenians are very excited about our comeback into the Eurovision family, and even more thrilled to host this spectacular event next year. Welcome to Armenia!”
Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, said:
“Armenia’s cool, classy, contemporary winner set a new standard for the competition. Their enthusiasm for the event is unmatched and we are excited that AMPTV want to host the 20th edition of the JESC next year. We look forward to working with them on planning a very special anniversary edition of the show.”
EBU Director General Noel Curran said:
“We were thrilled to see Armenia win their 2nd Junior Eurovision in Paris this weekend and congratulate Maléna and AMPTV’s hard working delegation on their stunning victory. We welcome the enthusiasm from our Armenian member for hosting the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest and are anticipating a great collaboration between the EBU and AMPTV over the coming months.”
Are you guys excited? Do you hope the show will take place in the run-up to Christmas again? Let us know in the comments box below!
I was reading comments and didn’t want to reply, but here people are commenting something without really having enough information about how the things are. Armenia has never prohibited people entering the country of ANY nationality. Anyone from Azerbaijan could take part in any cultural, sport or any other event. That was Azerbaijan who was blocking citizens of any country of Armenian origin entering the country. Like sport journalists with Armenian names were not allowed in. Even in rare cases when people were allowed in, they were under serious danger to be attacked and harmed. Budapest murder was very indicative.… Read more »
after disgusting behavior from FR/ AR jury- i dont care anymore…
I just hope that all this talk about Azerbaijan withdrawing next year would lead to something. Why is the EBU not paying attention to this Azerbaijan-Armenia problem?? Did the EBU impose a fine on Armenia for withdrawing from ESC in 2012? Since they took part in JESC that very year, they shouldn’t have had any problem with participating in Baku. When will these two countries have diplomatic relations with each other? I’m just so tired of them being so petty each year. (Please excuse me for my anger and I apologize if I am offending anyone. Peace out 🙂
Actually EBU did impose a fine on the Armenian broadcaster ($120,000) to be exact and forced the Armenian broadcaster to air the entire show uninterruptedly which they did, including the part where Azebaijan’s postcard titled Karabagh was aired. But let’s start with all of Azeri violations with no consequences. I’ll let you start since you’re so angry.
Armenia is hosting … Azerbaijan is leaving …
For as much as I care … they can be eating breakfast in Mars and pretend the Earth is flat … I just want the contest to remain as musical as possible and not a platform of excuses for countries like these to seek compassion for their own causes and promote hatred towards other nations in the competition … Let the music speak and learn to wash your own dirty laundry somewhere else …
Everyone here is talking about whether Azerbaijan will withdraw or not. My opinion? Let them out. And ban them for some years. They need a serious lesson after cheating all these years and sending plastic entries. I’m talking mostly about the Adult Eurovision, but I suspect that their behaviour is the same in Junior Eurovision too. Azerbaijan never learns…
Skeletons was such a dope song though
Truth was my fave post-victory Azeri entry and in fact my winner in the class of TA
The JESC song was also produced by Swedes which is pathetic and they literally interrupted Malena’s performance by talking non-stop. They need to be banned from JESC to learn their lesson.
The last point makes sense but the first point isnt that bad So what if Swedes wrote that song? It’s not against the rules. And please dont tell me Armenia had done nothing horrible against Azerbaijan
“cheating all these years and sending plastic entries” a biased unsupported claim indeed. Plus, the plasticness of entries is very subjective.
And please dont tell me Armenia had done nothing horrible against Azerbaijan
name exmaples what Armenia has done to Azerbaijan
Attention, attention. All flights change the destination to Armenia. Ushadrut’yun. Bolor t’rritshqnery ughghut’yunnery p’oxvum yen depi Hayastan.
There is a rumor circulating that Qami Qami would be Athena’s entry for 2020 if they took part. If this is true I am SHOCKED
No, it was a song called “Why”. It was very good and would’ve been a contender to win, but it definitely was more of a pop ballad with less ethnic elements.
Why would have been top 3 but people would have wanted a chirpier winner, hence why France, Spain and Netherlands dominated online votes in 2020.
“Why” was the song for Junior Eurovision 2020, this comment talking about Armenia’s hidden 2021 entry and claims that Qami Qami was to represent Armenia at Eurovision 2021 if they didn’t withdraw.
there are only claims because nobody actually knows what happened in 2021. They were supposed to participate it and we don’t know what was their plan/song For Eurovision 2021. The details were never revealed officially.
I’m sure that, were it to be Athena, who writes her English lyrics with DJ Paco producing her songs, she would submit any ideas to David etc rather than having them foisted on her, though David etc could provide Armenian lyrics in the same way that an external songwriter called Annemarie Eisfeld provided Athena’s German lines in OMG.
Firstly, you mean 2021 of Athena, and secondly, Athena writes her English lyrics by herself (though has an external writer for other languages like German) so I doubt that she’d have done this, even though it would have been good.
Azeris can choose Sona to give their points and Malena speaks with her (as one of the host). That could avoid problems and boop.
Sona and Malena are not the problem, it’s everyone else.
The children are never the problem … YOU the grown-ups teaching each other in the most dogmatic and fundamentalist way to hate the other part on your behalf IS THE REAL PROBLEM …
I hope Azerbaijan goes… AFTER the hug between Malena and Sona, i don’t think Armenian people are gonna do anything against a child. They will respect him/her.
I think Azerbaijan will withdraw, but on the other hand what they did (once again) on JESC as well as what they’ve done at ESC has shown that the broadcaster doesn’t care of any fine. I’d like them to get banned for a year of two to learn their lesson. Besides, musically they’re not bringing any value to either contests? Always bought out songs.
This should have been done when Azerbaijan bought votes or tried to bribe juries, the broadcaster IctimaiTV still buys prepaid cards for Azeris abroad for them to vote for their own home country to the final. EBU should be more strict and show that rules are for a reason.
I just hope all differences can be put aside to allow a young singer from every country to have this experience, without politics and hatred getting in the way. It was obvious in the voting this year that these do get in the way, so here’s hoping we can be better next year
You know it’s not the first time they hosted the show right?
When Armenia last hosted they were stable politically, economically and safety-wise.
When Armenia hosted JESC in 2011, it was just coming out of the economic recession and JESC was on its last legs. No country wanted to host it. Armenia is far my democratic, stable and economically stable today. Also, the political tensions are in Karabagh and not in Armenia.
We all knew Armenia were eager to host Eurovision, however, the problem of safety may arise in the coming months. Let’s not forget that Armenia was at war with their neighbour less than a few months ago, and tensions regularly arise every few months.
If escalations occur between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the EBU will be forced to relocate the contest. The EBU make safety their number one concern, as we’ve seen from Rotterdam 2020. I’m delighted Yerevan may host again, but I don’t want to get my hopes up.
Israel hosted Eurovision while being bombarded by Gaza a couple of weeks before the contest. A properly prepared country can host anything even during a war. And I really doubt that Azerbaijan will do the same provocations that Hammas does.
The same cannot be said about Italy back in 1991 … and Italy itself was not at war … but the climate at the time of the Gulf war was … scary to say the least … leading to a rushed poorly prepared Eurovision edition …
Bombarded? Which part?
There are plenty of interesting questions to ask beyond politics: 1) could Armenia be able to attempt to do the double? (as they are high up in my list for nations I want to win due to Athena and Chains On You.) 2) given Athena once partook on the Greek JESC selection of 2008, and placed 7th/10, surely she should be involved here? But Chains On You would probably not be the most appropriate for this even though Athena has some songs which could be. 3) Would the event be moved to early November due to the Qatar World Cup… Read more »
No they Will not withdraw. Azerbaijan is the most likely to withdraw
I don’t think Spain or Italy would as they are big markets, but viewing figures were surprisingly low there, and viewing figures drive many participations, like the UK’s withdrawal from this level. Even with a better result this year, Azerbaijan haven’t been too interested in JESC, so they will quit anyway, hopefully quietly with a view to returning in 2023.
The EBU I think are trying to get all of the Big 5 in, so they must be incentivizing countries like Italy or Spain to stick around to make it worth their while.
Of course, they are … Where do you think all the money needed comes from? Not from our pockets, that is for sure …
Italy would get bigger views if they aired JESC on one of their major channels instead they always put it on Rai Gulp which is their kids focused channel and kill any possibility of getting good ratings
In this context I can see why CBBC wouldn’t do it even though they would be fun and keep the ESC spirit, maybe with a puppet like Hacker assisting Scott or Rylan.
Is there any chance of Azerbaijan sending a live-on-tape perfomance for JESC 2022 instead of just unapologetically dropping out?
Azeris can enter Armenia so they won’t have a problem if they decide to participate (But they most likely won’t…)
I mean the kid would most likely be booed by the public + I doubt safety of the delegation could be guaranteed. The countries are at war afterall
Excuse me, but don’t confuse Armenians with Azeris. We are not like that. In the past, Armenia has had no issue voting or giving points to Azerbaijan. The question you should be asking is what are the Azeri spokespeople going to talk about for 2 hours nonstop cuz they surely will talk over everything Armenia does or says and thus ruin the show.
I highly doubt that. Albania participated in 2008 when Serbia hosted, fresh after losing Kosovo. Olta Boka said that she was really nervous and afraid before she arrived but that she felt completely safe and welcome. I can’t imagine Armenians acting differently.
Serbia has a lot of glass ceilings they won’t dare to shatter upon themselves due to their 90s history and their relationship with Kosovo … so, they knew what not to do when it came to Albania …
Armenia and Azerbaijan are both far too consumed by EGO desperately wanting the world approval that one is right and the other one is not in their own mess … and the other way around … Almost like a child trying to convince mummy the younger brother did something wrong to avoid being punished himself …
The kid being booed by a largely made up of children audience???
That would speak volumes about how Armenians are educating their children and what can be found in their History and Geography school books…
Cause Azeris aren’t the only ones trying to convince the world that Little Red Riding Hood was not actually red … but some random other colour because … well … because …
the Armenian comentator did not talk in Azeri performance Azeri did by Armenian that says enough
Armenia has its own ways to play along the same game as the Azeri … Irregardless of who is actually making more of a fool of themselves … both just make the whole issue even more problematic by their own attitudes and their seek of approval from the world against the other part … This time it was Azeris disrespecting the Armenian performance, but Armenia will do something as provocative to do even more damage to this already damaged issue … There was a certain flag in 2016 … We’ll always have someone from each side doing something to ruin… Read more »
Seriously? After what the Azeri spokespeople did during Malena’s performance you really think the should participate?
Armenia did participate to Eurovision 2013 after their spokespeople spoke during Sabina Babayeva’s all performance in 2012. So Azerbaijan could participate to the next edition if they want
1. That’s not true and 2. ARMENIA WAS NOT VOTING THAT YEAR! Do you see the difference? How are viewers going to vote for an entry when the spokespeople talk during the entire performance non-stop. And, I have watched Armenian broadcasters’ airing of the Azeri entry in 2012 and they did not talk at all over her singing, even after Azerbaijan’s postcard was titled “Karabagh”. Honestly, the amount of lying and deception among Azeris is just staggering.
It IS true look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ohwDdar5o&t=68s
performance starts at 0:53 and they keep talking to 1:24
Azerbaijan postcard being titled ”Karabakh” could be wrong , not defending that.But you talk like Armenia didn’t include politics to ESC only Azerbaijan did. You also included Karabakh stuff when you present your votes in 2009 and not even talking about 2016 scandal.
if you blame the other side at least don’t do it yourself or accept you did the same. You two may have problems but what about not including them to ESC and being nice to each other ?
You just proved yourself wrong lol. Armenian hosts spoke for a total of 31 seconds after the song had started. Azeri commentators spoke for 3 minutes non-stop. But, even if Armenian hosts were to speak during the entire time Sabina was singing, it would not matter as ARMENIA WAS NOT VOTING THAT YEAR. The purpose of uninterrupted programming is to ensure the viewers can watch the performance and vote based on that. How is anyone in Azerbaijan going to be able to vote for Malena if your commentators spoke for 3 minutes during Malena’s performance? But then again, it’s very… Read more »
How much is Fox News paying you to share fake news? Are you expecting having a reality TV show for yourself about bashing Armenia or bashing Azerbaijan for no reason at all?
uhm , where are the fake news exactly? This Ron guy claimed what i said is not true and i shared a video that prove me right so i am not the liar here 🙂
Are you expecting having a reality TV show for yourself about being an Armenian fanatic like MAD and to defend them as much as they don’t defend themselves ? Or a show for yourself about disliking every negative opinions about Armenia without even thinking about it 🙂
Why did the Azeri commentator talked in Armenia performance that is disrespectful
Armenia is not a word in the Azeri’s dictionary … thus, they talked over as if no one was singing for 3 minutes…
It’s a parallel world that they have made up themselves Irregardless of Eurovision rules and stipulations …
At least this time Armenia avoided the flags and images of monuments … but who knows what will happen in 2022 … We’re are forced to watch this soap opera unfold every single f**** year without asking for it.
Sweetheart you wanting to hate on Armenia in the name of Azerbaijan doesn’t graduate you to collage but most likely means you can’t go any further than middle school … But I am sure you cannot go against the will of the Azerbaijan forces unless you wanna be seen as a traitor. Will you hug an Armenian? Or your name is not Sona … so you are not a traitor. Or was that hug a made up fake one as well? 5000 Dollars plus to claim it was a set up hug!!
Got me thinking if you all were talking about the one who announced the points from the Azerbaijani jury, but it’s the commentators you were referring to. hehe, my bad.
I just hope that JESC 2022 will have better production as what Yerevan had in 2011, because the songs really are the only thing that prevented the year from being equally awful to the two years that followed after it.
I hope to. I hope that 2022 will have much better production. I will give Armenia a 2nd chance so it wouldn’t be like a JESC 2011 2.0 that was a copy of Swedish Television’s christmas series from 2003 called Håkan Bråkan
That, and I suppose we could look at ESC 2013 and 2016 to compare. Malmö 2013 was mostly saved by Petra, and 2016 is still renowned as one of the best editions of the adult contest. Maybe it could be true for JESC as well.
(Now that I think of it JESC 2018 was a great improvement over 2010 as well)
True
Is there a chance Iveta could host? Or Malena? Both speak good English.
Welp, Iveta announced points from Armenian jury panel in 2017. Just a year after the Artsakh flag exposure.
That banned flag isn’t controversial in Armenia though.
Sirusho’s English is also very good, and her performance of the Qélé Qélé remix at JESC ’11 really brought some extra fun and energy to the show. She should definitely host!
Malena’s English is good but she’s too shy for such a gig. Speaking the language well is way less important than being able to go with the flow and staying cool under pressure. Sara, Ayana, Anna, Elisabetta, Olena, Jovana, Enzo and Simao might be able to do a decent job hosting but I feel it would be too much for the rest of the contestants. I even think Valentina would have made a much better host than Carla. She was fine but there were a few instances where I felt scared for her and you don’t want that watching the… Read more »
Yerevan 2022, huh…
Is it too early to say the venue will be the same as it was in 2011, the Karen Demirchyan Sports Complex? And will one of the Kardashians be a cliche choice to host the contest?
yeah i was just checking out Armenia’s indoor arenas list in Wikipedia , i found only two. One of them is Karen Demirchyan Complex (opened in 1983 Soviet ERA) and other one is a Skating and Hockey School with only 538 seats
It hosts 11,000 people…think that’s plenty for JESC.
8000 max
Read your statistics again. There are two halls that can be joined to become one. I’ve been in Hamalir when it hosted 11,000 people so I know what I’m talking about.
Always aggressive it’s crazy….. I’ve read 8000 max for concerts, period.
20th anniversary of JESC in Yerevan!
I want Armenia to win Adult Eurovision so bad. They deserve it.
Whilst I think that 3rd-8th would be her most realistic result, i have displayed very strong opinions in favour of Chains On You, and think Athena has so much potential. Can Armenia afford to attempt what France, Ukraine, Russia and Italy came close to doing (they placed in the top 3 in the contest proper after winning JESC)? And also, Athena, even if she were to not represent Armenia in Turin for whatever reason, has to be involved Here as she partook in the Junior Eurovision Greek Selection in 2008 (and placed 7th of 10 acts – I don’t know… Read more »
Since Azerbaijan is out (at least there’s a really high chance this will happen) and it’s the 20th edition, I would love to see 20 countries participating. Hope Iceland will debut and Greece/UK will come back!
Possibly Cyprus and Greece might make a return because they enjoy great relationship with Armenia.
Serbia will withdraw, because the route of trip to Armenia is not that great and really expensive. That’s why Serbia withdrew in 2011 when Armenia hosted. It has nothing to do with politics, it’s just financial issues.
They haven’t done well at this level for a number of years and had very low demand this year, so it wouldn’t be surprising if all their eggs are put in the basket of the contest proper for Serbia.
I’ll pitch in for Serbian delegation to participate. Armenia and Serbia share a very special bond! It would be very sad if they withdrew.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i wonder if the uk wil return
Sona (Azerbaijan’s JESC 2021 singer) didn’t congratulate Maléna when the rest of the singers were around her at the stage after winning. She was just waving her little Azerbaijani flag some meters away from the rest.
No Azerbaijan entry for 2022 I’m afraid, despite Yerevan 2022 could be a very good chance to build a bridge between both countries with music.
They are children, they must enjoy their passion wherever they travel and being appart from adults wars.
Please Azerbaijan, consider to travel to Yerevan just for the music and the kids!
She congratulated her when they were more alone after, there is a video even. But, Azerbaijan will probably withdraw, yes.
she did congratulate Malena , she even went to her room
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtK4Ov9_wX8
you can see in the video she goes to her room and she thinks she’s not gonna see her and when she tries to leave malena comes and says ”wait wait” then they hug each other and comments say malena gave her a gift.
OMG!!!!!! YOUR VIDEO MADE MY DAY!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
I think it’s unlikely Azerbaijan would participate but I do think it’s lovely Sona congratulated Malena. To be honest I’d rather Azerbaijan decide to sit next year out without a fuss on their own terms, rather than have a volatile “will they or won’t they” period which ends up in a singer and song being withdrawn a month before the contest.
I appreciate that the broadcasters are in difficult positions due to geopolitical tensions, but temporary withdrawals can be done in a classy and relatively diplomatic way.
So it’s Malena who initiated the meeting and hugged her not Sona.
are you serious??? two children hug each other and you are still trying to find a bad thing about it and shade one of them. It’s like they are adults and you are the child… If you really want to reveal the details (like it’s a big deal) Sona went to Malena’s room herself , of course Malena didn’t call her to come , she didn’t initate the meeting. And it doesn’t matter who did what , it’s good for two of them. If Sona didn’t come to congratulate her you would blame her for not doing that and when… Read more »
Why did the Azeri commentator talked in Armenia performance that is super disrespectfull
Why armenian people were disliking Sona’s video and wiriting abusive comments?
Azeris also did tho Malena Malena got also hate from Armenian nationalists
Why are you TWO using a children’s musical contest to carry on HATING each other? Are you going to jail if you don’t display hatred publicly against each other? Does that make part of the social regulations in your respective countries and what grants you being proud Azeris or proud Armenians in your own countries? How childish is that?
i don’t know maybe the same reason why Armenia’s commentators did the same in 2012. oh sorry that was coming from Armenia so it can’t be disrespectful
they talked in postcard not in performance also Armenian did not talk in Sona performance Azeri did in Malena.
are you deaf ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ohwDdar5o&t=81s
they talk from 0:53 to 1:24 while she is singing
they have every right after they include Karabakh in postcard and they did this by an adult not by an child also Azeri one is more recent Filthy Turk
Filthy Turk? Seriously? Nothing can be as Filthy as your racist mind
I am not racist I have a lot of black and muslim friends
Azerbaijan’s desire to ruin Armenia goes this deep: wanting the world to know it was the Armenia girl who came closer to hug the Azeri one and not the other way around … cause it goes against the Azeri will and understanding of the world that even in a hug between two minor girls … Armenia is the monster that shall roten in hell … I feel sorry for all the kids in Azerbaijan and Armenia learning at school how to hate each other as they grow up …
I never learned to hate Azeris