Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Country  Armenia
National selection
Selection process Internal Selection
Selection date(s) Artist: 13 October 2015
Song: 2 March 2016
Selected entrant Iveta Mukuchyan
Selected song "LoveWave"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Lilith Navasardyan
  • Levon Navasardyan
  • Iveta Mukuchyan
  • Stephanie Crutchfield
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2015 • 2016

Armenia will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "LoveWave" written by Lilith Navasardyan, Levon Navasardyan, Iveta Mukuchyan and Stephanie Crutchfield. The song will be performed by Iveta Mukuchyan, who was selected internally by the Armenian broadcaster Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV) to represent Armenia in the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Mukuchyan's selection as the Armenian artist was announced on 13 October 2015, while the song "LoveWave" was later presented to the public on 2 March 2016.

Background

Prior to the 2016 Contest, Armenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times since its first entry in 2006.[1] Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been fourth place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 2008 with the song "Qélé, Qélé" performed by Sirusho and in 2014 with the song "Not Alone" performed by Aram Mp3. Armenia had, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on only one occasion in 2011. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest in 2012 due to long-standing tensions with then host country Azerbaijan.[2] In 2015, "Face the Shadow" performed by the group Genealogy, whose members were from the worldwide Armenian diaspora, placed sixteenth in the final.

The Armenian national broadcaster, Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV), broadcasts the event within Armenia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. AMPTV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 25 September 2015.[3] Armenia has used various methods to select the Armenian entry in the past, such as a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. However internal selections have also been held on occasion. In 2014, the broadcaster internally selected both the artist and the song, a procedure that had only been used once before to select Armenia's debut entry in 2006. The broadcaster also opted to internally select both the 2015 and 2016 Armenian entries.[3]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

The Armenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was internally selected by the AMPTV. On 25 September 2015, the broadcaster released a teaser video indicating that an artist had been selected and that their name would be announced on 13 October 2015.[3] During the AMPTV programme Profession – Journalist on 13 October, Iveta Mukuchyan was announced as the Armenian representative.[4] In regards to her selection as the Armenian entrant, Mukuchyan stated: "I'm very happy, thankful and honored to be chosen by the Public TV Company of Armenia to represent Armenia. I love Eurovision and it's amazing to get a chance to represent my country on the big stage. Your support is very important to me, so I hope you will be next to me on this responsible and important journey."[4] Following their artist reveal, AMPTV announced a public call for song submissions with a deadline of 13 November 2015.[4] Mukuchyan later announced in December 2015 that several songs were submitted by songwriters worldwide and that two songs, one from Armenia and one from Sweden, were under consideration.[5]

The song "LoveWave", composed by Lilith Navasardyan and Levon Navasardyan with lyrics by Iveta Mukuchyan and Stephanie Crutchfield, was announced as the Armenian entry on 19 February 2016.[6] Mukuchyan filmed the official video for the song prior to the presentation, which was a co-production between AMPTV and the German company Blacksheep Communications and featured Swedish model Ben Dahlhaus and fashion designs by Arevik Simonyan.[6] The song and video were presented to the public on 2 March 2016.[7]

“ We received more than 300 songs for the contest. I've personally wrote 4 of them. But as soon as I heard this one, I knew that was it. There was absolutely no doubt. The melody reminded me of waves – big, beautiful and powerful. It grows becoming bigger and bigger to finally explode and calm down in a single moment, preparing to rise again. In the first part of the lyrics there is a sentence that I think describes this song the best: "It's like I've stepped out of space and time and come alive." ”
— Iveta Mukuchyan[8]

Promotion

Prior to the contest, Iveta Mukuchyan specifically promoted "LoveWave" as the Armenian Eurovision entry on 3 April 2016 by performing during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Izvestia Hall in Moscow, Russia and hosted by Dmitry Guberniev.[9] Mukuchyan had also planned to take part in the Eurovision in Concert event on 9 April which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands, however, her participation was cancelled in light of the 2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes.[10]

At Eurovision

Iveta Mukuchyan during a press meet and greet

All countries except the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the host country, are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[11] On 25 January 2016, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Armenia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2016, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[12]

Once all the competing songs for the 2016 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Armenia was set to perform in position 7, following the entry from the Netherlands and before the entry from San Marino.[13]

Semi-final

Iveta Mukuchyan will take part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May.[14] This includes the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country will watch and vote on the competing entries.

The Armenian performance features Iveta Mukuchyan dressed in a black outfit with a cape performing an interpretive routine alone on stage.[15][16] The stage presentation features holographic duplicates of Iveta on stage with pyrotechnic effects at the conclusion of the song. The LED screens project fast moving designs and the stage lighting displays blue and red colours with white spotlights. The stage director and choreographer for the Armenian performance was Sacha Jean-Baptiste. Iveta Mukuchyan will be joined by five off-stage backing vocalists: Anushik Ter-Ghukasyan, Masha Mnjoyan, Christina Mangasaryan, Sona Gyulkhasyan and the co-composer of "LoveWave" Lilith Navasardyan.[17]

Voting

Voting during the three shows will be conducted under a new system that will involve each country now awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury will consist of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury will judge each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[18] In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.[19]

Split voting results

The following five members will comprise the Armenian jury:[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Armenia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Kramer, Andrew E. (7 March 2012). "Armenians Are Shunning Song Contest in Azerbaijan". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Brey, Marco (25 September 2015). "Who will represent Armenia in 2016?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Brey, Marco (13 October 2015). "Iveta Mukuchyan to represent Armenia". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Brey, Marco (31 December 2015). "A Happy New Year from Iveta Mukuchyan!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  6. 1 2 Brey, Marco (19 February 2016). "Armenia: Iveta Mukuchyan to sing LoveWave". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Brey, Marco (2 March 2016). "Armenia: Video premiere of LoveWave". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "It's going to take over you! The lyric video for LoveWave is now available". 1tv.am. Armenia 1. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Granger, Anthony (3 April 2016). "Tonight: Russian Eurovision Pre-Party". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Juhász, Ervin (7 April 2016). "Iveta Mukuchyan cancels her trip to Eurovision in Concert!". escbubble.com. ESC Bubble. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Jordan, Paul (21 January 2016). "Semi-Final Allocation Draw on Monday, pots revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  12. ↑ Jordan, Paul (25 January 2016). "Allocation Draw: The results!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  13. ↑ Jordan, Paul (8 April 2016). "Running order of the Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  14. ↑ "Media Activities" (PDF). eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  15. ↑ Omelyanchuk, Olena (2 May 2016). "First day of rehearsals at the Globe Arena". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  16. ↑ Escudero, Victor M. (6 May 2016). "Day 5 at the Globe Arena". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  17. ↑ Welsh, Eleanor (18 April 2016). "Armenia: Five backing vocalists to join Iveta Mukuchyan on stage". esctoday.com. Esctoday.com. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  18. 1 2 "Here are the judges for Eurovision 2016!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  19. ↑ Jordan, Paul (18 February 2016). "Biggest change to Eurovision Song Contest voting since 1975". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 18 February 2016.

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