Jonathan Currinn
Another Eurovision act was announced last weekend, which was Oto Nemsadze for Georgia, with the song “Sul tsin iare”. He was chosen by winning the talent show Georgian Idol, gaining 44% of the vote.
Georgian Idol has been going for a number of years, and this series was their eighth season. This year also marked the return of the show, after season seven completed in 2017 and season six was completed in 2013. The song competition was originally titled Geostar for the first four seasons, it was then revamped and titled as Georgian Star for seasons five and six. Season seven was titled We Are The Stars and the most-recent season, number eight, was titled Georgian Star, again.
This isn’t the first time that Oto Nemsadze has won Georgia’s version of the Idol franchise, he won Geostar season three in 2010. He then went on to compete in the third season of The Voice of Ukraine where he came second. With Ukraine withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 due to difficulties in finding a representative as the winner of their national selection refused to sign the contract offered, could Georgia be missing out on potential votes from Ukraine due to fans of Oto Nemsadze?
The song “Sul tsin iare” translates to “Go ahead” in English. In the competition, the final saw four contestants battle it out with their own potential Eurovision songs. Liza Kalandadze came second with 35% of the vote, she sang the song “Sevdisperi zgva” (which means “Silent sea” in English). In third place was Giorgi Nakashidze with the same song as Oto Nemsadze, “Sul tsin iare”, she gained 11% of the vote. In fourth place was Giorgi Pruidze with the song “Me mjera” (which means “I believe” in English), she received 9% of the vote.
Watch Oto Nemsadze Perform His Eurovision Song “Sul tsin iare” On The Georgian Idol National Selection Show Here:
Georgia has been very hit and miss when it’s come to the Eurovision Song Contest, and for the last two years, they’ve failed to make it through to the Grand Final. Can Oto Nemsadze turn it around for them?
To do so, he’ll have to scored more points than the other 41 competing countries. Announced acts so far are Srbuk for Armenia, Tamta for Cyprus, Jonida Maliqi for Albania, Eliot for Belgium, Miki for Spain, Serhat for San Marino, Duncan Laurence for The Netherlands, Tamara Todevska for North Macedonia, Michela Pace for Malta, Bilal Hassani for France, Lake Malawi for the Czech Republic, PÆNDA for Austria, Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman for Finland. Michael Rice for the United Kingdom, Sergey Lazarev for Russia, Mahmood for Italy, Kate Miller-Heidke for Australia, D-Moll for Montenegro, Kobi Marimi for Israel, Joci Pápai for Hungary, Jurijus for Lithuania, Leonora for Denmark, S!sters for Germany, Ester Peony for Romania, Victor Crone for Estonia, Roko for Croatia, Carousel for Latvia, Tulia for Poland, Hatari for Iceland, KEiiNO for Norway, Nevena Bozovic for Serbia, and Conan Osíris for Portugal. The other countries are expected to reveal their acts in the forthcoming days.
The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted at the Expo Tel Aviv in Israel after Netta won last year with the song “Toy”. The two Semi-Finals will take place on 14 May and 16 May with the Grand Final taking place on 18 May. A total of 42 countries will compete in the contest.
