Lynn Macgillivray
Last night, Michela Pace won the first season of the X Factor Malta and will be heading to Tel Aviv in May to represent her country at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.
Initial auditions were held in June and July of last year with successful contestants then invited to audition for the shows judges: Ira Losco, Howard Keith Debono, Ray Mercieca and Alexandra Alden.
Michela made it through all stages – boot camp, the six chair challenge and judges houses to get through to the live shows which began earlier this month.
The seventeen year old delivered week after week in the live shows, blowing audiences away with her stong vocals. She competed against fellow contestants Owen Leuellen, Nicole Frendo and Petro in last nights grand final, emerging as the winner after a public vote.
We have yet to hear the song Michela will be performing at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. This will be selected internally at a later date.
You can watch Michela perform in the grand final of The X Factor Malta below:
Malta first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1971, being represented by Maltese singer Joe Grech. The country has yet to win the contest, but have come very close on two occasions: Ira Losco and Chiara both finished in second place in 2002 and 2005 respectively. Malta has failed to qualify for the grand final in the past two years and will be hoping Michela can change their fortunes and bring home the trophy for the first time.
To do so, she will need to beat the other 41 countries and their representatives. Announced 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 and Tamara Todevska for FYR Macedonia. The other countries are expected to reveal their acts in the forthcoming months.
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.
