Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2010 The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song "Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song), Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. Organise ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway, with the song " It's All About You" performed by

Juliana Pasha Juliana Pasha (born 20 May 1980) is an Albanian singer. In 2010, she won Honorary Citizen Award of Burrel from the mayor of the city. After she went into Eurovision in 2010 she won the first prize in the festival "Kenga Magjike" with the song ca ...

. Its selected entry was chosen through the national selection competition

Festivali i Këngës Festivali i Këngës (; ), also referred to as simply FiK, is an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). Broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1962, it has also determ ...

organised by

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; en, "Albanian Radio and Television"; mostly called RTSH ) is an Albanian public broadcasting radio and television company. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmi ...

(RTSH) in December 2009. To this point, the nation had participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

six times since its first entry in . Prior to the contest, the song was promoted by a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

and live performances both in Macedonia and the Netherlands. Albania was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 25 May 2010. Performing as number 12, the nation was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

. In the final on 29 May 2010, it performed as number 15 and placed 16th out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 62 points.

Background

Prior to the 2010 contest, Albania had participated in the

six times since its first entry in . The nation's highest placing in the contest, to this point, had been the seventh place, which it achieved in 2004 with the song "

The Image of You "The Image of You" is a song by Albanian singer Anjeza Shahini. The song was composed by Edmond Zhulali and written by Agim Doçi. Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) released it as a CD single in 2004. A rhythmic English-language electropop b ...

" performed by

Anjeza Shahini Anjeza Shahini (born 4 May 1987) is an Albanian singer. She is best known for representing Albania at 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, after winning the 42nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. Career 2003–2009 Anjez ...

. During its tenure in the contest, Albania failed to qualify for the final two times, with the entry being the most recent non-qualifier. The nation's national broadcaster,

(RTSH), has organised

since its inauguration in 1962. Since 2003, the winner of the competition has simultaneously won the right to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Before Eurovision

Festivali i Këngës

RTSH organised the 48th edition of

to determine Albania's representative for the

. The competition consisted of three semi-finals on 24, 25 and 26 December, respectively, and the grand final on 27 December 2009. The four live shows were hosted by Albanian singers

Miriam Cani Miriam Cani (; born 30 May 1985) is an Albanian singer, songwriter and television host. She was a member of the successful German pop girl group Preluders. Beyond her music career, Cani has been featured as a judge on the Albanian television ta ...

and

Alban Skënderaj Alban Skënderaj (; born 20 April 1982) is an Albanian singer, songwriter, composer, actor, producer and television personality. Born in Lushnjë and raised in Vlorë, Skënderaj has established himself as a viable artist in Albania and the Alba ...

. After three withdrawals, there were two different categories in Festivali i Këngës, namely the Big Group and the Young Group.

Competing entries

Key: Withdrawn

Shows

= Semi-final 1

= The first semi-final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 24 December 2009 and was broadcast live at 20:30 (

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

). 18 contestants from the Big Group participated in the first semi-final, with all of them progressing to the grand final.

= Semi-final 2

= The second semi-final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 25 December 2009 and was broadcast live at 20:30 (CET). 18 contestants from the Young Group participated in the second semi-final, with the highlighted ones progressing to the grand final.

= Semi-final 3

= The third semi-final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 26 December 2009 and was broadcast live at 20:30 (CET). It featured 20 artists, including 18 from the Big Group and two from the Young Group, each performing a duet with an other Albanian artist.

= Final

= The grand final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 27 December 2009 and was broadcast live at 20:30 (CET). Determined by the combination of the votes from a seven-member jury,

emerged as the winner and was simultaneously announced as Albania's representative for the

Promotion

for " It's All About You" premiered via the Eurovision Song Contest's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel on 23 March 2010. For promotional purposes, Pasha embarked on a small tour with live performances at various events related to the contest, including in Macedonia and the Netherlands.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 took place at

Telenor Arena Telenor Arena, sometimes referred to as Fornebu Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located at Fornebu in Bærum, outside Oslo, Norway. It serves as a venue for a variety of events, including concerts, exhibitions, action shows, family shows ...

, Norway, and consisted of two semi-finals held on 25 and 27 May, respectively, and the

on 29 May 2010. According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, except the host nation and the " Big Four", consisting of , , and the , were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the grand final, although the top 10 countries from the respective semi-final progress to the grand final. The EBU split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, as evaluated by Digame, in order to decrease the influence of neighbour and diaspora voting. On 7 February 2010, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Albania was placed into the first semi-final held on 25 May and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2010 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was revealed; Albania was set to perform at position 12, following and preceding . After qualifying for the final with a sixth place finish in the semi-final, it was announced that Albania would be performing 15th in the final, following and preceding . At the final, the nation placed 16th out of the 25 competing entries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding points from 1-8, 10 and 12 as determined by a combination of 50% national

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

and 50%

televoting Televoting, telephone voting or phone voting is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone. Broadcast contest televoting Televoting ...

. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. 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 tables below visualise a breakdown of points awarded to Albania in both the first semi-final and the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, as well as by the country on both occasions. In the semi-final, Albania finished in sixth place with a total of 76 points, including 12 from and , and 10 from . In the grand final, Albania reached the 16th place, being awarded a total of 62 points, including 12 from North Macedonia and 10 from Greece. The nation awarded its 12 points to North Macedonia in the semi-final and to Greece in the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Albania

Points awarded by Albania

Notes

References

{{Festivali i Këngës

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...