Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

has 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 ...

14 times, debuting at the 2007 contest. Georgia planned to participate in

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; Protests ...

, but decided to withdraw after the

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(EBU) demanded it to re-write its song which made reference to the then-Russian prime minister,

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. Georgia has reached the final on seven occasions, achieving two top ten placements, with

Sofia Nizharadze Sopho "Sofia" Nizharadze ( ka, სოფო ნიჟარაძე, ) is a Georgian singer, actress, and songwriter who represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song " Shine". Nizharadze was a judge on the TV shows ''G ...

() and

Eldrine Eldrine ( IPA: ɔːlˈdʒɹaɪn, ; stylised as ƎLDRINE and also known as Eldraini) is a Georgian nu metal band that represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song " One More Day". The current line-up consists of 6 band m ...

() both finishing ninth.

History

On 27 October 2006, Georgia confirmed that they wished to debut at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

. At that time, the

(EBU) still limited the contest to a maximum of 40 countries, however, in March 2007, it was announced that all 42 applicants would participate in the 2007 contest in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. At the contest, Georgia managed to progress from the semi-final (where it scored 123 points, finishing 8th), but only came 12th (out of 24) in the final. Georgia appeared for its second time in the contest for 2008, represented by

Diana Gurtskaya Diana Gudaevna Gurtskaya ( ka, დიანა ღურწკაია, russian: Диана Гудаевна Гурцкая, born 2 July 1978) is a famous Russian pop singer well-known in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Diana was born ...

with the song "Peace Will Come". It had slightly better luck than in 2007, progressing from the semi-final (where it scored 107 points, finishing 5th) and coming in 11th (out of 25) in the final. Due to the

2008 South Ossetia war The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...

, it had been debated by

Georgian Public Broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcaster ( ka, საქართველოს საზოგადოებრივი მაუწყებელი, ) is the national public broadcaster of Georgia. History It started broadcasting radio in 1925, and ...

(GPB) whether Georgia would be present at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe (Dima Bilan song), Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the Euro ...

in Moscow. GPB chairman stated that it would not be unreasonable to withdraw, but that they were under a time restraint since a national selection event would have to be organised if they chose to participate. On 28 August 2008, GBP announced their intention to withdraw from the 2009 contest, citing that they refuse to compete in a "country that violates human rights and international laws", as well as doubts being cast on the safety of their participants. After winning the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the sixth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which is the world's largest song contest for children. It was held at the "Spyros Kyprianou" Athletic Centre in Lemesos, Cyprus and host ...

and getting the maximum 12 points from Russia at the event, they were encouraged to participate again in 2009. After a national final was held on 18 February 2009 the selected entry for Georgia was decided to be Stephane and 3G with their 70s-inspired song "We Don't Wanna Put In". However the song gained controversy due to the lyrics of the song, which included perceived political references to Russian Prime Minister

, which GPB denied. Nevertheless, the EBU banned the song from competing due to its lyrics, and asked GPB to either change the lyrics of the song or select another song to compete. GPB claimed that the EBU's rejection of the song was due to political pressure exerted by Russia, and later withdrew from the contest entirely on 11 March. Georgia returned to the contest in 2010, and was represented by 23-year-old singer

. Sopho sang the song "Shine" at the contest, written by

Hanne Sørvaag Hanne Margrethe Fredriksen Sørvaag (born 27 December 1979) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. For many years she was based in Stockholm, Sweden, mostly composing for other artists via Universal. Today she works from Oslo, Norway and has a career ...

, Harry Sommerdahl and Christian Leuzzi. Georgia competed in the second semi-final of the contest on 27 May, performing in the 16th slot, and qualified for the final. Georgia came 9th in the final, with 136 points, achieving their best place so far. In 2011, Georgia sent the rock band

to the contest in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

, Germany. They managed to equal Sopho Nizharadze's 9th place of the year before. In 2012, Georgia sent

Anri Jokhadze Anri Jokhadze ( ka, ანრი ჯოხაძე; born November 6, 1980) is a Georgian pop singer, composer, music video director, TV presenter from Tbilisi, Georgia, who represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song " ...

to the contest in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, Azerbaijan with the song "I'm a Joker", Anri was the first male entrant ever to represent Georgia at Eurovision. On 24 May 2012, he became the first Georgian representative to fail to reach the Eurovision Song Contest final. In 2013, Georgia selected its entry internally. Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani was the first duo to represent Georgia in Eurovision. The song was produced by 2012's winning composer Thomas G:son. In the second semi-final Georgia qualified in 10th, and in the final Georgia came in 15th place with 50 points. In 2014, Georgia selected jazz fusion band the Shin alongside vocalist

Mariko Ebralidze Mariko Ebralidze ( ka, მარიკო ებრალიძე; born 1984) is a Georgian jazz singer who represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 along with the group The Shin with the song " Three Minutes to Earth". Bo ...

to the contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their song, "Three Minutes to Earth", was panned by critics and placed last in the second semi-final. This is the worst Georgian result to date. In 2015, Georgia held a national final for the first time since 2012.

Nina Sublatti Nino Sulaberidze ( ka, ნინო სულაბერიძე, born 31 January 1995), better known by her stage name Nina Sublatti ( ka, ნინა სუბლატი), is a Georgian singer, songwriter, and model. Sublatti achieved in ...

and her song "

Warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

" were chosen to represent Georgia in the contest. It qualified from the first semi-final. Nina Sublatti eventually reached an 11th place in the grand final. On December 15, 2015, Georgia internally selected Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz to represent Georgia in the 2016 contest. They finished 9th in semi-final and 20th in the grand final. In 2017, GPB went back to an national final, with

Tamara Gachechiladze Tamara "Tako" Milanova (; ka, თამარა "თაქო" მილანოვა, ; born 17 March 1983) is a Georgian singer, songwriter and actress. She represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, with the song "Keep the ...

and her song "Keep the Faith" winning the selection. She performed second at the first semi-final, but failed to qualify for the final, finishing 11th with 99 points in the first semi-final. In 2018, Georgia internally selected

Iriao Iriao ( ka, ირიაო), also known as Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao, are a Georgian jazz and ethno folk group, led by David Malazonia (composition and keyboard). The band plays a combination of traditional Georgian polyphonic singing and jazz. They ...

(billed as Ethno-Jazz Group Iriao for the contest) to represent them in Lisbon, Portugal with the song "For You". In spite of its English name, it was their first entry performed entirely in the Georgian language. The song resulted in another non-qualification, with Georgia finishing last in their semi-final once again. For 2019, their act for Tel Aviv was selected through '' Georgia's Star'', the Georgian version of the ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'' franchise. The selected artist was

Oto Nemsadze Otar Nemsadze ( ka, ოთო ნემსაძე; born 18 June 1989) is a Georgian singer. Nemsadze is best known for winning season five of '' Geostar'' in 2010. He previously participated in season three of '' The Voice of Ukraine'', finishi ...

with the song "Keep On Going", their second entry that is completely in Georgian, which later failed to reach the final, placing 14th in the first semi-final with 62 points. ''Georgia's Star'' was used once again for 2020, with the chosen artist being

Tornike Kipiani Tornike Kipiani ( ka, თორნიკე ყიფიანი; born 11 December 1987) is a Georgian singer. Kipiani started his musical career at the age of 19, forming the band ''The Circular Corner''. In 2012, he auditioned for the Georgian ...

with the song " Take Me As I Am". However, the 2020 contest was later cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and Kipiani was later retained as the Georgian representative for 2021, this time with the song "

You In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

". The song failed to qualify for the final, with Georgia finishing 16th in their semi-final. Another internal selection was carried out for 2022, with the band

Circus Mircus Circus Mircus ( ka, ცირკუს მირკუსი) are a Georgian progressive rock band. The band mostly plays experimental music, mixing numerous genres, each representing a life experience and the "inner world" of each member. They r ...

and their song "

Lock Me In "Lock Me In" is a song by Georgian experimental rock band Circus Mircus. Released as a single on 9 March 2022, the song represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy after being internally selected by Georgian Public Br ...

" being chosen to represent Georgia; they too failed to qualify for the final, finishing 18th (last) in their semi-final.

Participation overview

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Barbara Dex Award

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Commentators and spokespersons

Other shows

Photogallery

File:ESC 2007 - Sopho Khalvashi - Visionary Dream.jpg,

Sopho Khalvashi Sopho Khalvashi ( ka, სოფო ხალვაში ; born 31 May 1986 in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia), also sometimes known as simply Sopho, is a Georgian musician of Laz heritage. Biography She claimed third prize at the commercial song ...

in Helsinki () File:Diana Gurtskaya, Georgia, Eurovision 2008, 2nd semifinal.jpg,

in Belgrade () File:Sopho Nizharadze - May 2010 Semifinal.jpg,

Sopho Nizharadze Sopho "Sofia" Nizharadze ( ka, სოფო ნიჟარაძე, ) is a Georgian singer, actress, and songwriter who represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song " Shine". Nizharadze was a judge on the TV shows ''Ge ...

in Oslo () File:Georgia at ESC 2011.jpg,

in Düsseldorf () File:ESC2013 - Georgia 06 (crop).jpg, Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani in Malmö () File:ESC2014 - Georgia 01 (crop).jpg, The Shin and Mariko in Copenhagen () File:20150518 ESC 2015 Nina Sublatti 1991.jpg,

in Vienna () File:ESC2016 - Georgia 01.jpg, Nika Kocharov and

Young Georgian Lolitaz Young Georgian Lolitaz is a Georgian indie rock band. They represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 as Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz with the song " Midnight Gold". They are the first all-male band to represent Georgia i ...

in Stockholm () File:ESC2017 - Georgia 01.jpg,

in Kiev () File:ESC2018 - Georgia 01.jpg, Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao in Lisbon () File:ESC2019-Georgia.jpg,

in Tel Aviv () File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 2 - Georgia - Circus Mircus.jpg,

in Turin ()

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Points to and from Georgia
''eurovisioncovers.co.uk'' {{Authority control Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest