Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2011

The Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2011 is the name given to the national selection process for Malta's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011. The name marks a change from the preceding year, ushering in a new set of rules for the selection process, including allowing non-Maltese lyricists and composers to participate in the contest.

The Event

The semifinal and final of the national selection process will be held on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 February 2011 at the Republic Hall of the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.

The event is organized by PBS Malta and will be transmitted live on TVM. The hosts for the show are Valerie Vella and Keith Demicoli.

The song selected from this contest will represent Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Düsseldorf, Germany, in May 2011.

Songs

A total of 141 entries were submitted to PBS in 2010 for the 2011 contest. 74 songs from the original lot were chosen to be performed live in front of a panel of experts behind closed doors. 50 of the songs in this phase of the competition were eliminated.

The 24 songs selected for the semifinal were announced by PBS on Saturday 8 January 2011 through the event's official website.

Here's the list of songs in order of appearance during the semi-final round of the selection process on Friday 11 Feburary:

#	Song	Words	Music	Performer/s
01	Catch 22	Godwin Sant	Ray Agius	Amber
02	Over and Over	Kurt Calleja	Johan J'amtberg	Kurt Calleja
03	Heart of Glass	Gerard James Borg	Philip Vella	Cherise Grixti
04	Everybody Sing	Wayne Micallef	Wayne Micallef	Wayne Micallef
05	Movie in my Mind	Gerard James Borg	Philip Vella	Claudia Faniello
06	This Love	Jonathan Spiteri	Klinsmann Coleiro	Klinsmann Coleiro & Benjamin Darmanin
07	Hypnotized	Fleur Balzan	Paul Giordimania	Eleanor Cassar
08	I’ll Follow the Sunshine	Bernad Meinunger	Ralph Siegel	Domenique Azzopardi
09	You’ll Never Know	Jordan Milnes	Steven D. Cook	Rosman Pace
10	If I Could Do It All Again	Mathias Strasser	Marc Paelnick	Raquela
11	Love to Love You	Sophie Debattista	Elton Zarb	Sophie
12	Unintentional	Rita Pace	Elton Zarb	Petra Zammit
13	Moon Dance	Gerard James Borg	Philip Vella	Baklava
14	Lost Without You	Aidan O'Connor	Marco Debono	Jamie Tonna
15	Touch Wood	Alfred C. Sant	Ray Agius	Amber
16	Unfaithful	Keith Zammit	Renato Briffa	Anna Azzopardi
17	He's a Demon	Anthony Grech	Michael Henry	Marilena Gauci
18	One Life	Fleur Balzan	Paul Giordimania	Glen Vella
19	Topsy Turvy	Deo Grech & Natasha Turner	Jonas Gladnikoff, Niall Mooney & Andrew Zahra	J.Anvil
20	Down Down Down	Jessica Muscat	Philip Vella	Jessica Muscat
21	Love Me Like Your Money	Gerard James Borg	Sven Lundho & Erik Rydmark	Kelly Schembri
22	No Surrender	Johan Bederholm	Johan Stentorp	Fabrizio Faniello
23	Numb	Alison Ellul	Alison Ellul	Ally
24	Finally	Richard Micallef	Jan Van Dijck	Richard Edwards

A preview of all the songs, directed by Where's Everybody?'s Reuben Sant, was presented for the first time in public on Friday 15 January 2011 during the last hour of an edition of Xarabank on TVM, featuring a public debate with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, following a mass protest against Malta's financial situation, organized by the Partit Laburista in Valletta. Full video clips appeared online by the following morning through an official website produced by PBS Malta.

The video clips premiered during Xarabank will also be used for promotional purposes ahead of the contest on various other TV programmes. The clips are scheduled to appear during the following TV shows: 12:05, Sibtek, Ħadd Għalik, Bonġu and Bla Agenda. In previous years, various TV shows would have singers lip-sync to the songs during the respective TV programme, often making for awkward backdrops or uneven presentation of the singers competing in the contest.

On Saturday 5 February 2011, Toni Sant presented his top picks and comments through his blog and the 244th edition of the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast.

16 songs advanced to the final on 12 February 2011. The 24 songs in the semifinal were judged by a panel of professionals from the entertainment industry (66.6%) and a public televote (33.3%). The panel of judges was led by Italian singer Riccardo Cocciante.

Here's the list of songs in order of appearance during the final round of the selection process on Saturday 12 Feburary:

#	Performer/s	Song	Music/Words
01	Eleanor Cassar	Hypnotized	Paul Giordimania, Fleur Balzan
02	Amber	Catch 22	Ray Agius, Godwin Sant
03	Jessica Muscat	Down Down Down	Philip Vella, Jessica Muscat
04	Ally	Numb	Ally, Ally
05	Baklava	Moon Dance	Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg
06	Fabrizo Faniello	No Surrender	Johan Stentorp , Johan Bederholm
07	Kurt Calleja	Over and Over	Johan J'atmberg, Kurt Calleja
08	Glen Vella	One Life	Paul Giordimania, Fleur Balzan
09	Marilena ft. Michael	He's a Demon	Michael Henry, Anthony Grech
10	J.Anvil	Topsy Turvy	Jonas Gladnikoff / Niall Mooney / Andrew Zahra, Deo Grech / Natasha Turner
11	Claudia Faniello	Movie in My Mind	Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg
12	Richard Edwards	Finally	Jan Van Dijck, Richard Micallef
13	Raquela	If I Could Do It All Again	Marc Paelnick, Mathias Strasser
14	Kelly Schembri	Love Me Like Your Money	Sven Lundholm, Gerard James Borg
15	Wayne Micallef	Everybody Sing	Wayne Micallef, Wayne Micallef
16	Klinsmann & Ben	This Love	Klinsmann Coleiro, Jonathan Spiteri

See also

• Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest
• Malta Eurosong
• Malta Song for Europe
• Malta Song Contest

YouTube playlists

• Clips from all 24 songs as they appeared on Xarabank
• Promotional studio videos for all 24 songs - full versions

External links

• Official website
• EurovisionMalta.com
• Toni Sant's first impressions and comments - from ToniSant.com