The Maltese television has unveiled the names and running order of the acts participating in the first semi-final of the competition to look for the next Maltese representative at Eurovision. The Maltese public broadcaster PBS has decided to set off its journey to Malmö earlier than expected, seeing the start of the show where Malta will choose its representative, the so-called national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest (MESC) 2024, very early in the pre-Eurovision season. A total of 36 artists will be showcasing their talent trying to convince both professional juries and public to win the ticket to represent the small mediterranean island in Eurovision 2024 after The Busker finishing last with 3 points in 15th position in the first semifinal of ESC2023 with their song “Dance (Our own party)”.
The first national final of the 2024 season kicking off this year will be the Maltese one. The Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2024 (MESC) will begin on Friday, October 27, with semi-finals running until November 24 when the finalists will be revealed. The Maltese television has now disclosed the list of artists participating in this first semi-final of the Maltese competition that will be broadcast through the Maltese television program XOW. In this show, the first 9 participants will perform their songs live, without any props or scenography whatsoever, and very interesting names have surged on this first group of names.
Once all the artists in each semifinal have performed their songs, a professional jury and the public will vote for the proposals they want to see continuing further in the national final. Public vote will be open in every semifinal for 30 minutes, and audience will be able to cast their vote via SMS for their favourite acts, so make sure you vote for your favourite once all the songs have been performed on the night. The results won’t be disclosed until November 24th, when all the semi-finalists have taken the stage to sing their songs. Only then, the 12 acts receiving the most points from both the public and jury, will fight for gold in the grand final taking place in a to-be-decided date in late January 2024.
First Semi-Final Participants Include Very Familiar and Interesting Names from Previous MESC Editions
Here is the list of participants in the first semi-final of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2024:
- Kurt Calleja – “Misunderstood”– Songwriters: – Aidan O’Connor, Richard Micallef
- Sarah Bonnici – “Loop” – Songwriters: Leire Gotxi Angel, Sebastian Pritchard-James, Sarah Bonnici, Michael Joe Cini, Kevin Lee
- Gail Attard – “Wild Card” – Songwriters: Christina Magrin
- Mark Anthony Bartolo – “Condition or Friction” – Songwriters: Mark Anthony Bartolo
- Eliana Gomez Blanco – “There’s Only Flowers” – Songwriters: Eliana Gomez Blanco, Leire Gotxi Angel, Sebastian Pritchard-James
- Oxygyn – “Cloudmaker” – Songwriters: Janelle Borg, Kurt Abela, Luke Camilleri, Zack Camilleri
- Nathan – “Ghost” – Songwriters: Alexander Olsson, Cyprian Cassar, Nathan Psaila, Tom Hugo Hermansen
- Lyndsay Pace – “Fire Proof” – Songwriters: Linda Persson, Peter Frödin, Rodrigo Pinto, Ylva Persson
- Dominic Cini – “Bewsa” (Kiss) – Songwriters: Dominic Cini, Etienne Micallef
Various familiar names on this list include previous MESC contestants such as charismatic and prodigious voice Sarah Bonnici (MESC 2022), charming Nathan (MESC 2023, X Factor 2021), and even the MESC2023 alumni and Maltese JESC 2019 legend Eliana Gomez Blanco. All these three young talents seem to have very strong songs considering the teams behind their entries and the hype that comes with this, so one can expect to see these promising acts moving forward to the finals in a hope of elevating the previous years’ moderate quality of MESC. Don’t miss these acts and more tonight as MESC is set to take a 180° turn in every sense.
But not only the list of performers come as a surprise in this first semifinal. Many well-known songwriters in the Eurovision world and interesting newcomer songwriters add expectation to this mix: Lead vocalist of the ESC2019 public vote winner entry, the Norwegian folk-electropop band Keiino, Tom Hugo Hermansen, and the producer and songwriter of last year’s Maltese entry by The Busker “Dance (Our Own Party)”, are amongst the names of the songwriters of songs of this first MESC 2024 semifinal.
Interestingly, many international names, such as those from Nordic countries‘ and British music industry, are amongst the songwriters’ list, meaning that the PBS, in an attempt of elevating the quality of the songs for this year’s competition, have invited several internationally relevant composers for their summer songwriting camp that took place last June in the mediterranean island. Names such as Leire Gotxi Angel and Sebastian Pritchard-James, came up several times in the list of MESC 2024 songs’ composers. However, even if new for the Eurovision world, these two singers, songwriters and producers based in London, are well known buskers who saw some of their videos singing in the streets of the British capital going viral in TikTok and Instagram. This fact could be giving us a hint of the new upcoming sounds we can expect for MESC 2024, as their music is inspired by the current worldwide hitmakers such as Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran, and promise to bring to MESC2024 a more radio-friendly and internationally successful sounds, which in combination with sounds and rhythms from the mediterranean island brought by the Maltese composers, could lead to Malta climbing up to the top of the scoreboard after many years of poor results at Eurovision Song Contest.
As we could find out, this first semi final of MESC 2024 promise to be the opening of a new era for Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest, bringing to the table internationally competent songs with a big potential of doing well at the international charts while keeping Maltese and Mediterranean songs. Be ready to hear from heartbreaking ballads with belting high notes, to bangers with breathtaking dance breaks!
Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2024 mechanism
This year, the popular Maltese pre-selection for Eurovision, does not come with major changes compared to the previous edition. However, slight changes on the presentation of the songs have been introduced.
For this edition, a total of 4 semi-finals will be held, each broadcasted weekly on Friday nights at 21:00h CEST at the TV show XOW in TVM1. In each semi-final, a total of 9 participants will present their songs live, without any props or staging – a mechanic that was already repeated in the previous edition which only allows the performers to defend the song live and showcase their vocal abilities with the main focus being their voice and the song itself. Every Friday, for 10 minutes, after the songs have been premiered, the public voting will open. However, the results won’t be announced after each show. Only when all the 36 semi-finalists have presented their songs after the fourth show, in a special fifth show, which is expected to be held on November 24th, the 12 songs that will qualify for the grand final will be announced.
Out of 36 participating songs, only 12 will qualify for the grand final, which will take place at the end of January, when pre-recorded live-on-tape performances filmed in December 2023 at the PBS studios will be aired. The 12 finalists will have 60 minutes and three takes to achieve the top-notch performance and select their best take for the final in January.
For this grand finale live-on-tape performances, the acts will be able to add any props, choreography and staging they would like to their performance. And as a novelty, PBS is also providing with 5000 euro€ to each of the 12 finalist destined to recording the official video clip of the song by their own means, which will be as well broadcast in the grand finale in January.
What to expect in the upcoming weeks? All the Participants of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2024
The announcement of the all semi-finalists last week has taken many by surprise, as the list includes names such as the runner-up of MESC 2023, Ryan Hili; participants from previous edition of MESC2023 like MATT BLXCK (winner of the jury), Nathan, or Stefan Galea; or the Maltese representative at Junior Eurovision 2019, Eliana Gomez Blanco, among others.
Below is the complete list published by TVM/PBS of the semi-finalists of MESC 2024 along with the names of their songs:
- Kyle George – Arrows
- Matt Blxck – Banana
- Dan – Baraxx
- Christian Arding – Bellus
- Miguel Bonello – Better Off Alone
- Dominic Cini – Bewsa
- Thea Aquilina – Blood Stream
- Karin Duff – Breaking Bad
- Lisa Gauci – Breath
- Oxygyn – Cloudmaker
- Mark Anthony Bartolo – Condition Or Friction
- Sopranique – Empire
- Marie Claire – Fading
- Moira Starface – Feather Flight
- Lyndsay Pace – Fire Proof
- Cosette Baldacchino – Free Fall
- Nathan – Ghost
- Mark Portelli – Just Be
- ]Ryan Hili – Karma
- Michaela Galea – Let’s Talk About Love
- Sarah Bonnici – Loop
- Janvil – Man
- Denise Mercieca – Mara
- Martina Cutajar – Miles Away
- Kurt Calleja – Misunderstood
- Maria Chrsitina – Moving On
- Stefan Galea – Numb
- Franklin Calleja – Puppet
- Erba’ – Sirena
- Jessica Micallef – Taghna Tnejn
- Haley Azzopardi – Tell Me That It’s Over
- Eliana Gomez Blanco – There’s Only Flowers
- Greta Tude – Topic (Bla Bla)
- Miriana Conte – Venom
- Desirei Grech – Watch Me
- Gail Attard – Wild Card
Who are you most excited to see perform and hear their song? Who do you think will be taken over the MESC crown and waving the Maltese flag next May 2024 in Malmö?
You can follow tonight live the first semifinal of MESC2024 as part of XOW TVM1 at the TVM1 website or in our livestream from 21:00h CEST.
Let the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 season begin!