"Stefania" is the third song sung entirely in Ukrainian to represent the country at Eurovision, but the second to actually compete at the contest due to cancelled Eurovision 2020.[1] It won the contest with 631 points, making it the first song sung entirely in Ukrainian and the first rap song to win.
The song is an ode to a mother, with the narrator speaking of good memories of his own mother. The song initially talks about how much his mother has aged, invoking a nostalgic past. The song later addresses the hardships of a mother, with the narrator realizing how much the mother has done for him. A "lullaby", within the end of each rap verse, brings the narrator back to when his mother took care of his.[2] The song is dedicated to Oleh Psiuk's mother, who is also named Stefanija.[3]
Two traditional Ukrainian woodwind instruments are featured heavily in the song: the sopilka and the telenka.[4]
"Stefania" was an entry in Vidbir 2022, a televised music competition used to determine Ukraine's entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The selection of the competing entries for Vidbir took place over three stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition through an online submission form.[5] Twenty-seven acts were longlisted and announced on 17 January 2022. The second stage was a scheduled audition at designated dates and featured the twenty-seven acts in the longlist. Eight acts were selected to advance, which were announced on 24 January 2022. The third stage was the final, which took place on 12 February 2022 and featured the eight acts vying to represent Ukraine in Turin. The winner was selected via a 50/50 combination of votes from a public televote and a three-member expert jury,[6] consisting of 2006 and 2016 Ukrainian entrants Tina Karol and Jamala, alongside Yaroslav Lodyhin [uk] a board member of Suspilne (the national public broadcaster in Ukraine).[7][8]
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 14 December 2021 and 10 January 2022. Only artists that had not performed in a concert in Russia since 2014 or entered the territory of Crimea since 2014 were able to apply for the competition.[5] A selection panel including the music producer of the show, Mykhailo Koshevy, and the television producer of the show, Oleksiy Honcharenko, reviewed the 284 submissions, and twenty-seven entries that had been longlisted were announced on 17 January 2022.[9][10] Auditions were later held at the My Dream Space venue in Kyiv where eight entries were shortlisted to compete in the national final.[10] On 24 January 2022, the eight selected competing acts were announced.[11] In the Vidbir final, held on 12 February, Alina Pash emerged as the winner, but she ultimately declined her position after being involved in a controversy for having breached the rule barring Vidbir competitors from having traveled to Russia or Crimea.[12] As a result, Kalush Orchestra were offered to represent Ukraine in replacement of Pash.[13][14] On 22 February, the band accepted the offer.[15]
At Eurovision[]
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2022, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Ukraine was placed into the first semi-final held on 10 May 2022, and performed in the first half of the show.[16] Kalush Orchestra advanced to the grand final, which they proceed to win.[17]
At the end of the jury vote, Ukraine lay in 4th place. The 439 points received by Ukraine from the televote in the final are the most televoting points received in the contest's history to date, and Ukraine also received points from every country in the televote (with all but Malta, North Macedonia and Serbia giving the country 10 or 12 points). Ukraine was just 29 points from the highest possible score from the televoting.[18][19]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 202220 into search. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
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listen)) is a 2022 song by Ukrainian folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra. The song represented Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
