Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017


Georgia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Keep the Faith" written by Anri Jokhadze and Tamara Gachechiladze. The song was performed by Tamara Gachechiladze. The Georgian entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine was selected through a national final organised by the Georgian broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcaster. The national final consisted of twenty-five competing acts participating in a televised production where the winner was determined by a 60/40 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. "Keep the Faith" performed by Tamara Gachechiladze was selected as the winner.
Georgia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 2, "Keep the Faith" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

Background

Prior to the 2017 Contest, Georgia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times since their first entry in 2007. The nation's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been ninth place, which was achieved on two occasions: in 2010 with the song "Shine" performed by Sofia Nizharadze and in 2011 with the song "One More Day" performed by Eldrine. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest in 2009 after the European Broadcasting Union rejected the Georgian entry, "We Don't Wanna Put In", for perceived political references to Vladimir Putin who was the Russian Prime Minister at the time. The withdrawal and fallout was tied to tense relations between Georgia and then host country Russia, which stemmed from the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Following the introduction of semi-finals, Georgia has, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on only two occasions. In, Georgia qualified to the final where the country placed 20th with the song "Midnight Gold" performed by Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz.
The Georgian national broadcaster, Georgian Public Broadcaster, broadcasts the event within Georgia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. GPB confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 October 2016. Georgia has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest both through national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2013 and 2014, GPB opted to internally select the Georgian entry, in 2015, the Georgian entry was selected via a national final, and in 2016, the artist was internally selected while the song was chosen in a national final. For their 2017 participation, the entry was selected through a national final.

Before Eurovision

National final

On 4 November 2016, it was confirmed that the Georgian entrant would be selected through a national final, and an open call for songs was put out. The 28 competing entries were later revealed in December. Before the date of the final, three entries dropped out of the competition, leaving 25 hopefuls. The final took place on 20 January 2017, at the Philharmonic Hall in Tbilisi. The winner was decided by an international jury and a public televote, at a 60:40 ratio.
Tamara Gachechiladze emerged as the winner of the national selection with her song "Keep the Faith". The international jury consisted of Tali Eshkoli, Ralf Reinink, Sacha Jean-Baptiste and Borislav Milanov.

Promotion

Tamara Gachechiladze made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Keep the Faith" as the Georgian Eurovision entry. Between 3 and 6 April, Gachechiladze took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where she performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue. On 8 April, she performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir. On 15 April, Tamara Gachechiladze performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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 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 31 January 2017, a special 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. Georgia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Georgia was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Sweden and before the entry from Australia.

Semi-final

Tamara Gachechiladze took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.
At the end of the show, Georgia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Georgia placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 99 points: 37 points from the televoting and 62 points from the juries.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Georgia and awarded by Georgia in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Georgia

Points awarded by Georgia

Split voting results

The following five members will comprise the Georgian jury: