Georgia originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song Take Me as I Am sung by Tornike Kipiani and written by Tornike Kipiani and Aleko Berdzenishvili. The entry was selected internally, and for the second year in a row, the Georgian Public Broadcaster used Georgian Idol to selecting the singer. However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.
Background
Prior to the 2020 contest, Georgia have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven 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 four occasions. 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 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 2 October2017. 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. In 2018 the artist was internally selected. In 2019, the entry was fully selected through Georgian Idol for the first time ever. Oto Nemsadze failed to qualify to the Saturday final with "Keep On Going", achieving just a fourteenth place in the semi-final.
Before Eurovision
For the second year in a row, the Georgian delegation decided to use the talent show Georgian Idol as the method for selecting their representative. This year, however, the show starts two months earlier and a song will be internally selected for the winner of the show.
''Georgian Idol''
Jury
This edition of Georgian Idol has a four-member jury with the power to decide what contestants will advance to the live shows and comment on every performance giving feedback to the artists. The four members are:
Tinatin Berdzenishvili – Director General of the Georgian Public Broadcaster with over 20 years of experience in the field, Head of EBU Gender Balance Initiative.
David Evgenidze – Songwriter, part of the jury for the second edition of Ranina. He will be involved in the song selection process of the Georgian entry for Eurovision 2020.
David Aladashvili – Pianist, studied at the Tbilisi Special Music School and at New York's Juilliard School with several honors and awards at an international level. He was also the host of the second edition of Ranina.
Contestant progress in the live shows
Colour key
Shows
Auditions (26 October 2019–9 November 2019)
Live show 1 (16 November 2019)
Live show 2 (23 November 2019)
Live show 3 (30 November 2019)
Live show 4 (7 December 2019)
Live show 5 (14 December 2019)
Live show 6 (21 December 2019)
Final (31 December 2019)
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 28 January 2020, 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 second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled. In the Eurovision Song Celebration youtube broadcast in place of the heats, it was revealed that the song would have performed 16th, between Portugal and Bulgaria
