Belarus: When it comes to music, Eurovision is 'Forever' for Alekseev
16 February 2018 at 22:41 CETThe Belarusian national selection saw ten acts battle it out for the right to represent the county in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. The winner was decided by a combination of public and jury votes.
Alekseev recieved the most points from both the professional jury and public televote and will follow in the footsteps of Naviband who represented Belarus at Eurovision in 2017. Watch him perform Forever during the pre-selection round:
About the show
Eurofest 2018 was hosted by Teo and Olga Ryzhikova. Teo represented Belarus in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, reaching the Grand Final with his song Cheesecake.
In total 93 applications were received and the ten finalists were selected by the professional jury following a series of auditions. At the end of the voting the top three were:
- 1) Alekseev - Forever
- 2) Gunesh - I Won't Cry
- 3) Shuma - Chmarki
The finalists in 2018
- Adagio - Ty i ja
- Alekseev - Forever
- Shuma - Chmarki
- NAPOLI - Chasing Rushes
- Anastasiya Malashkevich - World on Fire
- Gunesh - I Won't Cry
- Radiovolna - Subway Lines
- Alen Hit - I Don't Care
- Lexy - Ain't You
- Kirill Good - Deja Vu
About Alekseev
Alekseev was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and first rose to prominence in 2014. He has previously collaborated with Ani Lorak, who finished second in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008. In 2018 Belarus will participate in the First Semi-Final in Lisbon on Tuesday 8th May.
Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest
Belarus joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 and has participated every year since making its debut. Belarus achieved its best placing in the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, sixth place, in 2007. Last year Naviband competed at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Story of My Life, which qualified for the Grand Final. It was the first time the country had sent an entry in Belarusian to the competition.
Eurovision heads to Belarus
Belarus will host the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in November. The country has participated in the competition every single year, a record matched only by The Netherlands. The country has also won the competition twice, in both 2005 and 2007.
Belarus previously hosted Junior Eurovision in 2010 in the capital, Minsk.