Georgia are gearing up to choose their entrant for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. The final of The Voice of Georgia will take place this week, on 2nd February. Eight singers remain in the competition. They still hope to be the one flying Georgia’s flag in Liverpool, this May.
Who are the eight finalists?
All four teams in The Voice had four acts remaining in last week’s semifinal. Of those four, the televote chose one direct qualifier. Every coach then had the opportunity to award a wildcard to one of the remaining three team members. In the end, eight acts now remain in competition for Georgia.
Team Sopho Toroshelidze
We kick things off with Sopho Toroshelidze’s team. The Eldrine lead singer has Eurovision experience under her belt, so she knows what she’s looking for. With 40.58% of the vote, Lika Siradze was the clear winner of Team Sopho. Tina Datikashvili finished second with just over 30% of the vote and was given the wildcard by Sopho. Mari Toronjadze and Sali Cincadze were eliminated.
Team Stephane Mgebrishvili
He too once won a national final for Georgia, but never made it to Eurovision: Stephane Mgebrishvili. He was supposed to represent Georgia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 as part of Stephane & 3G with “We Don’t Wanna Put In”, but the song was not allowed by the EBU. Anka Tatarashvili picked up 31.92% of the vote and made it through. Stephane then awarded his wildcard to the runner-up, Likuna Tutisani, who scored 29.13%. Dato Rusadze and Saba Chachua failed to qualify.
Team Dato Evgenidze
Dato Evgenidze has been around on the Georgian music scene for a while now. As a composer, he rose to fame during Soviet times. Evgenidze surprised the audience during the semifinal. Giorgi Datiashvili won with 33.77% of the vote. Surprisingly, Evgenidze then chose televote last place Kakha Aslamazishvili as his wildcard. Kakha had received just 14.18% of the televote. Giorgi Putkaradze and Alegro were knocked out by their coach.
Team Dato Porchkidze
Singer and composer Dato Porchkidze is the coach of the last team in The Voice of Georgia. The televote in his group was won easily by Iru Khechanovi with a whopping 44.52% of the vote. Iru Khechanovi is no stranger to the world of Eurovision. She previously won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest as part of Candy back in 2011. Porchkidze then decided to select Tako Kakalashvili as his wildcard. She had finished in third with the televote with 17.89% of the vote. Erekle Turkadze and Tsotne Barbakadze saw their hopes at Eurovision end.
The Voice of Georgia final
The final of The Voice of Georgia will take place on Thursday, 2nd February. Not many details have yet been given by the Georgian broadcaster. In previous years, Georgia first chose its entrant and then chose a song internally. Whether that will also be the case this year, remains to be seen.
Last year, Circus Mircus represented Georgia with “Lock Me In”. They didn’t make it through to the Grand Final. The Caucasian country have now failed to qualify five times in a row. Nika Kocharov and the Young Georgian Lolitaz were the last Georgian entrant in the Grand Final, back in 2016.
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