San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Country  San Marino
National selection
Selection process Internal Selection
Selection date(s) Artist: 27 November 2014
Song: 16 March 2015
Selected entrant Anita Simoncini and
Michele Perniola
Selected song "Chain of Lights"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final result Failed to qualify
(16th, 11 points)
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2014 • 2015 • 2016►

San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Chain of Lights", written by Ralph Siegel and John O'Flynn. The song was performed by Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola. The Sammarinese broadcaster SMtv San Marino (SMRTV) announced in November 2014 that it had internally selected their former Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrants Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola to represent the nation at the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. Their song "Chain of Lights" was presented to the public later in March 2015. In the second of the Eurovision semi-finals, San Marino failed to qualify to the final, placing sixteenth out of the 17 participating countries with 11 points.

Background

Prior to the 2015 Contest, San Marino had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest five times since its first entry in 2008.[1] Their debut entry in 2008, "Complice" performed by Miodio, failed to qualify to the final and placed last in the semi-final it competed in. San Marino subsequently withdrew from the contest in 2009 and 2010, returning in 2011 with Italian singer Senit performing "Stand By", which also failed to take the nation to the final. Between 2012 and 2014, San Marino sent Valentina Monetta to the contest on three consecutive occasions, which made her the first singer to participate in three consecutive contests since Udo Jürgens, who competed in 1964, 1965 and 1966 for Austria. Her entries in 2012 ("The Social Network Song") and 2013 ("Crisalide (Vola)") also failed to qualify San Marino to the final. However, in 2014, Monetta managed to bring San Marino to the final for the first time where she placed 24th with the song "Maybe".

Sammarinese broadcaster SMRTV confirmed on 11 October 2014 that San Marino would participate in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.[2] The broadcaster announced in late October 2014 that the Sammarinese entry would be selected via an internal selection.[3][4]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

SMRTV revealed that Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini would represent San Marino at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest during a press conference on 27 November 2014.[5][6] Perniola previously represented San Marino in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 while Simoncini represented the nation in the 2014 Junior Contest as part of the group The Peppermints. Anita Simoncini became the first artist to consecutively represent a nation at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and the Eurovision Song Contest; she met the age requirements for the Eurovision Song Contest on 14 April 2015 when she turned sixteen.[7]

The song "Chain of Lights" was presented to the public on 16 March 2015 along with the official preview video.[8] The song was written by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger (under the pseudonym John O'Flynn). Siegel had composed twenty-three Eurovision entries to this point, including the 2015 Sammarinese entry. Seventeen of those entries were written together with Meinunger. This was the fourth consecutive time Ralph Siegel was selected as the composer of the Sammarinese entry.

At Eurovision

Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini at a press meet and greet

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (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. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation.[9] The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[10] On 26 January 2015, 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. San Marino was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 21 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[11]

Once all the competing songs for the 2015 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. San Marino was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Ireland and before the entry from Montenegro.[12]

All three shows were broadcast in San Marino on SMtv San Marino and Radio San Marino with commentary by Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo.[13] The Sammarinese spokesperson, who announced the Sammarinese votes during the final, was 2012, 2013 and 2014 Eurovision entrant Valentina Monetta.[14]

Semi-final

Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola at a dress rehearsal for the second semi-final

Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola took part in technical rehearsals on 13 and 16 May,[15][16] followed by dress rehearsals on 20 and 21 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.[17]

The stage show featured Anita Simoncini wearing a gold and white skirt and Michele Perniola dressed in a white dress shirt, jeans and a black leather jacket. The duet performed choreographed movements on stage with four backing vocalists behind them dressed in black: Katrin Schild von Spannenberg, Pat Lawson, Ron van Lankeren and Julian Feifel. The background LED screens displayed a rotating planet Earth that becomes covered in candles, forming chains around the world.[15][16][18]

At the end of the show, San Marino failed to qualify to the final and was not announced among the top ten nations.[19] It was later revealed that San Marino placed sixteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 11 points.[20]

Voting

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[21] San Marino does not organise a televote due to their use of Italy's phone system and that the small number of televoters would struggle to meet the minimum voting threshold.[22] Therefore, in the second semi-final and final, the Sammarinese votes were based on 100 percent jury voting.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that San Marino had placed fifteenth with the public televote and seventeenth (last) with the jury vote in the second semi-final. In the public vote, San Marino scored 16 points, while with the jury vote, San Marino scored 6 points.[23]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to San Marino and awarded by San Marino in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting conducted during the two shows:[20][24][25][26]

Points awarded to San Marino

Points awarded by San Marino

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Sanmarinese jury:[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "San Marino Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (11 October 2014). "San Marino: SMRTV confirms participation in Eurovision 2015". ESCToday. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Juhász, Ervin (29 October 2014). "San Marino's Eurovision entrant to be revealed after Junior Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (30 October 2014). "San Marino: Artist announcement in November". ESCToday. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  5. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (25 November 2014). "San Marino: Press conference; artist announcement on 27 November". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Juhász, Ervin (27 November 2014). "Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini will represent San Marino in Eurovision 2015". ESC Bubble. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (27 November 2014). "San Marino: Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini to Vienna!". ESCToday. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (16 March 2015). "Watch the San Marino entry 'Chain of Lights'". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  9. ↑ Siim, Jarmo (10 February 2015). "Australia to compete in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  10. ↑ Brey, Marco (25 January 2015). "Tomorrow: The semi-final allocation draw". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  11. ↑ Escudero, Victor M. (26 January 2015). "Allocation Draw results: Who's in which Semi-Final?". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  12. ↑ Siim, Jarmo (23 March 2015). "Running order of Semi-Finals revealed". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  13. ↑ "San Marino RTV, al commento ancora Lia Fiorio e Gigi Restivo" (in Italian). Eurofestival News. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  14. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (23 May 2015). ""Good evening Vienna" - Voting order revealed". eurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  15. 1 2 Storvik-Green, Simon (13 May 2015). "San Marino: "This is ten times bigger than Junior!"". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  16. 1 2 Omelyanchuk, Olena (16 May 2015). "San Marino: A song of hope for the whole world". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  17. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (20 May 2015). "Time for the juries to make up their minds". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Anita Simoncini & Michele Perniola: Chain of lights". eurovisionartists.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  19. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (21 May 2015). "Line-up is now complete for the Grand Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  20. 1 2 "Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Second Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  21. 1 2 Bakker, Sietse (1 May 2015). "Exclusive: Here are this year's national juries!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  22. ↑ Egan, John (13 May 2014). "Split Views Between The Jury And The Public Votes At Eurovision 2014". escinsight.com. ESCInsight. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  23. ↑ Adams, Willy Lee (25 May 2015). "Semi final split results: Who the jury hurt at Eurovision 2015". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  24. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Grand Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  25. ↑ "San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Second Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  26. ↑ "San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Grand Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
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