Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013

Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Solayoh" written by Marc Paelinck and Martin King. The song was performed by Alyona Lanskaya. The Belarusian entry for the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden was selected through a national final organised by the Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC). The national final consisted of ten competing acts participating in a televised production where "Rhythm of Love" performed by Alyona Lanskaya was initially selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting, however the singer opted to withdraw her song and the replacement entry, "Solayoh", was announced on 7 March 2013.

Belarus was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2013. Performing during the show in position 16, "Solayoh" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May. It was later revealed that Belarus placed seventh out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 64 points. In the final, Belarus performed in position 8 and placed sixteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 48 points.

Background
Prior to the 2013 contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times since its first entry in 2004. The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2007 with the song "Work Your Magic" performed by Koldun. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Belarus had only managed to qualify to the final two times. In 2012, Belarus failed to qualify to the final with the song "We Are the Heroes" performed by Litesound.

The Belarusian national broadcaster, National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC), broadcasts the event within Belarus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The broadcaster has used both internal selections and national finals to select the Belarusian entry for Eurovision in the past. In 2012, BTRC has organised a national final in order to choose Belarus' entry, a selection procedure that continued for their 2013 entry.

National final
The Belarusian national final took place on 7 December 2012. Ten songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected via a jury and a public televote. The show was broadcast on Belarus 1, Belarus 24 and Radius FM as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by and the Eurovision Song Contest's official website eurovision.tv.

Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 3 October 2012 and 22 October 2012. At the closing of the deadline, 82 entries were received by the broadcaster. Auditions were held on 30 and 31 October 2012 where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final. The jury consisted of Gennady Davydko (chairman of the jury, chairman of BTRC), Vasily Rainchik (musician/composer), Sergey Bondarchuk (director of the Belarusian State Circus), Viktor Volotkovich (conductor), Alexander Efremov (director of the "Belarusfilm" studio), Sergey Kukhto (director of the TV channel BelMuz-TV), Vladimir Maksimkov (director and producer, head of the Karambol Media Holding), Marianna Malchik (head of the department of arts at the Belarusian Ministry of Culture), Alexander Mezhenny (director of the Shtam dance school), Konstantin Mikheev (songwriter and journalist), Larisa Murashko (composer), Victoria Popova (editor of the culture department of the newspaper "Sovetskaya Belorussiya - Belarus Segodnya"), Alexander Tikhanovich (singer), Vladimir Ugolnik (musician/composer), Andrey Kholodinsky (editor-in-chief and music presenter of the radio station "Alfa Radio"), Tatiana Shcherbina (head of the radio station "Radius FM") and Anatoly Yarmolenko (director of the ensemble Syabry). Ten finalists were selected and announced on 14 November 2012.

Final
The televised final took place on 7 December 2012 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and Denis Dudinskiy. Prior to the competition, a draw for the running order took place on 5 December 2012. A 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and public televoting selected the song "Rhythm of Love" performed by Alyona Lanskaya as the winner.

In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by 2004 Belarusian Eurovision contestants Aleksandra and Konstantin, 2007 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Dmitry Koldun and Gunesh.

Song selection
Following Alyona Lanskaya's win at the Belarusian national final, BTRC announced that the singer could be performing a song other than "Rhythm of Love" at the Eurovision Song Contest. The national final rules set by BTRC allowed for the winning artist to change their song if they were able to find a more suitable alternative for the contest. In early February 2013, it was announced that Lanskaya recorded several songs at the Abbey Road Studios in London and in Stockholm for her new album and the Eurovision Song Contest, and that four songs were under consideration. On 7 March, BTRC announced that Alyona Lanskaya would be performing the song "Solayoh" at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, which officially replaced "Rhythm of Love" as the Belarusian entry through the decision of a jury panel consisting of representatives of BTRC and the production group Spamash. Prior to the announcement, information of "Solayoh" as the replacement song was leaked on 4 March through the German record label CAP-Sounds, which labelled the song as a "Eurovision version" on digital download music websites. The song, written by Marc Paelinck and Martin King, was presented to the public during her performance in the final of the Romanian Eurovision national final on 10 March.

Promotion
Alyona Lanskaya made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Solayoh" as the Belarusian Eurovision entry. In addition to her performance of "Solayoh" during the final of the Romanian Eurovision national final on 10 March, Lanskaya performed during the final of the Moldovan Eurovision national final on 16 March. On 28 April, she took part in promotional activities in Brussels, Belgium and performed during the Romanian Spring Festival, which was held at the Fish Market Square, as well as during the Le You Gay Tea Dance - You'rovision event, which was held at the Le You nightclub. On 11 May, Lanskaya performed during the Belarusian party of the EuroClub event, which was held at the Moriska Paviljongen in Malmö and hosted by Yuri Yaroshik.

At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (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. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) 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 17 January 2013, 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. Belarus was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2013, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2013 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. Belarus was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from Lithuania and before the entry from Moldova.

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Belarus on Belarus 1 and Belarus 24 with commentary by Evgeny Perlin. The Belarusian spokesperson, who announce the top 12-point score awarded by the Belarusian jury during the final, was Darya Domracheva.

Semi-final
Alyona Lanskaya took part in technical rehearsals on 7 and 10 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 13 and 14 May. This included the jury show on 13 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Belarusian performance featured Alyona Lanskaya performing a choreographed routine on stage wearing a blue fringed dress covered in 70,000 Swarovski crystals together with two male dancers wearing white loose-fitting costumes and three backing vocalists wearing blue and white costumes. The performance began with Lanskaya appearing from within a big disco ball symbolising the planet of Solayoh, which was described by the singer as "a fantastic planet where people believe in miracles and take everything as a miracle." The stage displayed red and orange colours and drums were used by the dancers during the performance which also featured pyrotechnic effects. The dancers and backing vocalists that accompanied Lanskaya during the performance were: Žiga Sotlar, Mehmet Durmaz, Ana Mašulović, Marija Lazić and Willem Botha.

At the end of the show, Belarus was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Belarus placed seventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 64 points.

Final
Shortly after the first semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the reverse order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Belarus was drawn to compete in the first half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Belarus was subsequently placed to perform in position 8, following the entry from Estonia and before the entry from Malta.

Alyona Lanskaya once again took part in dress rehearsals on 17 and 18 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Alyona Lanskaya performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 18 May. Belarus placed sixteenth in the final, scoring 48 points.

Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding points from 1-8, 10 and 12 as determined by a combination of 50% national jury and 50% televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry 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 was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belarus and awarded by Belarus in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Ukraine in the semi-final and final of the contest.