Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Malta participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Dance (Our Own Party)" performed by the band The Busker. The Maltese entry for the 2023 contest was selected through the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). The competition consisted of three quarter-final rounds, a semi-final round and a final, held between 13 January and 11 February 2023, where "Dance (Our Own Party)" performed by the Busker eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a five-member jury and a public televote.

Malta was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 2, "Dance (Our Own Party)" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Malta placed last out of the 15 participating countries in the semi-final with 3 points.

Background
Prior to the 2023 contest, Malta had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-four times since its first entry in 1971. Malta briefly competed in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1970s before withdrawing for sixteen years. The country had competed in every contest between their return in 1991, and 2022. Malta's best placing in the contest thus far was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in with the song "7th Wonder" performed by Ira Losco and in the  with the song "Angel" performed by Chiara. In, Malta failed to qualify for the final with the song "I Am What I Am" performed by Emma Muscat.

The Maltese national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), broadcast the event within Malta and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. In 2022, Malta selected their entry through a national final procedure, a method that was continued for their 2023 participation.

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition consisted of five shows which commenced on 13 January 2023 and concluded with a final held on 11 February 2023. All shows were broadcast on Television Malta (TVM) as well as on the broadcaster's website tvmnews.mt.

Format
The competition consisted of three phases. The first phase was the three quarter-finals on 13, 20 and 27 January 2023 where 40 songs competed and the top twenty-four entries qualified. The second phase was the semi-final on 9 February 2023 where the top sixteen entries qualified to compete in the third phase, the final on 11 February 2023. Five judges evaluated the songs during the three phases and the results of the public televote had a weighting equal to the total votes of the judges in the final result. Ties in the final results were broken based on the entry which received the higher score from the judges. Monetary prizes were also given to the competing artists: the winner received €10,000, the runner-up received €4,000, the second runner-up received €2,000 and the remaining artists received €300 each. Former Maltese Eurovision entrants Paul Giordimaina (1991), Moira Stafrace (1994), Mike Spiteri (1995) and Ludwig Galea (2004) were appointed as consultants of the competition in order to offer support to the artists. The five members of the jury that evaluated the entries during all phases consisted of:


 * Sergio Gor – Publisher
 * Corazon Mizzi – Singer-songwriter
 * Matthew Bugeja – Conductor
 * Antoine Farrugia – Artistic director of Notte Bianca
 * Dorothy Bezzina – Singer

Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 17 October 2022 and 31 October 2022. Songwriters from any nationality were able to submit songs as long as the artist were Maltese or possessed Maltese citizenship. Artists were able to submit as many songs as they wished, however, they could only compete with one in the quarter-finals. 2022 Maltese Eurovision entrant Emma Muscat was unable to compete due to a rule that prevented the previous winner from competing in the following competition. The 40 songs selected to compete in the quarter-finals were announced on 21 November 2022. Among the selected competing artists are former Eurovision entrants Fabrizio Faniello who represented Malta in the 2001 and 2006 contests, Jessika who represented San Marino in the 2018 contest, Francesca Sciberras who represented Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and Eliana Gomez Blanco who represented Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

Quarter-finals
The three quarter-finals took place at the TVM studios in Pietà on 13, 20 and 27 January 2023 and were hosted by Ryan Borg and Josmar Gatt. On 23 January 2023, Aidan was disqualified from the quarter-finals for violating the competition's social media promotion policy. The remaining thirty-nine songs competed for twenty-four qualifying spots in the semi-final which were announced during a special programme on 3 February 2023. The allocation for the quarter-finals was announced on 6 January 2023.

Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 9 February 2023 at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali and was hosted by former Maltese Eurovision entrants Glen Vella, who represented Malta in 2011, and Amber, who represented Malta in 2015. The twenty-four entries that qualified from the quarter-finals competed for sixteen qualifying spots in the final. The show was opened with a guest performance by competition consultants Paul Giordimaina, Moira Stafrace, Mike Spiteri and Ludwig Galea, while the interval act featured a guest performance by the 2022 Maltese Junior Eurovision entrant Gaia Gambuzza performing "Diamonds in the Skies", and a medley of past non-winning songs in the Malta Eurovision Song Contest performed by Catherine Vigar, Claudia Faniello, Eleanor Cassar, Janice Mangion, Lawrence Gray, Olivia Lewis, Pamela Bezzina, Richard Micallef and Pamela Bezzina.

Final
The final took place on 11 February 2023 at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali and was hosted by former Maltese Eurovision entrants Glen Vella, who represented Malta in 2011, and Amber, who represented Malta in 2015. The sixteen entries that qualified from the semi-final were performed again and the 50/50 combination of votes of a five-member jury panel and the results of public televoting determined the winner. The show was opened with a guest performance by the Annalise Dance Studio, while the interval act featured the show hosts Glen Vella and Amber, and performances by Aidan and the 2022 Maltese Eurovision entrant Emma Muscat performing "I Am What I Am". After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, "Dance (Our Own Party)" performed by the Busker was the winner.

Disqualification of Aidan
On 23 January 2023, Aidan was disqualified from the competition due to "the engagement of marketing personnel, marketing officials, marketing companies or the engagement into some sort of marketing or promotional campaign or activity by the artists to promote themselves, the song, their participation, or in some way to influence the public vote" and "the publication of any social media posts, promotion material, interviews or any media presence from the announcement of the quarter-finalists onwards", which is in breach of the rules. Aidan had posted multiple unauthorised social media posts, despite having been warned repeatedly by PBS of potential disqualificaiton. An online petition was launched to bring the singer back into the competition, gaining over one thousand signatures. In response, Aidan's team threatened to take legal steps, unless he was allowed to participate in the contest, arguing that he had been singled out for punishment by the broadcaster, and claiming other contestants had also published a number of unauthorised social media posts. Aiden dropped his threat of a lawsuit on 31 January, citing the possibility that such an action could cause the cancelation of the entire selection event. The singer was instead invited to perform as an interval act during the final of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2023, with the stipulation that he not sing his disqualified entry "Reġina".

Promotion
The Busker made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Dance (Our Own Party)" as the Maltese Eurovision entry. On 1 April, the Busker performed during the Polish Eurovision Party, which was held at the Praga Centrum in Warsaw, Poland and hosted by Poli Genova and Konrad Zemlik. Between 2 and 4 April, the band took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel and performed during the Israel Calling event held at Hangar 11 of the Tel Aviv Port. On 8 April, the band performed during the PrePartyES event, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain and hosted by Victor Escudero, SuRie and Ruslana. The Busker also performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held on 15 April at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hila Noorzai, and at the London Eurovision Party, which was held on 16 April at the Here at Outernet venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.

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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Malta has been placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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. Malta was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from and before the entry from.

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Malta on TVM. The Maltese spokesperson, who announced the top 12 points awarded by the Maltese jury during the final, was Ryan Hili.

Semi-final
The Busker took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 3 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional back-up juries of each country watched and voted in a result used if any issues with public televoting occurred.

The Maltese performance featured the members of the Busker wearing sweaters and interacting with several props, including a park bench, a lamp post, a tiny house, a car and cardboard cut-outs of former Maltese Eurovision acts, in three parts with the background LED screens projecting colorful graphics. Towards the end of the performance, the band faced away from the audience with their sweaters being replaced by silver sequins.

At the end of the show, Malta was not announced as having finished in the top 10 and did not qualify for the grand final. It was later revealed that Malta placed fifteenth (last) in the semi-final, receiving a total of 3 points.

Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public. 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, each member of a national jury may only take part in the panel once every three years, and no jury was permitted to discuss of their vote with other members or 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 in an anonymised form as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Malta and awarded by Malta in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Detailed voting results
The following members comprised the Maltese jury:
 * Emil Calleja Bayliss
 * Gerard James Borg
 * Ludwig Galea
 * Brooke Borg
 * Moira Stafrace