Malta was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "This Is the Night" written by Johan Jämtberg, Kurt Calleja and Mikael Gunnerås. The song was performed by Kurt Calleja. The Maltese entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan was selected through the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). The competition consisted of a semi-final round and a final, held on 3 and 4 February 2012, respectively, where "This Is the Night" performed by Kurt Calleja eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a six-member jury and a public televote.
Malta was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 24 May 2012. Performing during the show in position 4, "This Is the Night" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 26 May. It was later revealed that Malta placed seventh out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 70 points. In the final, Malta performed in position 21 and placed twenty-first out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 41 points.
Background
Prior to the 2012 contest, Malta had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-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, to this point, competed in every contest since returning in 1991. Malta's best placing in the contest thus far was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 2002 with the song "7th Wonder" performed by Ira Losco and in the 2005 contest with the song "Angel" performed by Chiara. In the 2011 edition, Malta failed to qualify to the final with the song "One Life" performed by Glen Vella.
For the 2012 contest, the Maltese national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), broadcast the event within Malta and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. PBS confirmed their intentions to participate at it on 27 August 2011. Malta selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure, a method that was continued for their 2012 participation.
Before Eurovision
Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The competition consisted of a semi-final and final held on 3 and 4 February 2012, respectively, at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali. Both shows were hosted by Ronald Briffa and Elaine Saliba with backstage commentary and interviews by Frank Zammit and broadcast on Television Malta (TVM) as well on the broadcaster's website tvm.com.mt, while the final was also broadcast in Azerbaijan on İctimai Television (İTV) and on the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Format The competition consisted of twenty-four songs competing in the semi-final on 3 February 2012 where the top sixteen entries qualified to compete in the final on 4 February 2012. Six judges evaluated the songs during the shows and each judge had an equal stake in the final result. The results of the public televote had a weighting equal to the votes of two judges. Ties in the final results were broken based on the entry which received the higher score from the judges. The six members of the jury that evaluated the entries during both the semi-final and final consisted of:
İsmail Güngör (Turkey) – Head of Delegation for Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest Francesca Vella (Malta) – Journalist Julian Vignoles (Ireland) – Head of Delegation for Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest Bruno Berberes (France) – Head of Delegation for France at the Eurovision Song Contest Nicola Caligiore (Italy) – Head of Delegation for Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest Keith Demicoli (Malta) – Journalist and television presenter
Competing entries Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 27 August 2011 and 20 October 2011. 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 a maximum of two in the semi-final and one in the final. In addition to the public submissions, PBS reserved the right to directly award wildcards to compete in the selection process. Former national final winners Olivia Lewis, Morena, Chiara, Thea Garrett and Glen Vella were unable to compete due to a rule that prevented the previous five winners from competing in the following competition. 161 entries were received by the broadcaster. On 10 November 2011, PBS announced a shortlist of 62 entries that had progressed through the selection process. The twenty-four songs selected to compete in the semi-final were announced on the TVM programme Xarabank on 25 November 2011. Among the selected competing artists was former Maltese Eurovision entrant Fabrizio Faniello who represented Malta in the 2001 and 2006 contests.
Shows
Semi-final The semi-final took place on 3 February 2012. Twenty-four songs competed for sixteen qualifying spots in the final. The running order for the semi-final was announced on 19 January 2012. The show was opened with a guest performance by the 2011 Maltese Eurovision entrant Glen Vella, while the interval act featured performances by 2012 Swiss Eurovision entrants Sinplus performing "Unbreakable" and the local band Airport Impressions.
+ Semi-final3 February 2012 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Result 1 Danica Muscat "7 Days" Philip Vella Advanced 2 J. Anvil "You Are My Life" George Platon Advanced 3 Isabelle Zammit "Walk on Water" Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan 4 Francesca Borg "Take Me Far" Marco Debono, Doris Chetcuti Advanced 5 Klinsmann "No Way Back" Paul Abela, Klinsmann Coleiro, Jonathan Spiteri Advanced 6 Richard Edwards "Look at Me Now" Jan Van Dijck, Richard Edwards Advanced 7 Annalise Ellul "Whoop It Up!" Elton Zarb, Deo Grech 8 Kurt Calleja "This Is the Night" Johan Jämtberg, Kurt Calleja, Mikael Gunnerås Advanced 9 Romina Mamo "DNA" Michael Johannes Tanczos, Gerard James Borg 10 Nadine Bartolo "Can't Get Away" Philip Vella 11 Lawrence Gray "In Your Eyes" Philip Vella, Cher Vella Advanced 12 Kaya "First Time" Gorgi Advanced 13 Claudia Faniello "Pure" Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg Advanced 14 Jessica Muscat "Dance Romance" Philip Vella, Jessica Muscat 15 Wayne Micallef "Time" Wayne Micallef Advanced 16 Dorothy Bezzina "Autobiography" Magnus Kaxe, Gerard James Borg Advanced 17 Gianni "Petals on a Rose" Robin Abrahamsson, Marcel Numhauser, Trevor Fenech, Amir Aly Advanced 18 Fabrizio Faniello "I Will Fight for You (Papa's Song)" Johan Bejerholm, Niklas Edberger, Robert Uhlmann, Warren Fenech, Fabrizio Faniello Advanced 19 Janice Mangion "While Her Eyes Still Glow" Elton Zarb, Rita Pace 20 Eleanor Cassar "I Want to Run Away" Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan 21 Corazon Mizzi "Mystifying Eyes" Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan Advanced 22 Deborah C feat. Leila James "You Make Me Go UH UH" Patrick Renier, David Vervoort Advanced 23 Anna Azzopardi "Still Waiting" Samuel Bugía Garrido, Athanasios Nakos 24 Amber "Answer with Your Eyes" Ray Agius, Alfred C. Sant Advanced
Final The final took place on 4 February 2012. The sixteen entries that qualified from the semi-final were performed again and the votes of a six-member jury panel (3/4) and the results of public televoting (1/4) determined the winner. The show was opened with a guest performance by the DREAMS musical drama group, while the interval act featured performances by Glen Vella performing "Lie" and "Heal the World" with the gospel choir Animae, 2012 French Eurovision entrant Anggun performing "Only Love" and "Echo (You And I)" and Azerbaijan's Eurovision Song Contest 2011 winners Ell and Nikki performing "Running Scared". After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, "This Is the Night" performed by Kurt Calleja was the winner. + Final4 February 2012 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Lawrence Gray "In Your Eyes" 23 6 29 7 2 Deborah C feat. Leila James "You Make Me Go UH UH" 7 0 7 15 3 Dorothy Bezzina "Autobiography" 25 2 27 8 4 Gianni "Petals on a Rose" 22 20 42 4 5 Claudia Faniello "Pure" 64 14 78 2 6 Danica Muscat "7 Days" 26 0 26 9 7 Fabrizio Faniello "I Will Fight for You (Papa's Song)" 19 12 31 6 8 Corazon Mizzi "Mystifying Eyes" 6 10 16 10 9 Richard Edwards "Look at Me Now" 16 16 32 5 10 Kaya "First Time" 1 8 9 13 11 Amber "Answer with Your Eyes" 55 0 55 3 12 Wayne Micallef "Time" 10 0 10 12 13 Kurt Calleja "This Is the Night" 60 24 84 1 14 J. Anvil "You Are My Life" 8 0 8 14 15 Klinsmann "No Way Back" 0 0 0 16 16 Francesca Borg "Take Me Far" 6 4 10 11
+ Song Total 1 "In Your Eyes" 4 5 5 5 2 2 23 2 "You Make Me Go UH UH" 3 3 1 7 3 "Autobiography" 7 1 1 3 7 6 25 4 "Petals on a Rose" 1 3 2 6 5 5 22 5 "Pure" 8 12 12 12 10 10 64 6 "7 Days" 4 8 7 6 1 26 7 "I Will Fight for You (Papa's Song)" 5 2 4 4 4 19 8 "Mystifying Eyes" 6 6 9 "Look at Me Now" 7 0 2 7 16 10 "First Time" 1 1 11 "Answer with Your Eyes" 12 10 7 10 8 8 55 12 "Time" 6 4 10 13 "This Is the Night" 10 8 10 8 12 12 60 14 "You Are My Life" 2 3 3 8 15 "No Way Back" 0 16 "Take Me Far" 6 6
Promotion Kurt Calleja made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "This Is the Night" as the Maltese Eurovision entry. On 12 February, Calleja performed during the final of the Azerbaijani Eurovision national final. On 29 February, he performed during the final of the Bulgarian Eurovision national final. On 21 April, Kurt Calleja performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Ruth Jacott and Cornald Maas.
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 took place at the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan and consisted of two semi-finals on 22 and 24 May, and the final of 26 May 2012. 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 25 January 2012, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals. Malta was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 24 May 2012, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 20 March 2012 and Malta was set to perform in position 4, following the entry from the Netherlands and before the entry from Belarus.
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Malta on TVM with commentary by Elaine Saliba and Ronald Briffa. The Maltese spokesperson, who announced the Maltese votes during the final, was Keith Demicoli.
Semi-final Kurt Calleja took part in technical rehearsals on 15 and 18 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 23 and 24 May. This included the jury show on 23 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.