Malta was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Walk on Water", written by Lisa Desmond, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren, Molly Pettersson Hammar, and Ira Losco, and performed by Losco herself. The Maltese participating broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), had initially selected its entry through the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition consisted of a semi-final round and a final, held on 22 and 23 January 2016, respectively, where "Chameleon" performed by Losco eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a five-member jury and a public televote. The rules of the selection allowed for the winning artist to change the winning song either partially or entirely with the consent of the winning composers. In February 2016, PBS announced that a jury panel consisting of international and local experts would determine the song Losco would ultimately perform at the Eurovision Song Contest from a selection of ten songs, including a revamped version of "Chameleon". On 14 March 2016, PBS announced that Losco would perform "Walk on Water"; the song was released to the public on 17 March. Losco had previously represented where she achieved second place with the song "7th Wonder".
Malta was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing as the closing entry during the show in position 18, "Walk on Water" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Malta placed third out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 209 points. In the final, Malta performed in position 22 and placed twelfth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 153 points.
Background
Prior to the 2016 contest, the Maltese Broadcasting Authority (MBA) until 1975, and the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) since 1991, have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Malta twenty-eight times since MBA's first entry in 1971. MBA briefly competed in the contest in the 1970s before withdrawing for sixteen years, while PBS competed in every contest since their return in 1991. Their best placing thus far was second, achieved on two occasions: with the song "7th Wonder" performed by Ira Losco, and in with the song "Angel" performed by Chiara. In , "Warrior" performed by Amber failed to qualify to the final.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, PBS organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2016 contest on 30 September 2015. The broadcaster selected its entry consistently through a national final procedure, a method that was continued for its 2016 participation.
Before Eurovision Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition consisted of a semi-final and final held on 22 and 23 January 2016, respectively, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in the nation's capital city of Valletta. Both shows were hosted by actor Ben Camille and broadcast on Television Malta (TVM) as well on the broadcaster's website tvm.com.mt, while the final was also broadcast on the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Format The competition consisted of twenty songs competing in the semi-final on 22 January 2016 where the top fourteen entries qualified to compete in the final on 23 January 2016. Five judges evaluated the songs during the shows and each judge had an equal stake in the final result. The sixth set of votes were the results of the public televote, which had a weighting equal to the votes of a single judge. Ties in the final results were broken based on the entry which received the higher score from the judges. The five members of the jury that evaluated the entries during both the semi-final and final consisted of:
Nick Clark-Lowes (United Kingdom) – Video editor/designer having worked in international shows with well-known artists Vyara Ankova (Bulgaria) – General manager of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) Sabrija Vulić (Montenegro) – Head of Delegation for Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest Luke Fisher (United Kingdom) – Journalist specializing in the Eurovision Song Contest Quinton Scerri (Malta) – Television producer and presenter
The rules and regulations for the competition allowed for the artist, author and composer of the winning entry to change parts of the winning song or the entire song for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Competing entries Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 29 and 30 October 2015 to the PBS Creativity Hub in Gwardamanġa. Artists were also required to submit a cover version of another song along with their entry application. 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. 2015 national final winner Amber was unable to compete due to a rule that prevented the previous winner from competing in the following competition. 153 entries were received by the broadcaster. On 3 December 2015, PBS announced a shortlist of 49 entries that had progressed through the selection process. The twenty songs selected to compete in the semi-final were announced on the TVM programme Xarabank on 11 December 2015. Among the selected competing artists was former Maltese Eurovision entrant Ira Losco who represented Malta in the 2002 contest, and Daniel Testa who represented Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008.
Shows
Semi-final The semi-final took place on 22 January 2016. Twenty songs competed for fourteen qualifying spots in the final. The running order for the semi-final was announced on 13 January 2016. The show was opened with a guest performance by the 2015 Maltese Eurovision entrant Amber performing "Warrior", while the interval act featured performances by the local bands the Crowns and the New Victorians.
+ Semi-final22 January 2016 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Result 1 Ira Losco "Chameleon" Ira Losco, Talkback Advanced 2 Corazon "Falling Glass" Sara Ljunggren, Georgios Kalpakidis, Jonas Gladnikoff Advanced 3 Stefan Galea "Light Up My Life" Ylva Persson, Linda Persson 4 Domenique "Empty Hearted" Dimitri Stassos, Ylva Persson, Linda Persson 5 Dario "I Love You" Henric Pierroff, Sandra Nordstrom 6 Daniel Testa "Under the Sun" Daniel Testa, Elton Zarb, Matthew Mercieca Advanced 7 Jessika "The Flame" Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg Advanced 8 Jasmine "Alive" Paul Abela, Michael James Down, Marie Pettersson, Filip Lindfors Advanced 9 Raquel "Flashing Lights" Elton Zarb, Matthew Mercieca Advanced 10 Brooke "Golden" Christian Schneider, Aidan O'Connor, Sara Biglert, Brooke Borg Advanced 11 Kim "Lighthouse" Cyprian Cassar, Matthew Mercieca Advanced 12 Sarah Crystal "Right Here with You" Toby Farrugia, Pamela Bezzina, Sarah Crystal 13 Danica Muscat "Frontline" Philip Vella, Emil Calleja Bayliss 14 Christabelle "Kingdom" Elton Zarb, Matthew Mercieca Advanced 15 Franklin "Little Love" Cyprian Cassar, Matthew Mercieca Advanced 16 Dominic "Fire Burn" Will Taylor, Jonas Gladnikoff, Natasha Turner Advanced 17 Ira Losco "That's Why I Love You" Ira Losco, Howard Keith Debono, Matthias Strasser, Stefan Moessle 18 Lawrence Gray "You're Beautiful" Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan Advanced 19 Maxine "Young Love" Elton Zarb, Matthew Mercieca Advanced 20 Deborah C "All Around the World" Matthew Ker, Jonas Gladnikoff, Michael James Down, Primož Poglajen, Angie Laus Advanced
Final The final took place on 23 January 2016. The fourteen entries that qualified from the semi-final were performed again and the votes of a six-member jury panel (5/6) and the results of public televoting (1/6) determined the winner. The show was opened with a guest performance of "Not My Soul" performed by Malta's Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 winner Destiny Chukunyere, while the interval act featured further performances by Chukunyere as well as performances by Amber and the Southville Dancers dance troupe. After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, "Chameleon" performed by Ira Losco was the winner. "Chameleon" won the public televote with 40% of the votes. +Final23 January 2016ArtistSongJury Votes rowspan="2" scope="col" TotalPlace 1Deborah C"All Around the World"314811 2Franklin"Little Love"7810856443 3Daniel Testa"Under the Sun"2214 4Brooke"Golden"1212771010582 5Raquel"Flashing Lights"3621129 6Christabelle"Kingdom"862688384 7Corazon"Falling Glass"2445158 8Dominic"Fire Burn"32513 9Jessika"The Flame"54514197 10Jasmine"Alive"178163266 11Lawrence Gray"You're Beautiful"52712 12Maxine"Young Love"6511077365 13Ira Losco"Chameleon"101012121212681 14Kim"Lighthouse"4331010 Song selection Following Losco's win at the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016, the singer stated that she was open to the idea of performing a song other than "Chameleon" at the Eurovision Song Contest should it improve Malta's chances of winning. The national final rules set by PBS allowed for the winning song to be partially modified or completely changed. On 19 February 2016, PBS announced that an international jury consisting of representatives from ten countries along with local experts from Malta would be presented with ten songs, including a revamped version of "Chameleon", and would determine which song Ira Losco would ultimately perform at the Eurovision Song Contest.
On 14 March 2016, PBS announced that Losco would perform the song "Walk on Water" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, which officially replaced "Chameleon" as the Maltese entry through the decision of thirteen international and local judges. "Walk on Water" was written by Lisa Desmond, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren, Molly Pettersson Hammar and Ira Losco herself. The release of the song and official music video was announced on 17 March 2016 during the TVM news bulletin and made available online on the broadcaster's website tvm.com.mt and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv. Losco appeared as a guest during a special edition of the TVM programme Xarabank on 18 March to discuss and present the song. The music video for the song was filmed earlier in March in Gozo and at the Malta National Aquarium.
Promotion