Malta was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song "I Am What I Am", written by Dino Medanhodžić, Emma Muscat, Julie Aagaard, and Stine Kinck, and performed by Muscat herself. The Maltese participating broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), was initially going to select its entry for the contest through the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The competition consisted of a semi-final round, a special show and a final, held on 17, 18, and 19 February 2022, respectively, where "Out of Sight" performed by Muscat eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a six-member jury and a public televote. On 14 March 2022, PBS announced that Muscat would ultimately perform "I Am What I Am" in the contest; the song, which was internally selected, was released to the public on the same day.
Malta was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2022. Performing during the show in position 6, "I Am What I Am" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Malta placed 16th out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 47 points.
Background
Prior to the 2022 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 thirty-three 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 in the contest thus far was second, 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 the , "" performed by Destiny qualified to the final and placed 7th.
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 2022 contest on 21 June 2021. PBS used the talent show format X Factor Malta for its 2019 and 2020 participations which resulted in the selection of a winning performer that would subsequently be given an internally selected song to perform at Eurovision. However PBS announced that it would select its 2022 entry through a national final procedure, a method that was last used in 2018.
Before Eurovision Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the national final format developed by PBS to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The competition consisted of a semi-final, a special show and a final held between 17 and 19 February 2022 at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali. All shows were broadcast on Television Malta (TVM) as well as on the broadcaster's website tvmnews.mt.
Format The competition consisted of twenty-two songs competing in the semi-final on 17 February 2022 where the top sixteen entries qualified to compete in the final on 19 February 2022, which were announced during a special show on 18 February 2022. A wildcard finalist was also selected between the six eliminated entries. Six judges evaluated the songs during the shows and each judge had an equal stake in the final result. The seventh set of votes were the results of the public televote, which exclusively determined the final wildcard and had a weighting equal to the votes of a single judge in the final result. Ties in the final results were broken based on the entry which received the higher score from the televoting. The six members of the jury that evaluated the entries during both the semi-final and final consisted of:
Carlo Borg Bonaci – Radio and television presenter Aurelio Belli – Conductor Maria Muscat – Singer Antoine Faure – Pianist, member of the band The Characters Nadine Muscat – Architect Ruth Amaira – Journalist
Competing entries Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 15 October 2021 and 15 December 2021. 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 one in the semi-final. Destiny, who represented Malta in 2021 was unable to compete due to a rule that prevented the previous entrant from competing in the following contest. The twenty-two songs selected to compete in the semi-final were announced on 29 December 2021. Among the competing acts were former Eurovision entrants Richard Edwards who represented Malta in 2014 as part of the group Firelight and Jessika Muscat who represented San Marino in 2018. Francesca Sciberras represented Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and Nicole Azzopardi represented Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010.
Shows
Semi-final The semi-final took place on 17 February 2022 and was hosted by Stephanie Spiteri, Quinton Scerri and Ron Briffa. Twenty-two songs competed for eighteen qualifying spots in the final which were announced during the special show on 18 February 2022; the wildcard qualifier was announced prior to the final on 19 February. The running order for the semi-final was announced on 6 February 2022. +Semi-final – 17 February 2022 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Result 1 Aidan "Ritmu" Aidan Cassar, Boban Apostolov Qualified 2 Janice Mangion "Army" Cyprian Cassar, Mark Scicluna, Emil Calleja Bayliss Qualified 3 Nicole Hammett "A Lover's Heart" Cyprian Cassar, Joe Julian Farrugia Qualified 4 Sarah Bonnici "Heaven" Aidan Cassar Qualified 5 Mark Anthony Bartolo "Serenity" Mark Anthony Bartolo Qualified 6 Denise "Boy" Aidan Cassar Qualified 7 Richard Edwards "Hey Little" Richard Micallef Qualified 8 Francesca Sciberras "Rise" Mark Scicluna, Etienne Micallef 9 Miriana Conte "Look What You've Done Now" Cyprian Cassar, Matthew Mercieca Qualified 10 Giada "" Aidan Cassar Qualified 11 Baklava feat. Nicole "Electric Indigo" Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg Qualified 12 Derrick Schembri "II" Cyprian Cassar, Emil Calleja Bayliss 13 Norbert "How Special You Are" Shaun Farrugia, Norbert Bondin, Peter Borg Qualified 14 Raquel "Over You" Aidan Cassar Qualified 15 Jessica Grech "Aphrodisiac" Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg 16 Matt Blxck "Come Around" Matthew Caruana, David Grech Qualified 17 Rachel Lowell "White Doves" Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Peter Frodin, Emil Calleja Bayliss 18 Nicole Azzopardi "Into the Fire" Peter Boström, Per Jonsson, Marika Lindė, Dimitri Stassos, Nektarios Tyrakis Qualified 19 Emma Muscat "Out of Sight" Antonio Caputo, Emma Muscat, Gabriel Rossi, Lorenzo Santarelli, Marco Salvaderi Qualified 20 Malcolm Pisani "We Came for Love" Gaspare Incatasciato, Matthew Mercieca 21 Enya Magri "Shame" Cyprian Cassar, Jodie Magri Qualified 22 Jessika "Kaleidoscope" Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg Wildcard
Special show The special show, which celebrated Malta's 50th Anniversary since their first participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, took place on 18 February 2022 and was hosted by Ryan Borg and Josmar Gatt. The twenty-two contestants performed former Maltese Eurovision songs in duets with their respective original artists. The show was opened with a guest performance from the Analise Dance Studio, and featured a tribute to Christopher Scicluna, who represented Malta in 1994 and who had died the same day. +Special show – 18 February 2022 Artist Song Yearperformed 1 Aidan and Malcolm Pisani "" 2 Baklava, Nicole Vella and Nicole Hammett"Vertigo" 3 Malcolm Pisani and Matt Blxck"One Life" 4 Derrick Schembri, Emma Muscat and Miriana Conte"This Is the Night" 5 Aidan, Richard Edwards, Janice Mangion and Giada"Could It Be" 6 Francesca Sciberras and Nicole Azzopardi"In a Woman's Heart" 7 Derrick Schembri and Norbert"Keep Me in Mind" 8 Mark Anthony Bartolo and Sarah Bonnici"" 9 Enya Magri and Jessika"My Dream" 10 Enya Magri and Nicole Hammett"Warrior" 11 Jessika and Nicole Azzopardi"Vodka" 12 Denise and Rachel Lowell"7th Wonder" / "Walk on Water" 13 Renato"Singing This Song" 14 Giada and Raquel"Chameleon" 15 Mark Anthony Bartolo and Matt Blxck"Tomorrow" 16 Denise and Raquel"The One That I Love" / "Angel" / "What If We" 17 Francesca Sciberras and Jessica Grech"To Dream Again" 18 Nicole Hammett and Sarah Bonnici"On Again... Off Again" 19 Emma Muscat and Francesca Sciberras"Breathlessly" 20 Baklava, Nicole and Jessica Grech"Let Me Fly" 21 Janice Mangion"Little Child"
Final The final took place on 19 February 2022 and was hosted by Stephanie Spiteri, Quinton Scerri and Ron Briffa. The seventeen entries that qualified from the semi-final were performed again and the votes of a six-member jury panel (6/7) and the results of public televoting (1/7) determined the winner. The show was opened with a guest performance from the Analise Dance Studio, while the interval act featured performances by the Concept of Movement dance troupe, Malta's Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 winner and 2021 Eurovision entrant Destiny Chukunyere and 2021 Maltese Junior Eurovision entrants Ike and Kaya. After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, "Out of Sight" performed by Emma Muscat was the winner.
+Final – 19 February 2022 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Baklava feat. Nicole "Electric Indigo"61715 2 Norbert "How Special You Are"304344 3 Matt Blxck "Come Around"153187 4 Giada ""71813 5 Jessika "Kaleidoscope"01117 6 Raquel "Over You"80814 7 Nicole Hammett "A Lover's Heart"151168 8 Miriana Conte "Look What You've Done Now"271286 9 Nicole Azzopardi "Into the Fire"315363 10 Sarah Bonnici "Heaven"911012 11 Enya Magri "Shame"123159 12 Denise "Boy"283315 13 Emma Muscat "Out of Sight"7220921 14 Janice Mangion "Army"61716 15 Mark Anthony Bartolo "Serenity"1011111 16 Aidan "Ritmu"6012722 17 Richard Edwards "Hey Little"1211310
+ Song Total 1 "Electric Indigo" 6 6 2 "How Special You Are" 4 6 5 5 6 4 30 3 "Come Around" 5 3 7 15 4 "" 1 6 7 5 "Kaleidoscope" 0 6 "Over You" 2 1 2 3 8 7 "A Lover's Heart" 3 2 8 2 15 8 "Look What You've Done Now" 5 3 8 5 6 27 9 "Into the Fire" 8 7 2 7 7 31 10 "Heaven" 7 1 1 9 11 "Shame" 3 4 5 12 12 "Boy" 7 1 4 8 8 28 13 "Out of Sight" 12 12 12 12 12 12 72 14 "Army" 6 6 15 "Serenity" 4 2 3 1 10 16 "" 10 10 10 10 10 10 60 17 "Hey Little" 8 4 12
Ratings + Viewing figures by show Show Date Viewers Final 19 February 2022 226,000
Song selection Following Emma Muscat's win at the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022, rumours began circulating that the singer would perform a song other than "Out of Sight" in Turin. This was in accordance with the rules of the selection, which stated that the winner could replace their national final winning entry and send any song they wished, as long as it abides by the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest. The singer confirmed the heavily speculated theory during an interview broadcast on the TVM programme TVAM on 14 March, where she stated that she would instead perform her new single "I Am What I Am".
The song, written by Dino Medanhodžić, Julie Aagaard, Stine Kinck and Muscat herself, was selected from a catalogue of songs submitted by Danish music company The Arrangement, with two songs shortlisted prior to the selection of "I Am What I Am"; PBS had commenced a search for a replacement entry the day following Muscat's win at the Malta Eurovision Song Contest. In June 2024, fan site Eurosong-DK reported that the other song in contention was "Sand", which would go on to represent Denmark in the , performed by Saba.
Promotion