The popular singer stunned the audience with her live performance. The star sung her song “1944” and received the highest scores (9) from members of the selection jury as well as the audience. “Past year, I wrote ‘1944,’ which I see as a seminal composition. The song was born from the stories of my great-grandmother Nazylkhan about the tragedy that befell our family and the Crimean Tatar people in 1944. My great-grandfather was at the front, and thus failed to protect her and their children. The Soviets loaded them all into boxcars, and took on a weeks-long forced trip to Central Asia,” Jamala told us about this track. The lyrics of “1944” are in English and Crimean Tatar.
After the announcement of the first round’s result, Jamala stressed: “We are one people even though we speak different languages, profess different religions, but we are still one people, living in one Ukraine.”
Let us recall that the second semi-final will be held on February 13 live on STB and UA First TV channels; the performers will include SunSay, Pur: Pur, Peaks of Kings, Pringlez, Viktoria Petryk, Arkadii Voitiuk, ALLOISE, NeAnhely, and Japanda.
The final of the National Selection will take place on February 21. The results of audience and jury votes during the broadcast will determine the representative of Ukraine. The winner will perform in Sweden in May with their winning song of the National Selection.
“Jamala’s performance was very emotional,” composer Oleksandr Zlotnyk believes. “She is very strong vocalist. I think the singer will win the National Selection. Will foreign audience take her composition well? I think that the political lyrics of ‘1944’ will both lose and win it some votes, because the Eurovision’s audience usually votes for a ‘fine picture,’ that is, a beautiful, melodic performance. However, we will keep our fingers crossed so that Fortune smiles on Jamala and the foreign audiences like her performance.”
