By 2016, Albania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times since its first entry in 2004. Prior to the 2016 contest, the song was promoted by a music video and several live performances across Europe. Albania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 12 May 2016. Performing 17th (second to last), the nation was not among the top 10 entries of its semi-final and therefore failed to qualify for the final, marking Albania's sixth non-qualification in the contest. When the results were released shortly after, Albania had placed 16th with 45 points.
Prior to the 2016 contest, Albania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times since its first entry in 2004. Its first entry was the song "The Image of You" performed by Anjeza Shahini, which finished in seventh place, the nation's second-highest placing as of 2023[update]. The country's highest placing by 2016 had been fifth, which it achieved in 2012 with the song "Suus" performed by Rona Nishliu. Albania had previously failed to qualify for the final four times, most recently in 2014.[1] The Albanian broadcaster that broadcast the 2016 contest in Albania and organised the selection process for its entry was Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). The Albanian song contest Festivali i Këngës has been organised annually since 1964 and has been used as the country's entry selection method since its debut in 2004.[2]
Before Eurovision
Festivali i Këngës
The national broadcaster of Albania, RTSH, organised the 54th edition of Festivali i Këngës with the objective of determining the country's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.[3][4] The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 25 and 26 December, respectively, and the final on 27 December 2015.[3] The three live shows were held at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana and hosted by Blerta Tafani and Pandi Laço.[5] The contest featured Laço as the screenwriter and Elton Deda as the artistic director.[5][6]
Competing entries
RTSH invited interested artists and composers to submit their entries between 29 and 30 September 2015.[7][8] All songs were required to be in the Albanian language, all performers were required to be at least 16 years of age, and singers and composers could only submit one song while lyricists could only submit two songs.[9] On 16 October 2015, RTSH announced the 30 artists and songs selected for the competition by a special committee and among the competing artists were two previous Albanian Eurovision Song Contest entrants: Luiz Ejlli (2006) and Adrian Lulgjuraj (2013).[3] One substitution was made prior to the event: "Era" performed by Edea Demaliaj was replaced by "Një shishe në oqean" performed by Orgesa Zaimi.[10]
The competing entries were released to the public online through the broadcaster's website on 4 December 2015.[11] Throughout December 2015, Radio Tirana aired the competing entries and interviewed the artists on the programme Gjithçka Shqip hosted by Andri Xhahu and Artemisa Deda.[12] On 10 December, 40-second promotional video clip montages of all of the entries were released by the broadcaster.[13]
The two semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës took place on 25 December and 26 December 2015 and were broadcast at 20:45 (CET).[14] In each semi-final, a total of 15 songs competed of which 11 entries in each semi-final, selected by a jury, advanced to the final.[5][15][16]
The final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 27 December 2015 and was broadcast at 20:45 (CET).[15] A jury determined Eneda Tarifa as the winner of the contest with the song "Përrallë".[17][18]
For the purposes of participating in Eurovision, a remastered and English-language version of "Përrallë" titled "Fairytale" was released on 13 March 2016.[19] Its release was accompanied by a music video uploaded to the official YouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest.[20][21] For further promotion, Tarifa embarked on a small tour with live performances at various Eurovision Song Contest-related events in Amsterdam, London, and Tel Aviv.[22][23][24][25] This included participation in the eighth annual Eurovision in Concert series, an event held at the club Melkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands, that was staged to serve as a preview party for the year's entries.[22]
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 took place at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden; it consisted of two semi-finals held on 10 and 12 May, respectively, and the finalon 14 May 2016.[26] According to the rules, all participating countries, apart from the host nation and the "Big 5", consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the final, with the top 10 countries from each semi-final progressing to the final of the contest.[27] On 26 January 2016, an allocation draw was held at the Stockholm City Hall that placed each country into one of the two semi-finals and determined which half of the show they would perform in.[28] Albania was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 12 May, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[28]
Once all the competing songs for the 2016 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the producers of the contest rather than through another draw, for preventing similar songs being placed next to each other; Albania was set to perform at position 18, following Georgia and preceding Belgium.[29] However, the nation's performing position shifted to 17, following Romania's disqualification from the contest on 22 April and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final.[30]
Tarifa took part in technical rehearsals on 5 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May.[31] This included the jury show on 11 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[32] The performance saw Tarifa dressed in a long gold dress standing atop a gold LED stage floor.[33] When viewed together, the dress appeared to extend into the floor as one continuous piece covering the stage. Surrounding Tarifa were accents and pyrotechnics also of gold color.[34] She was joined on stage by three backing vocalists: Besa Krasniqi, Venera Lumani and Xhoni Jesku.[35]
At the end of the second semi-final, the country was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify for the final,[36] marking the sixth time Albania had failed to qualify in the contest.[1] It was later revealed that Albania placed 16th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 45 points: 35 points from the televoting and 10 points from the juries.[37]
Voting during the three live shows of the Eurovision Song Contest was conducted under a new system that involved each country now awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting.[38] Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represented, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.[38] 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.[38][39] In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they could not vote impartially and independently.[38] The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the final.[38]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Albania and awarded by Albania in the second semi-final and final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
