Luxembourg was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song "Fighter", written by Ana Zimmer, Dario Faini, Manon Romiti, and Silvio Lisbonne, and performed by Tali. The Luxembourgish participating broadcaster, RTL Lëtzebuerg (RTL), organised the national final Luxembourg Song Contest in order to select its entry for the contest. This was the return of Luxembourg to the contest after an absence of 31 years since its last participation in 1993.[1]
Luxembourg was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 7 May 2024 and was later selected to perform in position 15. At the end of the show, "Fighter" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and hence qualified to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Luxembourg placed fifth out of the fifteen participating countries in the semi-final with 117 points. In the final, Luxembourg performed in position 4 and placed thirteenth out of the 25 performing countries, scoring a total of 103 points.
On 15 December 2022, it was revealed that the Luxembourgish prime minister Xavier Bettel had instigated discussions regarding the return of the country to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2024, with a team later created by the Luxembourgish government dedicated to ensuring the country's return to the contest.[3] On 12 May 2023, Luxembourgish broadcaster RTL Lëtzebuerg (RTL) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) officially revealed that Luxembourg would return to the contest in 2024, marking the first Luxembourgish participation in over 30 years.[1] CEO of RTL Christophe Goossens stated the broadcaster was "delighted" to return to the Eurovision Song Contest and to select the 2024 Luxembourgish delegation.[4] On 3 July 2023, RTL announced that its entry for the 2024 contest would be selected through a televised final.[5]
Luxembourg Song Contest was the competition that determined the Luxembourgish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. The final took place on 27 January 2024 at the Rockhal in Esch-sur-Alzette[5][6] and was hosted by Désirée Nosbusch, accompanied by Melody Funck, Raoul Roos and Loïc Juchem; Nosbusch had previously presented the 1984 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the most recent edition to be held in Luxembourg.[7]
The show was broadcast on RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg[5][6] as well as on the broadcaster's radio stations RTL Radio [lb] and Today Radio, and online platforms RTL Play and rtl.lu (with the original audio); in addition to this, English-language commentary by Melissa Dalton and Sarah Tapp was available on RTL Play and radio station RTL Today, and French-language commentary by Jérôme Didelot and Violetta Caldarelli on RTL Play and online platform RTL Infos.[7][8][9]
Format
The selection was divided in a two-stage audition phase and a televised final, all held at the Rockhal. At the end of the first audition stage, held between July and November 2023, a shortlist of around 70 songs by around 50 artists had been selected by a panel of experts consisting of Sandra Bintz, Eric Lehmann, Jenny Fischbach, Jules Serrig, Sam Steen and chair David Gloesener.[5][10][11] The shortlisted entries moved on to a second audition round held between 22 and 24 November 2023, where they were evaluated by an international expert jury – composed of Alex Panayi from Cyprus (chairman), Cesár Sampson from Austria, Christer Björkman from Sweden, Jan Bors from Czechia and Tali Eshkoli from Israel – who selected the finalists.[11][12][13][14] Starting on 21 December 2023 until the final, the competing artists were followed by vocal coaches Susanne Georgi (2009 representative for Andorra) and Francesca Aaen.[15]
At the final, two rounds of voting were conducted, with a 50/50 combination of public and jury votes firstly selecting the top three artists which progressed to a super final, followed by a second round of jury and public voting determining the winner.[16] In each round the jury voting was conducted within eight different countries (namely Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), each with five members for a total of 40 members. In the first round each jury awarded 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points to their top six acts, while in the second round the juries awarded 8, 10 and 12 points to the three super-finalists. In both rounds the same total number of points as awarded by the juries was available for the public vote component, and was allocated to each entry proportionally based on the number of votes each act received.[16] Public voting was allowed worldwide, and was not limited to just Luxembourgish residents.[17] Due to the rounding of the total votes received, the total public points awarded was ultimately one less than that awarded by the juries.[16] During the show public votes were received from viewers in 60 countries, with over 76% of votes coming from local viewers in Luxembourg.[18]
Competing entries
On 3 July 2023, RTL opened a submission period for interested singers and songwriters. Performers were required to either hold Luxembourgish nationality, have resided in country for at least three consecutive years or be involved with the Luxembourgish music scene, while songwriters could be of any nationality.[19]
The submission form was divided into three categories: singers without songs to submit, singer-songwriters with up to three songs to submit, and songwriters with up to three songs looking for performers. Applicants for the first category had a deadline of 16 July 2023 to send a presentation video;[20] about a hundred artists applied and were assessed by the RTL jury the following week, with a second round held among the qualifiers from this session and performers who entered the competition with a song;[21][22] applications for songwriters to pair up with the perfomers were closed by mid-August 2023,[23] with
selected artists having the possibility of directly choosing a song of their preference from the received submissions.[10] Applications for singer-songwriters were instead open until 1 October 2023.[20]
A total of 459 entries were submitted to RTL,[24] including by 24-time Eurovision songwriter Ralph Siegel, who debuted with Luxembourg in 1974 and won with Germany in 1982.[25] The eight finalists were announced one by one on 11 December 2023.[26] Some of them had previously taken part in talent shows, namely The Voice of Germany (seasons 7 and 13), The Voice Kids France, The Voice Belgique, Luxembourg's Next Popstar and Top Voice Luxembourg.[27][28] Their songs were released on 9 January 2024.[29][30]
As part of the promotion of her participation in the contest, Tali attended the London Eurovision Party on 7 April 2024[35] and the Eurovision in Concert event in Amsterdam on 13 April 2024.[36] She additionally revealed that her entry "Fighter" would undergo a revamp ahead of the contest, which was released on 29 March 2024.[37]
At Eurovision
Tali during a rehearsal before the final.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 took place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 7 and 9 May and the final on 11 May 2024. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final. On 30 January 2024, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country would perform in; the EBU split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[38] Luxembourg was scheduled for the second half of the first semi-final.[39] The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; Luxembourg was set to close the show in position 15.[40]
In Luxembourg, all three shows were broadcast on RTL, RTL Radio [lb] and Today Radio, as well as online via rtl.lu and RTL Play, with Luxembourgish-language commentary by Roger Saurfeld and Raoul Roos; on RTL Today, with English-language commentary by Sarah Tapp and Meredith Moss; and (first semi-final and final) on RTL Infos, with French-language commentary by Jerôme Didelot and Emma Sorgato.[41][42][43][44][45]
Performance
Tali took part in technical rehearsals on 28 April and 1 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 6 and 7 May.[46] The staging of her performance of "Fighter" at the contest is directed by German Nenov [ru] (creative director for Ukraine in 2023 as well as at the 2021 and 2022 junior contests).[47] She is joined on stage by red-clad supporting dancers.[48]
Semi-final
Luxembourg performed last, in position 15, following the entry from Portugal.[40] At the end of the show, the country was announced as a qualifier for the final. It was later revealed that Luxembourg placed fifth out of the fifteen participating countries in the first semi-final with 117 points.
Final
Following the semi-final, Luxembourg was drawn to perform in the first half of the final.[49] Luxembourg performed in position 4, following the entry from Germany and before the entry from Israel (following the Netherlands' disqualification).[50] Tali once again took part in dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show on 11 May. She performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 11 May. Luxembourg placed thirteenth in the final, scoring 103 points; 20 points from the public televoting and 83 points from the juries.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded by and to Luxembourg in the first semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public.[51] The Luxembourgish jury consisted of Vanessa Cum, Patrick Greis, Germain Leon Martin, Alfred Nicolas Medernach, and Irem Sosay.[52] In the first semi-final, Luxembourg placed 5th with 117 points, and guaranteeing Luxembourg's first appearance in a Eurovision final since 1993. In the final, Luxembourg placed 13th with 103 points, receiving the maximum twelve points in the jury vote and televote from Israel. Over the course of the contest, Luxembourg awarded its 12 points to Portugal in the first semi-final, and Switzerland (jury) and Israel (televote) in the final.[53][54]
RTL appointed Désirée Nosbusch, presenter of the 1984 contest, as its spokesperson to announce the Luxembourgish jury's votes in the final.[41][42]
Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. Each jury, and individual jury member, is required to meet a strict set of criteria regarding professional background, as well as diversity in gender and age. 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 cannot vote impartially and independently.[55] The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.
The following members comprised the Luxembourgish jury:[52]
^Schmit, Sandy; Konsbrück, Bob; Lehmann, Eric (24 January 2024). "Wéi leeft de Vott of a wéi kann ech iwwerhaapt matvoten?" [How does the vote expire and how can I even vote?]. Eurovision.rtl.lu (in Luxembourgish). RTL Luxembourg. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
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