2015

 

• Hosted in: Sofia, Bulgaria

• Won by: Malta – Not my soul by Destiny Chukunyere

2014 was the first year where the winning country gets right of first refusal to host the previous year. However, last year’s winner Italy said: “Let us try” and withdrew from hosting duties no reason at all. And so immediately after the EBU received two bids: The Bulgarian bid as they finished runners’ up last year, and the… wait, Malta? Again? Didn’t you finished 4th last year? In the end, Bulgaria has a good argument and got the contest despite never won the contest before, or since. Italy would not host the contest since.

This is the 13th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and somehow we still have sad ballads. The Netherlands took this even further by having their entrant, Shalisa, perform on a piano with sets of candles on it. They finished 3rd to last. Finishing right below them is Italy. Yup, Italy. Twins Chiara and Martina performed “Viva”. While it’s an okay song, it’s nowhere as close as the gut-wrenching ballad that was Vincenzo Cantiello last year, resulting in one of the worst title defences of all time, finishing just below the Dutch. 

Of all of the members of the “three” that consistently participated when the contest was dominated by Eastern countries, only the Dutch remained. This year Sweden withdrew, even though it’s on them not making the Lilla Melodifestivalen their national selection. Despite this, the West still remained strong, even it if held together by scotch tape, with the support of Italy, San Marino, and debutants Republic of Ireland.

Having a country from the British Isles is the closest thing to the UK returning this year, and just like all of the UK’s prior entries in this contest, the Irish got us… sigh… another ballad. It’s 2015, do something different! Though in Ireland’s defense, Aimee Banks’ “Réalta na Mara” sounded like Nessun Dorma. They actually have the best result out of the other Western countries, which is not bad for a debutant like Ireland, after all Italy won on their debut, until you found out that Ireland finished 12th, it only got there because of a tiebreaker due to a tie between them, San Marino and Montenegro. 

Meanwhile, the East are joined by a country that has no relations to their culture, and is WAY, WAY east. That’s right people, it’s Australia, after dipping their toes in the adult contest earlier that year, why not dip their toes on a struggling junior contest? “My Girls” by Bella Paige is… really? Another pop ballad? Though this time it managed to fare better than the West, resulting in an impressive debut position of 8th place. Meanwhile, another ballad came from Russia, being accompanied by a girl sitting on a cresent moon, which finished 6th.

Of course, not all entries in this contest are ballads, Armenia got us a slick, upbeat pop tune with funk‑laden touches and infectious charisma performed by 3 girls and a boy: Mika. Malta has a ballad performed by Destiny Chukunyere. It was a tight race again, with both countries going back and forth towards the end of scoring. The battle of both worlds: Ex-Soviet country vs. Anglophone country, pop tunes vs. ballads. Prior to calling the last spokesperson from Montenegro, Malta has a 6-point lead over Armenia. The permutations are simple: Armenia need 7 points or more to win, unless Malta has enough points to catch up. Montenegro gave Armenia 7 points so Malta needs to receive zero. 

However heartbreak struck again when Malta was given 10 points, sealing the country’s second victory overall in the span of just three years, with the added cherry on top of being the highest-scoring entry in history, surpassing Maria Isabel’s winning entry in 2004. In my defense, at least that ballad sound upbeat, unlike those soulless sad ballads. Meanwhile Armenia became the highest non-winning entry in JESC history, and the first Armenian entry is actually be normal for once. Destiny would later be unfortunate enough to represent for Malta in the lost 2020 adult contest, but fortunate enough to compete in 2021. Becoming the first Junior Eurovision winner to compete in the adult contest since the Tolmachevy Sisters in 2014.

And so, 2016 saw the contest going back to the host island of Malta, surely they can’t refuse now, given that they hosted 2014, right?

Presentation and format

The contest was held at the Arena Armeec in Sofia, Bulgaria, and hosted by Poli Genova, who represented her country in the adult contest in 2011, and the following year, with the added incentive of speaking enthusiastic (read: irritating) English.

This year’s trophy is once again the physical version of the contest symbol: mainly inspired by a dandelion. Destiny reprised her song alongside all participants for the first time. The generic Junior Eurovision logo was also updated for the first time since its introduction in 2008, with the design largely similar, including the continued omission of the heart symbol that was used in the adult contest. This is also the first time the interval performances performed in between the participating entries.

This is the first time the practice of giving every entry 12 points for sympathy reasons is called a “tradition”, having first introduced back in 2005. However, fortunately enough, this is the last time this nonsense procedure was implemented. The voting procedure otherwise remained the same as last year, and all spokespeople continued to represent from on stage. Despite the contest being held in Bulgaria, and as this is tradition, last year’s winner Vincenzo Cantiello became the final spokesperson on behalf of the pan-European Kids’ Jury before a major reform in 2016. This was also the final year the traditional televoting system was used. It was abolished the following year and is now replaced by a new online voting system in 2017.

The postcards starts with the contestant introducing themselves only, before sending an image of themselves to three kids who would explore places in Bulgaria. That place gets connected to the respective country’s capital, similar to the one seen in the voting procedure of the adult contest that year.