Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
The national final consisted of fifteen competing acts participating in a televised production where "Forever" performed by Alekseev was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.[3] Auditions were held on 11 January 2018 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final.The jury consisted of Valery Dayneko (chairman of the jury, singer), Olga Salamakha (deputy director of the TV channel Belarus 1), Andrey Kalina (director of the Music Production Center), Victoria Aleshko (singer), Olga Vronskaya (artist of the Youth Theatre), Ekaterina Dulova (rector of BGAE), Tatyana Parhamovich (deputy head of the department of professional art of the Ministry of Culture of Belarus), Elena Treschinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM"), Denis Dudinsky (television host and singer), Grigor Abalyan (owner of the First Concert company), Natalia Tambovtseva (composer), Sergey Malinovsky (journalist) and Alexander Chernukho (journalist).[10] The televised final took place on 16 February 2018 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Teo.[11] A 50/50 combination of votes from nine jury members made up of music professionals and public televoting selected the song "Forever" performed by Alekseev as the winner.[4] Prior to the national final, seven of the competing artists stated in an open letter to BTRC that they would withdraw from the competition if Alekseev was not disqualified, also adding that they believe the show was being rigged for him to win.[8][9] Following the show, the songwriters of "I Won't Cry", performed by Gunesh, announced that they would take legal action against BTRC and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the latter which approved "Forever" to still compete in the contest despite previous claims.[15] On 14 April, Alekseev performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Edsilia Rombley and Cornald Maas.[16] On 21 April, Alekseev performed during the ESPreParty event which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain and hosted by Soraya Arnelas.
BelarusAlekseevForeverBelarus in the Eurovision Song Contest◄20172019►Eurovision Song Contest 2018LisbonNational State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of BelarusBelarus in the Eurovision Song ContestWork Your MagicKoldunintroduction of semi-finals2004 contestNavibandBelarus 1Belarus 24RussianNiklas BergqvistGuneshOla HåkanssonAlexander BardNapoliWill TaylorMichael James DownVlad Chizhikov2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant2017 Belarusian Eurovision contestantriggedEuropean Broadcasting UnionTel AvivRabin SquareAFAS LiveAmsterdamEdsilia RombleyCornald MaasMadridSoraya ArnelasBig FiveIsraelEstonia2017 Belarusian representativeAzerbaijanArmeniaAlbaniaLithuaniaCyprusFinlandBulgariaGreeceCzech RepublicCroatiaIcelandAustriaBelgiumIrelandUkraineNorwayDenmarkMoldovaSloveniaHungaryAustraliaSwedenIskui AbalyanMacedoniaSwitzerlandPortugalUnited KingdomSerbiaGermanyFranceNetherlandsAngelica AgurbashRuslan AlehnoAleksandra and KonstantinPetr ElfimovGalasy ZMestaAlyona LanskayaLitesoundMaimunaPolina SmolovaAnastasia VinnikovaRobert WellsDa vidnaLike ItYa nauchu tebya (I'll Teach You)GeorgiaLatviaMontenegroPolandRomaniaRussiaSan MarinoSaara AaltoAlfredEugent BushpepaDoReDoSEquinoxEleni FoureiraSanja IlićBalkanikaBenjamin IngrossoMikolas JosefMadame MonsieurJessica MauboyMélovinErmal MetaFabrizio MoroElina NechayevaRyan O'ShaughnessyCláudia PascoalRasmussenAlexander RybakCesár SampsonMichael SchulteLea SirkWaylonIeva ZasimauskaitėChristabelleEye CueFrankaGromeeLukas MeijerThe HumansEthno-Jazz Band Iriao