Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv, Ukraine, with the song "World" performed by Lindita Halimi. Its selected entry was chosen through the national selection competition Festivali i Këngës organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) in December 2016. To this point, the nation had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 13 times since its first entry in 2004. Prior to the contest, the song was promoted by a music video and live performances in Israel, the Netherlands and Spain. Albania was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing as number fourth, the nation was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify for the grand final, marking Albania's seventh non-qualification in the contest.
Prior to the 2017 contest, Albania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 13 times since its first entry in 2004.[1] The country's highest placing in the contest, to this point, had been the fifth place, which it achieved in 2012 with the song "Suus" performed by Rona Nishliu.[1] The first entry was performed by Anjeza Shahini with the song "The Image of You" and finished in the seventh place, the nation's second-highest placing to date.[1] During its tenure in the contest, Albania failed to qualify for the grand final six times, with the 2016 entry being the most recent non-qualifier.[2] The country's national broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), organises Festivali i Këngës in order to select the nation's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. In September 2019, the broadcaster confirmed Albania's participation in the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine.[3]
Before Eurovision
Festivali i Këngës
The national broadcaster of Albania, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), organised the 55th edition of Festivali i Këngës to determine their participant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[4] The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 21 and 22 December, respectively, and the grand final on 23 December 2016.[5][6][7] The three live shows were hosted by Albanian singer Ledina Çelo and actor Kasem Hoxha.[8] On 13 November, RTSH published a provisory list of 24 artists and songs shortlisted to compete in the two semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës.[9] On 19 December 2016, it published the allocation draw of the participating contestants for each semi-final.[10]
The semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës took place on 21 December and 22 December 2016, and were broadcast at 20:30 and 21:00 (CET) on the respective dates.[5][6][12][13] 12 contestants participated in each semi-final, with the highlighted ones progressing to the grand final.[14]
The grand final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 23 December 2016 and was broadcast at 20:30 (CET).[7] In it, the results of the competition were determined by a combination of votes from a jury panel (12/13) and a public internet vote (1/13).[7][15][16] Before the end of the show, Lindita Halimi emerged as the winner and was simultaneously announced as the representative of Albania for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[16][17]
A music video for "World" was premiered on the official YouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest on 13 March 2017.[19][20] For further promotional purposes, Halimi embarked on a small tour with live performances at various events related to the contest, including in Amsterdam, Madrid and Tel Aviv.[21][22][23]
The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 took place at the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine, and consisted of two semi-finals held on 9 and 11 May, respectively, and the grand final on 13 May 2017.[24] According to the rules, all participating countries, apart from the host nation and the "Big Five", 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 grand final, although, the top 10 countries from the respective semi-final progress to the grand final of the contest.[25]
On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held in Kyiv that placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in.[26] Albania was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[26] Once all the competing songs for the 2017 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 in position four, following Australia and preceding Belgium.[27] At the end of the first semi-final, the country was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify for the grand final, marking Albania's seventh non-qualification in the Eurovision Song Contest.[1][28]
Voting
The tables below visualise a breakdown of points awarded to Albania in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, as well as by the country for both the first semi-final and grand final. In the semi-final, Albania finished in 14th place with a total of 76 points, including 12 by the televoters from Montenegro and 10 from Moldova, and 10 points by the juries from Azerbaijan, Greece and Montenegro.[29] In the grand final, its televoters and juries awarded their 12 points to Italy and 10 points to Bulgaria.[30]
^In early December 2016, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) announced that Edona Vatoci would withdraw from the competition due to violation of the application rules.[11]
