2023 Czech Eurovision Entry

Česká televize recently decided on this year's entry for Eurovision.  From 2 November to 8 December 2022, artists could submit their entry for 2023.  There were 170 entries received and the field was narrowed down to five which were announced in January.

The rules were that solo artists had to have Czech citizenship.  For group entires, the maximum number of members was six and at least one of the lead vocalists had to have Czech citizenship.  This citizenship requirement was a Czech thing because there's no Eurovision rule that says a contestant must be a citizen of the country being represented.  For example, Céline Dion won in 1988 competing form Switzerland even though she is Canadian.

This is the first year that the country will compete at Eurovision as Czechia instead of as Czech Republic.  This is also the first time that Czech TV organised a live broadcast to determine who would be selected by audience vote.  The vote was weighted as 70% for international voting and 30% by local Czech voting.  

Here are the five entries that battled it out on TV.

Up first was Maella with her song Flood.  The daughter of a jazz musician, she grew up in Prague but has been living in London for several years where she studied songwriting.

©Česká televize

Up next was Pam Rabbit with her song Ghosting.  She is Czech with Armenian roots and she competed at the 2018 Eurovision contest as a backup singer for Mikolas Josef.

©Česká televize

Up third was Markéta Irglová with her song Happy.  She's from Valašské Meziříčí and has lived in Ireland, the USA, and now in Iceland.  She won an Academy Award in 2008 for Best Original Song, Falling Slowly, for the film Once.

©Česká televize

Vesna performed fourth with their song My Sister's Crown.  Three of the six members of the group are Czech, with a Bulgarian, a Slovak, and a Russian.  Their song is about empowerment and pan-Slavic sisterhood with the lyrics in English, Czech, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian.   

©Česká televize

The final performer was Rodan with his song Introvert Party Club.  In 2021 he was nominated for Discovery of the Year 2021 and the music magazine Headliner included him amongst the 50 hopefuls of Czech music.

©Česká televize

A few weeks ago the results were in and Vesna won by a landslide.  Here are the results:

1. Vesna - 10.584 points
2. Pam Rabbit - 4.217 points
3. Rodan - 1.995 points
4. Markéta Irglová - 1.009 points
5. Maella - 599 points

Czechland will compete in the first semi-final on 9 May.  Vesna will perform in the second half of the show.  Good luck Vesna!