Country Andorra Selection date(s) 4 February 2009 | Selection process National Final Selected entrant Susanne Georgi | |
Selected song "La teva decisió (Get a Life)" Semi-final result Failed to qualify (15th) | ||
Andorra participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, as previously confirmed by Andorran broadcaster Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA).
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After many disappointing results since Andorra's debut in 2004, on top of Andorra's poor 16th place in the semi at the 2008 contest, RTVA announced in June 2008 that they had not decided on whether or not they would be present at the 2009 contest. However, on 10 September it was announced by RTVA that they would be present at Eurovision 2009, announcing a new proposal for a national final that would be used to select the Andorran representative.
The winner of the national final was Susanne Georgi with the song "La teva decisió", and she was the sixth Andorran Eurovision entry, competing in the first semi-final on 12 May 2009.
Georgi failed to reach the final becoming the sixth Andorran Eurovision entrant to miss the grand final.
National final
RTVA invited both composers and singers to enter the competition and began accepting entries on October 24 with a deadline of December 31, 2008. However, it was announced on November 8, that the new deadline would be December 1, 2008 after RTVA received the rules guiding the national selection dates from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
An expert jury chose the three best songs to compete at the 2009 Andorran Eurovision national final. Interested singers were told to send demos with a maximum of three songs, with at least one song sung in Catalan. In addition, composers were told to send in at least one song to the station. All composers and singers must be over 18, preferably with Andorran citizenship and nationality. Catalan lyrics are preferred by RTVA. The singers' musical experience and fluency in Catalan, as well as their fluency in speaking English and French, will also be taken into account. At the national final, the Andorran entrant will be chosen entirely through the use of SMS texting by the public.
107 entries were received by RTVA, featuring 64 songs without a singer attached, 15 performers without songs, and 28 applications of both singer and song. Entries came from around Europe, with almost half of them coming from Andorra, with another 27 entries coming from neighbour country Spain. A further eight entries came from both France and Lithuania, six from Sweden, four from Greece and Malta, three from Belgium, two from both Ireland and Israel, as well as one entry coming from Iceland and the United Kingdom.
The three artists chosen to compete in the Andorran national final were revealed on 13 December 2008, live on Andorran television. The three artists were selected by a professional jury, who began selecting the successful artists from the afternoon of the 13th. One of the original chosen artists, British-born singer Jack Lucien revealed 3 days before that he had to pull out due to other commitments, meaning the additional entry of Susanne Georgi, the eventual winner. His song Marxaré was released on May 4, 2009. On 29 December, one of the three finalist songs, "Estrelles d'or", by Marc Durandeau and Marc Canturri, was disqualified after it was revealed that the former had submitted a similar song into the Spanish selection for 2008. The duo was replaced by the runner-up of the jury choice, Mar Capdevila with the song "Passió obsessiva".
The final
The Andorran national final was held on February 4, 2009 at the Apolo Andorra Hall in Andorra la Vella, hosted by Meri Picart. Three songs by different artists competed to represent Andorra at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and the winner was selected by a 50/50 mix of SMS and jury voting.
Each of the three artists were given the chance to present their songs to the Andorran public prior to the final in the weeks preceding it, on three televised shows aired by RTVA on 14, 21 and 28 January.
The winner of the final was Susanne Georgi with "La teva decisió", receiving 66% of the SMS vote and 47% of the jury vote.
Promotion
Due to limited funds in ATV, Susanna was not able to participate in a large promotional tour of her entry around Eurovision. However Susanna did promote her entry to some degree. On 27 February, Susanna performed on Punto Radio in neighbouring Spain. This was followed by promotion in Susanna's home country Denmark, getting extensive coverage in newspapers, and on radio and TV, as well as performing at the Danish Grammy Awards.
Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) revealed that Andorra would be among a number of nations to perform in a special Eurovision show held days before the final on TVE. The show featured Susanna performing "La teva decisió" along with entries from five other countries, the Big 4 of Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as Greece and a number of past Eurovision artists.
At Eurovision
Since Andorra did not win the 2008 contest, it had to compete in one of the two semi-finals. Andorra competed in the first semi-final of the contest on 12 May, where Susanna performed 7th in the running order, following Armenia and preceding Switzerland.
RTVA revealed that they were unhappy with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)'s decision to allow Spain to switch semi-finals for their voting. Having originally been drawn to vote in the first semi-final, the same semi-final as Andorra, TVE asked the EBU to switch semi-finals to allow for promotion of Eurovision itself. RTVA announced their disappointment on this decision, as RTVA believed that, without Spain voting, Andorra's chances of qualifying would be lower. There was also a feeling that the amount of promotion done in Spain was to no avail.
At Eurovision, Susanna revealed that she would be accompanied on stage by four backing singers. She also explicitly stated that she would not use backing dancers, as opposed the Spanish entry Soraya, as her performance did not require such resources to improve her performance.