Country Malta Selected song "Parachute" | Selected entrant Christina Magrin | |
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Selection process Artist: Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Song: Internal selection Selection date(s) Artist: 16 July 2016
Song: 27 October 2016 Selected songwriter(s) Florent Boshnjaku
Matt "Muxu" Mercieca
Christina Magrin | ||
Malta participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 as the host country. The Maltese entrant for the 2016 contest in Valletta was selected through a national final, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) on 16 July 2016, while their song was selected internally. Each of the twenty participants performed covers or non-Eurovision candidate songs during the national final. Christina Magrin was declared the winner and her Junior Eurovision song "Parachute" was revealed on 27 October.
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Background
Prior to the 2016 Contest, Malta had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its first entry in 2003 only opting not to participate at the 2010, 2011 and 2012 contests. Malta has won on two occasions: in 2013 when Gaia Cauchi won with the song "The Start", and again in 2015 when Destiny Chukunyere came first with "Not My Soul" when it won the contest with 185 points, breaking the previous record held by Spain for the most points ever given to a winner.
National final
The national final took place on 16 July 2016. The national final consisted of twenty competing acts participating in a televised production. Each of the 20 participants sang a song of their own choice. After all of them had performed, the jury and televoting cast their votes - each juror had a 25% weighting in the final result (so 75% overall), with the televoting also having a 25% share. The contestants were ranked from 1-20, with 1 being the best. Christina Magrin was announced as the winner of the national final.
Jury members
The jury members were as follow (in alphabetical order):
Song selection
On 27 October 2016, it was revealed that Christina's song for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was revealed would be entitled "Parachute". The song, which is composed and written by Florent Boshnjaku and Matt ”Muxu” Mercieca, was presented live on TVM news bulletin and it was broadcast simultaneously on tvm.com.mt.
Christina Magrin
Christina Magrin (born 7 June 2003) is a Maltese singer. She represented Malta at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Valletta, Malta on 20 November 2016 with the song "Parachute".
Christina studies vocal technique under her mother's guidance, who is also a passionate musician and a lecturer by profession. Her first big break was during her rendition of the Albanian Eurovision Song Contest entry from 2012, Suus, where she caught the attention of millions of TV viewers and reached over 400,000 YouTube views in just a few days. The video went viral on Albanian media, capturing the attention of the composer of the song who promised to compose a song and launch it in the Balkans. The promise was kept.
Since her childhood years, Christina dedicated considerable time and energy for ballet, achieving consistently excellent results from the Royal Academy of Dance. She is currently following the Intermediate Foundation syllabus with Ms Joanna Rummolino. For a number of years, she also took piano lessons and obtained various distinction results from the Royal Schools of Music.
Christina distinguishes herself on stage through an impressive vocal range that gives her ample versatility and an ability to sing in multiple languages. Christina has performed in 10 languages: English, Maltese, Albanian, Serbian, French, Italian, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Spanish and Bulgarian.
Earlier this year she sat for Grade 8 exam of the Trinity of London College, achieving recognition from the College as the youngest student ever to take this grade and the highest mark ever achieved. She was supported in this endeavor by Ms Rachel Fabri Camilleri.
Parachute
"Parachute" is a song by Maltese singer Christina Magrin. It will represent Malta during the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The song is composed and written by Florent Boshnjaku and Matt "Muxu" Mercieca.
At Junior Eurovision
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 14 November 2016, Malta was drawn to perform fifth on 20 November 2016, following Russia and preceding Bulgaria.
The final will be broadcast in Malta on TVM1.
Voting
During the press conference for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016, held in Stockholm, the Reference Group announced several changes to the voting format for the 2016 contest. Previously, points had been awarded based on a combination of 50% National juries and 50% televoting, with one more set of points also given out by a 'Kids' Jury'. However, this year, points will be awarded based on a 50/50 combination of each country’s Adult and Kids' Jury, to be announced by a spokesperson. For the first time since the inauguration of the contest the voting procedure will not include a public televote. Following these results, three expert jurors will also announce their points from 1-8, 10, and 12. These professional jurors are: Christer Björkman, Mads Grimstad, and Jedward.