# Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Malta participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021, held in Paris, France. The Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) was responsible for the country's participation in the contest, and organized a national final to select the Maltese entry.

## Background

Prior to the 2021 contest, Malta had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest sixteen times since their first participation in the inaugural 2003 contest. Malta had participated in every contest with the exception of the 2011 and 2012 contests. Malta has won the contest twice: in 2013 with "The Start" performed by Gaia Cauchi, and in 2015 with "Not My Soul" performed by Destiny Chukunyere. In the 2020 contest, Malta was represented by the song "Chasing Sunsets" performed by Chanel Monseigneur. The song placed 8th out of 12 entries with 100 points.

## Before Junior Eurovision
### Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Malta's participation in the contest was confirmed by PBS in August 2021. PBS organised the national final Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 to select the Maltese entry.

#### Competing entries

Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries between 26 July and 5 September 2021, with the plan originally being to select 12 competing participants, to be announced on 19 September 2021. However, due to the unprecedented high number of submissions, 20 shortlisted songs were revealed on 19 September, which were cut down to twelve in the following week.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| Amelia Kalabic | "Dear World" | Christina Magrin |
| Eksenia Sammut | "Building" | Bettina MuchMore, Philipa Naudi |
| Ella Raina | "Limitless" | Muxu, Cyprian Cassar |
| Emma Briffa | "My Angel's Calling" | Muxu, Cyprian Cassar |
| Ike and Kaya | "My Home" | Owen Leuellen, Muxu, Cyprian Cassar |
| Kylie Micallef | "Keep Your Drama" | Christina Magrin |
| Maria Curmi | "Wild and Free" | Emil Calleja Bayliss, Cyprian Cassar |
| Marija Djinovic | "Magic" | Emil Calleja Bayliss, Aldo Spiteri, Bradley Spiteri |
| Mycha, Kylie & Denzel Jo | "Running Free" | Emil Calleja Bayliss, Denzel Jo Armani, Joseph Armani, Toby Farrugia |
| Rih & Bri | "Drops Like Fire" | Muxu, Cyprian Cassar |
| Yulan Law | "Change" | Etienne Micallef, Dominic Cini, Jonas Gladnikoff |
| Yulan Law | "On My Way" | Amber Bondin, Elton Zarb |

#### Final

The final took place on 16 October 2021 at the Robert Samut Hall in Floriana, hosted by Elaine Saliba Bonnici. The winner was selected by the votes of a jury panel (50%) and public televoting (50%). The jury consisted of Maltese Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 winner and Eurovision Song Contest 2021 entrant Destiny Chukunyere, singer Maxine Pace and musician Sigmund Mifsud. The interval act featured Destiny performing "Je me casse".
"My Home" performed by Ike and Kaya was announced as the winner of the national final. The song was composed by Cyprian Cassar and lyricised by Owen Leuellen and MUXU. The duo previously participated in the competition Malta's Got Talent in 2020, where they were praised for their energy and musicality. They achieved 4th place in the competition. Kaya had also participated in Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest as a solo act in 2020, with the song "Made of Stars".
Final – 16 October 2021 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Place |
| 1 | Emma Briffa | "My Angel's Calling" | — |
| 2 | Kylie Micallef | "Keep Your Drama" | — |
| 3 | Maria Curmi | "Wild and Free" | — |
| 4 | Yulan Law | "Change" | — |
| 5 | Eksenia Sammut | "Building" | — |
| 6 | Amelia Kalabic | "Dear World" | — |
| 7 | Rih & Bri | "Drops Like Fire" | — |
| 8 | Ella Raina | "Limitless" | — |
| 9 | Ike and Kaya | "My Home" | 1 |
| 10 | Yulan Law | "On My Way" | 3 |
| 11 | Marija Djinovic | "Magic" | — |
| 12 | Mycha, Kylie & Denzel Jo | "Running Free" | 2 |

## At Junior Eurovision

After the opening ceremony, which took place on 13 December 2021, it was announced that Malta would perform fourth on 19 December 2021, following Poland and preceding Italy.
At the end of the contest, Malta received 97 points, placing 12th out of 19 participating countries.

### Voting

The same voting system that was introduced in the 2017 edition was used, where the results were determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. Every country had a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two children aged between 10 and 15 who were citizens of the country they represented. The rankings of those jurors were combined to make an overall top ten.
The online voting consisted of two phases. The first phase of the online voting began on 17 December 2021 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances was shown on the contest's website Junioreurovision.tv before the viewers could vote. After this, voters also had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting ended on Sunday 17 December at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and began right after the last performance and was open for 15 minutes. International viewers were able vote for three songs. They were also able to vote for their own country's song. These votes were then turned into points which were determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song received 10% of the votes, it received 10% of the available points.