Eurosound 2

## Voting

### System

Each country awards one set of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their top ten favourite songs.
An additional descending score according to the number of participants is calculated using each country's weighted exponential average score, based on the full ranked ballots of all voters, and added to the final score.

### Winner

 Italy
"Fai Rumore"

**Eurosound 2**, stylized as **Eurosound Gala 2**, was the second edition of the Eurosound. It took place in Odessa, Ukraine, following the country's victory in Eurosound 1, with the song "Siren Song", by MARUV. The contest was held in Chornomorets Stadium, the first time that the Eurosound was held in a stadium. Additionally, it is the first Eurosound that consisted of two rounds, with the number of entries necessitating a Qualifying Round. As a result, the top five of the previous edition were automatically qualified to the Grand Final - in a rule that lasts to this day.

The show was presented by the reigning Eurosound champion, MARUV, actress Mila Kunis, and television presenter, and host of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, Volodymyr Ostapchuk.

Thirty countries participated in Eurosound 2. Seven countries debuted, while one country (Portugal) withdrew for reasons that were not disclosed. Estonia barely missed the deadline to debut in this edition, but the country was granted Grand Final voter status due to its commitment to debut in the next edition - similar to the agreement made with Slovakia in the previous edition.

The winner was Italy, with the song "Fai Rumore", performed by Diodato, and co-written by Diodato & Edwyn Roberts. The song was supposed to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, it is the first, and so far only, song to have won both the Sanremo Music Festival and the Eurosound. The entry became the first song to score more than 200 points (209), the first winner to *not* receive the most sets of douze points, while Diodato became the first male winner of the contest.

"Fai Rumore" was not the only song featured in Eurosound 2 that was supposed to be performed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020; in fact, five countries exploited the Section IV, Article 5 rule of the Eurosound Delegate Handbook, which states that *"songs that have been presented **competitively** on any Eurovision stage are not allowed."* - and since the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 never happened, the songs had not been presented competitively. All five (Italy, Lithuania, Iceland, Sweden, Ukraine) performed in the Grand Final, with three making it in the Top 5: Italy won, Lithuania's The ROOP placed second with "On Fire", and Iceland's Daði & Gagnamagnið placed fourth with "Think About Things". Catalonia (third) and Greece (fifth) rounded out the Top 5, with Greece becoming the first country to score two consecutive Top 5 placings.

The host country, Ukraine, placed second-to-last, while Denmark placed last, with twenty points.

## Location

### **Host City**

The Ukrainian delegation began preparations for the second edition of the Eurosound immediately after winning the previous edition. **Odessa** was selected as the host city, without a bidding phase.

**Odessa** is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine, and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative centre of the Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, as well as a multiethnic cultural centre. On January 25, 2023, its historic city centre was declared a World Heritage Site and added to the List of World Heritage in Danger by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in recognition of its influence on cinema, literature, and the arts.

*For further information, see Odessa.*
### **Venue**

**Chornomorets Stadium** was announced as the venue for the second edition of the Eurosound on September 10, 2020. It was the first time that the contest was held in an open-air stadium. Home to football club Chornomorets Odesa, it is located in the Shevchenko Park, and it has a capacity of over 34,000. It was built in 2011.

#### **Controversy**

The decision to hold the Eurosound in the Chornomorets Stadium did not come without controversy, since the façade of the stadium had Russian letters. Despite the complaints, the contest proceeded without a hitch; the façade of the stadium would eventually be de-Russified in February 2023.

## Participating Countries

Thirty countries participated in this second edition of the Eurosound. All but one (Portugal) of the inaugural participants returned, while seven nations debuted. Among the debuting countries was Slovakia, which was granted a special voting status in the previous contest, after barely missing the deadline. The special voting status was granted again in this edition, after Estonia pledged to debut, but barely missed the deadline. The country would go on to debut in the following edition.
Apart from Slovakia, other countries that made their debut in this edition were Kazakhstan, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Turkey. Only two debuting countries (Lithuania & Northern Ireland) qualified to the Grand Final, but both placed in the Top 10, during the Grand Final.

## Detailed Voting Results

### **Qualifying Round**

#### **12 Points**

Below is a summary of the countries who received the maximum set of twelve points from another country. The country with the  symbol won the maximum amount of **bonus** points.

### **Grand Final**

#### **12 Points**

Below is a summary of the countries who received the maximum set of twelve points from another country. The country with the  symbol won the maximum amount of **bonus** points.

## Facts & Figures

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1. ↑ The winner of the Sanremo Music Festival is often selected as the Italian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest; thus, since entries that have been performed on the Eurovision Song Contest are ineligible to participate in the Eurosound, the chance of this event happening again are very slim.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Organising Committee of the Eurosound has decided to update this hyperlink with the re-recorded version (Taylor's Version) of the song, released *after* the contest was held, in support of Taylor Swift in her masters dispute.