The Sound Of Europe 4

Anna Abreu (green room)

### Debuting countries

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Flag\_of\_Denmark.svg/20px-Flag\_of\_Denmark.svg.png Denmark

### Returning countries

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Flag\_of\_Armenia.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Armenia.svg.png Armeniahttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag\_of\_the\_United\_Kingdom.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_the\_United\_Kingdom.svg.png United Kingdom

### Withdrawing countries

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Flag\_of\_Andorra.svg/22px-Flag\_of\_Andorra.svg.png Andorrahttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Flag\_of\_Macedonia.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Macedonia.svg.png FYR Macedonia

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Flag\_of\_Georgia.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Georgia.svg.png Georgia

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Flag\_of\_Monaco.svg/19px-Flag\_of\_Monaco.svg.png Monaco

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Flag\_of\_Montenegro.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Montenegro.svg.png Montenegro

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Flag\_of\_Slovakia.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Slovakia.svg.png Slovakia

## Vote

### Voting system

Each country/jury awards 12, 10, 8–1 points to their top 10 songs.

### Winning song

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Flag\_of\_France.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_France.svg.png France
"Sounds Like Heaven"

## Editions

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The **Sound Of Europe 4**was the 4th edition of the Sound Of Europe. It took place in **Hartwall Areena, Helsinki, Finland**, following **Finland's victory** with **Krista Siegfrids** and her song **"On And Off"**. This was the first time that Finland hosted the contest. The 4th edition consisted of **two semi-finals**, which took place on 27 July 2015, and **a final**, held on 3 August 2015. The shows were presented by **Janna Hurmeninta** and **Jaana Pelkonen** while **Anna Abreu** was hosting the green room. Forty-one countries participated in the 4th edition.

Once all the votes had been announced, based on 50% jury and 50% televoting, **France** won the contest, with **Marina Kaye and Lindsey Stirling's** song **"Sounds Like Heaven"**.

## Location

**Helsinki** is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki has a population of 629,512, an urban population of 1,214,210, and a metropolitan population of over 1.4 million, making it the most populous municipality and urban area in Finland. Helsinki is located some 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 388 km (241 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.

The Helsinki metropolitan area includes the urban core of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen, and surrounding commuter towns. It is the world's northernmost metro area of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of an EU member state. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Nordic countries, the City of Helsinki being the third largest after Stockholm and Oslo. Helsinki is Finland's major political, educational, financial, cultural, and research center as well as one of northern Europe's major cities. Approximately 75% of foreign companies operating in Finland have settled in the Helsinki region. The nearby municipality of Vantaa is the location of Helsinki Airport, with frequent service to various destinations in Europe and Asia.

In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 2012 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, narrowly beating Eindhoven for the title. The city was the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest 2007.

In 2011, the *Monocle* magazine ranked Helsinki the most liveable city in the world in its "Liveable Cities Index 2011". In the Economist Intelligence Unit's August 2015 Liveability survey, assessing the best and worst cities to live in globally, Helsinki placed among the world's top ten cities.

### **Venue**

The contest took place in Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, following Finland's victory at the 3rd edition of the contest in Nicosia with the song "On And Off", performed by Krista Siegfrids. The Hartwall Areena has a capacity of approximately 14,000 attendees and it is the home venue of the ice hockey team Jokerit.

## Format

The edition consisted of two semi-finals and a final. This was the first time that the contest will be consisted of two semi-finals and a final. The twelve countries with the highest scores in 1st semi-final qualified to the final, while the 10 with the highest scores in semi-final 2 qualified to the final.

Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Each member of a respective nation's jury was required to rank every song, except that of their own country. The voting results from each member of a particular nation's jury were combined to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. Likewise, the televoting results were also interpreted as a full ranking, taking into account the full televoting result rather than just the top ten. The combination of the jury's full ranking and the televote's full ranking produced an overall ranking of all competing entries. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received 1 point.

### **Running order**

The final running order of the competing performances at the semi-finals and the final were decided by the producer of the show and approved by the Executive Producer, the Executive Supervisor, the CBU and the Reference Group.

### **Presenters**

On 1 July 2015, YLE announced that **Janna Hurmeninta** and **Jaana Pelkonen** were the hosts of the 4th edition. Anna Abreu was also chosen as host of the green room.

### **National host broadcaster**

During an initial meeting between the host broadcaster YLE and CBU (Contest Broadcasting Union) in 2 July 2015, the representatives of the core organising team were selected. **Merfi Amadeus** was announced as the executive producer and **Kostas Bouris** as the executive supervisor.

## Participants

On 3 July 2015, it was announced that forty-one countries would participate in the 4th edition of the Sound Of Europe.

### **Returning artists**

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Flag\_of\_Finland.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Finland.svg.png Finland | Krista Siegfrids
 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Flag\_of\_France.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_France.svg.png France | Marina Kaye
 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Flag\_of\_Ireland.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Ireland.svg.png Ireland | Hozier
 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Flag\_of\_Ukraine.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Ukraine.svg.png Ukraine | Ani Lorak
"Medlenno".

### **Big 5**

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag\_of\_the\_United\_Kingdom.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_the\_United\_Kingdom.svg.png United Kingdom | Florence and The Machine
 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/03/Flag\_of\_Italy.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Italy.svg.png Italy | Alessandra Amoroso
 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Flag\_of\_Malta.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Malta.svg.png Malta | Ella Eyre
 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9a/Flag\_of\_Spain.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Spain.svg.png Spain | Luz Casal

### **Semi-final 1**

19 countries took part in the first semi-final. The twelve songs in places 1 to 12 qualified for the final and are marked in orange. Finland, United Kingdom and Spain voted from the Big 5.

### **Semi-final 2**

17 countries took part in the first semi-final. The ten songs in places 1 to 10 qualified for the final and are marked in orange. Italy and Malta voted from the Big 5.

## Other countries

### **Active CBU members**

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Flag\_of\_Andorra.svg/22px-Flag\_of\_Andorra.svg.png Andorra - Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) announced that the country would not participate in the 4th edition of the Sound Of Europe, because of their "unfair disqualification" from the 3rd edition.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Flag\_of\_Macedonia.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Macedonia.svg.png FYR Macedonia -  Makedonska radio televizija (MRT) announced that the FYR Macedonia would not participate in the 4th editon due to financial reasons.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Flag\_of\_Georgia.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Georgia.svg.png Georgia - The Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) announced the countries disqualification due to the cost associated with participation.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Flag\_of\_Monaco.svg/19px-Flag\_of\_Monaco.svg.png Monaco - Télé Monte Carlo (TMC) announced on 29 June 2015 that Monaco would not participate in the contest.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Flag\_of\_Montenegro.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Montenegro.svg.png Montenegro - Radio i televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) announced on 27 June 2015 that Montenegro would not participate in the contest.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Flag\_of\_Slovakia.svg/23px-Flag\_of\_Slovakia.svg.png Slovakia -  Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska (RTVS) announced Slovakia's withdrawal from the edition due to financial and political reasons.