The Belarus National Final took place tonight, and was unsurprisingly won by ZENA with her song Like It:



While not at all my cup of tea genre-wise, I have to admit she is a really impressive singer, and the performance was near-flawless. So I’m alright with it, but my pick would have been BLGN ft. Mirex and their Run.

The winner was decided exclusively by a professional jury panel, where each jury member was able to award every song from 0 to 10 points. Weirdly, they announced their points right after each performance. ZENA sang second and scored all 10s and one 9, so the remaining 8 finalists pretty much performed for no reason whatsoever, she was virtually uncatchable.

Detailed results:
You might recognise some returnees from the above: the ever-present NAPOLIt, who have been trying their luck every year since 2014 (and once in Poland in 2016); fan favourite PROvokatsiya, who competed in 2017 (when it won the televote, but scored 0 with the juries); Aura, who also competed in 2012 and provided numerous interval acts since. Newcomer to Belarus Sebastian Roos is a Swede who was a contestant on Melodifestivalen 2003 (as part of the Beatles tribute band Liverpool).

Of those who didn’t even make the final, the most notable name is former ESC representative Daz Sampson (United Kingdom 2006), who joined forces with Nona for the number Kinky Boots. Their exclusion from the final ten incurred some serious fan wrath. Romania’s M I H A I was supposed to enter, but later withdrew due to illness on the day of the live auditions – to quote sok, oh dear how sad never mind.