Internatia Song Contest 68

Internatia Song Contest 68
Finding Music
Dates
Semi-final	17 February 2018
Final	March 2018
Host
Venue	Surme Arena, Surme, Tikata
Presenter(s)	Millie Bobby Brown
Host broadcaster	Royal Tikatan Radio Television (RTRT)
Participants
Number of entries	55
Debuting	Pinnipedia
Returning	Nicolas' Neighbour
Withdrawing	Spinachia
Participation map      Participating countries     Did not qualify from the semi final     Countries that participated in the past
Vote
Voting system	Each country's 10 favourite songs are awarded 12, 10, then 8 through to 1 points based on the votes of the population of each country. All participating countries in the semi-finals and final will have the right to cast points in the final.

The Internatia Song Contest 68 will be the 68th monthly edition of Internatia Song Contest. The contest will be held in Surme Arena, Surme, Tikata following their victory in Internatia Song Contest 66 with the song "Find me", performed by Sigma feat. Birdy. This will be third contest hosted by Tikata, after Internatia Song Contest 15 and Internatia Song Contest 35, hosted in Tramandi and Madakia respectively.

Fifty-five countries will participate in the contest, with Nicolas' Neighbour returning after one edition absence, Spinachia withdrawing permanently and Pinnipedia debuting.

Location

For more details on the host country, see Tikata.

Turzy

Surme

Zixan

Livinera

Cundere Sul

Dilmoff

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Locations of the host city (red) and remaining candidate cities (blue)

Venue

The contest will take place for the third time in Tikata, following the country's victory in the ISC 67 edition with the song "Find Me", performed by Sigma and Birdy. Following a bidding phase, Surme Arena in Lisbon was selected as the contest venue by host broadcaster Royal Tikatan Radio Television (RTRT) and the Internatia Broadcasting Union (IBU). The multi-purpose arena was built in 2007 and has a capacity of 39,5000 attendees, making it the largest indoor venue in Tikata and among the largest in Internatia. It is located in the city centre of Surme. Surme Arena hosted inaugural contest of Internatia Second Chance Contest.

Bidding phase and host selection

Following victory, the director-general of RTRT, Anna Orense, confirmed that the broadcaster would organise the contest and invited all interested cities to bid for hosting. City councils of Tramandi and Madakia – previous cities that hosted Internatia Song Contest in Tikata – voted against proposed bids citing high cost of organization and busy schedule of appropriate venues.

Six cities submitted applications by the deadline of 30 December 2017: Cundere Sul, Dilmoff, Livinera, Surme, Turzy and Zixan. Prior to the opening of the bidding process, the cities of Avrio, Gareh, Grusse, Nabashunte, Vincenta and Viretunata declared their interest in hosting the contest, but did not submit a formal bid.

Host selection

On 2 January 2018, the IBU and RTRT announced that Surme had been selected as the host city, overcoming confirmed bids from other cities. In addition, RTRT announced that show will be held in Surme Arena.

    Host venue

City	Venue	Capacity
Cundere Sul	Exhibition Centre	12,000
Dilmoff	Dilmoff City Arena	15,000
Lvinera	OSI Arena	25,000
Turzy	Diamond Arena	31,700
Surme	Surme Arena	39,500
Zixan	Morsunia	20,000

Format

Millie Bobby Brown, host of Internatia Song Contest 68.

The preliminary dates for the contest were announced on 30 December 2017 at a meeting of Heads of Delegation in Madakia, with the semi-final expected to take place on 15 February and the final on 28 February 2018. These preliminary dates were chosen by the IBU to avoid the contest coinciding with any major television and sporting events scheduled to take place around that time, but it was also announced that dates may be changed in exceptional circumstances. On 1 January 2018 RTRT spokesperson, Nicolas DeSerme confirmed that Tikatan broadcaster will cooperate with Percheran broadcaster, A+, with organization of contest.

Presenters

On 6 January 2018, RTRT and IBU announced that the contest would be hosted by Millie Bobby Brown, who was featured artist in video of Tikatan winning song from Internatia Song Contest 66.

Semi-final allocation draw

The host nation, Tikata, was originally included in Pot 2 but as automatic qualifier was exempt from the draw. Spinachia was included in Pot 4, but was excluded after it's withdraw, while Pinnipedia was included in Pot 5 to make number of countries in pot even.

The pots were calculated by the Alteusian broadcaster BovineTV and are as following:

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
Aurävaan Bitland Eriod Lacrea Lost Islands Men̈́sa Monteverde Sunetti Territrius Valdron Waticania	Amsteris Caprika Dulcet Ebullience Fierce Grolskira Hanzyuki Luzze Pen Island Tashkveny Tonallán	Alma Livre Kaministiquia Noxus Ova Anova Percheron Pönö Porielana Rata Sum Trešlend Victoria Zephyrus	Aonach Chruno Kaledonii Leshia Nicolas' Neighbour Oalia Radamede Saint Eva & Lepland Spitzenbergen Thorway	Alteus Auspikitan Bubblique Gandhara Haven Huania Kimmystan Kosma Pinnipedia Ponásikwa Raingate Timivar

Participating countries

  Countries in the first semi-final

  Countries in the second semi-final

  Host

The IBU announced on 3 February 2018 that 55 countries would participate in the contest. Nicolas' Neighbour confirmed their return after withdrawing from the previous edition, while Pinnipedia debuted in place of Spinachia, which decided to withdraw permanently from the contest.

Semi-final 1

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Hanzyuki	Brendan Maclean	“House of Air”	22	32
02	Nicolas' Neighbour	Aimer	“ONE”	25	28
03	Huania	Ajda Pekkan	“Boşvermişim Dünyaya”	13	57
04	Zephyrus	CHVRCHES	“Clearest Blue”
05	Haven	Rhys	“Last Dance”	16	54
06	Eriod	Panic Is Perfect	“Go Go Go”
07	Waticania	Shaman Jungle	“Nagavor”	21	38
08	Noxus	Thomas Bergersen	“Fearless”
09	Tashkveny	Polo & Pan	“Cœur croisé”	17	54
10	Spitzenbergen	Barbra Streisand	“Memory”	20	42
11	Gandhara	Sia	“Never Give Up”
12	Valdron	Lights On Moscow	“Lord, Let Me Know”	19	43
13	Pinnipedia	Belinda ft. Pitbull	“Egoista”	18	44
14	Rata Sum	Sunmi	“Heroine”
15	Monteverde	Ramona Rey	“Obietnica”	15	55
16	Leshia	Gaby Moreno	“El sombrerón”
17	Sunetti	S3RL ft. Mixie Moon	“Music Is My Saviour”	23	32
18	Kimmystan	Maître Gims	“Caméléon”
19	Caprika	Kaci Brown	“Don't Change”	24	28
20	Kaledonii	Francois van Coke ft. Karen Zoid	“Toe vind ek jou”	26	27
21	Fierce	The Cranberries	“Zombie”
22	Ova Anova	Natalia Nykiel	“Total błękit”
23	Percheron	Cœur de Pirate	“Prémonition”
24	Luzze	Bishop Briggs	“Dream”
25	Aonach	The Academic	“Why Can't We Be Friends?”	27	21
26	Alteus	Avicii ft. Rita Ora	“Lonely Together”
27	Victoria	Cesc Vilà	“Everdream”

Semi-final 2

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Kaministiquia	Dagny	“Love You Like That”
02	Tonallán	Marcos Cao	“Mil años”	20	39
03	Bitland	El Búho ft. Minük	“Corazón de Rubi”
04	Pen Island	Diogo Piçarra	“Dialeto”	18	41
05	Lacrea	My Brightest Diamond	“We Were Sparkling”
06	Porielana	Paulina Rubio	“Baila Casanova”
07	Grolskira	Lina	“I Wore It Better”
08	Alma Livre	The Young Professionals	“D.I.S.C.O”	15	49
09	Oalia	The Sweeplings	“Hold Me”	21	36
10	Raingate	The Chainsmokers	“Sick Boy”	25	12
11	Auspikitan	Mononoke	“Barefoot and Broken”	27	37
12	Territrius	AURI	“Night 13”
13	Radamede	Maria McKee	“Show Me Heaven”	23	28
14	Thorway	Wir Sind Helden	“Nur ein Wort”	14	50
15	Aurävaan	Red House Painters	“Have You Forgotten?”	24	27
16	Men̈́sa	Gentle Giant	“Black Cat”	17	46
17	Trešlend	UCD Choral Scholar	“Mo Ghille Mear”
18	Ponásikwa	Ayree ft. Madina Sadvakosova	“O'zgeler mendei' bola ala ma?!”
19	Kosma	Luca Hänni	“Powder”
20	Lost Islands	France Gall	“La Pioggia”	22	28
21	Chruno	Gabrielle Aplin	“Waking Up Slow”
22	Amsteris	Asbjørn	“R Y B”	19	39
23	Pönö	MilaN	“Olen kaunis”
24	Dulcet Ebullience	Jewel	“Foolish Games”
25	Bubblique	Darius & Finlay ft. Aili Teigmo	“World's Crashing Down”
26	Saint Eva & Lepland	MC LICIA	“Pokémon in My Dreams”	16	47
27	Timivar	SYML	“Where's My Love”	26	54

Final

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Percheron	Cœur de Pirate	“Prémonition”
02	Grolskira	Lina	“I Wore It Better”
03	Dulcet Ebullience	Jewel	“Foolish Games”
04	Porielana	Paulina Rubio	“Baila Casanova”
05	Victoria	Cesc Vilà	“Everdream”
06	Chruno	Gabrielle Aplin	“Waking Up Slow”
07	Eriod	Panic Is Perfect	“Go Go Go”
08	Fierce	The Cranberries	“Zombie”
09	Ponásikwa	Ayree ft. Madina Sadvakosova	“O'zgeler mendei' bola ala ma?!”
10	Tikata (host)	Apparat ft. Soap&Skin	"Goodbye"
11	Bubblique	Darius & Finlay ft. Aili Teigmo	“World's Crashing Down”
12	Gandhara	Sia	“Never Give Up”
13	Zephyrus	CHVRCHES	“Clearest Blue”
14	Territrius	AURI	“Night 13”
15	Trešlend	UCD Choral Scholar	“Mo Ghille Mear”
16	Noxus	Thomas Bergersen	“Fearless”
17	Rata Sum	Sunmi	“Heroine”
18	Luzze	Bishop Briggs	“Dream”
19	Lacrea	My Brightest Diamond	“We Were Sparkling”
20	Alteus	Avicii ft. Rita Ora	“Lonely Together”
21	Leshia	Gaby Moreno	“El sombrerón”
22	Ova Anova	Natalia Nykiel	“Total błękit”
23	Kaministiquia	Dagny	“Love You Like That”
24	Kosma	Luca Hänni	“Powder”
25	Bitland	El Búho ft. Minük	“Corazón de Rubi”
26	Kimmystan	Maître Gims	“Caméléon”
27	Pönö	MilaN	“Olen kaunis”

12 points

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
6	Leshia	Territrius, Ova Anova, Caprika, Nicolas' Neighbour, Alma Livre, Tonallán
5	Alteus	Ponásikwa, Gandhara, Noxus, Kaministiquia, Kimmystan
	Tikata	Lacrea, Bitland, Valdron, Waticania, Men̈́sa
	Ova Anova	Percheron, Porielana, Fierce, Tashkveny, Amsteris
4	Victoria	Zephyrus, Pönö, Saint Eva & Lepland, Timivar
3	Zephyrus	Victoria, Leshia, Hanzyuki
	Eriod	Grolskira, Chruno, Pen Island
	Rata Sum	Haven, Sunetti, Raingate
	Fierce	Tikata, Bubblique, Waiting List
2	Percheron	Rata Sum, Luzze
	Kaministiquia	Radamede, Auspikitan
1	Noxus	Dulcet Ebullience
	Territrius	Trešlend
	Dulcet Ebullience	Kosma
	Pönö	Huania
	Porielana	Pinnipedia
	Chruno	Spitzenbergen
	Trešlend	Kaledonii
	Gandhara	Aonach
	Luzze	Thorway
	Grolskira	Oalia
	Bitland	Aurävaan

Returning artists

Artist	Country	Previous edition	Previous country represented
Aimer	Nicolas' Neighbour	ISC 54, ISC 56	Aurävaan, Hanzyuki
Avicii (with Rita Ora)	Alteus	ISC 13 (both with Nicky Romero & Noonie Bao and Aloe Blacc)	Volnytaria, Sunetti
Ayree (with Madina Sadvakosova)	Ponásikwa	ISC 51	Ponásikwa
Bishop Briggs	Luzze	ISC 57	Fierce
CHVRCHES	Zephyrus	ISC 9, ISC 41, ISC 54	Nicolas' Neighbour, Leshia
Cœur de Pirate	Percheron	ISC 4, ISC 8, ISC 25, ISC 37	Tashkveny, Anselmsuusonia, Territrius, Kaeros Islands
Dagny	Kaministiquia	ISC 56 (with BØRNS), ISC 60	Auspikitan, Oalia
France Gall	Lost Islands	ISC 24	Ova Anova
Gabrielle Aplin	Chruno	ISC 24, ISC 30, ISC 65	Sunetti, Aonach, Grolskira
Johanna Kurkela (as part of AURI)	Territrius	ISC 17, ISC 22 (with Tuomas Holopainen), ISC 25, ISC 32 (as part of Live Aid Uusi Lastensairaala 2017), ISC 38, ISC 42, ISC 43, ISC 58 (with Juha Tapio)	Sunetti, Yazminia, Dvipantara, Kosma, Huania, Ponásikwa
My Brightest Diamond	Lacrea	ISC 60	Lacrea
Paulina Rubio	Porielana	ISC 56	Tonallán
Rita Ora (with Avicii)	Alteus	ISC 67	Ova Anova
Sia	Gandhara	ISC 27, ISC 38, ISC 46	DimkaRUS, Ruthsina, Noxus
Soap&Skin (with Apparat)	Tikata	ISC 10	Sockistan
SUNMI	Rata Sum	ISC 67	Ponásikwa
The Chainsmokers	Raingate	ISC 49 (with Daya), ISC 54 (with Halsey)	Bubblique
The Young Professionals	Alma Livre	ISC 45 (with Anna F.)	Hanzyuki
Thomas Bergersen	Noxus	ISC 9, ISC 12 (both times as part of Two Steps from Hell)	Marvelia
Tuomas Holopainen (as part of AURI)	Territrius	ISC 2, ISC 8, ISC 11 (all 3 - as part of Nightwish), ISC 22 (with Johanna Kurkela), ISC 23, ISC 35, ISC 44 (all 3 - as part of Nightwish)	Sibinia, Sunetti, Lost Islands, Yazminia, Edoriada, Territrius

See also

• Internatia Second Chance Contest 36
• Outernatia Song Contest 43