Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

The Czech Republic, presented as Czechia, is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, with "Pedestal" performed by Aiko. The Czech broadcaster Czech Television (ČT) organised the national final ESCZ 2024 in order to select the Czech entry for the contest.

Background

Prior to the 2024 contest, the Czech Republic has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its first entry in 2007.^[1] The nation competed in the contest on three consecutive occasions between 2007 and 2009 without qualifying to the final. After Gipsy.cz performing the song "Aven Romale" placed 18th (last) in their semi-final in 2009, failing to score any points, the Czech broadcaster withdrew from the contest between 2010 and 2014, citing low viewing figures and poor results as reasons for their absence.^[2] Since returning to the contest in 2015 and qualifying to the final for the first time in 2016, Czechia has featured in five finals. In 2023, the country qualified for the final with the song "My Sister's Crown" performed by Vesna, ultimately placing 10th with 129 points.

The Czech national broadcaster, Czech Television (ČT), broadcasts the event within the Czech Republic and organizes the selection process for the nation's entry. The broadcaster has used both national finals and internal selections to select the Czech Eurovision entries in the past. Between 2018 and 2020, and again since 2022, the country has used the national final format ESCZ (formerly titled Eurovision Song CZ) as its selection method for the contest. On 16 October 2023, ČT confirmed its intention to participate in the 2024 contest, with its entry to be selected again via ESCZ.^[3]

Before Eurovision

ESCZ 2024

ESCZ 2024 was the sixth edition of ESCZ, the national final organised by ČT in order to select the Czech entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition consisted of a live final held in Prague on 4 December 2023 followed by a voting round lasting until 11 December 2023.^[3][4][5]

Competing entries

Upon confirming its participation in the contest on 16 October 2023, ČT opened a submission window for interested artists and composers lasting until 7 November 2023. At least one of the performers was required to have either Czech or Slovak citizenship for an entry to qualify to compete, while songwriters could be of any nationality.^[3][6]

On 14 November 2023, ČT announced that five finalist entries were being selected by music advisor Cesár Sampson (2018 representative for Austria) and the Czech delegation for the contest from over 200 submissions received, with the names of the artists to be revealed shortly; it was later clarified that the number of selected finalists may rise up to seven. The seven finalists were revealed on 28 November 2023; some of their songs, originally to be unveiled on the day of the final, were released earlier.^{[5][7][8][9][10][11]}

Final

The seven competing entries were performed during a live show at the Roxy [cs] in Prague on 4 December 2023, hosted for the second time in a row by Adam Mišík [cs] and co-hosted by Cesár Sampson.^[4][8] The show was broadcast on ČT art as well as via ČT's streaming platform iVysílání and the official Eurovision Song Contest's YouTube channel,^[7] and featured Lake Malawi and We Are Domi (2019 and 2022 Czech representatives at Eurovision) as guest performers.^[12] The winner was determined by a weighted combination of an international and a Czech public vote held via the official Eurovision Song Contest application until 11 December 2023.^{[5][13][14][15]} The winner, Aiko with "Pedestal", was announced on 13 December; it was also revealed that nearly 98 thousand votes had been cast.^[16] The full results were published shortly after on Instagram.^[15][17]

Preparation and promotion

In late January 2024, ČT's Ahmad Halloun shared a tweet mentioning a "new version" of "Pedestal", suggesting the song was undergoing a revamp ahead of the contest;^[18] this was confirmed by Aiko in early March, revealing that the new version would be released on 21 March.^[19][20] The revamped version features a lyrical change to comply with the contest's regulations prohibiting vulgar language.^[21] As part of the promotion of her participation in the contest, Aiko confirmed her presence at the PrePartyES in Madrid on 30 March 2024,^[22] the Barcelona Eurovision Party on 6 April 2024,^[23] the London Eurovision Party on 7 April 2024,^[24] the Eurovision in Concert event in Amsterdam on 13 April 2024,^[25] the Nordic Eurovision Party in Stockholm on 14 April 2024^[26] and the Copenhagen Eurovision Party (Malmöhagen) on 4 May 2024.^[27]

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will take place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden, and consist of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 7 and 9 May and the final on 11 May 2024. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final will progress to the final. On 30 January 2024, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country will perform in; the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.^[28] Czechia was scheduled for the first half of the second semi-final.^[29] The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; Czechia was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from Switzerland and before the entry from Austria.^[30]

In Czechia, all the shows will be aired on ČT2,^[31] with commentary provided by Vašek Matějovský, Patricie Kaňok Fuxová and Dominika Hašková.^[32] In addition, as part of the Eurovision programming, ČT cooperated with DR and SVT alongside other EBU member broadcasters – namely ARD/WDR, the BBC, ERR, France Télévisions, NRK, NTR, RÚV, VRT and Yle – to produce and air a documentary titled ABBA – Against the Odds, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Sweden's first victory at the contest with "Waterloo" by ABBA.^[33]

Performance

Aiko will take part in technical rehearsals on 29 April and 2 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May.^[34] The staging of her performance of "Pedestal" at the contest is directed by Matyas Vorda (LED screen content and light design) and Vit Belohradsky (camera and stage, a position previously held for the Czech performances in 2022 and 2023),^[35][36] while her costume designer is Lukáš Macháček.^[37]

References