Junior Eurovision 2022: What We Know So Far (as of November)

So I asked my followers on Twitter, and many of them thought that I should start a separate blog post for JESC. And it makes sense, since we're getting a lot closer to the event now and it's gonna take up more and more space, so here's what we know so far about JESC2022. Anyways, on the 26th last month, the official Junior Eurovision website posted the theme art, slogan and participant list, and they will be detailed as follows:

Host Country: Armenia

They won last year. It wasn't always the case that the winning country would host, but it has been the case since 2019. Not much to say here.

Host City: Yerevan

There wasn't really a vetting process because there (to my understanding) unfortunately aren't any other cities with an arena large enough to host the contest. So it came as little surprise when the capital city was confirmed as the host city of the next Junior contest just two days after Malena's victory.

Host Arena: Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex

Same location as in JESC2011. Note that Karen is not a female name here, and if my understanding of Armenian is correct, the stress should be placed on the last syllable, as in Kuh-REN, rather than KAE-ruhn. But I guess for Anglophone purposes that second pronunciation is fine. Soviet-era arena, and it appears they do not have any other suitable location and have not constructed one since independence in the 90s.

Slogan: Spin the Magic

The theme art as shown here features a spinning top, as does the trailer for the event. To quote the AMPTV CEO: "While developing the idea, we realised that a lot of countries have spinning tops, each of them unique. This perfectly reflects the values of Junior Eurovision - everyone is united around the idea of magic, music and joy, and at the same time presenting a different song and performance."

The article then goes on to explain that "while known the world over, this particular variety of spinning top is unique in Armenian culture; featuring traditional patterns that appear on historical architecture, carpets, and costumes across the Host City of Yerevan. These old-school wooden toys have been given a neon twist - quite literally - to reflect a modern Armenia." Furthermore, 16 spinning tops have been produced in the colours of the flags of each participating country.

Stage: circular design surrounded by neon lights; audiences directly standing next to stage rather than simply on the sides

That's the best description I can give from looking at the renders, which you can find here: https://junioreurovision.tv/story/exclusive-check-out-junior-eurovision-2022-stage

I don't know where they'd put the green room in this setting. Either way, David Tserunyan, the Armenian HOD, says that the stage design "offers multiple staging possibilities for all of the performers", and the "modern and technologically advanced" stage reflects their vision and "is versatile enough to fit the creative needs of the participating broadcasters".

The construction of the stage commenced on the 10th, with Marvin Dietmann (Chief Director of JESC2022) having been present in the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex on that day alongside David Tserunyan. From various Instagram stories, it appears that construction has completed before the 23rd, as said stories are showing off the stage being tested with lights and LEDs and such. One such Instagram story can be seen here:

Marvin Dietmann also confirmed later that the stage rehearsals will begin on the 29th.

Hosts: Iveta Mukuchyan, Garik Papoyan, Karina Ignatyan

These three were announced in a special video on the 18th. Mukuchyan participated in adult Eurovision for Armenia in 2016 with LoveWave. Papoyan is a comedian, presenter, Aram MP3's songwriter in 2014, and the 2022 Armenian spokesperson in Turin. Ignatyan represented Armenia in Gliwice-Silesia in Junior Eurovision 2019.

It was also announced that Malena will "join the Junior acts throughout their time in Armenia", although it seems that this will not entail a direct co-hosting role.

Opening Ceremony: 5 December, Republic Square, Yerevan

Notably, during the ceremony, the 16 participants will turn on the Christmas tree lights in the square. This ceremony traditionally only takes place on the 25th, but has been pushed forward for the occasion. Otherwise there will be a draw for the running order positions of the opening country, the closing country, and the host country as usual.

Tickets: between 5000 and 30000 Armenian drams (12-75 euros) for the live show, and between 3000 and 20000 drams (8-50 euros) for the jury show

Started to go on sale on the 15th. If you're reading this and they're not sold out, you can order tickets now at https://www.tomsarkgh.am/en/event/46096/Junior-Eurovision-2022.html, although there are only tickets for the standing fan zone in the middle and the left tribune for seats. The right tribune is not available for seating at all. Also the tickets are released in phases.

The ticket designs also revealed the first sponsor for the show, which is Tellcell.

Interval Acts: presentation of Malena's new song, Rosa Linn singing new version of Snap, reunion of previous victors

Malena's new song is named "Can't Feel Anything", lyrics by Rosa Linn, and will be performed live presumably for the first time on the stage in the Karen Demichyan Complex. A music video for the song is also coming "soon". And given past practice, it should be safe to assume that she will also perform Qami Qami, the song with which she won in Paris. Rosa Linn recently performed a new version of Snap on The Late Late Show with James Corden featuring Armenian traditional instruments, and will be performing this version in Yerevan as well.

It was also announced that all previous Junior Eurovision winners have been invited for the 20th anniversary of the event, although exactly how many have confirmed attendance is still unknown. So far, the following winners are confirmed to appear:

• Bzikebi - Georgia 2008

• CANDY - Georgia 2011

• Gaia Cauchi - Malta 2013

• Vincenzo Cantiello - Italy 2014

• Mariam Mamadashvili - Georgia 2016

• Viki Gabor - Poland 2019

• Valentina - France 2020

• Malena - Armenia 2021 (obviously)

And these are the confirmed non-appearances, most of which were obtained by Eurovision Insider:

• Dino Jelusić - Croatia 2003 (reason: USA tour)

• Maria Isabel - Spain 2004 (reason: pregnancy)

• Ksenia Sitnik - Belarus 2005 (confirmed by AMPTV)

• Tolmachevy Sisters - Russia 2006 (reason: no invitation)

• Alexey Zhigalkovich - Belarus 2007 (confirmed by AMPTV)

• Anastasiya Petryk - Ukraine 2012 (reason: outside of Ukraine, document registration isuses)

• Polina Bogusevich - Russia 2017 (reason: no invitation)

The last time all previous winners were brought together was in 2010 in Minsk. It also appears that according to footage from AMPTV, non-attending previous winners will have their songs performed by a children's choir, as such footage was featured in a video by AMPTV of the choir singing "Ti Si Moja Prva Ljubav" (2003), "My Vmeste" (2005), "Vesenniy Jazz" (2006) and "S Druz'yami" (2007). Why 2004 was not featured is unknown.

Giorgi Shiolashvili from Bzikebi also posted an Instagram story, showing that they are in fact working with Giga Kukhianidze (producer of many Georgian JESC songs including 2021 and 2022) to create an updated version of "Bzzz", the song with which Bzikebi won in 2008, which will be performed live at Junior Eurovision. It is unknown whether other previous JESC victors have plans to re-record their winning songs.

Budget: almost 13 million Euros

€12,981,370 to be exact. This figure includes VAT, and corresponds to roughly 5.3 *billion* Armenian drams. This figure is comparable to the costs of the ADULT contests of Oslo 2010 and Stockholm 2016. The Armenian press reports that more than half of this figure is funded by the Armenian government itself, as a transaction of 2.7 billion drams was made from the Armenian government to AMPTV. A number of international companies involved in the production as well as their budgeted costs were also revealed, hailing from Poland, Portugal, and Germany among others. In 2011, their hosting costs were only around 2 million Euros.

Non-participating Countries: Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Montenegro, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Wales

Some are more obvious than others. I may have missed a few but that's because the Wikipedia page removed the broadcasters that confirmed non-participation without explanation. Germany is still broadcasting the show despite their absence due to a "creative break" and travel restrictions.

Though RÚV (the Icelandic broadcaster) told Eurofestivales that they are still interested in the contest, and would in fact like to hold a pre-selection show (similar to Söngvakeppnin for the adult contest), but need more time (at least another year) to develop their participation. Nonetheless, Iceland is sitting out the 2022 contest, and it is as yet unknown whether they will broadcast the show on a delay, which is what they did for 2021.

Participating Countries: Albania (Kejtlin Gjata - Pakëz Diell), Armenia (Nare - DANCE!), France (Lissandro - Oh Maman !), Georgia (Mariam Bigvava - I Believe), Ireland (Sophie Lennon - Solas), Italy (Chanel Dilecta - Bla Bla Bla), Kazakhstan (David Charlin - Jer-Ana), Malta (Gaia Gambuzza - Diamonds In The Skies), Netherlands (Luna - La Festa), North Macedonia (Lara ft. Jovan and Irina - Životot E Pred Mene), Poland (Laura Bączkiewicz - To The Moon), Portugal (Nicolas Alves - Anos 70), Serbia (Katarina Savić - Svet Bez Granica), Spain (Carlos Higes - Señorita), Ukraine (Zlata Dziunka - Nezlamna), United Kingdom (Freya Skye - Lose My Head)

Worth noting that the UK is not only returning, but they are also broadcasting the show on *BBC One*, on which day there happens to be no World Cup match. Likewise, Italy is broadcasting the show on Rai 1. Something going on with these Big Five countries? Anyways, the UK is returning, but Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Germany and Russia are not. It had been rumoured that the EBU were seeking to have 20 countries for the 20th edition of the contest but alas it was clearly not to be.

On the representatives and their songs:

Albania: went back to Junior Fest, which was broadcasted on the 25th. On 28/9, the full participant list was revealed, and the selection was filmed on the afternoon of the 24th. Ultimately, the winner of the selection was a girl named Kejtlin Gjata, with a song named "Pakëz Diell", or 'a little bit of sun' in Albanian, written by her and Edri Muça.

Armenia: a series of auditions were conducted, where over 100 applicants were whittled down into 30 by a jury consisting of Rosa Linn, Dalita (JESC2011 "Welcome To Armenia"), David Tserunyan (the head of delegation), among others. The selected representative from the applicants was announced to be 14-year-old Nare (two syllables), full name Nare Ghazaryan. The song which will represent the host country was revealed on the 12th, and is named "DANCE!". It was composed and written by Grigor Kyokchyan and Nick Egibyan.

France: on the 28th, France Televisions announced that the French representative to Yerevan will be 13-year-old Lissandro, with the song "Oh Maman !". The song is an upbeat pop song, and some have noted its similarities with "Tic Tac" from the year prior. Lyrics once again by Barbara Pravi, who also penned Bim Bam Toi and J'Imagine. Speaking of Bim Bam Toi, Carla Lazzari will be one of the commentators for France this year, as well as Stephane Bern. Both of them commentated in 2020, while Carla went on to co-host in Paris.

Georgia: Mariam Bigvava won the usual Georgian JESC selection of Ranina, and became the first confirmed representative for the 2022 contest, although the song release date is as yet unknown. However, through a special report on Georgian news, it was reported that the songwriter is Giga Kukhianidze, who also wrote many other Georgian JESC entries, not least Let's Count The Smiles from 2021. Lyrics by Beni Kadagidze and Iru Khechanovi. The song is a power ballad in D minor, with motifs relating to war and peace. The song is bilingual, in both Georgian and English. I Believe was then released on the 8th.

Ireland: went back to Junior Eurovision Eire for their selection, and a new televote was added. The winner in the end was Sophie Lennon, who actually comes from Northern Ireland, and shortly afterwards an Irish-language song was composed for her, named "Solas" or "light" in Irish. Lennon wrote on TikTok that the music video for the song (and hence the song itself) would be released on or before the 6th. Ultimately, it was released on TG4 on the 8th. The music video was filmed in Donegal, in the northern part of the Republic of Ireland. The song was written by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, MaJiKer, Hannah Featherstone and Ken McHugh.

Italy: on the 3rd, it was announced that Chanel Dilecta will be representing Italy with the song "Bla Bla Bla". This song was released on the 10th. The JESC website curiously mentions that she lives with a toothless dog named Rambo, and that more details regarding Rambo is to follow. The track was written by Marco Iardella (who had worked on Italy JESC2016-19 and 2021), and the lyrics were written by Carmine Spera, Fabrizio Palaferri (who had also worked on Italy JESC2016-19 and 2021) and Angela Senatore. The commentators for Rai will be Mario Acampa who co-hosted the allocation draw and turquoise carpet in Turin, as well as Francesca Fialdini.

Kazakhstan: David Charlin was the highest-ranked eligible participant in a Kazakh song contest called "Baqytty Bala". He will represent the Central Asian nation in Yerevan. The song, named "Jer-Ana" or "mother Earth" in Kazakh, was composed by two well-known composers, one of which is Hamit Şanğaliyev, who also co-wrote Armanyñnan Qalma (KZ 2019) and Forever (KZ 2020). David is now learning the Kazakh language, as he is actually of Armenian origin but living in Almaty, and the song features Kazakh-language lyrics. Jer-Ana was released on the 6th.

Later it was revealed that Charlin's parents hold pro-Russia views, and had even taken a photo of Charlin in a Russian army t-shirt some time prior to his selection for JESC. It is not known whether his parents still hold those views, but if so, his parents may not be permitted to even travel to Yerevan, as Junior Eurovision rules stipulate that "a safe and morally appropriate environment shall be created and maintained for the children" and that "children shall not be discriminated on the basis of ... ethnicity, ... national origin or any other factor", and of course Ukraine is still participating in JESC2022. Whether this will make any impact is unknown.

On the 30th, David Charlin has become the first participant to set off for Yerevan. Ahead of his trip, he told 24.kz that he thinks if many people vote for him then Kazakhstan will have a good chance of winning. It was also revealed by Khabar that Ilyas Tumarbayev and Jan Mukanov will direct the performance, while Mira Bergen will be David's stylist.

Netherlands: they used their usual Junior Songfestival for the selection. Ultimately, "La Festa" sung by Luna won the selection with maximum points, so Luna will be representing the Netherlands in Yerevan. The track was composed by Robert Dom.

Poland: went back to Szansa Na Sukces for their selection. The final took place one day after Junior Songfestival, and resulted in the selection of Laura Bączkiewicz with the song "To The Moon", which was composed by Monika Wydrzyńska and Jakub Sebastian Krupski.

Malta: Gaia Gambuzza appeared on the shortlist for MJESC with her song "Diamonds In The Skies", and eventually won the selection. If the MJESC performance is anything to go by, the final performance in Yerevan will have a teal motif. The song was composed by Matthew James Borg.

North Macedonia: Lara and Irina were internally selected after a series of auditions. One of them (I can't remember which) is the daughter of a famous Macedonian pianist, and has a lot of public singing experience. The other girl in stark contrast has little, if any, public singing experience. Not much else is known, including song release time range. Eurovoix had initially learned that their song had been set to be released by the end of September, but the song was only released early this month, alongside the joining of a new member of the group. The song is named "Životot E Pred Mene" (Животот е пред мене), which means "life is ahead of me" in Macedonian. In addition to the initial two girls, the Macedonian entry now features a third member named Jovan, who comes in to rap for a small section of the song.

Portugal: Nicolas Alves won The Voice Kids Portugal, or rather he was the runner-up because the actual winner was too old for JESC by just over 2 weeks. He was born in England, but is not of direct Portuguese heritage but rather Brazilian, and has only been living in Portugal since 2019. Later, RTP announced that Carolina Deslandes, Alves' mentor on The Voice Kids and runner-up in FdC2021, has composed a song for him, and that song was released on the 7th of November. The name of the song is "Anos 70", or "the 70s" in Portuguese.

Serbia: on the 10th, RTS announced that they have internally selected 13-year-old Katarina Savić as the Serbian representative in Yerevan. Her song is named "Svet Bez Granica" or "world without borders" in Serbian, and was composed by Ivana Dragićević. This song was revealed on the 6th of November, and featured Katarina playing the trombone.

Spain: RTVE have selected Carlos Higes as the Spanish representative after a series of auditions. Carlos had previously appeared as a semi-finalist on La Voz Kids (the Spanish version of The Voice Kids), and had sung "Colours Of Your Dream", the Armenian JESC song for 2019. Furthermore, he says that he has been a Eurofan since 4 years of age. For Yerevan, he had been recording this song during the last two weeks of October alongside his backing vocalists - Roberta Fauteck, Jesús Montero and Mario Falero. The song, named "Señorita" (miss/young woman in Spanish), was released on the 3rd, and featured a mix of English and Spanish lyrics. It was also announced that Sophie-Marie Kreissl would be the Spanish staging director, after having taken on that same role in Paris. The music video was filmed in Valencia.

Ukraine: The favourite in Junior Vidbir among Eurofans was "Zamovliannia" by Sofia Artemenko and DJ Polinka, however "Nezlamna" by Zlata Dziunka ultimately won out by a single point, in a tiebreaker broken by Christina Soloviy, the head juror. Dziunka will now represent Ukraine in Junior Eurovision 2022. On the 12th, it was reported that Nezlamna is undergoing a revamp, although when the new version will come out is currently unknown. On the 29th, an online vote was opened for the Ukrainian public to select the 5 jurors for Yerevan. The adult group includes Barleben, KHAYAT among others as candidates, while the children group included all non-winning candidates of the 2022 Ukranian JESC selection, as well as some others. This vote ended on the 2nd of November, although the results have not been published yet.

United Kingdom: on the 3rd this month, after what seemed to be pretty much radio silence from the BBC, they announced that Freya Skye, a 13-year-old from Buckinghamshire, will represent the UK in Yerevan with the song "Lose My Head", which was written by Jack Hawitt, Amber Van Day and Deepend. Earlier it was found that BBC was working with an agency named Buzz Talent to find and audition young singers. Lee Smithurst, the BBC's head of delegation for Junior Eurovision and assistant HOD for adult ESC, also revealed on the Euro Trip podcast that there were two rounds of auditions - the first where singers could sing any two pop songs, and a second round where they had to sing Lose My Head, which was composed prior to the auditions. The songwriters of LMH were also present at the second round of auditions. On the 18th, Freya Skye performed the song live on the Children In Need charity show, and was met online with mixed reactions. On the 21st, it was announced by CBBC that the commentators for the UK will be Lauren Layfield as well as singer HRVY.

Spokespersons:

• Georgia: Niko Kajaia (Georgia JESC2021)

Not every country opts for their own unique spokesperson, in which case local children from the host city or at least country may take up the role instead, which was the case for Paris 2021.

So that's what we know about the contest so far! You can now watch my WWKSF video for JESC2022 this month if for whatever reason you want outdated content read out by a boring male voice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0rraZNYPB4

Regardless, if I missed any information here, tweet me @BlueRigel4. I'll keep out some of the trivial details in the December edition.