Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Festivali i Këngës 53 was the 53rd annual edition of the Albanian music competition Festivali i Këngës and the twelfth time the competition was used to determine the artist and song that would represent Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest, this time selecting their 2015 contest entry. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 26 and 27 December 2014 and a final on 28 December 2014, held at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. The artistic director of the show was Shpetim Saraçi, the festival director was Bledar Laço, the screenwriter was Mira Tuci and the music production was led by Edmond Zhulali and Alfred Kaçinari.[4] All three shows were hosted by Turjan Hyska, Floriana Garo and Liberta Spahiu.[5]

The two semi-finals each featured thirteen competing entries. The votes of a jury panel selected nine entries from each semi-final to advance to the final. In the final, the twenty-two competing entries were voted upon by a jury panel in order to select the winner. The seven-person jury panel consisted of:[6]

RTSH invited interested artists and composers to submit their entries between 14 and 15 October 2014. All songs were required to be in the Albanian language, all performers were required to be at least 16 years of age, and singers and composers could only submit one song while lyricists could only submit two songs.[7] The broadcaster received approximately 50 submissions. On 30 October 2014, RTSH announced the thirty artists and songs selected for the competition by a special committee.[8] Three entries were later withdrawn: "Më shiko drejt në sy" written by Andos Sinani and to have been performed by Andos Sinani, "Koha kalon" written by Besa Krasniqi and to have been performed by Besa Krasniqi and "Kënga jeta jonë" written by Enver Shëngjergji and Ylli Mestani and to have been performed by Kozma Dushi. "Kjo natë" performed by Estela Brahimllari was named as the only replacement entry.[5]

The first semi-final took place on 26 December 2014 and the second semi-final took place on 27 December 2014. Nine entries from each semi-final qualified to the final based on the votes of a seven-member jury.[9][10]

The final took place on 28 December 2014. Nine entries that qualified from each of the two semi-finals, all together eighteen entries, competed.[12] At the conclusion of the show, as voted upon by a seven-member jury who each awarded points from 1 to 8, 10 and 12 to their top ten songs, "Diell" performed by Elhaida Dani was selected as the winner.[13]

On 23 February 2015, Elhaida Dani issued a statement on social media that "Diell" had been withdrawn by the songwriters due to "personal and irrevocable reasons".[14] Albanian media reported that the song's composer, Aldo Shllaku, requested the withdrawal of the song on 5 February 2015 and refused to transfer rights to the song to the Albanian broadcaster. Shllaku stated he had been excluded from any further developments surrounding the entry after the song won Festivali i Këngës and that he could not take professional responsibility for something where he was not professionally engaged.[15] Dani's statement went on to confirm that she had come to an agreement with RTSH to remain as the Albanian representative at Eurovision but perform a different song. On 24 February, the Albanian broadcaster announced that Elhaida Dani was working with songwriting duo Zzap'n'Chris (Arber Elshani and Kristijan Lekaj) and Sokol Marsi to create the English language song "I'm Alive", which she would perform at the Eurovision Song Contest.[16]

"I'm Alive" was presented along with the official music video on 15 March 2015.[17] In early March, Dani filmed the music video in Tirana, which was directed by Edlira Baholli and produced by ProVideos.[18] On 2 May 2015, the Albanian language version of the song "Në jetë" was released along with a promotional music video.[19]

Elhaida Dani at a dress rehearsal for the first semi-final

Elhaida Dani took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 15 May,[26][27] followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.[28]

The stage show featured Elhaida Dani dressed in a black costume with an attached cape that had embedded crystals. Dani delivered the song from the centre of the stage while three female backing vocalists were set to her side, dressed in black outfits. The stage lighting created a dark atmosphere with the background LED screens displaying moving rays and shapes in yellow and cream colours.[26][27] The three backing vocalists that joined Elhaida Dani on stage were Gerona Hyska, Olsa Papandili and Erga Halilaj.[29]

At the end of the show, Albania was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.[30] It was later revealed that Albania placed tenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 62 points.[31]

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Albania was drawn to compete in the second half.[32] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Albania was subsequently placed to perform in position 26, following the entry from Russia and before the entry from Italy.[33]

Dani once again took part in dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show.[34] In her performance during the final on 23 May, Elhaida Dani changed her semi-final outfit to a long black dress.[35] At the conclusion of the voting, Albania finished in seventeenth place with 34 points.[36][37]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[38]

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Albania had placed ninth with the public televote and twenty-sixth with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Albania scored 93 points, while with the jury vote, Albania scored 4 points.[39] In the first semi-final, Albania placed eighth with the public televote with 66 points and ninth with the jury vote, scoring 61 points.[40]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Albania and awarded by Albania in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following members comprised the Albanian jury:[38]

• Bojken Lako (jury chairperson) – TV and theatre director
• Klodian Qafoku – composer
• Olsa Toqi – composer
• Arta Marku – journalist
• Zhani Ciko – violinist

Detailed voting results from Albania (Semi-final 1)[43]

Draw	Country	B. Lako	K. Qafoku	O. Toqi	A. Marku	Z. Ciko	Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Points
01	Moldova	6	2	7	6	5	4	13	9	2
02	Armenia	7	15	9	3	1	7	8	6	5
03	Belgium	10	11	3	10	9	9	4	5	6
04	Netherlands	9	7	13	1	8	8	10	10	1
05	Finland	11	13	14	15	13	14	9	14
06	Greece	4	1	5	7	3	2	1	1	12
07	Estonia	14	10	15	13	14	15	5	12
08	Macedonia	3	3	2	5	4	1	7	2	10
09	Serbia	5	6	4	2	6	3	15	11
10	Hungary	1	4	8	9	7	6	11	8	3
11	Belarus	15	12	6	11	12	12	14	15
12	Russia	8	14	1	12	11	11	2	4	7
13	Denmark	12	8	11	4	10	10	12	13
14	Albania
15	Romania	2	5	10	8	2	5	6	3	8
16	Georgia	13	9	12	14	15	13	3	7	4

Detailed voting results from Albania (Final)[44]

Draw	Country	B. Lako	K. Qafoku	O. Toqi	A. Marku	Z. Ciko	Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Points
01	Slovenia	12	15	8	16	25	14	24	20
02	France	17	22	16	10	11	15	19	17
03	Israel	18	10	12	20	9	11	6	6	5
04	Estonia	11	12	10	12	21	10	8	7	4
05	United Kingdom	22	23	20	25	20	26	17	21
06	Armenia	24	16	26	15	15	20	25	23
07	Lithuania	23	17	25	17	17	23	23	24
08	Serbia	7	5	7	4	3	6	14	9	2
09	Norway	13	24	14	18	14	17	21	19
10	Sweden	5	8	5	3	1	5	5	4	7
11	Cyprus	25	25	24	21	12	25	22	25
12	Australia	10	6	11	9	16	8	10	8	3
13	Belgium	19	14	9	13	18	12	9	10	1
14	Austria	14	26	13	24	22	22	15	18
15	Greece	6	4	3	1	2	2	2	2	10
16	Montenegro	4	3	1	5	5	3	13	5	6
17	Germany	8	9	15	26	24	16	7	12
18	Poland	26	19	19	19	19	24	20	22
19	Latvia	2	18	6	7	13	7	16	13
20	Romania	16	13	22	14	8	13	12	14
21	Spain	20	7	17	22	23	19	11	16
22	Hungary	15	11	18	8	7	9	18	15
23	Georgia	9	20	21	11	26	18	4	11
24	Azerbaijan	21	21	23	23	10	21	26	26
25	Russia	3	2	4	6	6	4	3	3	8
26	Albania
27	Italy	1	1	2	2	4	1	1	1	12