Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Shortly after the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 where Belarus failed to qualify to the final, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko expressed his dissatisfaction over the BTRC's organisation. He also expressed his frustrations over divisions within the team and suggested that broadcaster All-National TV (ONT) should take over as the Belarusian broadcaster for Eurovision.[3][4]

On 31 July 2009, ONT launched the national final Song for Eurovision, which would result in a winning song to be performed by an internally selected male soloist or a group of six female soloists under the name Nezamuzhem at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. A song submission period was also opened on where composers were able to submit their songs in English to the broadcaster until 1 October 2009.[5][6][7] However, information on the national final had been completely removed from ONT's official website in September 2009 as original plans of "a female band selected through castings hadn't really worked out", and that the broadcaster did not have the right to organise or prepare for the country's participation due to not having EBU membership.[8] ONT also removed all Eurovision references from their website as they had no right to use the "Eurovision" brand before being accepted as an EBU member, which would lead to legal action by the EBU if continued.[9][10] EBU Eurovision director Bjørn Erichsen stated on 18 September 2009 during his visit to Minsk that ONT's application for full active EBU membership would be considered only in December 2009 after the application deadline for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, therefore BTRC as Belarus' only EBU member should submit a formal application to join the 2010 contest with the two broadcasters then making a decision.[11]

Logo of the second ONT selection Musical Court

ONT announced on 29 October 2009 that they would collaborate with BTRC in order to select the Belarusian entry. The broadcaster also launched the national final Musical Court which consisted of six shows: five semi-finals held between 20 November 2009 and 18 December 2009, and a final on 26 December 2009. Twenty-five songs were selected from the submissions received and five were performed in each semi-final by participants of the project New Voices of Belarus. Two songs qualified to the final from each semi-final with one selected by jury members made up of music professionals and one selected by a public televote from the remaining songs. The ten qualifying songs were performed by professional artists in the final and regional televoting selected "Don't Play in Love" performed by Artem Mihalenko as the winner.[5] A second selection stage was planned to take place in February 2010 but was later cancelled after ONT's application for EBU membership was rejected. The broadcaster later stated that Musical Court was "not necessarily" a Eurovision national final but was instead intended "to choose songs to represent the country in any international competitions".[12][13]

BTRC announced in January 2010 that the Belarusian entry for the 2010 contest would be selected internally.[14] On 29 January 2010, a submission period was opened on where artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster until 15 February 2010.[15][16] At the closing of the deadline, 41 entries were received by the broadcaster. Among the artists that had submitted entries were Alexandra Gaiduk, Alexandra Zakharik, Alyona Lanskaya, Bullet, DALY, Elena Grishanova, Elaine Hirti, Gunesh, Ivan Buslai, Litesound, NHS, Nina Bogdanova, Rosana Brown and Sonika.[5][17] A jury panel consisting of representatives of broadcasters BTRC, LAD, ONT and STV was tasked with evaluating the received entries and "Far Away" performed by the band 3+2 was announced as the Belarusian entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest on 25 February 2010, while "How Can It Be?" performed by Aleks was announced as the backup entry.[18] 3+2 and the song, which was written by Leonid Shirin and Yuriy Vaschuk, had previously participated in ONT's Musical Court where they placed second. Among the members of the band was the winner of Musical Court Artem Mihalenko.[19][20]

On 19 March 2010, BTRC announced that "Far Away" had been withdrawn from the contest and replaced by the song "Butterflies", which was written by Maxim Fadeev, Robert Wells and Malka Chaplin. Fadeev had previously composed the 2004 and 2007 Russian Eurovision entries.[21][22]

3+2 performing during the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

3+2 took part in technical rehearsals on 17 and 21 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 24 and 25 May. This included the jury show on 24 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Belarusian performance featured 3+2 performing on stage with the male members wearing black suits and the female members wearing long dresses in gold, silver and copper colours with attached butterfly wings that appear during the performance. Co-composer of the song Robert Wells, who did not appear until the dress rehearsals, was also on stage playing a white piano.[24] The stage colours were dark with spotlights on the band members, and the black curtains were raised during the performance which revealed a starry background with red lights.[25]

At the end of the show, Belarus was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.[26] It was later revealed that Belarus placed ninth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 59 points.[27]

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winners' 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 the running order for the grand final. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Belarus was drawn to perform in position 9, following the entry from Serbia and before the entry from Ireland.

3+2 and Robert Wells once again took part in dress rehearsals on 28 and 29 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. 3+2 and Robert Wells performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 29 May. Belarus placed twenty-fourth in the final, scoring 18 points.[27][28]

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding points from 1–8, 10 and 12 as determined by a combination of 50% national jury and 50% televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry 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 was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belarus and awarded by Belarus in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Russia in the semi-final and final of the contest.