Malta Eurovision Song Contest kicks off tonight with first quarter-final

The Malta Eurovision Song Contest begins today, but in a different format than normal, with the first quarter-final show taking place this evening.

This phase will be divided into four episodes over four weeks, all hosted by Ryan and Josmar, during which audiences will follow the 40 festival participants for the first time.

The songs that will go through to the semi-final will be chosen via televoting in the fourth week, on Friday 3 February during a live show on TVM.

24 songs go through to the semi-final which will be staged on Thursday 9 February. The songs will then be whittled down to 16 songs for the Grand Final that will be performed again on Saturday 11 February.

The winner will be chosen jointly by a jury and the public through televoting. The winner will represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool next May.

The semi-finals and finals will be staged live in front of an audience at the MFCC in Ta' Qali. These two evenings will be presented by Amber Bondin and Glen Vella.

The songs that will be heard tonight are:

• Tik Tok - Haley Azzopardi 
• What do you want? - Stefan Xuereb 
• Lura qatt - The Clintess  
• Try to be better - Fabrizio Faniello 
• Guess what - Eliana Gomez Blanco 
• Eku Ċar - Christian Arding 
• Anything can happen - Jason Scerri Music 
• X’allegrija - Maria Debono 
• The mirror - Geo DeBono  
• Lehen fiċ-ċpar - Mikhail 
• Reġina - AIDAN 
• Creeping walls - Nathan Psaila 
• Piranha - Klinsmann

This year's Malta Eurovision Song Contest vocalists had four consultants - Paul Giordimaina, Mike Spiteri, Ludwig Galea, and Moira Stafrace. 

“This is also a new concept. The consultants guided and will continue to guide the singers in the whole process of selecting the song,” a TVM spokesperson told MaltaToday.

The Malta Eurovision Song Contest is a production of the Public Broadcasting Services.