Ukraine's Eurovision Pick To Be Chosen From Bomb Shelter

The Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC has announced that choosing the country's entrant to the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be done from a Kyiv bomb shelter.

Vidbir, the country's grand final decider for Eurovision, will be held on Saturday, 17 December.

UA:PBC has received almost 400 songs from 299 participants, all hoping to bring Ukraine glory like Kalush Orchestra did with their song Stefania, the first Eurovision-winning song to feature a rap.

Pianoboy, the country's music producer overseeing the selection process, said, "I would like this Vidbir to discover new outstanding creative names and make people feel touched and good about this music. I must say, which is quite unexpected for me, this job is based on psychology because you have to raise musicians from sort of a bottom, motivate them.

"A lot of musicians that you will hear at Vidbir made a song to be heard at Vidbir probably because of this Vidbir and, again because of it, resumed doing music. I see my function in this and I am very happy about it."

The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in the United Kingdom. 

Mykola Chernotytskyi, Head of the Managing Board of UA:PBC expressed her confidence that the Ukraine's defense of their 2022 title, won by Kalush Orchestra, will be well-handled by the UK host partners. 

"The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will not be in Ukraine but in support of Ukraine. We are grateful to our BBC partners for showing solidarity with us. I am confident that together we will be able to add Ukrainian spirit to this event and once again unite the whole of Europe around our common values of peace, support, celebrating diversity and talent." 

Last week, it was revealed that Australian artist Andrew Lambrou will represent Cyprus at Eurovision 2023. 

Lambrou competed at Eurovision: Australia Decides 2022 with a performance of his song Electrify, which finished in seventh place.

Upon participating in the contest, Lambrou revealed his love of Eurovision and said, "I'm so thrilled to be a part of Eurovision: Australia Decides 2022! I've grown up watching Eurovision with my family, admiring all that goes into it and seeing artists show their craft to the world, and to be a part of this show is like a dream come true. I'm so excited to show Australia my artistry, and to potentially represent my country in this amazing song contest is the most encouraging thought for me."