Ukraine is well and truly embarked on the Eurovision train, as we are one breath away from the beginning of their national selection process Vidbir 2019. The event will be consisting of three shows, two semi-finals and the Grand Final, which will crown the country’s hopeful for Tel Aviv!

As we got to know the show’s participants a couple of days ago, the organizing broadcasters UA:PBC and STB held a draw in order to allocate the 16 acts to the two semi-final shows. The draw results are unveiled as follows:

Semi-final 1 (9 February)

1. The Hypnotunez
2. Letay
3. Vera Kekelia
4. TseShow
5. Yuko
6. Maruv
7. Brunettes Shoot Blondes
8. Bahroma

Semi-final 2 (16 February)

1. Ivan Navi
2. Anna Maria
3. Kazka
4. Kira Lazur
5. Laud
6. Khayat
7. Braii
8. Freedom Jazz

Tayanna quits Vidbir; who will replace her?

As you may have noticed aboved, the singer Tayanna is not among the participants list. Just a little before the event kicks off, the famous Ukrainian artist decided to withdraw her candidancy for personal reasons, as she felt that there may be other artists that need a Eurovision participation more than she does.

Tayanna, who would be competing for the third consecutive year, notified her decision with a post on her official account on Instagram, where she commented:

Friends, hello!

I have an important message for you. Yesterday evening I made a very difficult but conscious decision. I will no longer participate in Ukraine’s national selection. I believe that it will be better for everyone. I hope you treat it with respect and appreciation.

Sometimes the universe does not give you something, not because you do not deserve it, but because you deserve something else. To confirm this, I feel that right now I have to make this choice.

I’m sure there will be artists who did not get to the list of participants, but who need a ticket to Israel more than me.

And over time, I still realized that the main competition in the life of a creative person is a competition with themselves. It is possible to win a victory in it only under one condition – to be sincere and to have the power to make difficult decisions.

I respect and love our whole team that believes in me and all this time did everything to achieve this ambitious goal. But I say no. Enough.

At the moment, I’m immersed in what really captures me – recording a new album and preparing for a solo concert.

I am grateful to all for support all this time. This is very important to me and it inspires me.

I beat everyone with my music!

Yours,
Tayanna

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Друзi, вітаю! Маю для вас важливе повідомлення. Вчора ввечері я прийняла дуже непросте, але усвідомлене для себе рішення. Бiльше я не братиму участь в Національному відборі на Євробачення. Вiрю, що так буде краще для всіх. Сподiваюсь, що ви поставитесь до цього з повагою та розумiнням. Iнодi всесвіт не дає тобi чогось не тому, що ти цього не заслуговуєш, а тому, що ти заслуговуєш чогось іншого. Аби це пiдтвердити, вiдчуваю, що саме зараз я маю зробити цей вибір. Я впевнена, що знайдуться артисти, які не потрапили до переліку учасників, але яким квиток до Ізраїлю потрібніше, ніж мені. А ще з часом, я все ж таки зрозуміла, що головне змагання в житті творчої людини – це змагання з собою. Отримати перемогу в ньому можна лише за однієї умови – бути щирим з собою та мати силу приймати непрості рішення. Я поважаю та люблю всю нашу команду, яка вірить в мене та весь цей час робила все, щоб ми досягнули цієї амбітної мети. Але я кажу Ні. Досить. Наразі я поринаю в те, що мене дiйсно захоплює – запис нового альбому та пiдготовка до сольного концерту. Я вдячна всім за підтримку весь цей час. Для мене це дуже важливо і саме це мене надихає. Своєю музикою обiймаю кожного! Ваша Tayanna.

A post shared by TAYANNA (@tayanna_reshetnyak) on Jan 22, 2019 at 12:32am PST

Tayanna has been replaced by the 26-year-old artist Maruv (birth name Anna Korsun), who, despite her young age, has already been enjoying quite a successful course in the music industry, starting from her participation at the fourth season of The Voice of Ukraine.

Ukraine at Eurovision

The country of Ukraine entered the Eurovision house in 2003 and was meant to meet the victory the following year, when Ruslana came 1st in Istanbul with her Wild dances. Ukraine’s fortunes in our beloved contest have been quite successful in general and since last year, it has been the only country to have never been eliminated in the semi-final.

Ukraine’s 2nd victory came true in 2016, with Jamala singing 1994 in Stockholm, a song with historical content which refered to World War II. Last year, the former Soviet country was represented by the young singer Melovin, who finished 17th in the Grand Final with the eccentric performance of his ballad Under the ladder.