Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2023

Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2023
Dates
Semi Final 1	1 April 2022
Semi Final 2	8 April 2022
Semi Final 3	15 April 2022
Battle Stages	22 April 2022
Grand Final	6 May 2022
Hosts
Presenters	Matt Evans Lena Hayhurst Josh Martense
Broadcaster	Brityunik Vefecosoin Cairkovoin [BVC]
Participants
Number of Participants	25
Number of Participants (GF)	10
Vote
Winning Song	Ella Lockwood - "Hypnotised"
Runner Up	Xavier Benchek - "Inhibitions"
Recent Editions
← 2022 • Vha Mehlodhivestoile • 2024 →

Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2023 (also known as MEHVEH 2023, VM2023) is the eighth edition of the music contest, which selected the Britonish act for the 107th Worldvision Song Contest and the 70th World Hit Festival. The competition is organised by Brityunik Vefecosoin Cairkovoin [BVC], Britonisea's public broadcaster which focuses on home-grown talent. The competition took place between the 1st April to the 6th May, the latest Vha Mehlodhivestoile to date. The reason for the later Vha Mehlodhivestoile was due to Britonisea winning the 68th World Hit Festival in Achaean Republic and thus were responsible for hosting the 69th edition of the World Hit Festival which took place in late March - when Vha Mehlodhivestoile usually begins. The winner of Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2023 will earn a place to represent Britonisea at the 107th WorldVision Song Contest under BITC who provides financial support to the contest. Finalists will be considered for upcoming editions of the World Hit Festival from the 71st edition onwards.

Ella Lockwood won Vha Mehlodhivestoile with her song, "Hypnotised" after previously competing in 2021 and 2022. The song received 170 points in the final with over 67% of the total available points. Xavier Benchek and Leyla Bellisario rounded out the top 3. This was the first time that a solo male finished behind a solo female in the final.

Format

Vha Mehlodhivestoile will continue in its usual structure with there being three semi-finals, a battle stage and a grand final. The first semi-final will happen on the 1st April 2022 with the grand final on the 6th May 2022. Each semi-final will consist of eight (8) artists, with the Britonish votes accounting for 50% of the overall total. This year, there will be eight (8) voting areas per Semi-Final, including the usual six televoting areas (North, Central, East, City, Capital and Aloquirbe). The seventh group will be a demoscopic jury made of 620 people representing the 62 million people in Britonisea who will watch the show's rehearsal the day before along with the final group - The Professionals. At the end of each show, the top two artists will qualify for the grand final in Burgendore (six overall) with third and fourth place qualifying to the battle stage which will take place in Zelmerlow. The battles will be judged by Aenglide, Kalosia and Llalta.

10 acts will make it to the Grand Final, similar to 2016, 2018 and 2019 - 6 direct qualifiers, 3 from the battle stage and TOULOUSE - who received the right to come bak after Charlotte's Party decided not to return to Vha Mehlodhivestoile. For the Grand Final, international juries will vote in the Worldvision point system [12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1] and will be joined by a Britonish Jury. Around 33% of the final vote will be from the Britonish televote. Regardless of the number of international juries, the Britonish televote will be giving out no less than 348 points. A minute after the recap, voting lines will freeze with the results of the international jury being announced one by one. The lines will be reopened during an interval act and then closed again. Britonish nationals who vote via the app will be allowed to receive all their votes allocated to them again. The winner will be chosen using a combination of the International Jury and Britonish Televote.

The number of participants in Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2023 will be 25.

Bidding & Campaigning

Similarly to last year, there were a pre-determined decision on the cities that would be chosen to host Vha Mehlodhivestoile. The cities were chosen to make sure Vha Mehlodhivestoile is being held in a wide range of places. The reason for picking certain cities is to celebrate the Best of Britonish. All locations would welcome 10,000 people during the Semi-Finals.

The arenas that have been chosen for the 2023 contest, in general, are smaller than usual. For the first time ever Alosable and Aronyk will be hosting - with them undertaking the first and second semi-final, with the former city marking the second time only Aloquirbe has hosted Vha Mehlodhivestoile in eight years. Machievelihe will be hosting for the first time since 2019, though in the Central Exhibition Hall instead of the Gyron Arena which hosted the VM2019 final and WorldVision Song Contest 57. Zelmerlow will be hosting for the first time since 2018, once again in Estadoyn de Zelmerlow. Zelmerlow will be home to the Battle Stage as it was back in 2018. Burgendore will host for the first time since 2019 as well in the VEFEKOM Arena but this time it will play home to the Grand Final. With 18,000 tickets for the Grand Final, it will be the smallest Vha Mehlodhivestoile final, but similar to the capaicty of the 2020 edition and most of Britonisea's WorldVision and World Hit Festival hostings.

Competition Schedule					Qualifiers to Finals
Show	Date	City	Arena	Full Capacity (for VM2023)
Semi Final 1	1 April 2023	Alosable	Alosable Convention Centre	8,000 (7,600)	2
Semi Final 2	8 April 2023	Aronyk	Arena Aronyk	30,000 (10,500)	2
Semi Final 3	15 April 2023	Machievelihe	Central Exhibition Centre	14,220 (10,500)	2
Battle Stages	22 April 2023	Zelmerlow	Estadoyn de Zelmerlow	11,000 (10,500)	3
Grand Final	6 May 2023	Burgendore	VEFEKOM Arena	18,000 (18,000)	1

Competing Entries

The competing entries for the 8th Vha Mehlodhivestoile are expected to be revealed weekly on the 12th, 19th and 26th of March 2023.

Semi Finals

Semi Final One

Semi-Final 1 took place in the Alosable Convention Centre, Alosable on the 1st April 2023. Six nations voted in this Semi-Final; Natanya, Llalta, Besen, Todlichebujoku, StrayaRoos and Aenglide. There were 1.42 unique Britonish voters contributing to a total of 10.64 million casted votes. The semi-final saw the first ever draw between first place and second place with 80 points each. The score is the lowest winning score in the semi-final since the voting revamp though this is because of six nations voting instead of eight. Martina Hacer qualified to the Grand Final directly for the second time, alongside Rodrigo Babel.

Draw	Artist(s)	Song	Votes			Result
			Intl.	Brit.	Total
1	Vhe Qi	Leave Me Alone	14	41	55	6th
2	Amarae Levy	Losing My Head	43	13	56	5th
3	Zohan Ayad	Corghvaike [Heartache]	10	25	35	8th
4	Mya Richardson	Trust Me	27	17	44	7th
5	Martina Hacer + Rodrigo Babel	Ahora que estás aquí [Now that you're here]	41	39	80	2nd
6	Esther Winterbourne	Beltane	40	27	67	3rd
7	Jordan Samuels	Miss You	27	36	63	4th
8	Leyla Bellisario	Don't Stop	38	42	80	1st

Semi Final Two

Semi-Final 2 took place in Arena Aronyk in Aronyk with 10,500 people attending. Eight nations voted in this semi-final; Aenglide, Beepee, Erie Arcardia, Llalta, Malta Comino Gozo, Natanya, Polkopia and Uthossia. There was a total of 1.91 million unique voters contributing to a total of 11.96 million votes - the most out of all three Semi-Finals. Ella Lockwood, the eventual winner of VM2023, won the semi-final with 140 points - the highest score ever received in a semi-final - with 83.3% of available points. Alex Lindgren placed 2nd with 101 points - the first time performing 2nd in this semi-final has directly made it to the final.

Draw	Artist(s)	Song	Votes			Result
			Intl.	Brit.	Total
1	Novel Lennox	The Good Old Days	23	16	39	8th
2	Axel Lindgren	Emptiness	55	46	101	2nd
3	Ella Lockwood	Hypnotised	80	60	140	1st
4	Martin Esposito	Evolve	33	41	74	6th
5	Rose Halifax	Mind Games	43	33	76	4th
6	GIRL4CE	Yummy	34	20	54	7th
7	Raph and Nathan	Lost Control	14	61	75	5th
8	UPRISING	Eternal Sins	38	43	81	3rd

Semi Final Three

Semi-Final 3 took place in Machievelihe's Central Exhibition Centre with 10,500 people attending. Eight nations voted in this semi-final; Aenglide, Carrelie, Illdonya, Kalosia, Natanya, Polkopia Todlichebujoku and Uthossia. There was a total of 1.46 million unique voters contributing to a total of 10.58 million votes. Zoe Wilkinson once again won her semi-final (for the third time in VM history, the first person to do so) with 111 points. Xavier Benchek qualified directly to the final with 93 points but for the first time, 2nd, 3rd and 4th were tied with points. Xavier qualified directly due to him having the best score amongst the Britonish televote.

Draw	Artist(s)	Song	Votes			Result
			Intl.	Brit.	Total
1	Rhiannon Stephens	Someone New	45	22	67	6th
2	Reece and Jayden	Foras œ requoile [Back and forth]	43	50	93	3rd
3	Demi Blake	Zero to Hero	32	26	58	7th
4	Joel Romero	Torture	19	31	50	8th
5	Zoe Wilkinson	Solution	48	63	111	1st
6	Xavier Benchek	Inhibitions	43	50	93	2nd
7	Gabriella Bianchi	Little Miss Toxic	70	23	93	4th
8	Samuel Garrison	Fight	20	55	75	5th

Battle Stage

Similarly to 2022, the Battle Stage will be judged by one international jury as opposed to three. Three people who are within the WorldVision Song Contest or World Hit Festival sphere, or has an extensive background in popular music, per nation will join the jury and vote for their favourite performance of the two per battle. This year, the international jury will be made by professionals from Kalosia, Llalta and Aenglide.

The International Jury was made up of Eva Renati (WV64, WV100 participant), Regina Tonic (WHF69 participant) and Marko Tošini (WHF58 songwriter) from Kalosia; Lina Letlen, Ritta-Marie Viaaken and Markus Olavssen from Aenglide; June Summerfields, Pingu and Chiara Albanthia (Winner of WHF47) from Llalta.

Battle One: Reece + Jayden v Samuels

Battle One
Song 1	6-3	Song 2
Reece & Jayden Foras œ requoile [Back and Forth]		Jordan Samuels Miss You
Jurors that voted for this song: Ritta-Marie Viaaken Chiara Albanthia (H) June Summerfields Pingu Eva Renati (H) Marko Tošini		Jurors that voted for this song: Lina Letlen (H) Markus Olavssen Regina Tonic

Battle Two: Winterbourne v Halifax

Battle Two
Song 1	7-2	Song 2
Esther Winterbourne Beltane		Rose Halifax Mind Games
Jurors that voted for this song: Ritta-Marie Viaaken Markus Olavssen Chiara Albanthia (H) June Summerfields Pingu Regina Tonic Marko Tošini		Jurors that voted for this song: Lina Letlen (H) Eva Renati (H)

Battle Three: UPRISING v Bianchi

Battle Three
Song 1	6-3	Song 2
UPRISING Eternal Sins		Gabriella Bianchi Little Miss Toxic
Jurors that voted for this song: Lina Letlen (H) Ritta-Marie Viaaken June Summerfields Pingu Eva Renati (H) Marko Tošini		Jurors that voted for this song: Markus Olavssen Chiara Albanthia (H) Regina Tonic

Grand Final

The Grand Final took place in The VEFEKOM Burgen Arena in Burgendore, Ghiezland with 18,000 attending the show live on the 6th May 2023. There were a total of 24,838,815 votes cast from 3,545,316 unique voters over the course of the voting period. While there were a lower number of votes from the previous year, there was a 300,000 increase in how many different people voted. At the Grand Final, Ella Lockwood won the contest with 170 points - the second highest winning score receiving 67.5% of available votes. She won with a winner's margin of 34 points - the highest since Kelsey Banques' 2020 win. Xavier Benchek, the host of Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2022 placed second with 136 points, while Leyla Bellisario was the highest debuting act at 4th with 132 points. Reece and Jayden with "Foras œ requoile [Back and forth]" was the highest placed Britonish entry this year in 4th with 130 points. They are also the highest non-soloist act.

13 nations, the same as last year, made an appearance at this year's contest; Uthossia, Llalta, Besen, Alezian Union, Polkopia, Achaean Republic, Ertzei Kishim, Malta Comino Gozo, Scotatrova, Beepee, Kalosia, Todlichebujoku and Axuva in the order they voted. Of those 13 nations, 5 gave Ella Lockwood top points; Alezian Union, Achaean Republic, Malta Comino Gozo, Kalosia and Axuva. Ella also received 12 points from Aloquirbe and Telm, but did not win the Britonish vote overall - Leyla Bellisario and Reece & Jayden won the Britonish vote with 53 points to Ella's 51.

Returning champion, Petre Lemetre, placed 9th in the Grand Final.

Draw	Artist(s)	Song	Votes			Result
			Intl.	Brit.	Total
01	UPRISING	Eternal Sins	70	41	111	8th
02	Petre Lemetre	Don't Fret	55	45	100	9th
03	Esther Winterbourne	Beltane	59	37	96	10th
04	Ella Lockwood	Hypnotised	119	51	170	1st
05	Martina Hacer + Rodrigo Babel	Ahora que estás aquí [Now that you're here]	74	43	117	5th
06	Xavier Benchek	Inhibitions	94	42	136	2nd
07	Leyla Bellisario	Don't Stop	78	53	131	3rd
08	Reece and Jayden	Foras œ requoile [Back and forth]	77	53	130	4th
09	Axel Lindgren	Emptiness	63	48	111	7th
10	Zoe Wilkinson	Solution	65	51	116	6th

After Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2023

After winning Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2023, Ella Lockwood will represent Britonisea at the 107th WorldVision Song Contest with her song, "Hypnotised". Xavier Benchek, who is in the running to host the 107th WorldVision Song Contest, will represent the nation at the 108th edition. Leyla Bellisario will represent Britonisea at the 70th World Hit Festival with her song "Don't Stop".