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 |
| 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 |
Television Viewership
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".