Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Participating broadcaster	Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH)
Country	Albania
Selection process	Festivali i Këngës 54
Selection date	27 December 2015
Competing entry
Song	"Fairytale"
Artist	Eneda Tarifa
Songwriters	Olsa Toqi
Placement
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (16th)
Participation chronology
◄2015 • 2016 •2017►

Albania was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2016 inStockholm, Sweden, with the song "Fairytale" performed byEneda Tarifa. The nation's entry was selected in December 2015 through the national selection competitionFestivali i Këngës organised byRadio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). Initially titled "Përrallë", the song was remastered and translated into English for its Eurovision participation.

By 2016, Albania had participated in theEurovision Song Contest 12 times since its first entry in2004. Prior to the 2016 contest, the song was promoted by amusic video and several live performances across Europe. Albania was drawn to compete in thesecond semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 12 May 2016. Performing 17th (second to last), the nation was not among the top 10 entries of its semi-final and therefore failed to qualify for thefinal, marking Albania's sixth non-qualification in the contest. When the results were released shortly after, Albania had placed 16th with 45 points.

Prior to the 2016 contest, Albania had participated in theEurovision Song Contest 12 times since its first entry in2004. Its first entry was the song "The Image of You" performed byAnjeza Shahini, which finished in seventh place, the nation's second-highest placing as of 2023^[update]. The country's highest placing by 2016 had been fifth, which it achieved in2012 with the song "Suus" performed byRona Nishliu. Albania had previously failed to qualify for the final four times, most recently in 2014.^[1] The Albanian broadcaster that broadcast the 2016 contest in Albania and organised the selection process for its entry wasRadio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). The Albanian song contestFestivali i Këngës has been organised annually since 1964 and has been used as the country's entry selection method since its debut in 2004.^[2]

The national broadcaster of Albania, RTSH, organised the 54th edition ofFestivali i Këngës with the objective of determining the country's entry for theEurovision Song Contest 2016.^[3][4] The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 25 and 26 December, respectively, and the final on 27 December 2015.^[3] The three live shows were held at thePalace of Congresses inTirana and hosted by Blerta Tafani andPandi Laço.^[5] The contest featured Laço as the screenwriter and Elton Deda as the artistic director.^[5][6]

RTSH invited interested artists and composers to submit their entries between 29 and 30 September 2015.^[7][8] All songs were required to be in the Albanian language, all performers were required to be at least 16 years of age, and singers and composers could only submit one song while lyricists could only submit two songs.^[9] On 16 October 2015, RTSH announced the 30 artists and songs selected for the competition by a special committee and among the competing artists were two previous Albanian Eurovision Song Contest entrants:Luiz Ejlli (2006) andAdrian Lulgjuraj (2013).^[3] One substitution was made prior to the event: "Era" performed by Edea Demaliaj was replaced by "Një shishe në oqean" performed by Orgesa Zaimi.^[10]

The competing entries were released to the public online through the broadcaster's website on 4 December 2015.^[11] Throughout December 2015, Radio Tirana aired the competing entries and interviewed the artists on the programmeGjithçka Shqip hosted byAndri Xhahu and Artemisa Deda.^[12] On 10 December, 40-second promotional video clip montages of all of the entries were released by the broadcaster.^[13]

Key:  Withdrawn  Replacement entry

The two semi-finals ofFestivali i Këngës took place on 25 December and 26 December 2015 and were broadcast at 20:45 (CET).^[14] In each semi-final, a total of 15 songs competed of which 11 entries in each semi-final, selected by a jury, advanced to the final.^[5][15][16]

Key:  Qualifier

The final ofFestivali i Këngës took place on 27 December 2015 and was broadcast at 20:45 (CET).^[15] A jury determined Eneda Tarifa as the winner of the contest with the song "Përrallë".^[17][18]

Key:  Winner  Second place  Third place

For the purposes of participating in Eurovision, a remastered and English-language version of "Përrallë" titled "Fairytale" was released on 13 March 2016.^[19] Its release was accompanied by amusic video uploaded to the officialYouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest.^[20][21] For further promotion, Tarifa embarked on a small tour with live performances at various Eurovision Song Contest-related events inAmsterdam,London, andTel Aviv.^{[22][23][24][25]} This included participation in the eighth annualEurovision in Concert series, an event held at the clubMelkweg inAmsterdam, Netherlands, that was staged to serve as a preview party for the year's entries.^[22]

TheEurovision Song Contest 2016 took place atEricsson Globe inStockholm, Sweden; it consisted of two semi-finals held on 10 and 12 May, respectively, and the finalon 14 May 2016.^[26] According to therules, all participating countries, apart from the host nation and the "Big 5", consisting ofFrance,Germany,Italy,Spain and theUnited Kingdom, were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the final, with the top 10 countries from each semi-final progressing to the final of the contest.^[27] On 26 January 2016, an allocation draw was held at theStockholm City Hall that placed each country into one of the two semi-finals and determined which half of the show they would perform in.^[28] Albania was placed into thesecond semi-final, to be held on 12 May, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.^[28]

Once all the competing songs for the 2016 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the producers of the contest rather than through another draw, for preventing similar songs being placed next to each other; Albania was set to perform at position 18, followingGeorgia and precedingBelgium.^[29] However, the nation's performing position shifted to 17, followingRomania's disqualification from the contest on 22 April and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final.^[30]

Tarifa took part in technical rehearsals on 5 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May.^[31] This included the jury show on 11 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.^[32] The performance saw Tarifa dressed in a long gold dress standing atop a goldLED stage floor.^[33] When viewed together, the dress appeared to extend into the floor as one continuous piece covering the stage. Surrounding Tarifa were accents andpyrotechnics also of gold color.^[34] She was joined on stage by three backing vocalists: Besa Krasniqi,Venera Lumani and Xhoni Jesku.^[35]

At the end of the second semi-final, the country was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify for the final,^[36] marking the sixth time Albania had failed to qualify in the contest.^[1] It was later revealed that Albania placed 16th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 45 points: 35 points from thetelevoting and 10 points from the juries.^[37]

Voting during the three live shows of the Eurovision Song Contest was conducted under anew system that involved each country now awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting.^[38] Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represented, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.^[38] This jury judged each entry based on vocal capacity, the stage performance, the song's composition and originality and the overall impression by the act.^[38][39] In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they could not vote impartially and independently.^[38] The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the final.^[38]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Albania and awarded by Albania in the second semi-final and final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Albania (Semi-final 2)^[40]

Score	Televote	Jury
12 points	Macedonia
10 points	Switzerland
8 points	Italy	Serbia
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points	Slovenia
2 points	Belgium	Bulgaria
1 point

Points awarded by Albania (Semi-final 2)[40] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Macedonia  Macedonia 10 points  Norway  Australia 8 points  Belgium  Serbia 7 points  Bulgaria  Bulgaria 6 points  Australia  Slovenia 5 points  Ukraine  Ukraine 4 points  Lithuania  Israel 3 points   Switzerland  Denmark 2 points  Denmark  Poland 1 point  Slovenia  Latvia

Points awarded by Albania (Final)[41] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Australia  Australia 10 points  Italy  France 8 points  Bulgaria  Italy 7 points  Russia  Russia 6 points  Ukraine  Spain 5 points  Poland  United Kingdom 4 points  Lithuania  Bulgaria 3 points  Sweden  Israel 2 points  Armenia  Malta 1 point  Hungary  Hungary

The following members comprised the Albanian jury:^[39]

• Edison Misso (jury chairperson)
• Kejsi Tola
• Flamur Shehu
• Nisida Tufa
• Agim Doçi

Detailed voting results from Albania (Semi-final 2)^[41]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		E. Misso	K. Tola	F. Shehu	N. Tufa	A. Doçi	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Latvia	9	10	9	10	10	10	1	12
02	Poland	7	8	10	9	9	9	2	15
03	Switzerland	14	11	12	12	11	11		8	3
04	Israel	8	5	6	7	7	7	4	11
05	Belarus	15	16	11	13	17	14		16
06	Serbia	1	4	2	3	4	3	8	14
07	Ireland	11	17	16	14	15	15		13
08	Macedonia	2	2	3	1	2	1	12	1	12
09	Lithuania	17	12	17	15	12	16		7	4
10	Australia	3	1	1	2	3	2	10	5	6
11	Slovenia	4	7	4	6	5	5	6	10	1
12	Bulgaria	5	3	5	4	1	4	7	4	7
13	Denmark	10	9	8	8	6	8	3	9	2
14	Ukraine	6	6	7	5	8	6	5	6	5
15	Norway	13	15	13	11	14	12		2	10
16	Georgia	12	14	15	16	13	13		17
17	Albania
18	Belgium	16	13	14	17	16	17		3	8

Detailed voting results from Albania (Final)^[40]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		E. Misso	K. Tola	F. Shehu	N. Tufa	A. Doçi	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Belgium	20	22	24	24	16	25		14
02	Czech Republic	21	23	25	16	15	22		22
03	Netherlands	22	24	23	21	14	24		24
04	Azerbaijan	19	21	11	11	12	13		19
05	Hungary	8	14	9	9	13	10	1	10	1
06	Italy	4	7	3	2	10	3	8	2	10
07	Israel	10	4	18	12	2	8	3	17
08	Bulgaria	11	13	6	6	3	7	4	3	8
09	Sweden	16	6	15	15	8	11		8	3
10	Germany	18	11	20	17	17	18		15
11	France	3	9	1	1	9	2	10	11
12	Poland	14	20	13	22	7	14		6	5
13	Australia	1	1	2	3	1	1	12	1	12
14	Cyprus	25	25	21	20	11	23		12
15	Serbia	15	15	12	19	26	19		26
16	Lithuania	13	17	22	23	18	20		7	4
17	Croatia	24	18	16	18	19	21		20
18	Russia	7	5	7	7	4	4	7	4	7
19	Spain	9	12	4	4	5	5	6	23
20	Latvia	23	8	17	13	20	17		21
21	Ukraine	17	2	8	8	25	12		5	6
22	Malta	5	16	5	5	21	9	2	16
23	Georgia	26	26	26	26	22	26		25
24	Austria	6	19	19	14	23	16		13
25	United Kingdom	2	10	10	10	6	6	5	18
26	Armenia	12	3	14	25	24	15		9	2

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