Junior Eurovision 2019 - Ukraine

Finishing in 8th place of the Aussievision Team rankings of Junior Eurovision 2019 songs is Ukraine.

There was quite the split among jurors on this song.... get details on the entry and find out the individual rankings and comments below.

The entry

Sophia Ivanko - The Spirit of Music

Sophia Ivanko has been chosen through a national selection by PBC revealed by Ukranian broadcaster UA. She was chosen by a seven person expert jury out of 10 shortlisted candidates all who submitted their songs online. The 13-year-old from Kyiv enjoys writing songs and experimenting with different music genres. Sophia takes singing lessons and plays piano. It was her third attempt at entering Junior Eurovision as a Ukrainian representative. In 2018 she made it to the top 10 finalists. In 2019 she participated in the Ukrainian Voice and was part of Team Jamala.

Ukraine has competed in Junior Eurovision every year since 2006 with exceptional success. Over 13 years they have won the JESC trophy once and been runner up twice, placing them nine times in the top 10. Their win came in the 2012 Contest where Anastasiya Petryk won with her song “Nebo”. Her sister Viktoria Patryk, actually scored Ukraine’s first runner up spot in 2008 with her song “Matrosy”. Ukraine has also had the privilege to host the Contest twice, in 2009 and again in 2013 after their 2012 win.

Aussievision Team Rankings

Aaron - 2nd
Fleur - 3rd
Emma - 4th
Mike - 8th
Guy - 11th
Kyriakos - 11th
Liv - 14th
Dale - 16th
Alyce - 18th

The comments

Wait. This is a 13 year old child singing this? Wow, just wow. This song seems out of place here. For starters, it is about having a love for music and of course- believing in yourself. This song is a standout and is probably the most memorable one this year. I really like the build-up of this song as it progresses. I’m sure we’ll see Sophia at ESC one day and she will probably win the thing. ~ Fleur

It’s quite pretty, and strikes me as a toned down Jamala’s “I Believe In U.” I quite like Jamala so any reminder is a good one. On the downside it could be a little quiet and “cool” for JESC, which usually favours more upbeat fast-tempo songs. ~ Aaron

There is some really interesting musical elements of this song and I don't doubt the talent of Sophia, but the owl-like hoo-hoo chorus is an absolute song destroyer for me ~ Dale

A beautiful unique piano composition...the song features a series of Hoo-oo’s in place of a chorus. I found this musically very interesting to listen to and hope it does well. ~ Emma

Sophia’s song has an interesting melody and the ‘hooing’ is very catchy. ~ Kyriakos

Kind of cute and I like that she plays the piano. Doesn't quite land though - a little boring. ~ Guy

A very mature entry for JESC! Some fun time signature changes keep it fresh as well as high quality instrumentation to accompany it. It will be memorable and will have that point of difference from the rest of the entries on the night. Personally I find it very repetitive and I am not a fan of this genre of music. ~ Liv

Ukraine at Junior Eurovision