In the past 20 days, we ran the first round of #escknockout on our official Twitter page. 40 acts were ‘drawn’ into knockouts by the alphabetical order of the song titles, with Israel being automatically qualified for the second round as the host country (and also due to the fact that we had an uneven number of participants).
The closest knockout in the first round was between Australia and Armenia, which Kate Miller-Heidke (Australia) eventually won with 52% of the votes, while on the other hand KEiiNO (Norway) had the clearest victory in the first round, scoring 92% of the votes against Anna Odobescu (Moldova). The remaining qualifiers are: Duncan Laurence (The Netherlands), Katerine Duska (Greece), Michela Pace (Malta), Lake Malawi (Czech Republic), Hatari (Iceland), Jonida Maliqi (Albania), Miki (Spain), Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman (Finland), Leonora (Denmark), Tamta (Cyprus), Jurijus (Lithuania), Serhat (San Marino), Luca Hanni (Switzerland), Mahmood (Italy), Victor Crone (Estonia), Conan Osiris (Portugal), John Lundvik (Sweden), Chingiz (Azerbaijan).
Kobi Marimi (Israel) now joins these 20 acts in the second round of #escknockout. To make this an even number, one “lucky loser” from round one will also qualify, and that is the act which received the most votes of all the acts that lost – and it’s Sergey Lazarev (Russia). These 22 acts are now being paired into 11 knockouts by the alphabetical order of the artists’ names. The winners of each knockout will proceed to the next round, while the ‘luckiest loser’ (the act that received the most votes of the 11 eliminated acts) will once again get a wildcard for round three. The duels in the second round are as follows:
1
Azerbaijan – Chingiz – Truth
Portugal – Conan Osiris – Telemoveis
2
Finland – Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman – Look Away
The Netherlands – Duncan Laurence – Arcade
3
Iceland – Hatari – Hatrid mun sigra
Sweden – John Lundvik – Too Late For Love
4
Albania – Jonida Maliqi – Ktheju tokes
Lithuania – Jurijus – Run With The Lions
5
Australia – Kate Miller-Heidke – Zero Gravity
Greece – Katerine Duska – Better Love
6
Norway – KEiiNO – Spirit In The Sky
Israel – Kobi Marimi – Home
7
Czech Republic – Lake Malawi – Friend Of A Friend
Denmark – Leonora – Love Is Forever
8
Switzerland – Luca Hanni – She Got Me
Italy – Mahmood – Soldi
9
Malta – Michela – Chameleon
Spain – Miki – La Venda
10
Russia – Sergey Lazarev – Scream
San Marino – Serhat – Say Na Na Na
11
Cyprus – Tamta – Replay
Estonia – Victor Crone – Storm
The winner of each knockout, as well as the ‘luckiest loser’ will qualify for the quarterfinals. Funnily enough, Sergey will once again go against Serhat, as after an alphabetical allocation of all song titles, in the second round with the allocation of the artists’ names they are going to be up against each other once again.
Make sure you follow us on Twitter in order to take part in the game, and not to let your favorite act(s) to be knocked-out. The first knockout in round two has already started, so make sure you vote to save your favorite:
