On 19th of February the final of Malta Eurovision Song Contest (MESC) took place and Emma Muscat won the show with the song “Out of Sight” and it was decided that she will be the Maltese representative at Eurovision 2022. On Monday it has been confirmed that her Eurovision entry won’t be “Out of Sight”  and instead of it we will be listening to “I Am What I Am” for which it has been revealed that it’s an entry rejected from taking part at Melodifestivalen 2022.

Even though the winning entry of Malta Eurovision Song Contest received top scores from both jury and audience, Maltese broadcaster has decided to go for a totally new song for Eurovision 2022. In an interview for the Danish public broadcaster, DR, producer Anders Fredslund-Hansen who runs the music company The Arrangement, has revealed that a day after Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022 took place, he has been contacted by Maltese broadcaster, PBS who asked him for help. Anders adds that they told him their representative is chosen, but were looking for a new set of songs that might surpass the one with which Emma had won the national selection.

The Arrangement sent PBS a number of songs out of which two were selected to be recorded as demos. PBS chose “I Am What I Am” as the song which Emma will be performing in Turin. The song came to life last summer through a songwriting camp, where musicians gather and work together on new songs and in this case the authors had Eurovision as their goal. The  songwriting camp was organized by The Arrangement and Autor. “I Am What I Am” was submitted to Melodifestivalen 2022 but Swedish broadcaster, SVT didn’t select it to. It’s also good to note that The Arrangement previously worked on the winning entry of Eurovision 2013 “Only Teardrops”.

The authors of “I Am What I Am” are Dino Medanhodzic as well as the two Danish musicians Stine Kinck and Julie Aagaard. Stine Kinck has previously participated at the Danish Melody Grand Prix 2011 with “Hvad hjertet lever af”, she ended the show in the second stage of the final as she lost the duel for the super final against “Sleepless” by Anne Noa, while Julie Aagaard, who goes by the name Kill J, this year had songs in both Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and Melodifestivalen. “Let Me Go” performed by Josie Elinor & Jack Warren ended on the 3rd place in the final of DMGP 2022 while “Run To The Hills” by Klara Hammarström ended on 6th place in the final of this year’s Melodifestivalen. Dino Medanhodzic is known to the Eurovision audience as the man behind several Melodifestivalen songs including  Lina Hedlund’s “Victorious” from 2019 and Johanna “Dotter” Jansson’s “Bulletproof” and “Little Tot”. Dotter is the one behind the backing vocals for “I Am What I Am”.

This won’t be the first time that the artist which won Malta Eurovision Song Contest changes the song ahead of Eurovision as the same thing happened with the winning entry of MESC 2016 “Chameleon” performed by Ira Losco. The song had the same destiny as “Out of Sight” as it was changed by the song from a Swedish composer, as it was the songwriting debut release of Molly Pettersson Hammar. Malta will be performing in the first half of the second semi-final scheduled for 12th of May. You can listen to Emma Muscat’s “I Am What I Am” on Spotify, iTunes or YouTube as well as check out the official music video below