After a successful first year of being used to select the Maltese entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest last year, the show is back for another year of showcasing Malta’s top talent. Michela Pace won the contest back in January and went on to represent Malta in Tel Aviv with ‘Chameleon‘, which took Malta back to the final for the first time in three years.

This year, we’ve already seen many fantastic auditions, including some familiar faces in Destiny Chukunyere, Jasmine Abela, Gail Attard and Miriana Conte … however there was also a huge load of new talent such as Chrissy Warrington, Nedved Galea, Justine Shorfid and Ema Vella. Tonight the competition heads to Bootcamp where all successful auditions have to sing again for their place in the next round. We’ll be recapping all of the shows from here on out – so if you miss an episode or want to find out who really impressed then make sure to read along!

To kick off Bootcamp, the judges separated people into different groups, with a group of the singers being put in to groups for the remainder of the competition as they hadn’t shone during the audition stage. For the rest, they must face the ‘Wall of Songs’, where they will sing a song for the judges within a small group and either get a ‘Yes’ or a ‘Maybe’.

Up first was Jozi Kantanta, Dayle Camilleri and Benjamin Attard who performed OneRepublic’s ‘Counting Stars‘. It wasn’t vocally perfect, however the judges were happy enough with the performance and all three got given a yes to the next round.

The second group consisted of Nedved Galea, Maria Ellul and Francesca Busuttil and their song was Queen’s rock power ballad ‘Show Must Go On‘. The judges felt Francesca was nervous, and she was given a maybe. It felt a little unfair as all three sounded pretty good to us, but the other two were definitely able to stand out and as a result they got through.

Group three (which you can check out below) featured some familiar faces! Singing Elle King’s ‘Ex’s And Oh’s’, two members of last years girl-group finalists 4th Line (Milena Bianco and Miriana Conte) are joined by newcomer Julia Camilleri to give a fantastic performance! Miriana in particular sounded fantastic however it was a strong showing all-round. Unfortunately, Julia was given a maybe whilst the other two advanced.

Singing ‘No Roots‘ by Alice Merton was one of our favourite auditions – Jasmine Abela. She’s joined by Mark Spiteri and Luke Vassallo and they gave us some great dance moves on stage! Jasmine & Luke both shone and advanced to the next stage, unfortunately Mark was the next to be sent home. In a duet, Celine Agius and Keith Casaletto chose to perform ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart‘. Alas, the judges didn’t listen and only put Celine through to the next round, Keith gets a maybe. Special shoutout to Celine’s T-Shirt, which read ‘I’m Grumpy, so back off’!

The next group performed ‘Let It Be‘ by The Beatles, however Lucia Theuma was the only person to make it to the next round after a very soulful performance. Fitzpatrick & Derrick Schembri were both sent home. A bit of drama for the next group, who after a very strong rehearsal had a member drop out for personal reasons. Poor Matt Vassallo and Amy Mizzi made the most of the bad situation, sounding relatively good. Matt made it through and Amy got a maybe – the judges are definitely being tough with their outcomes!

Eurovision fans will recognise the next song … It’s Il Volo’s ‘Grande Amore‘! Brad Cardona, Jurgen Volkov and Karl Schembi perform a really interesting rendition of the song, however they certainly impressed the judges and the crowd who were cheering them on throughout. We don’t like singling people out, but we have to say that we absolutely loved Jurgen! We’ll be seeing all three in the next round and you can check watch the performance above.

Another friendly face up next – midwife Karin Duff made it to Judges Houses last year, will she be able to go one step further and make it to the live shows this year?! She’s joined by Dav Jr. and Rhys Fiteni who are singing Lewis Capaldi’s hit song ‘Someone You Loved‘. After a bit of tension for Dav, all three made it through! Definitely one of the better groups so far. Meanwhile, Hannah Elkekli, Jessica Micallef and Justin Mamo Parnis were also singing one of the last years biggest hits – Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga’s duet ‘Shallow‘. Hannah kicked off by stumbling over her words and then that really set the tone for the rest of the performance. Jessica had a great country tone but unfortunately it was not enough to get through as she joined Hannah in being sent home. Justin was given a maybe.

The next group, singing ‘Photograph‘, Edward Abdilla, Jelena Attard and Joanna Gauci Loporto who also gave a valiant effort. Edward’s tone of voice in particular stood out however all three gelled well. Both Edward & Jelena made it through, whilst Joanna was given a maybe.

Lorisanne Refalo, Louisa Degabriele and Giovanni performed ‘Somebody That I Used To Know‘ and managed to hold it together for the performance with some impressive harmonies. Unfortunately, Louisa was sent home, however it was good news for the other two who advanced!

‘Piece By Piece‘ by Kelly Clarkson is one of the most emotional songs ever released, and Justine Shorfid, Lisa Marie Tabone and Charisse Vassallo knocked it out of the park! Really impressive performance and all three shone individually. It came as no surprise that all three made it through. Check out the performance in the video above!

Early frontrunner Destiny Chukunyere was up next performing the legendary ‘Proud Mary‘ alongside Chantal Catania and Michelle. In another obvious decision, all three vocalists made it through. It’s safe to say that Junior Eurovision winner Destiny is certainly leaving her footprint on the competition so far! Watch their divalicious performance here:

Choosing to sing a song by judge Ira Losco, (‘Hey Now‘) was trio Estelle Imbroll, Luke Schembri and Kylie Meilak. It was pretty clear that Kylie was the best of the three, so rightly she was put through. Meanwhile, Estelle & Luke were put in the maybe category.

Returner Kyle Cutajar was put in to a boyband last year which was subsequently sent home at Judges Houses, however this year he is shining through as a solo artist and his group performance of Robbie Williams classic ‘Angels‘ did not fail to deliver! He gave a flawless performance, and Anthony Paul and Jake Camilleri also did enough to make it through too!

The next group, consisting of Logan Borg, Daniel Muscat Caruana and Francesca Borg, were sharing the success as all three made it through performing James Arthur’s ‘Say You Won’t Let Go‘. The ending was pretty rough … but fortunately all three had performed well earlier in the song!

Group 18 sang ‘Uptown Funk‘, featuring Eric Baldacchino, Kane Portelli and Noah Grech. There’s a bit of ambiguity over the results as only Eric was given any feedback, and it wasn’t good news, however based on that pitchy performance we would be shocked if the other two made it through either!

Another comeback performer, Gail Attard, was joined by Danika Cutajar and Laura Camilleri, for a rendition of Adele’s ‘Hello‘. You can check it out above, but wow!! Gail’s voice has really developed over the past year, and Danika also gave an incredible performance on her solo. It’s a shame we did not get to see Laura’s part of the performance! The group harmonized riff at the end was also enough to give us goosebumps! One of the best of the night, with Gail & Danika getting through whilst Laura’s fate remained up in the air.

Anthea Bezzina (who was also in 4th Power in the live shows last year), Luana Gatt and Greta Attard were in the 20th group of the night, singing ‘Try‘ by Pink. It was a decent performance all around however only Anthea & Luana got through. We’ll find out more about Greta’s fate next week as she was given a maybe.

The final performance of the night was Mark Morales, Marija Bellia and Matt Blxck singing ‘Super Bass‘ originally by Nicki Minaj. Marija, who performed with an acoustic guitar in her first audition, didn’t look totally happy with the song choice … however she really snapped on stage giving one of the best performances of the night! Matt was fantastic too and owned the stage, and Mark – who was reading the lyrics from a sheet of paper – was also able to keep up with the fast-paced song. All three made it through ending on the night with some good news!

Aaaaand that’s a wrap for this week! Let us know your favourite performances and if you agreed with the results and we’ll see you next week.