The Origin Song Contest 04

The Origin Song Contest 04 Unravel the Rhythm
Dates
Semi-final 1 date	10 February 2018
Semi-final 2 date	17 February 2018
Final date	14 April 2018
Host
Venue	Lanxess Arena Cologne, Germany
Presenter(s)	Markus Lanz Nina Eichinger
Broadcaster	ZDF
Opening act	Semi-final 1: "Achterbahn" performed by Helene Fischer Semi-final 2: "Geiles Leben" perormed by Glasperlenspiel Final: "Strangled Love" performed by Jannine Weigel
Interval act	Semi-final 1: "Heart Stop" performed by Jannine Weigel Semi-final 2: "Deep End" perormed by Jannine Weigel Final: "You Let Me Walk Alone" performed by Michael Schulte
Participants
Entries	35
Debuting	Malta
Returning	Andorra Luxembourg Norway Spain Ukraine
Withdrawing	Austria Bulgaria Czech Republic Iceland Portugal Romania Serbia Slovakia
Voting
System	Semi-finals: Countries award 12,10, 8-1 points to their ten favourite songs and deduct 1, 2 and 3 points from their three least favourite songs. Final: Countries award 12,10, 8-1 points to their ten favourite songs and deduct 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 points from their five least favourite songs.
Winner	Italy "Bambola"
The Origin Song Contest
◄ 03 05 ►

The Origin Song Contest 04, often referred to as TOSC 04, was the fourth edition of The Origin Song Contest. It was held in Cologne, Germany, following the country's victory at the third edition with the song "Strangled Love" by Jannine Weigel. It was the first time Germany has hosted the contest. ZDF selected the Lanxess Arena in Cologne as the venue, whilst Markus Lanz and Nina Eichinger were chosen as hosts.

Thirty-five countries participated in the edition. Malta made their debut, whilst Andorra, Norway, Spain and Ukraine returned having been absent the previous edition, whilst Luxembourg returned having last participated three editions ago.

Italy won the edition, achieving their first victory, with the song "Bambola" performed by Betta Lemme. The song scored 122 points, beating runner-up Poland by a margin of ten points. The Netherlands placed third, with Latvia, Malta and the United Kingdom rounding off the top six. Hosts Germany placed fourteenth, whilst Slovenia came last in the final, receiving the least points to date.

Location

For more information, see Cologne.

Cologne (German: Köln) is the largest city in the German federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth populated city in Germany (after Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich). It is located within the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region which is Germany's largest and one of Europe's major metropolitan areas. Cologne is about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of North Rhine-Westphalia's capital of Düsseldorf and 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of Bonn.

Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine, near Germany's borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. The city's famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. The University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln) is one of Europe's oldest and largest universities.

Bidding phase

ZDF invited interested cities to submit an application to host the contest along with the venue that would be used if chosen. Cologne was revealed as the host city on 22 December 2017.

City	Venue	Capacity	Notes
Berlin	Mercedes-Benz Arena	17,000	Hosts concerts and indoor sporting events, such as ice hockey and basketball.
Cologne	Lanxess Arena	20,000	The largest ice hockey arena outside North America.
Düsseldorf	ISS Dome	12,500	Primarily used for ice hockey.
Hanover	TUI Arena	14,000	The biggest indoor venue in the Hanover Region.

Format

Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 14th January 2018. The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the "big 6" would have to vote. The second part of the draw decided in which half of the respective semi-finals each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by the producers of the show at a later date. Fourteen countries would participate in the first semi-final, and fifteen would participate in the second. From each semi-final, ten countries would join the "Big 6" in the final, where a total of twenty-six countries would participate.

The twenty-nine semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Albania Bosnia-Herzegovina Cyprus FYR Macedonia Greece	Andorra Malta Monaco Spain United Kingdom	Belarus Lithuania Russia Sweden Ukraine
Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Belgium France Ireland Luxembourg Netherlands	Hungary Liechtenstein Poland Switzerland	Denmark Estonia Faroe Islands Finland Norway

Previews and Betting Odds

For more information, see Previews and Betting Odds.

The entries from each participating country were previewed in short recaps called previews. The countries were divided into the previews based on when they revealed their entry: the first countries to reveal their entries were in the first preview. Broadcasters can rank each entry in the recap.

The betting odds were based around the country's average rank in its preview. The betting odds represented the chance a country had to win the contest. Poland came first in the betting odds with odds of 2.44, followed by Moldova and Germany with odds of 2.73 and 2.94. The lowest countries in the betting odds were France, Hungary and Russia with odds of 5.11, 5.23 and 5.52 respectively.

France, Hungary and Russia all did not qualify to the final; in fact, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the lowest-scoring qualifier, coming 30th in the betting odds. The betting odds were unsuccessful at calling the winner; Poland placed second whilst Italy won having been placed fifth in the betting odds. In the final, the positions of Latvia and Monaco were predicted correctly, with Lithuania finishing fifteen places higher than predicted and Moldova finishing fifteen places lower. The highest-scoring non-qualifier was Liechtenstein who were seventh in the odds.

Participating countries

Thirty-five countries participated, a decrease of two compared with the previous edition. Malta made their debut this edition, whilst Andorra, Norway, Spain and Ukraine returned having been absent last edition and Luxembourg after last participating in the first edition. Eight nations withdrew this edition; Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

Returning artists

Heren returned to represent Spain having represented the country in the second edition. Magdolna Rúzsa was selected to compete for Hungary after participating for the country in the first edition.

Results

Semi-final 1

Fourteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Germany, Italy and Slovenia also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Spain	Heren	"One Life"	6	71
02	Hungary	Magdolna Rúzsa	"Mosd Fehérre"	13	28
03	Sweden	Moment	"All This Time"	9	48
04	Bosnia-Herzegovina	KRYGA ft. Tiana Kruškić	"Lazy River"	7	65
05	Cyprus	Jerrÿ Jay ft. Youn Ni Ko	"Stranded"	11	40
06	Poland	Honorata Skarbek	"Na koniec świata"	1	107
07	United Kingdom	Låpsley	"Hurt Me"	5	80
08	Norway	ARY	"Already There"	8	64
09	Ukraine	Mari Kraymbreri	"Tusi sam"	10	47
10	Finland	FELIN	"Gossip"	2	107
11	Greece	Mossel	"Dream On"	12	39
12	Russia	Paulina Andreeva	"Closer"	14	20
13	Belgium	Sonnfjord	"Lights"	3	86
14	Luxembourg	Foxy	"Puppet"	4	82

Semi-final 2

Fifteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Latvia, Moldova and San Marino also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Andorra	Carlos Marco	"When the Mind Wanders"	9	57
02	Ireland	Shane Filan	"Unbreakable"	14	30
03	Liechtenstein	Palastic & Lea Santee	"Talkin'"	11	49
04	Albania	Elhaida Dani	"E Ngrire"	12	45
05	Netherlands	Celine Cairo	"Quicksand"	7	62
06	Monaco	Joyce Jonathan	"Je ne veux pas de toi"	4	85
07	Estonia	Mariliis Jõgeva	"Go"	10	51
08	France	Hoshi	"Ta marinière"	13	44
09	Belarus	Immerse	"Ocean"	1	98
10	FYR Macedonia	Nataša Malinkova	"Hey Mama"	15	30
11	Switzerland	Tabitha Nauser	"Bulletproof"	5	75
12	Lithuania	Justinas Jarutis ft. Moniqué	"Stay With Me"	8	59
13	Faroe Islands	YÖHNA	"Na Na Na"	6	66
14	Denmark	Fallulah	"Dried-Out Cities"	3	88
15	Malta	Davinia	"Perfectly"	2	97

Final

Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all thirty-five participating countries eligible to vote.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Faroe Islands	YÖHNA	"Na Na Na"	22	22
02	Lithuania	Justinas Jarutis ft. Moniqué	"Stay With Me"	10	68
03	United Kingdom	Låpsley	"Hurt Me"	6	98
04	Finland	FELIN	"Gossip"	7	94
05	Moldova	Patrïce	"Upside Down"	17	41
06	Germany	Leslie Clio	"And I'm Leaving"	14	54
07	Belarus	Immerse	"Ocean"	9	73
08	Ukraine	Mari Kraymbreri	"Tusi sam"	16	44
09	Norway	ARY	"Already There"	11	63
10	Bosnia-Herzegovina	KRYGA ft. Tiana Kruškić	"Lazy River"	24	17
11	Poland	Honorata Skarbek	"Na koniec świata"	2	112
12	Monaco	Joyce Jonathan	"Je ne veux pas de toi"	19	34
13	Denmark	Fallulah	"Dried-Out Cities"	8	90
14	San Marino	Lorenzo Licitra	"In the Name of Love"	25	-2
15	Slovenia	Nina Donelli ft. Djomla KS	"Bogati Tata"	26	-22
16	Switzerland	Tabitha Nauser	"Bulletproof"	13	59
17	Luxembourg	Foxy	"Puppet"	15	50
18	Estonia	Mariliis Jõgeva	"Go"	23	19
19	Netherlands	Celine Cairo	"Quicksand"	3	110
20	Latvia	Laura Rizzotto	"Red Flags"	4	106
21	Sweden	Moment	"All This Time"	18	36
22	Italy	Betta Lemme	"Bambola"	1	122
23	Malta	Davinia	"Perfectly"	5	100
24	Spain	Heren	"One Life"	21	26
25	Belgium	Sonnfjord	"Lights"	12	60
26	Andorra	Carlos Marco	"When the Mind Wanders"	20	31

Voting Grids

Semi-final 1

Semi-final 1 split positive/negative results
Place	Positive	Points	Negative	Points
1	Poland	111	Belgium	2
2	Finland	109	Finland	2
3	Belgium	88	Luxembourg	2
4	UK	86	B&H	4
5	Luxembourg	84	Poland	4
6	Spain	76	Cyprus	5
7	Norway	72	Spain	5
8	B&H	69	UK	6
9	Ukraine	64	Greece	7
10	Sweden	60	Norway	8
11	Greece	46	Hungary	12
12	Cyprus	45	Sweden	12
13	Hungary	40	Russia	16
14	Russia	36	Ukraine	17

12 points

No.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
5	Finland	Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom
3	Belgium	Hungary, Spain, Sweden
2	Poland	Russia, Ukraine
1	Greece	Italy
	Luxembourg	Slovenia
	Russia	Finland
	Spain	Greece
	Ukraine	Belgium
	United Kingdom	Cyprus

Semi-final 2

Semi-final 2 split positive/negative results
Place	Positive	Points	Negative	Points
1	Belarus	98	Belarus	0
2	Malta	97	Malta	0
3	Denmark	95	Faroe Islands	2
4	Monaco	89	Lithuania	3
5	Switzerland	78	Switzerland	3
6	Faroe Islands	68	Monaco	4
7	Estonia	67	Netherlands	5
8	Netherlands	67	Andorra	7
9	Andorra	64	Denmark	7
10	Lithuania	62	Liechtenstein	10
11	Liechtenstein	59	France	11
12	Albania	57	FYR Macedonia	11
13	France	55	Albania	12
14	Ireland	47	Estonia	16
15	FYR Macedonia	41	Ireland	17

12 points

No.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
3	Belarus	Ireland, Latvia, Malta
	Malta	Estonia, FYR Macedonia, Denmark
2	Andorra	Belarus, Liechtenstein
	Netherlands	Faroe Islands, San Marino
	Monaco	France, Netherlands
	Lithuania	Monaco, Switzerland
1	Liechtenstein	Lithuania
	Denmark	Albania
	Estonia	Andorra
	Switzerland	Moldova

Final

Final split positive/negative results
Place	Positive	Points	Negative	Points
1	Poland	138	Italy	5
2	Italy	127	Andorra	8
3	Netherlands	119	Faroe Islands	8
4	Latvia	116	UK	8
5	Finland	112	Belarus	9
6	Malta	111	Netherlands	9
7	Denmark	107	Belgium	10
8	UK	106	Latvia	10
9	Norway	100	Switzerland	10
10	Belarus	82	Malta	11
11	Germany	82	Luxembourg	13
12	Lithuania	82	Lithuania	14
13	Ukraine	75	Denmark	17
14	Belgium	70	Finland	18
15	Switzerland	69	Sweden	18
16	Moldova	66	Monaco	21
17	Luxembourg	63	Moldova	25
18	Spain	59	Poland	26
19	Monaco	55	Germany	28
20	B&H	54	Ukraine	31
21	Sweden	54	Estonia	33
22	Estonia	52	Spain	33
23	Andorra	39	San Marino	36
24	San Marino	34	B&H	37
25	Faroe Islands	30	Norway	37
26	Slovenia	28	Slovenia	50

12 points

No.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
4	Italy	Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Spain
	Poland	Belarus, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Ukraine
3	Denmark	Finland, Germany, Sweden
	Netherlands	Faroe Islands, Moldova, Norway
2	Finland	Andorra, Denmark
	Germany	Latvia, Monaco
	Luxembourg	Malta, Slovenia
	United Kingdom	Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus
1	Andorra	Italy
	Belgium	Hungary
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Estonia
	Estonia	Poland
	Latvia	Lithuania
	Lithuania	Luxembourg
	Malta	FYR Macedonia
	Moldova	France
	Monaco	United Kingdom
	San Marino	Switzerland
	Spain	Greece
	Sweden	San Marino
	Ukraine	Albania

Incidents

Irish entry

Prior to the opening ceremony it was discovered that the Irish entry, "Unbreakable" performed by Shane Filan, was a cover, originally released in 2014 by Jamie Scott. The OBU decided that, due to the organisational and logistical issues a potential entry change would bring, the song would still be eligible to participate.

Other countries

Every edition, the Origin Broadcasting Union invites all its active members to participate at the contest. The countries below have declined their invitations to participate, with the reasons stated.

• Austria: ORF announced that Austria would withdraw, citing no reason for the decision.

• Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Serbia and Slovakia: The countries had to withdraw from the edition due to the Head of Delegations leaving their posts. It is expected that they will return for the fifth edition.

• Iceland: Following a third consecutive non-qualification, RÚV announced it would take a break to restructure its delegation and approach to the contest. A return in the fifth edition is expected.

• Portugal: Following the Head of Delegation leaving his post, as well as a string of poor results including two last place finishes, Portugal could not participate in the edition.

• Romania: It was announced the country would withdraw due to a lack of time.