After another year with an entry that made it to the Grand Final, Ceska televize returned to the popular ESCZ format to choose the Czech entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.
ESCZ 2023 was a change from years’ past. First - the entire process, both the performances and the winner, were announced live (a first for Czechia - now the official EBU name for the Czech Republic). Second - instead of relying on an international jury to help select the winner, the entry was selected purely by public vote on the Eurovision Song Contest app. 30% of the points came from the Czech audience, while the other 70% came from international audiences.
Initially, only three songs were supposed to be shortlisted for the live final - but after more than 170 submissions were received by CT - five were selected to compete for the Eurovision slot.
All five finalists performed their entries live in Prague on January 30, during a primetime special hosted by Czech singer and actor Adam Misik. The running order was as follows:
“Flood” by Maella
“Ghosting” by Pam Rabbit
“Happy” by Market Irglova (who won an Academy Award in 2008 for Best Original Song)
“My Sister’s Crown” by Vesna
“Introvert Party Club” by Roman
After the live performances, viewers had one week to submit their votes - and “My Sister’s Crown” won by a wide margin.
“Crown” features lyrics in English, Ukranian, Czech, and Bulgarian. Vesna’s lead singer, Patricia Fuxova, said the song was written with Eurovision in mind - and that the group wanted to sing something that concerns everyone. Fuxova explained the song is about sisterhood, respect, support, and cooperation - values that Vesna believes are important in solving some of the issues affecting the world in 2023.
Vesna is hoping to be the fifth Czech entry to qualify for the Grand Final - following last year’s success from We Are Domi’s technohit, “Lights Off.” Vesna will perform in the second half of Semi-Final 1 on May 9.