Junior Eurovision is basically Eurovision’s annoying little sister. The contest gives aspiring musicians under the age of 16 the chance to perform on one of the world’s biggest stages. This year a record twenty nations will compete in Belarus’ Minsk-Arena. The show will see the debut of Kazakhstan and Wales and is the sixteenth edition of the contest.JESC has served as a launch pad for some of the artist who have gone on to represent their nation in the main Eurovision Song Contest a few years later. Most notably this has included dutch sibling girl band O’G3NE (JESC 2007, ESC 2017), Russian twins the Tolmachevy Sisters (JESC 2006, ESC 2014) and San Marino duo Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini who competed at JESC solo in 2013 and 2014 and represented San Marino together at ESC 2015.
Turning our attention to this year’s bunch of hopefuls, we take a look at all twenty contenders, score them out of ten and rank them in order of least favourite to favourite…
20. Armenia: L.E.V.O.N- ‘L.E.V.O.N’
★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
19. Azerbaijan: Fidan Huseynova- ‘I Wanna Be Like You’
★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
18. Netherlands: Max & Anne- ‘Samen’
★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
17. Georgia: Tamar Edilashvili- ‘Your Voice’
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
16. Italy: Melissa & Marco- ‘What Is Love’
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
15. Israel: Noam Dadon- ‘Children Like These’
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
14. Serbia: Bojana Radovanović- ‘Svet’
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
13. Macedonia: Marija Spasovska- ‘Doma’
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
12. Russia: Anna Filipchuk- ‘Unbreakable’
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
11. Kazakhstan: Daneliya Tuleshova- ‘Ózińe sen’
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
10. Belarus: Daniel Yastremski- ‘Time’
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
9. Albania: Efi Gjika- ‘Barbie’
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
8. Poland: Roksana Węgiel- ‘Anyone I Want To Be’
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
7. Ireland: Taylor Hynes- ‘IOU’
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
6. Malta: Ela- ‘Marchin’On’
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
5. Australia: Jael- ‘Champion’
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
4. Wales: Manw- ‘Berta’
★★★★★★★★☆☆
3. France: Angélina- ‘Jamais sans toi’
★★★★★★★★☆☆
2. Portugal: Rita Laranjeira- ‘Gosto de Tudo (Já Não Gosto de Nada)’
★★★★★★★★☆☆
1. Ukraine: Darina Krasnovetska- ‘Say Love’
★★★★★★★★★☆
Do you have a favourite song from this year’s contest? Vote in our poll!