"" (, ) is a song by French-Armenian

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

duo Ladaniva. The song was originally released on 29 September 2023 on the duo's debut self-titled album as a track, and was written by Audrey Leclercq, Jaklin Baghdasaryan, and Louis Thomas. It represented

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

, where it placed in 8th at the grand final with 183 points.

Background and composition

"" was written by the duo together with Audrey Leclercq, and produced by . The title of the song was inspired by band member Jaklin Baghdasaryan's nickname. The song was described as an account of Jaklin’s childhood and the subsequent feeling of society forcing her to conform relating to clothing and her behavior. She both criticizes and challenges it, stating that she instead wants people to find their "real, wild, unapologetic selves".

Music video and promotion

Along with the duo's official confirmation of their Eurovision song, an accompanying music video directed by

Arthur Manukyan Arthur Manukyan (; born July 4, 1985) is an Armenian director and producer, best known for producing and directing music videos of Armenian singers. He also directed dozens of television projects and events. Biography Arthur Manukyan was born ...

was released on the same day. According to ''ESC United'', the video was a tribute to Armenian filmmaker

Sergei Parajanov Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov (January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He is regarded by film critics, film historians and filmmakers to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Parajanov was born to ...

, with outfits for the duo being designed by Mary Stepanyan and Astghik Samvelyan. To further promote the song, they announced their intents to participate in ''Pre-Party ES'' on 30 March 2024, a Eurovision pre-party.

Critical reception

In a ''

Wiwibloggs Wiwibloggs is a fansite and YouTube channel focusing on the Eurovision Song Contest, launched in 2009 by journalist William Lee Adams. History In April 2015, Wiwibloggs won the Arts & Culture category at the UK Blog Awards. Adams has judged ...

'' review containing several reviews from several critics, the song was rated 6.27 out of 10 points, earning 25th out of the 37 songs competing in the

on the site's annual ranking. Another review conducted by ''ESC Bubble'' that contained reviews from a combination of readers and juries rated the song fourth out of the 16 songs "Jako" was competing against in its the Eurovision semi-final. Jon O'Brien, a writer for ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'', ranked the song 13th overall, stating that the song was a "vibrant mix of traditional folk and national pop". ''ESC Beat'''s Doron Lahav ranked it 34th overall, stating that while he "appreciate the authenticity of the song", he found the "structure quite messy". ''

Scotsman Scottish people or Scots (; ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (o ...

'' writer Erin Adam rated the song five out of 10 points, stating that it "may prove too generic to be truly memorable"; however, they also admitted that they found the song to be "colourful, full of character and what Eurovision is all about".

Eurovision Song Contest 2024

Internal selection

The Armenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was internally selected by

AMPTV Public Television of Armenia (; 1TV), also known as AMPTV or ARMTV, is an Armenian public television station that began transmissions in 1956. History Early years Armenia Public Television dates back to September 5, 1955, when the USSR Council ...

. In January 2024, the duo was reported as the selected act by local and international media. On 9 March 2024, the broadcaster officially confirmed the duo as the Armenian entrant for the 2024 contest, with the entry, "", revealed on 13 March.

At Eurovision

The

took place at the

Malmö Arena Malmö Arena is a multi-purpose List of indoor arenas, indoor arena in Malmö, Sweden, and the venue for home games of Swedish Hockey League, SHL ice hockey team Malmö Redhawks. It is the largest arena in the SHL, and the List of indoor arenas ...

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Sweden, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 7 and 9 May and the final on 11 May 2024. During the allocation draw on 30 January 2024, Portugal was drawn to compete in the second semi-final, performing in the first half of the show. The duo were later drawn to perform eighth, ahead of 's

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Șaba or Șaba-Târg, the Romanian name for Shabo, a village in Ukraine * Saba, ...

and behind 's Dons. For its Eurovision performance, Artur Manukyan was appointed as the staging director. Before Eurovision, Armenian head of delegation David Tserunyan promised that the performance would be "something very positive and vocal, giving all the Armenian vibe and energy". The performance featured the duo along with four backing instrument players all wearing traditional Armenian clothing on a giant

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

. Facial expressions of the duo are emphasized within the performance, along with chickens and Armenians motifs. "Jako" finished in third, scoring 137 points and securing a position in the grand final. The duo performed performed a repeat of their performance in the grand final on 11 May. The song was performed in 19th, ahead of 's

Iolanda Iolanda is a given name used in Italian, Portuguese and Romanian languages. Notable people with this name include: * Iolanda Balaș (1936–2016), Romanian Olympic athlete and high jumper * Iolanda Batallé (born 1971), Catalan writer * Ioland ...

and before '

Silia Kapsis Vasiliki Silia Kapsis ( ; ; born 5 December 2006) is an Australian-born singer, dancer, and actress of Greek and Cypriot descent. She represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song " Liar". Early life and career Vasiliki Sil ...

. After the results were announced, they finished in eighth with 183 points, with a split score of 101 points from juries and 82 points from public televoting. The song received no sets of the maximum 12 points from either category. Regarding the former, the most a country awarded was eight, given by , , and . In the televote, the most one gave was ten, awarded by and .

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2023 singles 2023 songs Eurovision songs of 2024 Eurovision songs of Armenia PIAS Recordings singles Songs in Armenian