San Marino was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

, held in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) internally selected

Valentina Monetta Valentina Monetta (born 1 March 1975) is a Sammarinese singer. She is best known for in the Eurovision Song Contest in , , , and . In the 2014 contest, Monetta became the first entrant to qualify for the final for San Marino. Early life and ed ...

with "Maybe" to represent the nation in the contest. Monetta had previously represented San Marino in both the and contests, though both entries failed to qualify for the grand final. The 2014 entry was promoted through the creation of

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s in both English and Italian, and a promotional tour that included stops in Amsterdam, Moscow and London. San Marino performed 12th in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, held on 6 May 2014, and placed 10th, receiving 40 points. The entry qualified for the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

held four days later, where the nation placed 24th with 14 points. This marked their best placing to this point.

Background

Prior to the 2014 contest, San Marino had participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

four times since their debut in the 2008 contest. For all of these appearances, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) hosted internal selection processes, choosing the band

Miodio Miodio () is a band that consists of three Italian and two Sammarinese members. They represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, performing the song Complice. This was the first time San Marino had entered the competition. The ...

with the song "Complice" for 2008,

Senit Senhit Zadik Zadik (born 1 October 1979), known professionally as simply Senhit (formerly written as Senit), is an Italian pop singer. She represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf with " Stand By", but failed to ...

with "Stand By" for 2011, and

for 2012 and 2013 with "

The Social Network Song "The Social Network Song (OH OH - Uh - OH OH)" (originally titled "Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh (A Satirical Song)") is a song by singer Valentina Monetta which was the Sammarinese entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. At the Eurovision Song Conte ...

" and "Crisalide (Vola)", respectively. All competed in the respective semi-finals of their contests, but failed to qualify for the grand final. To this point, the nation's best placing in the contest was 11th in the semi-finals, which they achieved in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria (Loreen song), Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the Europea ...

. San Marino did not compete in the

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2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

contests, citing financial difficulties.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 19 June 2013, SMRTV announced that they had internally selected

to represent San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 for a third consecutive time, making her the first singer to participate in three consecutive contests since

Udo Jürgens Jürgen Udo Bockelmann (30 September 1934 – 21 December 2014), generally known as Udo Jürgens, was an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, ...

, who competed in

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1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. A special presentation programme titled ''Verso Copenhagen'' to reveal Monetta's song was scheduled to be held on 14 March 2014 at the SMRTV studio. However, it was reported a day before the programme that "Maybe" (and/or the Italian version "Forse") would be the song to represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 after snippets in both versions were available for preview and pre-order at digital download outlet

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, with the ultimate version still yet to be decided. Eurovision and radio edits in both versions, as well as a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

remix of the English version were also listed on Amazon. "Maybe" was confirmed as the song to represent San Marino on 14 March 2014 at the programme, hosted by Alessandro Capicchioni and broadcast on SMtv San Marino as well as online via the broadcaster's website ''smtvsanmarino.sm'' and the official Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.tv''. Monetta and composer of the song

Ralph Siegel Ralph Siegel (born 30 September 1945) is a German record producer and songwriter. Siegel is one of the most notable figures at the Eurovision Song Contest, in which he has participated with 24 songs so far, among them the 1982 winner song Ein ...

were also in attendance for the event. Both English and Italian versions of the song were composed by Siegel with lyrics by Mauro Balestri. Siegel had previously composed 22 Eurovision entries for various countries, including the previous two Sammarinese entries all performed by Monetta. Siegel and Balestri began writing songs together in July 2013, for which Monetta recorded demos in

Forte dei Marmi Forte dei Marmi () is an Italian sea town and ''comune'' located in the province of Lucca, in northern Tuscany, overlooking the Ligurian Sea. Tourism is the principal activity of Forte dei Marmi's citizens. The population of the town, amounting to ...

and at the Olympia Studio in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Monetta stated during her interview with ''ESCToday'' that she opted to perform in English so that the song could be more broadly understood. The remaining songs that were under consideration were released as part of Monetta's third studio album ''Sensibilit'' (2014).

Promotion

To promote the entry, a

for both "Maybe" and "Forse" were released as part of the song's presentation on 14 March 2014. Directed by Michele Massari, the video was filmed in the SMRTV studio and at a beach in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

, Italy. Monetta also embarked on a promotional tour in the lead up the Eurovision Song Contest, appearing on 5 April 2014 in the sixth annual ''Eurovision in Concert'' series, an event held at club

Melkweg Melkweg (Dutch for "Milky Way") is a music venue and cultural center on Lijnbaansgracht, near Leidseplein in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is housed in a former dairy and includes four music halls as well as a cinema, a restaurant and an exhibitio ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Netherlands that was staged to serve as a preview party for the year's entries. She also traveled to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in Russia and

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and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

of the United Kingdom.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 took place at

B&W Hallerne B&W Hallerne (English: ''The B&W Halls'') is a former industrial complex located on the island of Refshaleøen, Copenhagen, Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, Denmark. Built in the early 1960s by Burmeister & Wain, the complex consists of two large hall ...

, Denmark. It consisted of two semi-finals held on 6 and 8 May, respectively, and the

on 10 May 2014. According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, except the host nation and the " Big Five", consisting of , , , and the , were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the grand final; the top 10 countries from the respective semi-finals would proceed to the final. On 20 January 2014, an allocation draw was held at

Copenhagen City Hall Copenhagen City Hall () is the headquarters of the Copenhagen City Council as well as the Lord mayor of the Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. The building is situated on City Hall Square in central Copenhagen. Architecture The current building ...

that placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, with San Marino being placed into the second half of the first semi-final. Once all of the competing songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the producers of the event rather than through another draw. On 24 March, the running order was published, with the nation assigned position 12, following and preceding .

Performances

Monetta performed "Maybe" in the first semi-final on 6 May 2014, appearing 12th out of the 16 countries. Her performance was introduced by a 40-second-long

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. In some places, one can send a postcard f ...

shot at San Marino's Torraccia airfield. On stage, Monetta was joined by four backing vocalists and accompanied on piano by composer Siegel. The performance featured Monetta standing in a white dress on a glittery gold circular platform with a fan-like cloth arrangement behind her. Choreography for the performance was handled by art director Fabrizio Raggi, who also served in that role the previous year. At the end of voting, San Marino placed 10th with a score of 40 points, thus qualifying for the

. During the winner's press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, San Marino was allocated to compete in the second half of the grand final. Their qualification marked the first time the nation qualified for the grand final since their debut in the contest in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. In the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, the producers of the show decided that San Marino would perform 25th, following the and preceding the . In the grand final, held on 10 May, San Marino placed 24th out of the 26 participants, scoring 14 points. This placement marked the nation's highest placing in the contest to this point. In San Marino, both of the semi-finals and the grand final were broadcast on SMRTV and Radio San Marino with commentary by Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo. An alternative broadcast of the semi-finals and the grand final were also available online on the SMRTV website with English commentary by

John Kennedy O'Connor John Kennedy O'Connor (born in 1964) is a television and radio broadcaster, author, and entertainment commentator. He was born in North London, England, but is a naturalized citizen of the United States. He has written, reported and broadcast f ...

and Jamarie Milkovic.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to and awarded by San Marino in the first semi-final and grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, respectively. The Sammarinese votes in the semi-final and the grand final were based solely on the jury's vote due to an insufficient number of votes cast during the televote period. The spokesperson revealing the result of the Sammarinese vote in the grand final was San Marino's representative in the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 11th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine on 30 November 2013. The venue for the contest was announced on 17 April 2013, as the Palace "Ukraine". Ukrainian ...

Michele Perniola Michele Perniola (born 6 September 1998), known also as 3x3n, is an Italian singer, best known for representing San Marino at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with his song "O-o-O Sole Intorno a Me" (O-o-O Sunlight all around me). He also ...

Points awarded to San Marino

Points awarded by San Marino

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Sammarinese jury: * Sara Ghiotti (jury chairperson)musician, speech therapist * (Irol)rapper * Andrea GatteiDJ, composer * Maria Ugolinisinger * Paolo Macinaguitarist

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2014

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...