Russia was represented at 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 ...

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. The Russian entry was selected through an internal selection, organised by Russian broadcaster

Channel One Russia Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervý kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian Television in Russia, federal television channel. Its headquarters are located at Ostankino Technical Center near the Ostankino To ...

(C1R).

Dina Garipova Dina Fagimovna Garipova (, ; born 25 March 1991) is a Russian singer. In 2012, Garipova won the Russian version of singing competition ''The Voice (TV series), The Voice'', ''Golos (Russia), Golos''. Garipova was selected by the Russian broadca ...

represented Russia with the song "

What If What If may refer to: Film * ''What If'', a 2006 TV film starring Niall Buggy * What If... (2010 film), ''What If...'' (2010 film), an American film * What If... (2012 film), ''What If...'' (2012 film), a Greek film * What If (2013 film), ''What ...

", which qualified from the first semi-final of the competition and placed 5th in the final with 174 points.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 30 November 2012, C1R announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries through an online form. On 19 February 2013, C1R announced that they had internally selected

to represent Russia in Malmö. Garipova previously won the first season of talent show '' Golos''. The Russian song, "

", was presented to the public on 24 February 2013 during the C1R television programme ''

Vremya ''Vremya'' (, lit. "Time") is the main evening newscast in Russia, airing on Channel One Russia (Russian: , Pervy kanal) and previously on Programme One of the Central Television of the USSR (CT USSR, Russian: ). The programme has been on th ...

''. "What If" was written and composed by Gabriel Alares, Joakim Bjornberg and Leonid Gutkin.

Participants

Among the competing artists were 2013 Ukrainian national final participant Alina Grosu, and 2012 Russian national final participants "Shinshilli", who participated with the song "Pushkin Sasha", but didn't qualify from auditions.

Plagiarism accusations

After the presentation of the song, several media outlets reported the possibility of plagiarism of several previously released songs: " Skin on Skin" originally recorded by Sarah Connor, "Pozwól żyć" originally recorded by Gosia Andrzejewicz, "All Over The World" originally recorded by Brian Kennedy and "Carried Away" originally recorded by

Hear'Say Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV (TV network), ITV reality TV show ''Popstars (British TV series), Popstars'' in February 2001, the first UK series of the international ''Popstars'' Media franchise, franch ...

. Leonid Gutkin, one of the composers of the song, dismissed the plagiarism accusations.

Promotion

On 14 March, Garipova promoted the song during the second semi-final of the Moldovan national final.

At Eurovision

Russia was allocated to compete in the first semi-final on 14 May for a place in the final on 18 May. In the first semifinal, the producers of the show decided that Russia would perform 6th, following

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and preceding

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. On stage, Garipova was joined by four

backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

s: Alexandra Hamnede, Anders von Hofsten, Sofia Lilja and song co-author Gabriel Alares. The Russian performance featured Garipova dressed in a long beige dress, surrounded by shining white bubbles. Russia qualified from the first semi-final, placing 2nd and scoring 156 points. At the first semi-final winners' press conference, Russia was allocated to perform in the first half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Russia would perform 10th, following

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and preceding

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Russia placed 5th in the final, scoring 174 points. In Russia, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on Channel One, with commentary provided by

Yana Churikova Yana Alekseyevna Churikova (; born 6 November 1978) is a Russian journalist and television host who worked on MTV Russia before moving to Channel One, where she hosted seven seasons of the '' Star Factory'' talent show. Career She has also ...

and Yuriy Aksyuta. The national jury that provided 50% of the Russian vote in the first semi-final and the final consisted of composer

Vladimir Matetsky Vladimir Leonardovich Matetsky (; born May 14, 1952, in Moscow) is a Russian and Soviet composer, producer, and radio presenter. Matetsky is a member of the Russian Authors' Society. He is married and has one daughter, Maria (born 1987) and son ...

and four previous Russian participants in the Contest: Youddiph (

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Philipp Kirkorov Philipp Bedros Kirkorov (, ; ; born 30 April 1967) is a Bulgarian-born Russian pop singer. Kirkorov's career began in 1985 with participation in the Soviet musical TV show "Wider Circle". Since 2000, he has maintained public interest in his pe ...

(

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

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(

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) and

Dima Bilan Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (, ; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan [] on 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer. In 2002, Bilan participated in the first edition of New Wave. At the end of the contest, he finished in fourth place. He represented Russ ...

(

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

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 ...

). The Russian spokesperson in the grand final was

Alsou Alsou Ralifovna Abramova (; ; ; born 27 June 1983), better known by the mononym Alsou, is a Russian singer. She represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 in which she came second with the song ''Solo'' right after Denmark, giving ...

, who had represented Russia previously in the 2000 Contest as well as co-hosting the final in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Voting

Points awarded to Russia

Points awarded by Russia

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2013

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013

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 ...