"Ukraine rebounded from 2005's entry to return to the Eurovision Top 10 in 2006, thanks to Tina Karol's "Show Me Your Love"
Background
Song Title: "Show Me Your Love"
Artist: Tina Karol
Semi-Final: 7th place with 146 points
Grand Final: 7th place with 145 points.((Finland won the semi and the final with 292 both nights. Consistent!))
Last year's entry: "Razom nas bahato" - GreenJolly (19th place out of 24)
Greece won the right to host the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest after Elena Paparizou won in Kiev with "My Number One." Due to Ukraine's low ranking in 2005, the country was forced to compete in the semi-final. This was back when there was only one semi-final, so the entire field of participating countries voted. This allowed for a thorough vetting of 10 of the 24 entries before the Grand Final.
Tina Karol was selected through Ukraine's national final process. Her winning song was called "I Am Your Queen," which turned out to be a rough draft of what was ultimately sent to Athens. Here's the original:
And here's "Show Me Your Love":
Legacy
It's not unusual for songs to get re-written and tweaked between selection and appearing on the Eurovision stage. However, this is a case where I think the tinkering was kind of unnecessary. On the one hand, the original version feels more natural and timely for 2006. On the other hand, the revised version has a more cohesive stage presentation (Tina Karol's boots aside) that allows for a clearer story and aesthetic. Both versions read as bargain Shakira, so the rest of the pluses and minuses kind of balance out.
Although "Show Me Your Love" is fairly generic by today's Eurovision standards, Tina Karol did quite well at the Contest. She got Ukraine back into the Top 10, which allowed for an automatic berth in 2007's final. Although the song received only one 12 between both the semi final and grand final, "Show Me Your Love" demonstrated the importance of receiving points from a lot of countries, even if they are 2's and 3's.
Ukraine was also in the running order behind Finland, which won the Contest with "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. To say that Tina Karol is the opposite of Mr. Lordi is an understatement. However, it demonstrates how being a stark contrast to your running order neighbor can help you stand out in a field of 24-27 countries. Although "Show Me Your Love" will probably not rank in a list of Ukraine's most memorable entries, you can see how the country is improving each year. Staging is just as much a part of the strategy as song quality.
Since the Contest, Tina Karol has been a judge on Ukraine's version of The Voice and continues to release music."