San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

On 7 November 2018, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) included San Marino in their list of the 42 countries that had signed up to partake in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.^[6] After initially exploring the use of 1in360 for a second year, San Marino ultimately opted to return to an internal selection process.^[7][8] On 21 January 2019, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) held a press conference where they announced that Serhat was internally selected to represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. SMRTV Director Carlo Romeo and San Marino Head of Delegation Alessandro Capicchioni were also in attendance for the event.^[9] The Turkish singer had previously represented the nation in the 2016 contest held in Stockholm, Sweden, where he performed the song "I Didn't Know", though he failed to qualify the country for the final.^[1] In support of their decision, Romeo stated that their 10th anniversary in the contest was an important goal for them and they wanted to choose an established international artist. Serhat provided the opportunity to select a "citizen of the world" and someone with whom they could recreate a close-knit team.^[10] The announcement was followed by a second press conference the following week at Hotel Marmara in Istanbul where Serhat announced his participation to the Turkish media.^[11] His song "Say Na Na Na" was presented on 7 March at a media event held in Tel Aviv and was available for digital download along with nine remixes.^[12][13] The song was composed by Serhat with lyrics written in collaboration with Mary Susan Applegate.^[14]

Prior to the selection of Serhat, two artists were rumoured by the press to have been in consideration: social media influencer Jessica Alves and Russian Daryanna Kraieva. Alves spoke to the press about the potential participation, further fueling these rumours. In response, SMRTV stated that they would neither confirm nor deny the speculation, directing people to wait for the 21 January announcement.^[15][16]

To promote the entry, a music video for "Say Na Na Na" was released on 7 March 2019, coinciding with the song's presentation.^[17] Directed by Thierry Vergness, it was filmed at Isiklar Studio in Istanbul and was completed by 24 February.^[18][19] SMRTV was looking for an international team to create the video and released interviews by production staff in their native languages extending through March.^[19] To further promote the entry, Serhat performed as one of 28 represented countries during the eleventh annual edition of Eurovision in Concert on 6 April 2019, which was held at the club AFAS Live concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Marlayne Sahupala and Cornald Maas.^[20] Later that month on 19 and 20 April, he performed during the third annual PrePartyES event, which was held at the La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.^[20][21]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 took place at Expo Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel. It consisted of two semi-finals held on 14 and 16 May, respectively, and the final on 18 May 2019.^[22] All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five", consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top 10 countries from each semi-final progress to the final.^[23] Semi-finalists were allocated into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests as determined by the contest's televoting partner Digame, with the aim of reducing the chance of neighbourly voting between countries while also increasing suspense during the voting process.^[24] On 28 January 2019, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals and determined which half of the show they would perform in. San Marino was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.^[25] Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. San Marino was set to perform in position 17 (last), following the entry from Greece.^[26] In San Marino, the two semi-finals and the final were broadcast on San Marino RTV and Radio San Marino with commentary by Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo.^[27]

Serhat performed "Say Na Na Na" during the jury show on 13 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries, an event that determines half of the final vote.^[28] The following night, he performed the song last in the first semi-final, following the entry from Greece. The performance featured Serhat surrounded by two male dancers and three female backing vocalists, all dressed in white.^[29] Serhat described it as being very modern and reminiscent of the music video, though some adjustments had to be made such as limiting the number of people on stage to six.^[30] These performances were staged by creative director Nick Marianos, who had previously served in that role for past Greek Eurovision entrants Sakis Rouvas and Eleftheria Eleftheriou.^[31] At the end of the night, San Marino was announced as one of the ten countries to have qualified for the final, making it only the second time they reached the final and their first qualification since 2014.^[32] It was later revealed that San Marino placed eighth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 150 points: 124 points from the televoting and 26 points from the juries.^[33]

After the show, Serhat appeared at a press conference with the other nine finalists to draw which half of the final he would participate in. San Marino was drawn to perform in the first half of the final.^[34] At the final, held on 18 May, Serhat performed "Say Na Na Na" seventh, following the entry from Denmark and preceding the entry from North Macedonia.^[35] At the close of voting, the nation finished 19th with 77 points, giving San Marino their best result to this point.^[1]

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their expert jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. The jury judged each entry based on vocal capacity, the stage performance, the song's composition and originality and the overall impression by the act. No member of a national jury was permitted to be connected in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.^[36] John Kennedy O'Connor served as the Sammarinese spokesperson, who announced the votes awarded by the Sammarinese jury during the final.^[37] Below is a breakdown of points awarded to San Marino and awarded by San Marino in both the first semi-final and the final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows.

The following members comprised the Sammarinese jury:^[33][36]

• Paolo Rondelli (jury chairperson) – cultural and communication manager
• Danilo Berardi – Head of Production and Head of Live events services San Marino RTV
• Sabrina Minguzzi – choreographer, teacher, dancer
• Ella Gasperoni – radio DJ
• Marilia Reffi – cultural promoter

Detailed voting results from San Marino (Semi-final 1)^[33]

R/O	Country	Jury							Aggregated televote
		P. Rondelli	D. Berardi	S. Minguzzi	E. Gasperoni	M. Reffi	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Cyprus	2	7	4	3	2	3	8	2	10
02	Montenegro	3	4	2	1	1	2	10	16
03	Finland	15	16	16	10	15	16		15
04	Poland	13	15	14	11	9	14		6	5
05	Slovenia	11	2	15	9	8	7	4	8	3
06	Czech Republic	6	6	8	8	11	8	3	7	4
07	Hungary	10	11	9	7	7	11		13
08	Belarus	14	14	11	5	5	10	1	11
09	Serbia	7	9	5	13	4	6	5	9	2
10	Belgium	5	12	3	16	13	9	2	14
11	Georgia	9	10	7	12	14	12		10	1
12	Australia	4	3	10	14	10	5	6	5	6
13	Iceland	8	5	6	4	6	4	7	4	7
14	Estonia	12	13	12	6	16	13		3	8
15	Portugal	16	8	13	15	12	15		12
16	Greece	1	1	1	2	3	1	12	1	12
17	San Marino

Detailed voting results from San Marino (Final)^[38]

R/O	Country	Jury							Aggregated televote
		P. Rondelli	D. Berardi	S. Minguzzi	E. Gasperoni	M. Reffi	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	14	22	18	15	16	22		22
02	Albania	8	6	3	4	6	4	7	16
03	Czech Republic	12	21	19	9	11	16		20
04	Germany	22	24	21	16	25	23		25
05	Russia	3	1	2	2	2	2	10	1	12
06	Denmark	23	25	20	25	17	25		19
07	San Marino
08	North Macedonia	11	4	8	24	14	10	1	15
09	Sweden	15	9	14	6	18	13		12
10	Slovenia	10	20	16	23	3	12		21
11	Cyprus	9	7	5	8	13	6	5	4	7
12	Netherlands	2	10	10	22	19	8	3	5	6
13	Greece	1	2	4	3	5	3	8	2	10
14	Israel	19	15	17	11	21	20		10	1
15	Norway	20	19	22	10	22	21		8	3
16	United Kingdom	17	16	24	14	12	19		24
17	Iceland	7	12	15	7	4	5	6	9	2
18	Estonia	25	23	23	21	8	18		17
19	Belarus	21	18	13	5	20	14		23
20	Azerbaijan	5	8	6	20	10	7	4	7	4
21	France	24	17	25	19	23	24		14
22	Italy	4	3	1	1	1	1	12	3	8
23	Serbia	16	14	11	18	24	17		18
24	Switzerland	13	5	9	17	7	9	2	6	5
25	Australia	18	13	7	13	15	15		11
26	Spain	6	11	12	12	9	11		13