BANGKOK — The first Eurovision Song Contest Asia trophy is destined for the Philippines. CARMELLE, 19, won Saturday’s Grand Final in Bangkok with “Sobra-Sobra,” topping both the jury vote and the public vote, the European Broadcasting Union said.
This wasn’t by a slim margin, either. The jury awarded her 93 points. The viewer voting gave her 118. Combined, that totaled 211, and nobody else got close.
The host nation, Thailand, was left in the runners-up position. MANG x DAOU earned 170 points with their song “Aroma.” Third place went to Vietnam’s Tóc Tiên with “EM TIÊN,” scoring 164 points. Malaysia and Laos filled the remaining top-five spots.
Half of the points were awarded by the jury panel and the other half was by viewers’ votes. One extra set of points came from the Rest of the World vote, counted the same as a single participating country, and by the end votes had come in from 183 countries and territories.
Eleven Countries Under One Theme
One Bangkok Forum served as the venue for this evening’s event, themed “United by Music.” Eleven acts performed in 10 local languages along with English, and the evening started with a performance of “Bangkok Sounds and Senses,” composed for the host city.
The 11 flags present on stage belonged to the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Nepal fielded Pratik Himal Rai, performing “Ananta Maya” in 10th place of the running order.
Thai TV stars Woody Milintachinda and Cindy Bishop hosted. DARA did the honors at the end: the Bulgarian singer, who won the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Europe earlier this year with “Bangaranga,” handed the trophy to CARMELLE. Thai star Jeff Satur also performed during the show.
Contest director Martin Green CBE did not understate it.
“Congratulations to CARMELLE and the Philippines on becoming the first-ever winners of Eurovision Song Contest Asia. What an historic achievement!”
The anniversary meant a lot to him. Eurovision is turning 70 this year and Green said watching its concept of unity through music spread to Asia is a significant moment, one that he hopes will be remembered for years.
A Winner Who Grew Up in TV Competitions
Back home, there was no surprise. CARMELLE had already participated in The Voice Kids, where she finished as first runner-up, and then she won Tawag ng Tanghalan. She then participated in Pinoy Big Brother and her following has skyrocketed since then.
“Sobra-Sobra” was written by Gianina Camille, “Nico” del Rosario, Mart Sam Emmanuel and “Mat” B. Olavides.
For executive producer Assaf Blecher, the evening marked the culmination of a long-term preparation process. He praised the artists, the delegations and the production teams involved in staging Eurovision’s first Asian edition in Bangkok and called CARMELLE’s victory just the beginning of a new chapter for Eurovision in Asia.
It could be seen almost anywhere. The grand final was aired in all the participating countries and streamed online on Eurovision Song Contest’s official YouTube channel. It was aired in Israel by EBU member KAN, in Australia by SBS, in Poland by TVP, and in Sweden by Sveriges Radio. Voxovation and Bangkok-based S20 Productions produced the final, which was sponsored by ZOOP.