Many Eurovision fans that follow Ukraine’s selection Vidbir will remember the fiasco of the 2024 contest when the Diia app failed. While eleven acts were singing it out to become Ukraine’s representative in Malmö, the crucial app to determine the public’s score crashed.
This led to Vidbir 2024 running over time and turning into a late night talk show before broadcaster Suspilne delayed revealing the results to the following day.
After twenty-four hours, Jerry Heil and alyona alyona drew the long straw and won the selection. At Eurovision in May, their “Teresa & Maria” finished third. Alternative rock band Ziferblat became the runner-up of Vidbir 2024, despite receiving the top marks of the jury — while also becoming a bit of fan favourite in Ukraine.
But for them, the loss was slightly more bitter than it seemed. Speaking to Vidbircast — a new podcast co-created and co-hosted by our own Renske ten Veen — Ziferblat guitarist Valentyn Leshchynskyi revealed that his group was very close to be crowned the show’s winner at one point during the night:
“After [the app crash] happened, the director of the TV channel, he came to all the participants and said: ‘Due to our rules, we need to choose the one that will represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest just by the jury’s votes. So we won’t see the national vote, we will just see the jury’s votes’.”
“It was the previous day, before we were, as you mentioned, [looking] so disappointed [during the results show]. It was the previous day. He said like: ‘What we are deciding to do… we’re just going on with the jury’s votes or we are just waiting for this mobile app to be repaired’.”
“I was yelling some things like: ‘Well, well, it’s good, it’s good, let’s go with the jury’s votes and let’s choose the winner!’. I don’t know why but I knew that our jury votes will be the highest. But then, other artists, other participants, decided that they want to wait for the next day for this app to be repaired and to see the audience result.”
“Like, we had a chance to represent Ukraine!”
However, after a while, the public broadcaster decided to continue the public voting–which had a clear winner from the start. The result was that not Ziferblat, but Jerry Heil and alyona alyona won. Valentyn holds no grudges, as he told Renske and her co-host Deven O’Kearney:
“I think everybody, so the director of the TV channel and the producer, Dmytro, all were shocked and didn’t know what to do. It was for the first time for there to be such a problem. It was for the first time, but we decided to wait.”
“Of course, everybody knew that if we wait for one day or for two days, the app would be repaired and we will see the audience results. Bad for us, but good for Jerry Heil.”
“But she deserved this result. And she won the third place in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest and this is a good result.”
Valentyn Leshchynskyi reflects on Ziferblat’s Vidbir 2024 journey
Ukrainian three piece band Ziferblat was formed in 2015 on the foundations of Kyiv rock group Runnin’Blue by twin brothers Daniil and Valentyn Leshchynskyi. Initially creating music with their friends as Ziferblat, the brothers eventually decided to part ways with them and attract drummer Fedir Khodakov to professionalise their band.
After an EP the band rather wants to forget about, Ziferblat released their first album Перетворення (Transformation) in 2023 on the label Geisha Ninja Samurai. That same year, they won a Muzvar Award in the category Best Connect and were named the best new alternative group in Ukraine. With many noting their music style which fuses 1970s British and American rock and modern day alternative pop, Valentyn said about his musical upbringing:
“My father had a band too when he was a student, but my parents were divorced from my early years. So I had a step-father. He was a member of one of the Ukrainian 90s bands, it was called Mandry. He was a drummer.”
“I think there was a moment when I was twelve years old. We had a Playstation 2, there was this game: Guitar Hero. And my step-brother brought a special guitar for this game. (…) That’s where I first listened to some Western music songs, like The Rolling Stones or The Who.”
“But I have to say that the first connection with Western music was when I was five years old, because my step-father showed us a movie called Yellow Submarine. It’s a Beatles movie and I was shocked. I was just five years old and I still remember. That’s where it started all, I think.”
Their musical style evolved just before their debut album as Daniil started writing more material for the group, Valentyn said:
“I started to take our music seriously when we started to create the music that we are presenting right now. I think I’m taking serious our band from just 2022 when the song “Земля” (Earth) was released. That’s where we started to be serious.”
“Danya started to write music. We had two or three songs before that that were written by him. As I can see now, he is a better writer than me. He’s a better writer and we didn’t know that before. When he started to write songs, when he started to write music, we saw that he can be like a leader. He can be the main writer in the band. That’s where our music changed.”
“When we were twelve or thirteen years, I think we started to watch every Eurovision Song Contest. Of course, Ukraine participated and we were supporting our singers. That’s how the idea was born to participate.”
“Of course, for us, it’s easier to become more popular in Ukraine using such a way, a TV show, like Vidbir or Eurovision. Of course, we decided to participate. Not only to try to get to the final, but also for more popularity. The second try was the next year. We were invited as well. This time, we did a song especially for the Eurovision. When we first tried to participate, we didn’t have a song for the contest and we just had our album.”
“The second try was better because our song ‘Place I Call Home’ was especially written for the national song contest. (…) We expected [to do so well]. When the TV presenter asked us to share our emotions, I said that we were waiting for such a result. I mean, this was about the jury voting. (…) We expected this result because we really worked hard and really prepared.”
The band has already acquainted themselves with Tina Karol, Eurovision 2006 alumna and the creative producer for Vidbir 2025. Recently, they covered Okean Elzy‘s song “Druh” for Tina’s YouTube project Дім звукозапису (Recording House), in which Valentyn in addition to his brother Daniil has a part as a singer too.
Ziferblat working on potential Vidbir 2025 participation
Although Vidbir 2024 meant a definitive breakthrough for Ziferblat in Ukraine, they did experience a bit of Post Eurovision Depression. Valentyn explained:
“When the national election ended, we felt like we were stars in Ukraine. We were invited for different shows, big shows and we had a tour. Of course, we got some money. It helps us to continue, to do something new. After half a year, people started to forget about us…”
Meanwhile, he doubted whether “Place I Call Home” would have been as successful as “Teresa & Maria” at Eurovision:
“I think that this song was much more interesting for a Ukrainian audience. They liked the song. I have some feelings that a European audience wouldn’t like… (…) I didn’t think that with this song we would have gotten such a result that alyona alyona and Jerry Heil got.”
Now, they are actively considering actively considering having another try at representing Ukraine at Eurovision. Valentyn added:
“We need to change some things to do better this year if we will participate. Well, we will participate, but we didn’t write the song… yet. To be honest, we’ve written three songs and now we are sitting and deciding which one we will send to the musical producer. We’ll see what will happen this year if we have some options. If some artists will participate, it would be bad for us.”
In addition to all the questions he received, mid-way through the podcast, Valentyn shared:
“Of course, to be a musician in Ukraine, is a big challenge. Of course, right now, we have bad times. Even this night, I haven’t slept because we had an airforce attack in Kyiv. But on the other hand, some good things happened to us this year. We hope it will be better next year. Music is my life. I can’t imagine what I will or would do without it.”
Would you like to see Ziferblat take part in Vidbir in 2025? Who do you want to see represent Ukraine in Basel? Let us know in the comments down below!
