You're reading: Melovin to represent Ukraine at 2018 Eurovision Song Contest (VIDEO)

An up-and-coming pop singer Melovin will represent Ukraine at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest that will take place in Lisbon, Portugal on May 8-12.

Kostyantyn Bocharov, performing under the stage name Melovin, won the right to represent Ukraine in the national selection on Feb. 24, defeating five other candidates that made it to the selection’s final.

The song he will perform in Lisbon is the upbeat “Under the Ladder.”

Melovin, 20, raised to prominence after winning a Ukrainian version of the TV show “X Factor” in 2015. He has already tried to get to the Eurovision in 2017 but failed to win the national selection.

The Eurovision Song Contest has been a major event for the Ukrainian TV audience ever since the country’s representative first participated in it back in 2003.

But this year, the focus on the Eurovision is arguably even stronger following the 2017 contest that took place in Kyiv.  It was Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar singer Jamala who won the 2016 edition of the contest with her hit song “1944” and brought the Eurovision to Kyiv.

Ukrainian representatives actually won the Eurovision twice: More than a decade before Jamala, Ukrainian pop and folk singer Ruslana won the 2004 competition with “Wild Dances.”

Portugal’s Salvador Sobral won the 2017 Eurovision contest in Kyiv, securing the first-ever victory for his country and bringing the 2018 contest to Lisbon.

The 2018 participant, Melovin, was selected in the national competition by the combined votes of a three-person jury and TV audience.

He defeated five other finalists: The Erised, Kadnay, Tayanna, Vilna and Laud.

The final of the national selection didn’t go scandal-free. One of the three judges, Andriy Danylko, a singer most famous for his stage persona Verka Serduchka, said that one of the participants, Tayanna, appeared to be lip-synching.

He prompted her to sing a part of her song again to prove this wrong, and she did, to the audience’s content. But during the episode, Danylko was caught swearing on live TV, which immediately made headlines.

Also during the final, Jamala, also the jury member, complained about getting threatening text messages from Melovin’s fans, prompting the singer to apologize for his followers’ behavior.