The Belorussian National Final, scheduled for Friday, January 10th, will bring together fourteen acts, all vying for the ticket to Copenhagen.  With performances by 2013 representative Alyona Lanskaya, 2006 alumna Polina Smolova, and recent Türkviziyon silver medalist (and occasional Eurofest participant) Gunesh Abasova, the show will be live-streamed on Eurovision.tv.

This year’s finalists are (with links, if available):

1. Natalia Tamelo – “Not What I’ve Been Looking For”
2. Nuteki – “Fly Away“
3. Artem Mikhalenko – “Rapsodia #1“
4. Matvei Cooper feat. DUX – “Strippers“
5. TEO – “Cheesecake“
6. Daria – “Starlight“
7. Elena Siniavskaya – “Via Lattea”
8. Alina Moshchenko – “Angel Crying“
9. Janet – “You Will Be Here“
10. Anastasia Malashkevich – “Runaway“
11. Switter Boys feat. Kate & Volga – “Vechnaya lyubov“
12. Napoli – “Stay With Me“
13. Max Lorens and DiDyuLya – “Now You’re Gone“
14. Tasha Odi – “Empty Universe“

A 15th entry, Alexei Gross’s “If I Could Do It All Again“, was disqualified after it had been realized that the song had been entered into the 2011 Maltese National Final.  Oops…

A bit of digging reveals quite a few familiar names in this Final.  Artem Mikhalenko was one of the members of 3+2, who performed “Butterflies” in Oslo.  Alina Moshchenko took part in Junior Eurovision 2008 with “Sertse Belarusi“, coming in 6th place overall.  We’ve also seen Nuteki, Daria, Janet, Max Lorens, and Natalya Tamelo at previous National Finals.

With BTRC, choosing a winner at a National Final is rarely the end of the story.  Since 2010, every single song that has been announced as the Belorussian representative has eventually been changed.  3+2 was originally supposed to take “Far Away” to Oslo, but it was swapped for “Butterflies” just days before the deadline.  The original entry for 2011, “Born in Bielorussia” was swapped out for “I Love Belarus” when evidence of a pre-cutoff performance was unearthed.  In 2012, Alyona Lanskaya’s “All My Life” was thrown out after a presidential commission found evidence of cheating at the National Final, with Litesound’s “We Are the Heroes” sent in its place.  Last year, after Alyona again took the title at Eurofest with “Rhythm of Love“, the song was eventually replaced with “Solayoh”.

Needless to say, I’m sure Friday’s National Final will be entertaining, but I wouldn’t get too attached to the winning song.