The Song 2

The Song 2 was the second edition of the The Song. The contest was hosted in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, following the country's victory at the first edition in Dublin, Ireland, with the song "Hard To Say Goodbye", performed by RONDÉ. The contest was held at the Johan Cruyff Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 5 July and 7 July, and a final on 21 July 2022. The three live shows were presented by Dutch actor Michiel Huisman, Dutch model Miljuschka Witzenhausen and Dutch makeup artist Nikkie de Jager.

Forty-six countries participated in the second edition of the contest including Estonia, Monaco, San Marino and Slovakia that made their debut appearance. Croatia and Georgia failed to qualify from the pre-qualification round and they were forced to withdraw from this edition.

The winner was Cyprus with the song "Ónira", performed by Evangelia and written by the Alexis Troy, Evangelia Psarakis, Jay Stolar and Jordan Palmer. Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal and Monaco completed the top 6 of the edition.

Location
Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands; with a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban area and 2,480,394 in the metropolitan area. Found within the Dutch province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", due to the large number of canals which form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Amsterdam was founded at the Amstel, that was dammed to control flooding; the city's name derives from the Amstel dam. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, and became the leading centre for the finance and trade sectors. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned and built. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Sloten, annexed in 1921 by the municipality of Amsterdam, is the oldest part of the city, dating to the 9th century.

Amsterdam's main attractions include its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, the Concertgebouw, the Anne Frank House, the Scheepvaartmuseum, the Amsterdam Museum, the Heineken Experience, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Natura Artis Magistra, Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, NEMO, the red-light district and many cannabis coffee shops. It drew more than 5 million international visitors in 2014. The city is also well known for its nightlife and festival activity; with several of its nightclubs (Melkweg, Paradiso) among the world's most famous. Primarily known for its artistic heritage, elaborate canal system and narrow houses with gabled façades; well-preserved legacies of the city's 17th-century Golden Age. These characteristics are arguably responsible for attracting millions of Amsterdam's visitors annually. Cycling is key to the city's character, and there are numerous biking paths and lanes spread throughout the entire city.

Venue
The Johan Cruyff Arena is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 at a cost equivalent to €140 million, it is the largest stadium in the country. The stadium was previously known as the Amsterdam Arena until the 2018–19 football season, when it was officially renamed in honor of legendary Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff who died in March 2016.

It was one of the stadiums used during UEFA Euro 2000, and also held the 1998 UEFA Champions League Final and 2013 UEFA Europa League Final. The stadium also hosted three group stage matches and one match in the round of 16 of the UEFA Euro 2020.

Both international and Dutch artists have given concerts in the stadium, including Tina Turner, Coldplay, Take That, Celine Dion, Madonna, Michael Jackson, André Hazes, David Bowie, AC/DC, Justin Timberlake, One Direction, The Rolling Stones, Beyoncé and Rihanna. The dance event Sensation was held in the stadium every year, up until the final edition in 2017.

Presenters
The Dutch broadcaster & the EBU on 14th June announced the three presenters that hosted the shows of the second edition of The Song. The Dutch actor Michiel Huisman hosted the final, the Dutch model Miljuschka Witzenhausen hosted the first semi-final and the Dutch makeup artist Nikkie de Jager hosted the second semi-final.

Pre-qualification
The European Broadcaster Union (EBU) announced that the limit of entries for each edition would be the 46 participants. Because of the amount of confirmations the EBU created a pre-qualification round that takes place every edition before the actual contest. Two countries every edition qualify from the pre-qualification round to the semi-finals while the others are eliminated. This edition the participating countries of the pre-qualification round were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia and Spain.

Semi-final allocation draw
The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 27 June 2022. The forty countries were divided into six pots, based on their geographical place. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

Participating countries
Forty-six countries participated in the first edition of the contest including Estonia, Monaco, San Marino and Slovakia that made their debut appearance. Croatia and Georgia failed to qualify from the pre-qualification round and they were forced to withdraw from this edition. The submissions for the second edition opened on 11 June 2022 while the deadline for the entries submission was on 1 July 2022.

Returning artists
The contest featured two returning artists from the first edition: MØ represented Denmark and Josephine represented Cyprus. In addition, C'est Karma represented Luxembourg in the first edition of The Song Second Chance.

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 5 July 2022. Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. Those countries plus Andorra, Greece and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final. {{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 7th July 2022. Twenty countries participated in the second semi-final. Those countries plus Italy, Lebanon and the Netherlands voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final. {{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

Final
The final took place on 21st July 2022. Twenty-six countries participated in the final.{{Legend|gold|Winner}}

Scoreboard
Full results including televoting and results from the individual jury members were released shortly after the announcement of the winner.

Semi-final 1
{{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the semi-final 1:

Semi-final 2
{{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the semi-final 2:

Final
{{Legend|gold|Winner}}

12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final:

Spokespersons
The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:


 * 1) – Zeta Makripoulia
 * 2) – Wailord
 * 3) – Dana Hourani
 * 4) – Jonida Maliqi
 * 5) – Bono
 * 6) – Eda Marcus
 * 7) – Adi Ulmansky
 * 8) – Max Verstappen
 * 9) – Daniel Ricciardo

 – Sanna Nielsen  – Konstrakta  – Isa P  – Matoma  – Pommelien Thijs  – Florence Welch  – Barbara Moleko  – Fazlija  – Cristiano Ronaldo</li> </ol>

 – Michela Pace</li>  – Sara Deop</li>  – CMAT</li>  – Jana Bahrich</li>  – Mattia Binotto</li>  – Robert Kubica</li>  – Matthías Haraldsson</li>  – Simon Fuller</li> </ol>

Other countries


Countries that are active members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) are also eligible to participate in The Song. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below.

Associate EBU members

 * 🇳🇿 New Zealand: The Television New Zealand (NVZL) asked the EBU to invite them to the contest due to the first edition being a hugely successful show within the New Zealand audience. The EBU left the discussion open for the future.

EBU non-members

 * 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands: Faroese publication Portal reported that Kringvarp Føroya (KVF) had applied for active EBU membership, a requisite for participation in the contest. However, it was rejected due to the islands' membership of the Danish Realm. Faroese Education Minister Bjørn Kalsø supported participation, saying "the justification so far has been that the countries have to be acknowledged by the United Nations as independent in order to participate. But there is no doubt that we could easily overstep those barriers, if we’re absolutely determined to reach this goal … it is completely up to Kringvarpið … to renew the application regularly, and show the EBU that the Faroe Islands are an equal match to other countries when it comes to participation in The Song."

The Song 2 Awards
The Song Awards, first held in first edition, saw competing acts celebrated across seventeen categories. All eligible songs were shortlisted for this edition, with the final result was determined by followers of the official The Song Instagram channel, who cast votes for their favourite act.