Malta’s 2023 Eurovision representatives, The Busker, nearly missed the deadline to apply for their country’s national selection. 

The band had wanted to enter Malta Eurovision Song Contest (MESC) – Malta’s national selection programme for Eurovision – in 2022, but had missed the December 2021 application deadline. 

Drummer Jean Paul Borg, saxophonist Sean Meachen and singer David Meilak all assumed the December date would be the same in 2022 for the 2023 edition of the selection, but it turned out to be a lot earlier. 

Speaking to The Euro Trip, Borg said: “It started way back in 2021. 

“Dave suggested the idea of entering the Eurovision Song Contest. Personally, I thought it was a very interesting question and said yes immediately. Dave constantly brought it up and I said we’d do it. Sean was, at first, sceptical.” 

Meachen added: “As long as the song was good. I just had to make sure the song was at the level to make the impact we needed to make.” 

Meilak said: “In 2021, we missed the boat for MESC 2022. Then we said we’d postpone it until next year. 

“We were getting busy until September when we set down and said the deadline would soon be coming up, because in 2021 for MESC 2022 the deadline was in December, so we assumed it would be December 2022. 

“Little did we know it was in October 2022, so we had 30 days to fully produce and fully record the song with the three elements of drums, vocals and saxophone. 

“The song itself started off with a simple acoustic guitar with different lyrics, a different melody and a different theme.” 

Meilak managed to write all the elements of Dance (Our Own Party) himself before getting Meachen to record the saxophone solo that he had written in a simplified form. 

After submitting their song on time, The Busker advanced from their quarter-final in MESC before qualifying from the subsequent semi-final two weeks later. 

In the final of MESC, The Busker came joint second in the jury vote and won the public televote which gave them outright victory. 

The band will perform second in the first Eurovision Semi-Final in May.

Featured image – Daryl Cauchi