To Be Free (Alyosha song)

"To Be Free" is a song composed by Alyosha (as O. Kucher), written by Dr. Peter Boganavich Chykaliuk and his daughter Carrie Chykaliuk and performed by Alyosha, and was to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in May 2010 in Oslo, Norway. The song was selected on 20 March from twenty songs, all performed by different artists.

On 17 March the Ukrainian broadcaster NTU announced that a new national final will be held. After the first chosen participant Vasyl Lazarovych with the song "I Love You" was canceled.

On 18 March, NTU announced 20 selected artists who progressed from the auditions stage out of 67 submissions. The line-up includes the previous selected artist Vasyl Lazarovych. NTU announced the 20 selected songs and their songwriters on 19 March, as well as releasing clips of the 20 competing songs.

The national final was held on 20 March. Two Days before the submission deadline from the EBU ended.

Alyosha performed last and won the national final with a two points gap.

After the national final on 20 March, allegations were made that the song "To Be Free" plagiarized the Linda Perry and Grace Slick song "Knock Me Out", and had been made available publicly 2 years before its entry in the national final. NTU stated in a press release that they would conduct an investigation over the issue.

The new song "Sweet People" was submitted on 24 March.

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Wikipedia