Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję ("Here beats the heart of Europe! We choose the hit for Eurovision") was the national final organised by TVP in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.[4][5] The show took place on 19 February 2022 at the Studios 4 and 5 of TVP in Warsaw, hosted by 2021 Polish Eurovision entrant Rafał Brzozowski, Ida Nowakowska and Małgorzata Tomaszewska with Aleksander Sikora and Marek Sierocki serving as backstage hosts.[6][7] The show was broadcast on TVP2 and TVP Polonia as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's website tvp.pl.[7][8]

The winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the jurors and televoters via SMS selected 3 superfinalists from the 10 finalists. Each viewer could cast one valid vote from one SIM card. Each juror had to distribute 100 points among all 10 competitors.[9] The jury votes were summed up and then converted into a percentage.[9] The result of the both rounds was a 50/50 combination of the jury vote and the televote.[9] In the event of a tie, the entry placing higher in the jury vote would go on to the tie.[9] In the first round, only the televote results of the competitors who hadn't qualified to the superfinal were revealed.[9] The jury consisted of Halina Frąckowiak (singer), Krystian Kruczkowski (programme director of TVP), Marcin Kusy (president of the Polish Radio Program I), Szymon Orłowski (musician and composer) and Marek Sierocki (Eurovision commentator, music journalist and artistic director).[10]

TVP opened a submission period for interested artists and songwriters to submit their entries between 20 September 2021 and 20 November 2021.[10] The broadcaster received 150 submissions at the closing of the deadline. A five-member selection committee selected ten entries from the received submissions to compete in the national final. The selection committee consisted of Halina Frąckowiak, Krystian Kruczkowski, Marcin Kusy, Szymon Orłowski and Marek Sierocki.[11][12] The selected entries were announced on 14 January 2022 during the TVP2 programme Pytanie na śniadanie. Among the competing artists was Lidia Kopania, who represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.[13]

The televised final took place on 19 February 2022. Ten entries competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting.[14][15] After two rounds of voting, "River" performed by Ochman, was determined the winner by the public and jury vote. Ochman was the winner of the public vote while Daria was the winner of the jury vote.[16] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 for Azerbaijan Ell and Nikki, former Polish Eurovision entrants Justyna Steczkowska (1995), Blue Café (2004), Kasia Moś (2017) and Rafał Brzozowski (2021), and former Polish Junior Eurovision entrants Viki Gabor (2019) and Sara James (2021) performed as the interval acts.[17]

On the day of the final, members of the OGAE Poland fanclub association members voted for their favourite of the selection. 131 OGAE members took part in the voting.[18] Ochman was chosen as the OGAE favourite with the song "River", winning the voting with 1,445 overall points. "Paranoia" by Daria finished 2nd in the voting, scoring 948 points. "Dokąd", performed by Ania Byrcyn, placed 3rd with 929 points. The Top 5 was completed by Kuba Szmajkowski with the song "Lovesick", and Karolina Lizer with the song "Czysta woda".

The final performance of the song "Why Does It Hurt" by Lidia Kopania was widely commented on local media and social networks.[19] It had been speculated that Kopania had forgotten the lyrics of her song, and her facial expressions and gestures during the performance showed that she was aware of the failed performance.[19] The songwriters Ylva and Linda Persson also accused the singer of sabotaging the song, adding that "a good song was wasted".[19] When asked in interviews to comment on the matter, Kopania said that such a performance had been planned, and with the song she wanted to pay tribute to her deceased family members – her father, her brother and her father's sister.[20] Later asked by different media outlets, she stated that she had been inspired by Monty Python, and that she knew her performance would cause outrage.[20] After the singer's performance, her fan-club founded 14 years prior was disbanded, with its founder informing about the singer's "notorious" lies and suggesting that she needed "treatment for her mental health, which had been damaged for some time."[21] Later, the composers of the song "Why Does It Hurt", Ylva and Linda Persson, were accused of plagiarising "Glitter & Gold" by Rebecca Ferguson. It was speculated Kopania had not been informed about the copyright infringement of the song.[22]

Ochman made appearances across Europe to specifically promote "River" as the Polish Eurovision entry.[24] He first performed at the London Eurovision Party, which was held on 3 April 2022 at London's Hard Rock Hotel venue, and later performed at Israel Calling in Tel Aviv's Menora Mivtachim Arena on 7 April.[24] He also performed in the Eurovision in Concert at Amsterdam's AFAS Live on 9 April, and the PrePartyES which took place in Madrid's Sala La Riviera on 16 April.[24] In addition to these promotional events, on 21 March 2022, Ochman recorded his 'live-on-tape' backup performance in TVP's Studio 5 in Warsaw.[25] This can be used if he is unable to travel to Turin, or subjected to quarantine on arrival.[25]