Ukraine was represented by Ani Lorak in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song „Shady Lady“. In Eurovision 2008, Ukraine came in 2nd, being defeated by Russia.
Artist selection
On 21 December 2007, NTU announced that they had internally selected Ani Lorak to represent Ukraine in Belgrade. Lorak previously attempted to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, placing second in the national final with the song „A Little Shot of Love“. On 25 December 2007, NTU announced that they would organise a national final to select her contest song.
National final
Composers had the opportunity to submit their songs between 25 December 2007 and 5 February 2008. A seven-member selection panel consisting of Eduard Klim (Lavina Music CEO), Vitaliy Dokalenko (NTU General Director), Oleksandr Ponomaryov (singer, represented Ukraine in 2003), Oleksandr Zlotnik (composer), Ihor Poklad (composer), Vasil Vovkun (Minister of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine) and Sergey Kuzin (Russian Radio Ukraine CEO) reviewed the 109 received submissions and shortlisted five songs to compete in the national final. On 20 February 2008, the five selected competing songs were announced.
The final took place on 23 February 2008 at the NTU Studios in Kyiv, hosted by Maria Orlova and Timur Miroshnychenko and broadcast on the First National TV Channel. All five competing songs were performed Ani Lorak and the winning song, „Shady Lady“, was selected through the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. „Shady Lady“ received 4,000 votes from the televote was also Lorak’s personal favorite. In addition to the performances of the competing songs, 2008 Azerbaijani Eurovision entrants Elnur & Samir, 2008 Belarusian Eurovision entrant Ruslan Alekhno, 2008 Czech Eurovision entrant Tereza Kerndlová, 2008 Maltese Eurovision entrant Morena and 2008 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Geta Burlacu performed as guests.
Final – 23 February 2008
| Draw | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | „Zhdu tebya“ (Жду тебя) | Yuriy Ostapenko, Ani Lorak | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | „Ya stanu morem“ (Я стану морем) | Vitaliy Volkomor, Mykola Brovchenko | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | „The Dream of Brighter Day“ | Ani Lorak, Yuriy Sak | 8 | 2 |
| 4 | „I’m Your Melody“ | Bozhena Kostromskaya | 8 | 2 |
| 5 | „Shady Lady“ | Philip Kirkorov, Karen Kavaleryan | 14 | 1 |
Ani Lorak previously came 2nd in the 2005 Ukrainian Final. At the ESC, she was 2nd.
