According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "
Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 17 January 2013, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Macedonia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2013, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2013 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Macedonia was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from
San Marino and before the entry from
Azerbaijan. The two semi-finals and final were broadcast in Macedonia on
MRT 1 and
MRT Sat with commentary by Karolina Petkovska. The Macedonian spokesperson, who announced the Macedonian votes during the final, was Dimitar Atanasovski.
Semi-final Esma and Lozano took part in technical rehearsals on 8 and 11 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 15 and 16 May. This included the jury show on 15 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries. The Macedonian performance featured Esma and Lozano performing on stage together with two backing vocalists. Esma wore a red dress with
Swarovski applications and a traditional Roma headscarf, designed by Elena Luka, while Lozano wore a black suit designed by Viktoria Arsovska and Andrej Gjorgiovski. The stage colours were predominately green, yellow and purple. After contemplating to add English language lyrics to the song and change the song title to "If I Could Change the World", the Macedonian delegation ultimately decided that the song would be performed in Macedonian. The two backing vocalists that joined Esma and Lozano on stage were Eleonora Mustafovska and Nina Janeva. At the end of the show, Macedonia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Macedonia placed sixteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 28 points.
Voting Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Macedonia had placed sixteenth it the public televote and fourteenth with the jury vote in the second semi-final. In the public vote, Macedonia received an average rank of 12.22, while with the jury vote, Macedonia received an average rank of 9.75. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Macedonia and awarded by Macedonia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Malta in the semi-final and to Denmark in the final of the contest.
Points awarded to Macedonia Points awarded by Macedonia == Notes ==