Iceland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Our Choice" written by Þórunn Erna Clausen. The song was performed by Ari Ólafsson. The Icelandic entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal was selected through the national final Söngvakeppnin 2018, organised by the Icelandic broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV). The selection consisted of two semi-finals and a final, held on 10 February, 17 February and 3 March 2018, respectively. Six songs competed in each semi-final with the top three as selected by a public televote advancing to the final. In the final, the winner was selected over two rounds of voting: the first involved a 50/50 combination of jury voting and public televoting, which reduced the six competing entries to two superfinalists and the second round selected the winner exclusively through public televoting. "Our Choice" performed by Ari Ólafsson emerged as the winner after gaining 53.23% of the public vote.

Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Forever" written by Kirill Pavlov and Yevgeny Matyushenko. The song was performed by Alekseev. The Belarusian entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal was selected through a national final organised by the Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC). The national final consisted of fifteen competing acts participating in a televised production where "Forever" performed by Alekseev was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.