lindita halimi english bote new world

She became a fan favourite at Albania’s FiK53 and last week she fulfilled her destiny to sing at Eurovision by winning FiK55.

But for Kosovar superstar Lindita Halimi there is no time to rest, and she’s already thinking about potential tweaks and changes to her song “Botë”.

In the aftermath of her victory fans have speculated about whether she’ll revamp the song — or potentially even replace it as Elhaida Dani did in 2015. But this much is certain: She wants to sing “Botë” (World) at least partially in English.

Lindita, who currently lives in Hotlanta, Georgia, revealed her intentions in a Facebook comment posted on Christmas Day.

“The song’s language will change to make the message universal,” she wrote, adding that she’s already working on the text.

The post follows her on-stage interview with Eurovision Albania, during which she said that she had been considering English lyrics for a while.

When asked about singing in Albanian or English, she said:

“I don’t know — that depends on the arrangement, but I should say that I’ve written the lyrics in English, while having the dream that maybe — just maybe — I might win.”

Linidita famously made the Top 51 of American Idol earlier this year, earning high praise from judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Henry Connick, Jr.

She returned to FiK last week with even greater confidence, showing off her stunning figure and nailing every single one of her notes.

“It means the world to me, and I truly appreciate all the wiwibloggs fans for supporting me, and for always writing to me and always letting me know how much they love Botë,” she told our colleagues from Eurovision Kosovo moments after her win.

“I truly love that song and I’m so glad they felt the same emotions that I did.”

And what about singing for Albania at Eurovision 2017?

“It’s a big honour, just the fact that we get to be in an audience such as Eurovision, that’s so big, and the fans are amazing — they’re on fire all the time. And I feel like Albania’s always brought it…I will have to try to keep the same high standards that we always had.”

Those concerned about her ability to sing in English should cool it. Lindita speaks perfect English, is married to an American, lives in the United States and wrote the English lyrics to Elhaida Dani’s “I’m Alive”. If anyone can handle a language revamp, it’s Lindita! Whether the song will retain its soul is, of course, another matter.

Do you think she should include English lyrics or even sing entirely in English? What about a hybrid in both tongues? Let us know in the comments box below.

Read more Albania Eurovision news

39 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Mindy
6 years ago

Thank you a lot for providing individuals with remarkably splendid opportunity to read articles and blog posts from this web site. It is always so pleasant and also stuffed with a great time for me personally and my office colleagues to search your site really thrice weekly to read through the fresh stuff you have got. And indeed, we’re certainly fascinated considering the fantastic points you give. Some 2 areas in this posting are certainly the best I have ever had.

Melissa J
7 years ago

Just keep that orchestration and it will be a good song. But I’m worried since a rewrite of the music arrangement is what killed 2014’s song

Randomsagev2
Randomsagev2
7 years ago

I’m confident that the soul of the song remains. Who knows? She might’ve written the song in English originally and kept the soul in the Albanian lyrics.

Btw, she’s Kosovar? How would the Serbians feel about that? Remember – the Kosovo flag was banned this Eurovision. Would her national supporters be able to wave their Flag or the Albanian flag.

Or am I being unnecessary? Somewhat ignorant American here!

James
James
7 years ago

@an esc fan

Lindita is from Kosovo. 🙂

Lanti
7 years ago

@Robyn Gallagher:
Didn’t know it was a case of Lisja Esenski/ Autumn Leaves, but hopefully the lyrics’ meaning didn’t do a 180 like with MK2015, changing the entire thing.

Maclaren
Maclaren
7 years ago

Since when people living in Atlanta have perfect English?

an esc fan
an esc fan
7 years ago

Is she albanian living in Atlanta US? Countries like Albania don’t like expatriates unless they have money and they can pay their way to Ukraine (in this case).

Francis Lockyer
Francis Lockyer
7 years ago

If there is going to be a revamp please DO NOT repeat the mistakes of Fairytale.

beccaboo1212
7 years ago

Ok people. Those who want “Botë” to be bilingual for Kiev will have to keep praying for that to happen. I’m not saying that I necessarily think the revamp is a bad idea, but I understand why some people do. 🙂

Laburnum
Laburnum
7 years ago

Well a bilingual song won this year. I think albanian and english lyrics might make an unusual but nice contrast in this song

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

Surprise surprise! But I think she’ll do a good job this time.

James
James
7 years ago

@CookyMonzta: As Lindita is a fluent English speaker and can write her own songs in more than one language, I think she has a better idea how she’d approach Anglicizing the song (if she hadn’t already) without sacrificing the dramatic impact she was able to give on her live performance of Bote in FIK.

cheesecake
cheesecake
7 years ago

Please make it at least bilingual.
I hoped (and I still do) that some countries will go back (or at least to some extent) to singing in their native languages after ‘1944’ won.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
7 years ago

I’ve seen the translation; and as appropriate as the lyrics are today, I am at odds as to whether they should go English on this one. The last 2 songs Albania replaced with English lyrics flopped hard. I had Hersi’s “Zemërimi I Një Natë” (2014) as a possible top-5 finisher; unfortunately, not only did they replace the lyrics, but they also watered down the music to make it pop-friendly, and she was sent packing after Day 1. I have not heard the studio version for Lindita’s “Botë (World)”, but if it is as thunderous or ferocious as were the songs… Read more »

Thomas
Thomas
7 years ago

Lol there we go again

karminowe.usta
karminowe.usta
7 years ago

In my opinion English version of song isn`t bad idea but she must revamp also music. This song is so heavy in chorus it must be lighter.

Paul D.
Paul D.
7 years ago

A bilingual version of the song wouldn’t be a bad idea

James
James
7 years ago

English-language songs tend to do better because they make up the majority of the songs being entered to the contest since the language rule was lifted in 1999 thus there is always that small but significant chance for a song that is not sung in English or at least multilingual to be just as successful.

With that said, I do hope Lindita can pull this off.

avis
avis
7 years ago

Let’s wait for the final version before complaining about the situation. Maybe it will improve the song – maybe it gets worse. We’ve seen examples of both kinds. If the English lyrics will be as bland as the ones from Fairytale (which was MUCH better in the Përrallë version): Keep it in Albanian!
But right now, I can’t see this song in the final anyway

bulgariastan
bulgariastan
7 years ago

I hope it will be bilingual to show to beauty of Albanian, and to spread the message of the song in English.

blondboybc
blondboybc
7 years ago

Whoever says English is the “universal language”, think again…they’re more Mandarin and Hindi speakers on this Earth…it MUSIC that’s the universal language, not the language it’s sung in…personally, I would prefer she sing in Albanian, but they, predictably, feel the need to anglicize. No guarantee of final for her with this song, either way. 🙂 Good luck, Albania, you’ll need it! 🙂

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

I usually don’t mind the language, as long as the song is good. So sing in English if you like, but please don’t ruin the song itself!

Davve
Davve
7 years ago

People as usual complain when Albania or any country translate their songs. But it is English songs that does great most of the time. In Albanian this song would have no chance at ESC!

Daniel_2017
Daniel_2017
7 years ago

I agree with MirkoJoshua. The first hurdle to pass is the revamping, which we all know is a huge gamble with Albanians… Make the song great (by which I mean change as little as possible, or at least keep the drama of the original), and only then worry about the lyrics!

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
7 years ago

Interesting. If Robyn is correct, then with the song’s English lyrics already written first, the Albanian production team will have more time to focus on the musical arrangement alone. This will be a very interesting one to watch in 2017. 🙂

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
7 years ago

Congrats Albania.
All your chances of qualifiying are GONE. This song had a mystic feel to it in Albanian, in English that mystreious vibe would be ruined. Please only change the last chorus, that would be perfect 🙂

Avstriya
Avstriya
7 years ago

I love the Albanian entry and I want that they keep it. It reminds me of the 90’s era of Eurovision.

MirkoJoshua
MirkoJoshua
7 years ago

@Chicken Kyiv?
You can’t say that songs sung in English achieve a better result, if 90% of the songs ARE in English… they do better simply because every year there are like 4 or 5 songs sung in other languages and they obviously get overwhelmed by other songs’ success and even if they managed to stand out, they would still be a minority and people wouldn’t pay much attention

MirkoJoshua
MirkoJoshua
7 years ago

I’m not saying that either Albanian or English are a good choice, because it depends on the song (for instance: Lordi wouldn’t have won, if they sang Hard Rock Hallelujah in Finnish), so let’s wait until the song is revealed. Changing the language is ALWAYS a bad choice, because it may not fit the rhyhtm of the song and sound off, but I’d be more concerned about the revamp of the sing rather than on the language… I mean, a bad song in Albanian is still a bad song, the language has little importance now

Leaf
Leaf
7 years ago

Hope it’s great and makes the song sound modern…. To match her amazing voice.

Leo Valdez
Leo Valdez
7 years ago

Y’all calm down!
She knows what she’s doing!
She’s a professional singer!

D
D
7 years ago

She said the song was written in English but changed for FiK, so why are people complaining? They don’t like when the lyrics get changed but the Albanian isn’t the original. In my opinion, I think singing in English is a good thing as it increases the chances for a successful song. Yes, non-English songs do succeed sometimes but this is much rarer.

Also, for people bringing up Albania’s revamp last year: it was not the English that made the song bad, but the arrangement.

mocosuburbian
mocosuburbian
7 years ago

i had high hopes
they are crushed

Lanti
7 years ago

If she’s going to add English, I hope she does a bilingual version rather than full English. And hopefully there’s no weird revamp/devamp with the orchestration like in 2014 and 2016..

Chicken Kyiv?
Chicken Kyiv?
7 years ago

I know purists like everyone to sign in their native language, but in reality, English songs tend to do much better. Of course you can still win in your own language (Molitva, and part of 1944) but those are the exceptions, most winners are in English.

Equally in terms of qualifying, yes countries can qualify singing in their own language, but disproportionately the ones that fail to qualify are in their own language.

Colin
Colin
7 years ago

Bilingual version would be the best in this case. Otherwise it might drown among many English songs later on.

an esc fan
an esc fan
7 years ago

I hope is for the best for her, but overall I hope we will not have another ESC … ALMOST all english. Diversity is important, just find other ways to show the message.

Kris
Kris
7 years ago

@Thomas…….her song is nowhere as good as Besoj……I think she should go the Elhaida Dani way

Thomas
Thomas
7 years ago

Please please pleaseeeeee be like Besoj