Slovenia began the search for their Eurovision 2017 representative in Kyiv with tonight’s first semi-final of their revamped national selection process EMA 2017, co-hosted by the all-female trio of Tina Gorenjak, Maja Martina Merljak and Tanja Kocman.
Eight acts performed their entries live for the very first time. Tonight’s lineup included Slovenia’s 2005 Eurovision representative Omar Naber and Zala Duric Ribic — simply best known as Zala, daughter of Slovenia’s 1997 Eurovision representative Tanja Ribic.
After all of tonight’s performances, it was then up to the televoting public and juries to make their decisions. KiNG FOO, Nika Zorjan, Sell Out and Omar Naber advanced to next week’s EMA 2017 final on 24 February. The journey came to an end for the remaining four acts and were sent home.
We were also treated to guest performances from two of Slovenia’s former Eurovision representatives. 2012 representative Eva Boto performed her rendition of “Love Shine a Light” from Katrina and the Waves. Last year’s representative ManuElla returned to EMA to perform her Eurovision entry “Blue and Red”.
EMA 2017 — First semi-final running order
KiNG FOO — “Wild Ride”
Nika Zorjan — “Fse”
Tosca Beat — “Free World”
Lea Sirk — “Freedom”
Sell Out — “Ni panike”
Zala — “Lalalatino”
Alya — “Halo”
Omar Naber — “On My Way”
EMA 2017 — First semi-final qualifiers
KiNG FOO — “Wild Ride”
Nika Zorjan — “Fse”
Sell Out — “Ni panike”
Omar Naber — “On My Way”
EMA 2017 — First semi-final eliminated acts
Tosca Beat — “Free World”
Lea Sirk — “Freedom”
Zala — “Lalalatino”
Alya — “Halo”
You won’t have to wait for long until the second semi-final, as that gets underway on 18 February — so that’s tomorrow night at the same time of 20:00 CET.
Are you happy with tonight’s results? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Follow all of our Slovenia Eurovision news here
Photo: Petra Hlebš
Omar is always present at the London Eurovision Party every year. Has anyone noticed this?
Juuseven: Yep, and Nika’s also a backing vocalist for Maraaya in 2015.
Nika Zorjan = “Treat you better” by Sean Mendes. LOL
From having no money for entering ESC (few years back) to Melodifestivalen/big ESC type of show. LOL
We still dont have any rock/metal/ska/punk song. Hope Slovenia and Hungary will choose it. Nobody cares about fans opinions here, they want female solo pop in every national final. But we are still waiting for guitarrrrs!!!! Good choice Slovenia!
Also ManuElla gave such a sassy performance…….though she lip-synced……but if could sing with sass she would have made last year’s final.
No Tosca Beat? 🙁
Nika Zorjan and Omar Naber were my favs of the night. Nika’s bringing me Poli Genova vibes, and though Omar’s song is another ballad, I love his voice! They’re my top 2 for now. Quality staging and performances from EMA. Good job!
SO HAPPY Sellout is in! Great indie / ska song. original and great! VEry happy they made it 🙂 Vry good one I also think it was good the first song (rock) and song. 2 made it (run). Well deserved. Omar Naber….sorry, but BORING in my ears. His songs have gone downhill from 2005. I really liked “stop”. But this is a ery unoriginal ballad. only bad song of the bunch. And…well Ayla is as sexy as always 😉 The babe of EMA 🙂 talking about sexy women (something which is needed here…voice of the straight fans 🙂 ), I… Read more »
It’s funny how everyone hypes Lea
I found that song really boring, repetitive and without a personality.
Nika was the best, followed by Tosca Beat (sad face) and Omar.
The staging, production and artists presentation give me Melodifestivalen vibes! A country with limited resources like Slovenia doing it better than Spain… 🙁
My favs are King FOO “Wildride” and Nika Zorjan “Fse”, lets see what Raiven brings I have high hopes on her… ‘Crno Bel’ was magical.
“Fse” is clearly the standout in this semi, nothing comes close.
@logixc because of juries -,- no one in Slovenia liked Sell out and KING FOO. We all wanted lea, Tosca and Alya but no, juries chose Sell out and KING FOO…
Nika definitely slayed this semi final!
My favourite performances were
NIKA….strong performance.
SELL OUT…….surprisinlgy enjoyed it live.
OMAR….good vocals
Dissappointed…….. with AYLA didn’t live up to the hype.
&
KING FOO……. although this qualified and i really liked their audio originally i found her live vocals annoying.
I watched the entire show tonight and well I am surprised entirely. KiNG FOO Boring. Has a great opening that leads to THAT chorus. Just boring… Nika Zorjan Holy Crap this is great and wonderful. I Think this with a bit better staging will be top ten in Kyiv. Tosca Beat Well. They are all beautiful and great vocalists though can see why they didn’t go through. Lea I thought she was going to go direct to the final and be a winner. I was wrong. Should have been. Sell Out Get Out How bout that? Zala Had a great… Read more »
Of the song qualified I really like “On My Way”
I expected better from Nika, I wasn’t impressed by the song, but her performance was really good.
I hope the 2nd semi will be better.
Fantastic, my faves (Omar and Nika) are both in!
If Omar wins that would be because old fame and not present song, sorry guys but be equal to everyone and not just Omar.
YES, OMAR! <3 come on guys, he's great! It'd be great to have him back in Kyiv
@ The Challenger MESC starts at 9pm and this is the live stream: http://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/live/
Omar was so bad.
Can someone please tell me what time mesc is at tomorrow? And is there a livestream
Why Slovenia , whyyy you didnt choose Tosca beat to final…Omar wasnt so good..
but anyway NIKA was the best of tonight and if she doesnt win, there is some problem with jury or public votes..
Nika Zorjan was she one of the back vocalists for Tinkara Kova?’s Spet in 2014?
Nika is good
Sell Out are not made for the ESC Stage! They will get lost
Omar is just cheesy and feels all like he is acting
King Foo is so boring
Tosca Beat and Lea were amazing this is sad;(
Alya had a great song but a terrible performace and Zala is just funny
Tosca beat is interesting like Rozmarinke in 2004.
Tosca wili be interesting choice for Slovenia, and maybe they wili get many votes like Latvia 2015.
Really glad for Nika … but I think Lea should come to the final as well.. Omar was good and I think he can do even better with bigger stage. Sell out and King Foo I dislike both of them not my style.. I think semi final 2 is way stronger Raiven will slay tommorow! Loved the stage!
Typical Slovenia. They had only one really distinct entry, Tosca Beat, and they ended up with 4 generic mediocrities. No final for Slovenia till now, I’m afraid.
Alya with halo was also good and Tosca beat too……king foo and sell out were horrible.
My favorite was tonight
1.Lea
2.Omar
3.Tosca
4.Nika
Tosca Beat were amazing!
Pretty strange result…
Tosca Beat didn’t make it?!!
Bad Slovenia! Why Slovenia? 🙁
Nika slayed! I’m glad she qualified.
Nika Zorjan was the best by far – such a catchy melody <3