He sang for Slovenia at Eurovision 2005 in Kyiv, failing to make the final with his song “Stop”. And in the coming weeks Omar Naber is once again on his way to Kyiv for Eurovision 2017.
“The last time I was there I was sleeping during the day because I had partied all night long before my performance,” he told us ahead of his performance at the London Eurovision Party on Sunday. “So this time around I will use it to play a tourist — to actually see Kyiv.”
But is he annoyed that he’s experiencing Eurovision in the same city, rather than visiting a new locale?
“Do you imagine how ungrateful I would appear if I said that?” he says. “I’m actually one of the few artists who has the chance to go to Eurovision for a second time. I’m very grateful for that. Eurovision is Eurovision — wherever it takes place.”
Having previously attempted to represent Slovenia in 2014, he mentioned that the Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) national final is getting more and more popular — and is a bastion for Slovenian music.
“The whole world is bombing us with their own music, and EMA is the one thing that everyone watches. And with the Internet everything has changed completely and EMA is a great opportunity to showcase your music.”
Omar entered the contest knowing he’d have a chance of winning, but says he didn’t sign up to win.
“I just went there to show what I can do and to show my song that I’ve been saving for ten years because it was special to me,” he says.
Why “On My Way”?
“Because I think it’s very emotional and very intimate and I thought people would feel that. They would identity with it. A lot of people go through bad times, and the song itself would actually talk for them.”
Originally intended as a pop rock song, “On My Way” went through several arrangements before it became the piano ballad we saw at EMA 2017. Omar will be recording the eight other arrangements in the future.
“On My Way” official video
While Omar entertained us all during the London Eurovision Party, he simultaneously released the official video of his Eurovision 2017 entry “On My Way”.
It’s been revamped considerably from the Slovenian national final. Various instrumentals have been added alongside the piano to give the chorus that extra emotional impact. Filmed entirely in monochrome and keeping within that “dark place experience”, Omar shows himself to be a talented actor as well as a singer and songwriter.
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@Lanti LMAO 😀
Actually he sounded interesting live with that Freddie Mercury moves, lol! This guy has confidence despite lousy song, go Omar 😀
Se can hear it that….hehehe
Oh Lanti, that is so mean! But thanks for reminding me to book a dentist appointment. :p
The only story I have about Omar in London was that after the event I think I spotted him and 3 other men walking across the road in front of where my taxi was turning. So possibly we nearly ran him over, sorry about that – blame the taxi driver!
Well you can definitely hear his dental technician background in the song, since the is exactly the type of music my dentist would play. Enough movement for patients to stay awake, but calm enough so they won’t panic and run off when the dentist puts a drill in their mouths.
Let’s stop being mean for a moment…. The guy had a dream, to come back in Eurovision. It’s not the first artist who has that goal. Many others came back, even the winners wanted to come back (Carola, Dana International, Loreen, Charlotte Perelli came back in 1998 and after that she had some other attempts for Sweden, Helena Paparizou tried for Sweden, too. Not to mention the artists who wanted to come back, participated in their national selections but failed to be picked (I’m from Romania, and I know about our former representatives – Luminita Anghel, prior to her participation… Read more »
When he said that the song started as a pop rock song, I was surprised! I can’t imagine it like that!
Now which version would be better? Maybe any of them!
@ Daniel_2017
Well Kaliopi didn’t make it to the final last year and she had already not made it through the qualifying round in 1996 (however, it wasn’t broadcast and it’s disputed whether it should actually be regarded to be part of the Eurovision Song Contest 1996).
Only 10 years? The song sounds at least 15 years old.
I wonder whether this would be the first time ever that a contestant fails to qualify for the final twice. Well, second time, actually, but San Marino’s Valentina is different 🙂
Wow, that was what I exactly thought about it, like it didn’t progressed since his first try. And also I thought it would became better with rhytmic arrangement – that might be a biggest mistake about it.
That explains a lot!
Bless his heart.
Sure sounds like a 10 year old song..
Is he into men? I saw a music video of his, kissing a guy…. I also heard he said he likes Alex Florea (Romania, 2017) backstage at Eurovision in London. I dunno if he likes him for being nice or likes Alex as a guy (as in attracted)
That explains everything.
The song might be ten years old, but it sounds fifty years old.
Some things are best kept for yourself, if he’s been saving the song for 10 years, maybe there’s a good reason. Plus, over 60 years, there has been a LOT of singers participated twice or even three times. Carola, Elpida, Johnny Logan, Anna Vissi, Valentina Monetta, Chiara, Corry Brokken, Edsilia rombley,Raphael, Guy Bonnet etc. The list is super long
everything makes sense now.
I had forgotten that he competed in Kiev…. And now Kiev again…. Bummer..
The song may be named dated, old fashioned, etc but it’s that kind of ballad I actually enjoy listening. And let’s be honest, the guy can really sing. I enjoy his vocal skills, especially on live singing…he’s flawless! I’m sure the juries will rank him pretty well, it will depend on the televote, too. In the past few years we had such ballads (Czech Republic 2016, Estonia 2013, and so on)… He may be a dark horse of the 1st semifinal!
The song would be dated ten years ago anyways.