They’ve staged one of the most remarkable turnarounds at the Eurovision Song Contest ever, placing fourth and second following years of non-qualification and non-participation.

And on Sunday Bulgaria’s BNT confirmed that they will keep the momentum going by participating at Eurovision 2018 in Lisbon.

They made the announcement on their official Eurovision Twitter feed — first in English and then in Spanish. Both tweets were deleted quickly after they went up, causing many in the fandom — including us — to have a minor meltdown.

But we’ve reached out to our contacts at BNT who assure us that they are back in the game for sure.

Earlier in the summer they confirmed their participation, only to rescind it because of a leadership change at the broadcaster. BNT’s forced delay had many fans worrying about whether they would return to the contest after finishing as runner-up in Kyiv with Kristian Kostov.

In early August BNT’s official Eurovision Twitter account explained that the broadcaster was electing a new director general on August 23, and that the broadcaster’s policy regarding Eurovision would be announced afterwards.

And today confirmation of participation finally came.

Bulgaria knows that good things come to those who wait. You’ll remember that Poli Genova was the last artist to reveal her Eurovision song ahead of Eurovision 2016. At the contest, Poli stormed to Bulgaria’s best ever result at the time, finishing 4th.

And they managed to go two places better with Kristian, whose electro-ballad “Beautiful Mess” featured magical monochrome staging, under the direction of Swedish stage guru Sacha Jean-Baptiste.

Ahead of Eurovision, wiwiblogger Robyn suggested that staging would be key for success. She wrote:

“Beautiful Mess” sounds like something right out of the pop charts (or a Spotify playlist). It has a very current sound and Kristian delivers a mature and emotional vocal. The song does feel a bit repetitive and it doesn’t quite reach a satisfying conclusion, but it sounds like Bulgaria has some clever staging planned that might make it all work.

Are you excited that Bulgaria is headed back to Eurovision? Do you think they’ll be extra hungry for a win following last year’s second place? And who do you think could secure the victory? Let us know in the comments box below.

Read more Bulgaria Eurovision news

Photo: Andres Putting (EBU/Eurovision.tv)

50 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
June
June
6 years ago

Nah, wont get better than Kristian. Maybe in one or 2 years. Next year Poland or Italy will probably surprise us all.

xo kisses and hugs
xo kisses and hugs
6 years ago

@Ronda …I liked Bulgarian entry myself, but that guy was CRYING for not winning. Isn’t that too much??

All I can say…you must be a robot. Don’t you cry ever? Especially when you feel you were so close? Never? You have a problem if you can’t cry.

xo kisses and hugs
xo kisses and hugs
6 years ago

Really want to say something else. Crying can be a cultural thing. I don’t know what country you are from, but in some cultures people express feeling very easy and openly. To be second is always frustrating. It’s humanly.

Elmar
Elmar
6 years ago

Sorry, but you don’t have to cry when you lose. That’s childish. Even the kids in Junior Eurovision accept their results laughing and clapping.

xo kisses and hugs
xo kisses and hugs
6 years ago
Reply to  Elmar

Levina was crying too. Is she weak because of that?

Joriace777
Joriace777
6 years ago

Levina was crying because she has just understood that she was fooled by songwriter of her song as it was a copy of titanium.

June
June
6 years ago

He was whiny indeed.

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

Such great news!!
Bulgaria offers such good songs the last 2 years! If they continue like this, they will win in a year or 2!
It will be beautiful to have the contest in the Balkan region again! And they can be a good host, they held the Junior Eurovision before!
Bulgaria supporter here! Go Bulgaria!

The Anders
6 years ago

Bulgaria may well win sometime in the next few years, but hopefully it will happen with something more honest and less calculated.

The Anders
6 years ago
Reply to  The Anders

*more honest and less calculated than “Beautiful Mess”, that is…

Nickc
Nickc
6 years ago

They are the poorest country in the EU, and it makes me happy when they succeed. Go Bulgaria, show us once again you do not need fireworks to win!

Hebbuzz
Hebbuzz
6 years ago
Reply to  Nickc

What about Moldova being the poorest?

Rodrigo
Rodrigo
6 years ago
Reply to  Hebbuzz

Even better. Bulgaria 2nd in Kyiv, Moldova 3rd in Kyiv.
Portugal the winner is not the richest either.
I love when talent wins over money, but I admit I look at national selection too.
Moldova was the most democratic, everybody was welcomed, even the silly ones. Portugal invited the song-writers…so it was kind of exclusive. Bulgaria did everything behind close doors, looking for rich artists or record labels.
Moldova=the real winner.

levi
levi
6 years ago
Reply to  Hebbuzz

Moldova is not in the EU.

Rodrigo
Rodrigo
6 years ago
Reply to  Hebbuzz

Now I’ve noticed that Nickc said ”the poorest country in the EU”.
Moldova is not in EU.

Aria
Aria
6 years ago
Reply to  Hebbuzz

Moldova isn’t in EU

Bart
Bart
6 years ago

The more the married, but please bring a better song and especially a nicer person to Lisbon

Bart
Bart
6 years ago
Reply to  Bart

*marrier

Rodrigo
Rodrigo
6 years ago
Reply to  Bart

Nicer than Kris? What was wrong with him?

Bart
Bart
6 years ago
Reply to  Rodrigo

Too much of a fake guy. Caring more about appearance than substance and didn’t take the second place gracefully, although it was a huge success for Bulgaria, IMHO

F.....
F.....
6 years ago
Reply to  Bart

So you decide what is the level of each country? Kristian Kostov could’ve won, and his country is waiting since ever, just like Portugal. Is hard to take it easy when you are second, and remember what Salvador has said the first time when he was on the red carpet in Kyiv-”If I don’t win, I will fire her ass”(Luisa’s). Don’t claim that Salvador was that pure guy living in the clouds. He knew exactly what to do to win over Italy…Bulgaria…Belgium…

Ronda
Ronda
6 years ago
Reply to  F.....

F….. You don’t get the jokes, do you? He wasn’t serious when he said that For God’s sake.

I liked Bulgarian entry myself, but that guy was CRYING for not winning. Isn’t that too much?? I mean, you got second place. That’s AMAZING considering that his country missed the finals 8 years in a row.

Bart
Bart
6 years ago
Reply to  Ronda

Thank you!!!!

Bart
Bart
6 years ago
Reply to  F.....

First of all I don’t decide anything. So I don’t get your comment. Second of all, yes he could have won, but didn’t and it was not by a small margin. He should have been happy because it was the first time Bulgaria got second place. Thirdly and more importantly he was making a joke, for God’s sake… And yes, he knew exactly what to do… to sing.

Bart
Bart
6 years ago
Reply to  F.....

And anyway, why have you brought Salvador into this? I haven’t even mentioned him?… I guess the fanatic obsessed is you, lumiere!

anonymous91
anonymous91
6 years ago

YASSSSSS Bulgaria is in, now go on and win it 🙂

Rodrigo
Rodrigo
6 years ago
Reply to  anonymous91

Not you again. Have you discovered caps lately?

brunowskii
brunowskii
6 years ago

It would be great a bulgarian winner in Lisboa.

TACV
TACV
6 years ago

Why in spanish?

Bart
Bart
6 years ago
Reply to  TACV

Good question…

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

There are plenty of other Countries that should win before Bulgaria. Kazakhstan being one of them.

esc1234
esc1234
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

what makes a country that never participated most qualified to win? b*tch please….

Varian Jeataba
Varian Jeataba
6 years ago

I want Sofi Marinova to make a return and win! #SOFIA2018
(she was robbed in 2012!)

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

Last year they got a total of six submissions and they were lucky enough to have a strong one. Let’s see if this time around there are more people interested, and especially if there’s success material in there.

Mattias Sollerman
Mattias Sollerman
6 years ago

*ten submissions

Kron
Kron
6 years ago

I doubt they’ll reach top 5 again next year.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

Oh yeah, BNT also didn’t cover most participation costs lol

bella
bella
6 years ago

Bulgaria choose Dara or Gery Nikol!!!

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago
Reply to  bella

Gery-Nikol is on an independent label, they would never let her participate also because of her antics. She wants to have control on everything and she just has a strong artistic identity. They probably want another Virginia Records puppet to control as they wish.

Gorilla716
Gorilla716
6 years ago

Poli Genova isn’t part of Virginia Records either so I don’t think that Bulgaria needs to send someone who is part of Virginia Records.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago
Reply to  Gorilla716

I didn’t imply that. I only implied that they would never send a 2013 Miley Cyrus-sized controversial singer.

Gorilla716
Gorilla716
6 years ago

What I have noticed in the past few years is that countries like Azerbaijan and Greece that were successful in the past are struggling nowadays while countries like Belgium and Bulgaria that struggled in the past are now having a lot of success. (There are of course countries like Sweden and Russia that always continue to be successful.)

Hrvatska
Hrvatska
6 years ago

Very happy bulgaria go esc 2018 lisbon <3 . My dreams represent bulgaria in esc a gery nicol ,mihaela marinova ,preslava <3 .

Ivan
Ivan
6 years ago

Gery-Nikol and only Gery-Nikol she is the nicest bulgarian singer ,also Dara and Tita are good bulgarian singers check them out all 🙂

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago
Reply to  Ivan

Dara and Tita are literally Gery-Nikol copycats, once you’ve heard the original one the other two won’t have a lot to offer.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

What about JESC??

Ddraven
Ddraven
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

Your asking the right questions here. Maybe the EBU is trying to keep it as one of the “surprises to come”…

jp
jp
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

It does not look promising with JESC, they just stated.

beccaboo1212
6 years ago
Reply to  jp

Bulgaria better confirm Junior Eurovision participation! 😮

Yordan
Yordan
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

Nothing!
We won’t participat this year.