At long last, the Eurovision 2020 season is heating up! We’ve known the identities of several acts for weeks now, but actual songs have been very slow to materialise. However, that’s all changed as we now know two of the entries which will be performed in Rotterdam next May.
They are Albania’s Arilena Ara with “Shaj” and Spain’s Blas Cantó with “Universo”. This means that we can start choosing favourites. Which act do you like best?
You can listen to both tracks below. Then vote in our poll. Choose wisely, you can only vote ONE time. Voting is open until Sunday 2 February — the eve of the Czech Republic’s Eurovision Song CZ 2020 results announcement.
We will then relaunch the poll to include Lake Malawai’s successor and any other songs which might drop between now and then.
Eurovision 2020 entries as of 30 January
New entries
Arilena Ara “Shaj”
Arilena’s “Shaj” saw off competition from 19 other songs to emerge victorious at Festivali i Këngës 58. Although her win was not without controversy. She came in ahead of the overwhelming favourite — “Me tana” from Elvana Gjata, one of Albania’s biggest names.
Nonetheless, the fuss has since subsided and Ara is currently working on revamping the number. Social media updates suggest she’s doing so in Los Angeles.
Will “Shaj” take Albania to the grand final for a third consecutive year?
Blas Cantó “Universo”
Spain was the second act to reveal its performer for Eurovision 2020, after Belgium’s Hooverphonic. And it’s keeping the trend going by also being the second nation to reveal its song.
“Universo” dropped to much hype, after almost a week of teasing. But does it live up to expectations?
Spain hasn’t come close to the top ten since Ruth Lorenzo in 2014. Could Blas be the man to take them back?
Who is your favourite Eurovision 2020 act so far?
[crowdsignal poll=10497466]Which of the pair is your favourite? Could either win the contest in May? Let us know in the comments.
Arilena of curse
Blas Cantó is a such a great singer… We all love him in Spain!! It’s true though that this song does not really show his real potential and it’s not great… He’s got better ones, if you want to check “No volveré”, it’s one of my favourites, the lyrics are so beautiful….
Elvana Me Tana 12 Point
Spain 8 Point
Albania 1 Point
By GER
Spain giv 8 Point
Albania. 1 Point
By GER
01 – albania
02 -spain
I have not seen a winner yet, thought.
Uuuu I am very surpised by these votes 🙂 I voted for Spain.
Why u have to be suprised ?
Spain of course … Albania is just another boring ballad as every year !!
Albania has the epic ending which Spain promised but couldn’t meet the expectations
Albania doesn’t count here
Amazing Albania I love it
Both disappointing until now…. perhaps they will slay on stage at ESC, but until now both unmemorable. Albania´s entry a bit better.
Albania and thats on periodddddd!!!! LOVE YOU ARILENA
I really like Spain
Forget is you feel Spain doesn’t live to the hype. Remember this would be seen with no expectation on the night. On a good night with good staging, top 15 potential.
By far… Albania
Albania’s song is powerful
Spain’s song is unmemorable
ALBANIA GETS MY VOTE
Me tana of course.
Ukraine of course
A-L-B-A-N-I-A
last month i would have said shaj, but i think i listened to it too much and go tired of it. both are good songs!
Universo doesn’t meet the huge expectations they built up. An overproduced video for a meh song. When is Spain going to learn?
Albania. You can FEEL what Arilena is singing.
Albania, because it is a feeling and Spain is just a production.
Good point!!!
Albania much better ?
Albania is much better*
Spain. At least there is no revamp to come.
Definitely Shaj
I think it’s a great song while Universo is nice but that’s it
Albania by far (and I’m not a big fan on Shaj either).
Spain’s song is extremely underwhelming! The folks at RTVE doing everything in their powers to keep Spain outside the top 20 for the 6th year in a row!
Albania has more personality so easy pick.
For now, Albania, though we don’t know how it’ll sound in English. Both are decent, but I’m expecting the Czech Republic, Australia and Italy to bring things to another level next week.
I don’t like Shaj much , neither did I love Universo especially the chorus is meh
But shaj with English is going to sound even weirder , so I’ve voted Spain for now
How you know how it is going to sound without hearing it
I prefer Albania
Shaj by far, at least it has something
Both are bad
i’ll wait for albania’s final version to judge it, for now i vote neither
We don’t have yet the ESC version of shaj aka another english boring ballad. So at least Spain sings in spanish. So yes Spain has my vote.
Universo is a good song and hopefully it has a great staging.
None
That is a tough question but for me —–> > > Spain is my favorite (so far) < < <—– if Albania had chosen Elvana Gjata "Me tana", then Albania would be my favorite.
Shaj has a very distinct and clearly recognizable melody/chorus which I have been humming for two months now in my head. After listening to the first snippet I could remember it, but as for Universo I couldn’t remember it at all after the first and second listen. And now a couple of hours after I still don’t remember what it sounds like. I really enjoy Universo while listening and I enjoy the beautiful Spanish language, but I’m afraid it might form a problem during the voting in the live shows. It takes a couple of listens to remember the song,… Read more »
I’m the only one who sees the potential of this song? Live this song could have the same impact as Arcade.
Radio hits are always welcome and it’s definitely going to top steaming charts in Europe.
Hmm weird, facebook is leaning towards Albania but youtube/this poll leaning towards Spain.
Looks like Spain doesnt want to leave the bottom 5 spots.
Spain Shaj song wasn’t my choice at all
How is spain above albania? I really dont like spains song, nothing special.
Spain is always high in polls and guess why
Sorry Blas, but I really love Albania this year. So unless they change the lyrics to English, “Shaj” is and will be a pretty clear winner of this duel for me.
I think she said they will most likely be in English since orginally they wrote it in English but translated to Albanian for the show.
I would prefer bilingual
Although I really wanted Elvana to win, I really have to say that Arilena is a great vocalist and the song has grown on me. If she doesn’t mess things up with the revamp (which Albania often does), I do think that she has chances to qualify in Rotterdam. She needs a good staging and the song needs a stronger beat. And although I couldn’t listen to Universo entirely, I have to say that the song is very disappointing from what I’ve heard till now. Need to listen to it as a whole, in order to judge, but till now… Read more »
Spain just made Albania more appealing.
The other way round 😀
Shaj still stands for me.