It’s September 15th, and applications for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 are due! We’ve already heard confirmations from Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Romania and Slovenia in the past two days alone. While some of the big players in Eurovision (such as Russia and Armenia) have yet to confirm, we do have some really good news coming out of the Balkans: Bulgaria is (almost) back!
Yes, this year’s host of Junior Eurovision confirmed its preliminary participation in Eurovision 2016 just a few hours ago on Twitter. Although they say that October 10th is when their decision will be done and definite, Bulgaria’s delegation is ready to take Sweden by storm.
#Eurovision’16: Final confirmation to be given on a later date (until Oct, 10th). For now: Hallå Sverige! 🙂
— Eurovision Bulgaria (@bg_eurovision) September 15, 2015
You Euro-sleuths may have noticed that eurovision.bg says “soon.”
Bulgaria had previously withdrawn from the 2014 and 2015 editions in Copenhagen and Vienna, presumably due to low funding and poor results. Despite several noteworthy entries, only the percussionist duo Elitsa & Stoyan were able to bring Bulgaria into the final in 2007, let alone the top 10 (a feat they failed to accomplish again in 2013). Even fan favorite punk rock chick Poli Genova placed a paltry twelfth in the semi-final in 2011.
The renewed interest in Eurovision might come from their high-placing Junior Eurovision entry last year, “Planet of the Children” by Krisia, Hasan, and Ibrahim. Since taking duty as the host country this year, they have gone big. BNT is taking over one of Sofia’s biggest arenas for the event, and there are even rumors that they might be hiring famous Bulgarian-Canadian actress Nina Dobrev (of Vampire Diaries fame) to present the show.
On a hunch, we nominated some artists that we would want if Bulgaria decided to come back. Perhaps that list could be of some use to BNT after all?
How do you feel about Bulgaria’s return? Do you think 2016 is their year?
I hope Bulgaria come back. They have submitted some of my favourite songs.
My bad. Wrong choice of a word. That should be “potential candidates”, NOT “entries”, as Bulgaria has not yet had contenders submit entries for their national contest. Or have they?
So who goes? From all the YouTube videos I have seen featuring entries that many of the fans want to see at ESC 2016, I see 2 names pop up for Bulgaria more than others:
Marssa Carme
https://youtu.be/WuLD-aquefY
Krista (NOT Siegfrids)
https://youtu.be/91Slwy4GWeY
This is shaping up to possibly be a really big Eurovision.
Bulgaria will more likely be back than Bosnia, that’s for sure.
It will be great to see Bulgaria back. I hope they will go to final with a good song.
They have had so many amazing songs <3
Oh my god that moment u wake up look at ur phone and see all these confirmations!! 🙂
Yaaaay! And seriously, I agree that the Nordics need to take a backseat for a few years.
Id hardly say Scandinavia sends the best songs. I.e. Italy, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Aserbaijan.
But I was referring more to having the show hosted in Scandinavia.
I hope all these returning countries can give the rest a run for their money. We’ve been in Scandinavia for too long
I hope it too! I kind of miss them.
Let’s hope it’s for real this time!