Ten acts sang it out tonight during Slovenia’s national final Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) 2016. There were two rounds of voting, which resulted in Slovenia selecting former Misija Evrovizija national finalist ManuElla as their Eurovision 2016 representative with the entry “Blue and Red”.
EMA 2016 running order
Anja Baš – “What If”
Žan Serchich – “Summer Story”
Anja Kotar – “Too Cool”
San Di EGO – “Brez tebe”
D Base – “Spet Živ”
Regina – “Alive in Every Way”
ManuElla – “Blue and Red”
Raiven – “Crno bel”
Nusa Derenda – “Tip Top”
Sebastijan Lukovnjak – “Tales of Tomorrow”
Jury evaluation
The finalists all performed their entries under the confirmed running order, before the jury panel made their decision. Tonight’s jury panel consisted of Maraaya’s Raay, Slovenia’s 1995 and 1999 Eurovision representative Darja Švajger and Tomaž Mihelich–Marlenna, who was part of Slovenia’s 2002 Eurovision representatives Sestre. They all evaluated the performances of the 10 finalists. And they decided that ManuElla and Raiven would advance to the EMA superfinal.
Superfinal
The two superfinalists, ManuElla and Raiven, performed their entries again and the televoting public had the final say. In the end, ManuElla came out on top and will be flying the flag for Slovenia at Stockholm! She will perform in the second half of the second semi-final.
Guest performances
Last year’s winners Maraaya returned to EMA to perform their brand new single “Nothing Left For Me”, as well as their Eurovision entry “Here For You” with Cubismo. Host Klemen Slakonja was also involved on several of tonight’s guest performances. He opened the show with a parody of Måns Zelmerlöw’s “Heroes”, Conchita Wurst’s “Rise Like a Phoenix” with Sestre, “Prva ljubezen” with last year’s Junior Eurovision bronze medalist Lina Kuduzovic, and unveiled his latest musical parody.
EMA 2016 – Our reaction
Are you happy with Slovenia’s decision? Who do you think should have won? Let us know below!
You can watch the show again here and click here for Green Room coverage with Nejc Šmit.
Photo: Jani Ugrin
It’s an OK song that sticks in the head but does need a strong polishing. If Sanna could change a lyric before ESC, Manuella can too – and should. Just give Tinkara a call and rearrange that “Red is Red and Blue is Blue” lyric ASAP!
this ESC is endless carnival. put in, put out 🙂 oh my, why don’t we make it a satire contest next year and have a good laugh?
Is this for real? Red is red, blue is blue? I’m done. Bye, Felicia.
This song needs more work, otherwise it will get lost in the ESC. Not as good as the Slovenian songs in recent years.
There is s strong similarity between this song and Carrie Underwood’s “Something in the water” in terms of the same chords and key used, with similar melodies at certain points. Add to that, Slovenia’s song has lyrics that are quite strange for a country song. As good as the performers are, i have a hard time believing that this song won a song contest, and i can only conclude that either it has just been a bad year for songs, or that Slovenia’s contest this year was corrupt on some level. I’m sorry Slovenia; i love Tinkara and Marayaa, but… Read more »
OH MY NOW THIS I AM SO DISAPPOINTED.TBH NONE OF THE SONG FROM EMA 2016 DESERVES EUROVISION FINAL.IS RAAY THE ONLY ONE IN SLOVENIA WHO CAN WRITE A DECENT SONG FOR THEM??? SLOVENIA’S STARTED TO GROW ON ME BUT THIS…
i haven’t been so disappointed on slovenian’s entry for a long time…. maja keuc, eva boto, maraaya, tinkara kova? (the only song i don’t like is from 2013) – they were all amazing and i loved all the songs. but this year’s winner is just…. nothing special, it’s actually boring and i really really don’t like it. there is no way we will qualify in final this year. i voted for raiven, she was my favorite since the beginning, her song and her style are unique…. manuella is an incredible artist and i think she could’ve recorded much better song,… Read more »
I adore Slovenia in Eurovision, I feel they are very unique and don’t follow the ESC trends but they strayed too far away this time I think.
I would be OK with them qualifying, but I wouldn’t be SAD if they fail to reach the final.
This song leaves me cold.
They should simply send Maraaya again. This performance was out of this world. Raiven was much better than Manuella but still can’t compare to Maraayas new song. Sad for Slovenia 🙁
I didn’t watch the entire performances, but it seems that most of them were good. ManuElla gave a good one and “Blue and Red” is a great song. Not a winner material, but still a good one.
Btw, Nothing Left For Me is an amazing song, I wish it could go for Stockholm haha
Maraaya surprising me as always
Bad copy of Taylor Swift “Red”? So generic
Definitely haven’t seen a winner yet, the songs in March better be good.
TOP 10 of 22
1.Ukraine
2.Norway
3.Spain
4.Germany
5.Hungary
6.Belgium
7.Cyprsu
8.Denmark
9.Belarus
10.Georgia
…
17.Slovenia
18.Italy
19.Albania
20.Malta
21.Ireland
22.United Kingdom
I really like this. Its catchy and fresh. My favourite won so im happy 🙂 I can see it qualify and then end up in the bottom 🙁
I think Maraaya should represent Slovenia every year. I wish “Nothing Left For Me” was going to Sweden.
“Blue & Red” is a huge drop in quality from “Here For You”, both musically & lyrically. What are we supposed to make of lyrics like “blue is blue & red is red”?
Omg it actually is a copy of Carrie Underwood – Something In The Water.
It’s clearly palgarism and I don’t mean they sound similar I mean it is the same song.
This needs to be disqualified.
Umm…
THERE MUSTVE BEEN SOMETHING IN THE WAAAAATTTEEEERRRR!
There. Got that off my chest.
Eurovision Song Contest 2016 is SNOOZE FEST 2016.
This is the worst edition so far. We’re halfway already to revealing the complete list of entries and none of the songs are as good as the previous years. This year is a complete downgrade of last years’ high caliber entries.
The only potential entry this year is ICELAND.
I’ve heard Something in the Water a lot, being someone who listens to country radio in the US, and yes, there is similarity but honestly so many pop country songs sound the same nowadays that this is only fitting in the genre. Seriously, just listen to “This Is How We Roll” by Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan and “Chillin’ It” by Cole Swindell. What’s lacking in ManuElla’s entry is vocal quality. However, after watching the second place entry I have to wonder whether the singers could actually hear themselves well – this might be an audio problem again. The… Read more »
Waiting for JUSTS!
That’s a hideous song
It sound similar like this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ2kdx4zZUY
Well, I like it better than Bosnia… so I guess, good luck neighbors? To be honest, the lyrics are generic and this goes toe to toe with Denmark in category ”Listenable, but nothing innovative”.
20 of 43 songs are known and I dont like any of them really.
Outfit change in the middle of the song? ROFL I still can believe people keep doing that, honestly.
wtf is this.
I actually love it! My second favourite winner of the night, after Norway.
But she really needs to do something about her performance – it needs to be more dynamic, but she has time to fix it until Stockholm
Cause blue is blue and red is red
Country from Slovenia? As unexpected as tango from China. But why not? The reason I love Slovenia is due to the fact that they change from year to year, always a new sound.
Nothing to earth-shattering, but a sweet harmless little song it is. Slovenia’s good roll of qualifying will continue with this one, I’m sure. And that’s sometimes all you need.
Sretno Slovenijo!
Under that video link, posted by someone here, there’s this comment:
“PLAGIAT! Carrie Underwood – Something in the water……”
I heard both songs. There are similarities. But hey, this is allowed as per new standards, standards that Sweden included in the show, right? Mans everyone?
OK. Bye.
Not my cup of tea, don’t like the dress change and the note she sang right after the change was not good either. Song itself I find very middle of the road, not very bad, but also not very good either.
The video is here if you want to watch it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyJBghMxr5U
Is she the Taylor Swift of Slovenia? Seriously, she is a great singer and performer, very professional. And the entry has great potential especially in terms of staging. I did not see Raiven’s performance but I heard the song. I wasn’t that much impressed, even though I am all for countries singing in their own language. Well done Slovenia!
My top-18 so far
#1 Ukraine
#2 Austria
>>>#3 Hungary
#4 Switzerland
>>>#5 Slovenia
#6 Spain
#7 Cyprus
>>>#8 Finland
#9 Malta
#10 Denmark
#11 Iceland
#12 Germany
#13 Ireland
#14 Belgium
#15 Bosnia Herzegovina
#16 UK
#17 Georgia
#18 Belarus
Mocosuburbian, whilst having to multi-task several national finals at once on a
SuperStressful Saturday, I accidentally put the promo photo of Raiven. Then I realized the mistake and switched it to the promo photo of ManuElla. And now RTVSLO’s photographer Jani Ugrin has provided this lovely photo y’all seeing above.I actually like it!
Not bad! I love her performance.
I wanted Raiven but ok…
This song is just plain awful, Raiven was robbed.
Awful decision, Slovenia. What a surprise and what a pity.
It was a close race though, she only received around 100 votes more than Raiven.
Huge letdown from last year???? too cool should have won.
bruh you know you had a picture of Raiven up there for a couple of minutes
Poor Raiven!
Raiven and ManuElla were my favs from the snippets but the full of Red & Blue is a little bit of a let down.
Those lyrics need some cleaning up for sure.
*rolls eyes at the pointless costume change*
Coming soon lol!
Slovenia sending Blue and red on the twentieth Anniversary of Pokemon Red and Blue. Love the coincidence.
It’s the official RTVSLO promo photo of ManuElla, mocosuburbian.
Pretty middle of the road song but my favourite of the night.
That actually IS ManuElla on the photo 😀
The two were my favourites, but slightly preferred Raiven.
That’s not Manuella in the picture lol
Raiven was outstanding, would have been my #2…. guess my favorites can’t win every selection
Best out of a horrible bunch