Last year Bulgaria’s BNT watched Poli Genova achieve fourth place in the grand final — the country’s best-ever finish at Eurovision.
And on Thursday the broadcaster made it clear they are hungry for another success, as they called on record labels and producers to submit bids for Eurovision 2017.
The broadcaster made the announcement on their official Eurovision BG Twitter page.
BNT calls for producers/labels who should offer a project: demo song, artist/s, stage concept, draft budget and partial funding. Ddln:20.01
— BNT Eurovision BG (@bg_eurovision) December 22, 2016
The emphasis on producers and labels suggests they are not looking for an upstart, but rather an established act with the experience — and the team — to make the final at Eurovision and climb the leaderboard. The inclusion of a draft budget and a ‘partial funding’ requirement shows the seriousness of intent that applicants must demonstrate. BNT isn’t able to fund the project solely on its own, and it wants a label and producer willing and able to fill in any shortfall.
Furthermore, producers submitting bids must have achieved a certain level of success and popularity within the past two years. No-names need not apply!
Requirements (producer): At least 3 projects produced with high level of popularity in the last 2 years, experience in artist management
— BNT Eurovision BG (@bg_eurovision) December 22, 2016
As for artists, BNT wants to keep it local and will require applicants to hold Bulgarian passports. Experience is a must (and a given).
Requirements (artist): Bulgarian citizen, proven stage experience in live singing, short biography
— BNT Eurovision BG (@bg_eurovision) December 22, 2016
BNT also added:
The projects received will be judged by internal comission and specially formed international focus group who will decide the winner.
— BNT Eurovision BG (@bg_eurovision) December 22, 2016
Requirements (song): to comply with general ESC rules, at least partial Bulgarian involvement in the production, .wav and mp3 format
— BNT Eurovision BG (@bg_eurovision) December 22, 2016
Requirements (stage): short description, visual renders, videos, story boards, nr of artists on stage, choreography, LED backdrops, etc.
— BNT Eurovision BG (@bg_eurovision) December 22, 2016
All the projects should be sent to [email protected] (max. 3MB) if needed greater size, use external file transfer (e.g.wetransfer)
— BNT Eurovision BG (@bg_eurovision) December 22, 2016
Two names immediately spring to mind.
The first is Gery-Nikol, who recently stated that she’s likely to say ‘yes’ if offered the chance to sing at Eurovision.
On December 6 she released the music video for her latest single “Gotina & Luda” and it clocked 2.1 million views in just eight days.
The heavy R&B track oozes that on-trend Rihanna vibe with plenty of bass, electro backing and, most of all, that Ri-Ri swagger!
Gery-Nikol loves to perform — and she knows how to shake everything that God gave her. And he gave her a lot. She pops and locks and drops to great effect, showing confidence far beyond her 18 years.
Bulgaria’s BNT seemed intrigued by our suggestion she sing at Eurovision, tweeting our above video and writing:
Hmmm… https://t.co/oPE05e5xHh
— BNT Eurovision BG (@bg_eurovision) December 16, 2016
Ahead of Eurovision 2016, Preslava was perhaps the biggest name besides Poli Genova rumoured to be in consideration for Eurovision.
In the weeks ahead of Bulgaria’s reveal, Preslava — the undisputed queen of Bulgarian pop-folk — unveiled her first English-only single “In Control”. The collaboration with Stefan Ilchev clocked in at 3:36 and could easily have been cut down to three minutes.
Interestingly, one of the composers is DJ Diyan — who represented Bulgaria at Eurovision as part of Deep Zone. In 2015 he told us that he may be working on a Eurovision collaboration, which fuelled speculation even further.
In any event, who do YOU want to see submit a bid to Bulgaria’s Eurovision 2017 internal selection? Do you think that Gery-Nikol or Preslava would be strong candidates? Let us know in the comments box below.
I love how seriously they take this (at this early stage already).
@Pollaski: Cause the Eurovision Song Contest is clearly ALL about the way you dress and how you visually present yourself … right … should we call it Eurovision Instagram-like-my-body-to-fill-in-my-ego Contest? Music would be totally irrelevant for the situation … It would certaintly be a dream come true for some people …
They should put out a call for costume designers to avoid looking like Tron rejects again.
Does anybody know how these proposals should look like ?
Are CDs with recorded music, or sheets with musical notes ?
I guess many ESC artists don’t know how to read musical notes and it is fine, but I just wonder how these proposals are presented.
No, Azis MUST be the entrant for 2017.
geri kol sounds like another Margaret ( another Rihanna wannabe), Bulgaria could chose better
Geri Nikol doesn’t know how to sing live.
Andrea or Preslava for the best choice.
Andrea – Besame https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUC0NxR22Yk
So everybody is expecting the next Bulgarian Rihanna or Lady Gaga-pre-Joanna wannabe to be in Eurovision … why am I not surprised? Again we have names but no song yet to cast judgement upon … it all feels like Instagraming or tweeting about the colour of someone’s dress while cocking dinner needs to happen every 5 seconds or the world collapses … cause nobody can’t stand waiting for what really matters here.
Two (2) words: Gery Nikol! 😀
BNT have shown what a broadcaster can do with a very limited budget. Unlike other broadcasters that just call for songs and have a vague description of what they want. (songs that tell a story or with meaning) BNT is basically calling for a finished package which is what other cash strapped broadcasters should do. Greece, Portugal and the big 5 should take note that this is how you do either a cost effective selection, an internal selection or how to avoid armatures that barely know what eurovision is and have got no really musical talent (or a record deal)… Read more »
Kristian Kostov is half-Bulgarian, half-Russian and he chose to start his career in Bulgaria. He’s signed up with the bulgarian music company Virginia Records, so he can take part as a bulgarian representative. His father is bulgarian and Kristian feels bulgarian too.
Ok…. I don`t think Geri-Nikol will do well. She seems more scandalous than anything. I have my doubts that she will make a good live show. More over she is popular with young audience and is generally ignored by ~30+ people. As for Preslava – maybe if she manage to balance pop folk and modern pop with English lyrics it will work however that`s not simple task. If she goes she will need to level up her game in order even to qualify for the final. From the Bulgarian artists I would pin some hope for Grafa – he was… Read more »
Gery-Nikol MUST be the entrant for 2017.
Would be interesting to see Kristian Kostov at Eurovision. Or why not Ruth Koleva?
But with these requirements there is clearly no possibility for Preslava to participate, or any other artist of Payner. The music company is not registered as a PROPHON member, and yet this is one of the obligatories stated in the announcement.
Well, as a Bulgarian, I have two favourite young artists to represent us – Victoria Georgieva – a 19 year old with amazing vocals (I suggest you watch her cover of Adele’s Hello on X factor and all of her covers actually. She sings everything perfectly)
– Kristian Kostov – a 16 year old who puts his heart and soul in everything he sings and sings it as a professional. No wonder one of the x factor judges gave him the nickname “the singing heart”. I suggest you watch his covers of Take Me To Church, Pozovi Menya, Nevidim.