As we’ve reached the September 1 deadline, songs published now could potentially become Eurovision entries — and we could start to hear songs from Slovenia. Today broadcaster RTV SLO has confirmed that the Central Europeanb nation will be present at next year’s competition in Israel.
The broadcaster revealed the news on their website today. With Slovenia being part of the line-up, a total of 24 countries have so far confirmed their participation for next year’s contest.
However, the selection method that the broadcaster will use to determine next year’s entrant is yet to be determined. While RTV SLO’s news report on the confirmation features a “EMA 19” logo, the article is also clear that details of the method of song selection “will be presented in the coming weeks.” Thus, it remains uncertain whether or not we’ll have another edition of EMA.
Lea Sirk bo dobila naslednika, RTV Slovenija oddala prijavo za sodelovanje na Evroviziji https://t.co/MYIerLoRus
— ?MMC RTV Slovenija (@rtvslo) September 6, 2018
The announcement looks back at a successful contest in Lisbon, as the grand final spawned a viewing rate as high as 41% for the Saturday night show. On top of that, Lea Sirk ended a two-year streak of non-qualifications for Slovenia when Lea Sirk’s “Hvala, ne!” delighted fans as a surprise qualifier.
Slovenia’s highs and lows at Eurovision
The country has a mixed record track at Eurovision. While Slovenia enjoyed some top-ten finishes during its first years of competing in Eurovision, it has struggled ever since the introduction of the semi-finals. Maja Keuc achieved the best result since 2001, when her song “No One” accumulated 96 points, resulting in left-hand position on the scoreboard.
In 2018, RTV SLO once again launched EMA as their selection method. In two shows taking place in February, a total of eight acts qualified from the semi-final show. Among the competing acts were returning acts BQL, Ina Shai, ManuElla (Eurovision 2016) or Tanja Ribic (Eurovision 1997).
During a tense voting procedure, Lea Sirk’s “Hvala, Ne!” managed to win the jury vote. However, BQL (“Promise”) topped the televoting by a big margin. Nevertheless, they weren’t able to beat Lea Sirk, who went on to represent the Central European nation in Portugal.
The reception of her victory wasn’t entirely positive, as the jury has once again overruled the public vote (similar to the 2017 edition where BQL lost to Omar Naber). On the other hand, many also positively reacted to the lyrical content of “Hvala, Ne!” as it deals with women’s empowerment. The song finished 22nd in the grand final.
What do you think? Should EMA be used to select the act? Who would you like to see represent Slovenia at Eurovision 2019? Leave your comments below!
I think it ended up being lucky that Slovenia sent Lea Sirk to Eurovision in 2018. She had an upbeat balkan pop song that featured her country’s native language that managed to win over televoters and the juries in the semi final. Had they sent another entry, it might’ve just got lost in the semi and ended up being a third consecutive non-qualifier.
Azerbaijan also confirmed participation. According to local rumors the broadcaster has already approached Sabina Babayeva to represent us in Israel.
What was the reaction in azerbaijan to not qualifying this year?
Well unfortunately we don’t have a lot of people watching Eurovision anymore since we’re not doing as well as we used to do before. But the fans blame ITV for the song choice because a lot of us expected that result since the song came out. It obvioulsy wasn’t for her. Let’s see what they’re going to do next year. The thing is that they are not as enthusiastic as they used to be during 2008-2015. Perhaps our first non qualification will wake them up.
Yesss! This news is awesome! My #1 singer ESC gave to me! What a voice!
I discovered the slovenian language and it’s just beautiful. Looking forward to another song in slovenian.
Please a song in slovenian
I want Maja Keuc aka Amaya to go back to Eurovision! But she’s living in Sweden now so maybe she will turn up in Melfest lol
Oww, “the Balkan nation”. Slovenia isn’t a Balkan country but a Central European or Alpine country. They are really offended when they hear that.
Yes it is.
I understand that people make this kind of mistakes, it is totally normal but after all you are a professional website, you should know where countries are located on the map