Slovenia’s broadcaster for Eurovision, RTVSLO, has confirmed it will use the national selection EMA as in previous years. The broadcaster has invited interested applicants (who must be Slovenian citizens) to apply with the deadline on December 14th 2018. But there have been some modifications to how the next act to represent Slovenia at Eurovision will be selected.
EMA is set to return to a single show where up to ten performers will compete. A three-member jury will select the top two acts and these acts will compete in a super final, decided by the televoting public. The last time this method was used was in 2016 when ManuElla won with “Blue and Red”.
The songs that are submitted to EMA can be in any language. This contrasts the 2018 show when producers only accepted songs in Slovenian and other recognised minority languages within Slovenia.
But who will oversee the proceedings?
There’s been immense speculation that Lea Sirk could host next year’s edition of EMA. Sirk, you’ll all remember, won EMA this year and represented Slovenia at Eurovision 2018. She achieved the country’s first qualification to the grand final since 2015.
And she did so with plenty of confidence.
The pink-haired diva sat down with wiwibloggs in Lisbon to discuss her urban track “Hvala Ne” and the thrusting swagger that came with it.
“I’m a crazy person,” she told our William. “I always like to just do some crazy things and sometimes they are okay and sometimes they’re not.”
“I wanted to do something special, but not to feel special. Just because I don’t have time to make hair every day or think about clothes. And it’s so funny you know, in my song I’m talking about not being fake, but I have these fake extensions.”
What do you think of the changes to Slovenia’s national selection, EMA? Who do you think should represent Slovenia next year at Eurovision? Let us know in the comment section down below!
I don’t like these changes! I find that 50/50 reveal much more exciting …. They should do a 50/50 combination in first round and then do a televote suoerfinal From the top 2 there
BQL wasn’t in the top 2 of the jury even in 2017
hwalla yeah
“A three-member jury will select the top two acts and these acts will compete in a super final”
I hate this
Let’s hope Nika Zorjan will bring ethnic realness.
and a water bed
I hope there will be one entry either in Klingon or in High Valyrian ?
or in na’vi
Esperanto anyone? xD
The ema 2019 selection method is identical to 2016, when my favorite Raiven dropped out. I would like her to succeed for the third time because she has the potential of perfect vocals and sings in Slovenian. It has a new recording studio and a completely different style and you know how Eurovision likes otherness to fit perfectly as a Slovenian representative in Tel Aviv, I hope that BQL or Nika Zorjan will appear only I have concerns about the jury, what will come out because this is the main the problem of Slovenia and here is the new Raiven… Read more »
Well again as a Slovene; she said in an interview that this song was made for the radio and will be the only of its kind on her new EP, others are more indie and include a harp. But it’s true that she has a new recording studio in London, and she writes all of her new songs by herself and July Jones.
BQL and especially Nika Zorjan are very likely to compete, but the RTV SLO jury will never let those two get into the final.
Slovenia is absolutely my favourite country in Eurovision, however when this format was last used in 2016, they sent one of their worst songs ever to the contest. I don’t see any reaons why they should revert the format to the 2016 one, when Lea brought them their first qualification this year since 2015.
I just hope that at least the song quality will be immense, and that the jury won’t favour bland and old-fashioned songs, Slovenia needs a real banger to do good,
But the jury normally does favour bland and old-fashioned songs, especially when Darja Svajger is in the jury. She always gives high points to these songs (Manuella, Omar, etc.)
Fun fact: At least the last 12 years, Slovenia sends what the jury has voted and not the public. Corruption alertttt
Why so many negative votes? That’s facts, the jury vote ALWAYS prevail in Slovenia, didn’t said anything false.
As a Slovene I can confirm that I’m 80% sure that Raiven will participate again. I’m not sure about others. Maybe again Nika Z. and BQL… I kind of hope for Maraaya or Amaya(maybe she’ll be on Melfest)..
I am also very much for Raiven to appear in the ema
She’s just said that she isn’t planning to come back in a few years.
No she didn’t she said in an interview made by RTVSLO that she may return next year or in future years. And not long time ago she said on her IG story that she doesn’t know if she’ll go, and in a way that made me think that she’ll go.
http://www.rtvslo.si/zabava/druzabna-kronika/raiven-ne-maram-kopij-in-ne-maram-povprecja/471016 link
:O are the producers trying to do another ‘on my way’ by selecting the results this way? love slovenia and always respect their entries 🙂
The Slovenian NF belongs to my absolute favorites, one of the few I am always looking forward to. While I absolutely adore the Slovenian language, I welcome the freedom of choosing the language yourself because voters should be given the final products the way they’d go to Eurovision. I wonder if the jury will boycott BQL for a third year in a row because if they make it into the top 2, they will definitely win. It certainly sounds horrible: A three member jury appointed by the broadcaster decides which TWO songs have an actual chance? Hvala, ne! NE NE… Read more »
Hmmm I’m not sure about these changes, EMA became an exciting selection past couple of years with it’s added semifinal stage. the song quality wasn’t so good in 2015-6 under the format they’ve revived, don’t like how just a 3-member jury selects 2 superfinalists (from a field of 10) to be decided on televoting, can’t they just do 50/50 or 2 rounds of televoting? I didn’t mind “Hvala ne!” by Lea Sirk which I thought was okay and felt Slovenia had better options but her staging in Lisbon and improvised pause in the music was pretty cool that was just… Read more »
Ina also competed in 2010 with Dovolj ljubezni, her best song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUEvo_ziZgk