In recent weeks, San Marino had been threatening to collapse under the weight of its pre-announcement hype. But today, with one simple press conference, the hype has ended and the excitement has begun. Broadcaster SMRTV today confirmed that Turkish crooner Serhat will again represent the microstate at Eurovision, this time in Tel Aviv.
The good news was confirmed today at a press conference, where representatives from the broadcaster also noted that Eurovision 2019 would be San Marino’s tenth participation. And for that occasion, they decided to invite an iconic performer.
At the press conference, Serhat thanked the broadcaster for inviting him, and added, “We had wonderful memories in 2016, the same team, and now we are more experienced, more strong, and we know each other very well. So I’m really very glad and honoured again to be asked to represent San Marino.”
In a statement sent to wiwibloggs he said:
“I was working on my album, which will be released in April 2019, while I got the invitation from San Marino for my coming back. San Marino is always in my heart, our friendship lasts forever and ESC 2016 was probably one of the best memories of my career. Despite my tight schedule, it didn’t take me long to decide. I am very proud to represent San Marino for the second time”.
The broadcaster said:
“When we started to plan the next edition of ESC, we realized that this participation will be our 10th entry. It is a ’round’ number, an important goal for us, and we thought that we should celebrate our anniversary in Israel, with someone special. We were always in touch with Serhat during the last two years, having celebrated together his big success in the USA Billboard dance charts with ‘I Didn’t Know’, congratulated with him for his collaboration with Helena Paparizou. Serhat always had a special place in our strongest experiences and now after 2016, we are fully empowered and believe that Serhat being full of interesting ideas, is the right choice in the right moment”.
Serhat at Eurovision
Serhat made his first Eurovision appearance singing for San Marino in 2016. The sedate original version of his entry “I Didn’t Know” was eventually swapped for an upbeat disco style, after substantial pressure from Serhat’s growing fanbase.
Serhat and his team of glamorous dancers brought a glitzy extravaganza to Stockholm. And while San Marino missed out on qualifying in 12th place, they placed 11th in the televote, showing there was public support for Serhat.
Since his time at Eurovision, Serhat has been a busy man. In 2017, he teamed up with legendary disco diva Martha Wash on a remix of “I Didn’t Know”. The song even reached No.38 on the Billboard Dance Club Chart.
Last year he collaborated with another legendary diva, Eurovision winner Helena Paparizou. Hel’ and the ‘Hat duetted on his 2004 single “Total Disguise”, taking listeners on a sensual journey.
With three years of music experience behind him since Stockholm, we expect Serhat will have a new musical adventure for Europe to enjoy.
Serhat’s song for Eurovision 2019 will be released at a later date.
What do you think? Are you excited that Serhat is back? What sort of song should be take to Tel Aviv? Share your thoughts below!
I’m VERY late for this party, and I just got word.
They would have been better off bringing back Anita Simoncini or Michele Perniola, or both. They both should be 20 by now and a bit more experienced.
Like someone already said, San Marino is not one to make bold choices.; and like someone else said, they might put together a duet with Serhat and Valentina next year! >:-(
I smell another non-qualifier, if not an easy trainwreck, especially if Ralph Siegel is involved again. This year could easily be their last.
This is not what I meant by: Bring back Valentina!
I want him to release something like ‘Je m’adore’. That is something really potential for Eurovision.
Great news 😉
I like him but, seriously, it’s sad that he can’t represent his country. I loved almost every turkish act
I didn’t know it was going to be him
Welcome back king! Very happy it isn’t the creepy ken doll man.
Take a break San Marino, and come back when you’re ready. You simply don’t understand Eurovision. Or take M I H A I because we are really fed up of seeing him in every single Romanian national selection (not this year thank God and all gods!)
MIHAI would have been an interesting idea for San Marino. At least they would have been thinking outside the box once again, like they tried last year with 1in360.
Despite the fact that it’s a big plus for Serhat, with Turkey still not participating, this is a backslide toward irrelevance for San Marino. They can’t keep using the same artists over and over again. Soon enough, it gets old. Consider the 1-point showing Valentina got in 2017 in her semifinal duet with Jimmie Wilson.
Also, I would love to see Serhat have Gabriella as his backing vocalist or piano/violin player. Make it happen!
It’s fine with me for Serhat to represent San Marino since he has a strong stage presence which probably gave him the comparatively good result in 2016. My concern, however, is that it sounds like the same songwriting team is coming back. I’ve never known how much SMRTV recognized the magnitude of the fan-reception fiasco with the original “I Didn’t Know”, and they acted like the disco version was a bigger hit than it actually was. I understand that you need to act confident in your own entry, but I hope that privately the whole team realized the mistakes in… Read more »
They’re ridiculous, they desperately want NOT to qualify :)))))) Bye San Marino, who would vote for an old fashioned old man?
Some voters who made San Marino get 11th on televoting in the 1 st semifinal of ESC 2016, and more…
yassss, another hilarious entry from san trollino
uh oh
Please surprise us with something completely different to ‘I Didn’t Know’
San Marino could just wait out the national finals season and wait which loser offers them the most money. Maria from Spain or Justina from Lithuania for instance. The San Marino NF could be the Second Chance (Andra Chansen) of the best losers from all the other ESC countries. 🙂
If María didn’t even want to represent Spain, there isn’t a chance in hell she’d represent San Marino.
San Marino: We’re out of ideas but we still really wanna do this.
Snoooooze
I think we found a new Valentina! I can’t get it, why send him again? He was so successul the first time they said “Let’s bring him again”? I hope he won’t sing anything similar to “I didn’t know”.
12th in the semifinal is quite good for Sanmarinese standards.
actually he was very close to qualifying thanks to the turkish diaspora mostly
There were a lot of talented singers in 1in360 last year, they just needed a good song. Why the hell they choose Serhat? He’s a nice man but it’s time to be serious. Hope the song will be good but I don’t expect anything…
When I think that Sara de Blue was there last year I want to cry. She could bring some serious stuff for the little country…
I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly fell out my ass.
Is it too late to swap San Marino’s Participation for Kazakhstan or Kosovo or anyone who is willing to take this contest mildly seriously?
If anyone has a dream to participate in Eurovision san marino could help you make your dreams come true
Fantastic news and always nice to have a good bit of real eye candy at the contest.
Artists like him and conchita make the enemies of the contest to blame Eurovision of not a serious contest and you support him ? Congratulations
Conchita? What? o.o
Conchita… sure. Conchita has a really fantastic voice and that’s it. If you think Conchita Wurst made the contest less serious, then it’s possible you shouldn’t be here 😉 but who am I to tell you what to think…
Conchita is a joke and he only won because Eurovision is more of a circus than an actual singing competition nowadays.. just because some people wants to hear good music in a song contest does not mean they should not be here
If Eurovision’s a circus then you are part of this circus too. Your nickname says it all.
Your comment made no sense, just like the community in general lol
eurovision6, want to see the definition of joke? Look at the mirror, babe. :*
*looks in the mirror* at least I do not look like Conchita lmao
The cringe is real. :-/
What a disappointment! I think Ken Doll may have been a more ‘interesting’ choice.
I just hope Serhat will make San Marino proud for its 10th participation.
Don’t get your hopes up lol
Kinda hoping that they’d give Anita and Michele a chance to grow as soloists but instead they went with Serhat.
wow San Marino really don’t want to see the grand final do they, well okay go ahead
Oh, San Marino, it’s my man. He brought this country the best result right after Valentina, and I think nobody will resist to vote for him once the’,ll see the shininess of his head and tempting charm. Go Serhat! Oh San Marino, my favorite country at Eurovision.
Turns out San Marino’s plan all along was to signify that the Ken doll is the chosen act, so that when they announce Serhat it is met with mere please and relief lol
I was hoping for Inis Neziri from last year’s Festivali i Këngës because she took a photo with Sammarinese HoD. But Serhat is o.k. Better than this human doll thing! I think he will come up with something better than in 2016 because he gained experience from 2016 to now. And after the surprise charts success in the U.S. he has also has the funds for a good production. I am still waiting for a big success for San Marino. I hope they stay in the contest because they are the last micro-state and if they go, we will not… Read more »
Lmao I am worried now that this year will be even worse than 2018.. I do not want to have to wait until the 20th song to hear something good..
Yeah selections have been weak. Probably the weakest Eurovision since 2011
You whiners are hilarious. Complaining about LITERALLY NOTHING.
Complaining because we want the best songs at Eurovision is nothing?
Listening to Portugal right now and hearing good things. Taking back what I said but Portugal looks like the strongest selection yet. Hoping they make the right choices because I could see some of these songs as my top 10
What? Not really. many great songs. 2001 was a bad year i remember. only maybe 10 great ones.
Hmm… some countries like SM seem to be always pranking ESC, while others like Kazakhstan are dying to take part on it and send a really impressive act. C’est la vie…
Hmm. I do not know what to say. People may disagree with me but I feel a bit disappointed by their choice. I always have a heart for San Marino but they had their shot with Sara de Blue and wasted it last year. And this year I’m not sure if they made the right decision by internally selecting Serhat. Best of luck
Alright, Netherlands and San Marino have both named their artists. Just have Greece announce theirs like they said they were gonna and I’ll be set for the day.
It just got announced that Duncan Laurence will represent the Netherlands in tel aviv.
Better than Ken, that’s for sure.
Well, good luck to him and San Marino 🙂 This is my humble opinion, they could’ve give another chance to Valentina instead.
Valentina came last with 1 point. I think her time is done now. Try something new 🙂
As much as we all love Valentina, she’s an independent artist and realizes her own projects, mainly jazz-themed. I don’t think she wants to go to Eurovision right now… maybe IROL? He’s also from San Marino and he wanted to go.
Aww, I was really looking forward to the Human Ken Doll.
Uh, NO.
Some of these comments make me sad. Like, I get it, they aren’t all huge countries like Germany or Sweden. But I feel they deserve some respect for still participating despite their size. Eurovision is supposed to be inclusive. They get who they can get, and that’s all you can ask for. So I suggest some folks show a little respect for smaller countries like San Marino.
Maybe getting who or what you can get and selling your participation to the highest bidder is not everyone’s idea of Eurovision, or of something worthy of respect.
Well, seeing how 1. It is a micronation and it still wants to participate and 2. The broadcaster must pay 113.000 euros to EBU for participation and 3. People still love San Marino ? , I would say it is reasonable to choose this way out. Serhat and team paid for the participation and that give me a bit of respect for Serhat.
You’re a true Stan Marino, Joe. I love you for that.
I gotta stand by my San (Marino). I love ’em.
Well, I’m happy for Serhat, he’s a nice guy, though I hated “I Didn’t Know” at first. I’m glad those news about the Russian woman or the “human Ken” were fake.
We all know he paid the most to represent them. San Marino would ask singers from San Marino to represent them if the country was not every year up for the highest bid. We all know that and San Marino wants to hide it.
Doesn’t help them. We all know now what a desperate sham of a broadcaster this is.
I know. I think they would have better luck trying a new San Marinese young talent 🙂
Of all the singers in the whole wide world… why Serhat, the talking singer?
It could have been worse… San Marino could have been stuck with the Human Ken Doll!
So it was all fake news. I feel a bit foolish for thinking they might be true, but hey, it’s San Marino, so it didn’t seem that crazy and who knows who else they were in talks with. At this point, I’m just glad that a human being is representing San Marino. A human being who actually came quite close to qualifying.
Fantastic.
Actually, while the initial version of ‘I didnt know’ was a complete joke, the revamped version in the semi was pretty decent. I would not call that version a joke entry….
What’s your opinion on the French and Italian versions?
Err…I don’t remember them…
yesyesyesyesyessss! The best artist this year, hands down. This legend will bring us San Marino 2020. King.
LMAO! Thanks, i just love it:)))
Valentina Monetta’s Backyard 2020!
Who would know….
The Festival da Canção songs are out on their YouTube channel.
I am Turkish and even my first reaction was… WTF.
Hmm, I’m not complaining about Serhat, but let’s think about the way of announcement for a second. They said “international artist” and everybody got into rumours and in the end it is a person who already represented San Marino. It is weird to announce the artist like “Wow, who could it be?”, making a big suspense, and then saying “Hello! You know him already! XD”. I hope you get my argumentation right, it’s nothing against Serhat.