Less than two weeks ago, Slovenia‘s broadcaster RTV SLO launched its national final EMA 2020, including a wildcard for upcoming acts. But now Slovenian media is claiming that was all for nothing, with reports that R&B singer Senidah has instead been internally selected to represent Slovenia at Eurovision 2020.
The news was broken by the news site Kurir, who are reporting it as a done deal. Senidah has reportedly been internally selected and will not be required to compete against other acts in the national final EMA.
Kurir’s source claims that “Senida was very pleased with the invitation to represent Slovenia in the Netherlands. Eurovision is her great love. All this is coming now, as Senida tries to build an international career, so the European music festival will welcome her to introduce herself to audiences outside the Old Continent.”
Senidah may be familiar to Eurovision fans from her appearance in Slovenia’s national final EMA 2014. Back then, Senidah was the glamorous lead singer of the group MUFF. Their song “Let Me Be (Myself)” was a stand-out in the national final. It made the super final, where MUFF lost to Tinkara Kovač with “Spet/Round and Round”.
Senidah has since gone solo and has released a number of singles in recent years. Earlier this year, she released her debut solo album Bez tebe (Without You).
Internal selection or just hype?
Broadcaster RTV SLO has not confirmed this news. Earlier in the month, the broadcaster launched their national final, EMA 2020. The revamped national final format will include EMA FREŠ, a newcomers section, which will give a wildcard entry to the most popular newcomer.
Despite the claim of Senidah’s internal selection, RTV SLO is still accepting entries for EMA 2020, both from newcomers and established artists. There is no sign that RTV SLO has cancelled its national final in favour of an internally selected act.
August is still very early in the Eurovision calendar and it is not typical for broadcasters to have confirmed their acts this early on.
What do you think? Would you like to see Senidah represent Slovenia at Eurovision 2020? Or are you more excited for whatever EMA 2020 brings? Tell us your thoughts below!
It is more likely that she will represent either Montenegro or Serbia. She is of Montenegrin descent and her music is mostly in the Serbian dialect of Serbo-Croatian. Also she is signed in Universal Serbia record label.
Plus, being part of the LGBT-community is a nice sign
Being announced this early probably makes it a rumour unfortunately. Which is a shame since she is awesome and would defintely bringing something new to the table.
Kurir might be a local media but not in Slovenia. It is Serbian and I don’t believe a word they wrote in that article.
How is no one dying at the name MUFF?!
If she participated under that name, I would want her to go no matter the song.
IMAŠ MIŠICE DA OTVORIŠ VRATA
BOP
I POKAZES CEO STAN
TI SI TAKO JAK
I KADA PRE?EM PREKO PRAGA, ?INI MI SE DA
PITAŠ ME DAL’ IMAM JA NEŠTO DA DAM
DA TI DAM, DA TI DAM
PO STEPENICAMA DA DIVLJAM I ZAKLJU?AM SILE, SENTIMENT I SRAM
DA TI DAM, DA TI DAM
PO STEPENICAMA DA JA TE VU?EM
LU?E, TI BI DA SE SVU?EM, A?
Treba mi jebeni magic,
lažeš k’o jebeni playback
OSTA?U KU?I U CRVENO OBU?ENA
KADA SVE UVENE, VU?E
I think these are fake news, since Kurir is one of the most unreliable news papers in Serbia, but Senidah is a really big deal here in the ex-yu, she lives in Slovenia but is actually from Montenegro, so maybe she will represent Montenegro, cause I highly doubt that Slovenia will ditch their national final since they already started accepting songs for the final.
That’s a coup for Montenegro if she wants to do it. They’re the last semi-final country on the comeback trail.
What do you mean by “comeback trail”?
In the last few years, pretty much every country that’s had a rough time qualifying has turned it around for at least a year or two. Montenegro is still waiting on a return after missing every final since 2016.
she said she loves slovenia and would do it for slovenia only…
Me too. But nobody has asked me yet. I think they want to save me for 2021.
if u could sing, u could maybe go 🙂
Count me in. 😉
Kurir actually isn’t a Slovene page(don’t know from which country it is, but it isn’t Slovene). But she has tried before so it wouldn’t be a too big of a shock, but her music is mostly in Serbo-Croatian since she is Montenegrin after all, but she could make a song in Slovene tho
Kurir is from Serbia and I won’t when I say it’s a pile of s**t.
Choices, though. Just too funny when the TV only announced something regarding their cultural national selection. Probably just a gossip.
EMA is always good for at least decent stuff, so if they choose internally, it had better be something great, so the complete opposite of their last internal selection in 2013. I still see this bottom of the barrel as a stubborn reaction to not qualifying in 2012. But if it’s a good song and act, go for it, even though the Slovenian selection is one of my favorites. Oh, wait, it’s just August fake tabloid gossip. I’m looking forward to the EMA revamp.
She would be an excellent choice, I’m sure the entire peninsula would support her, she’s a big deal after all. It’s kurir so it’s most likely fake news, sadly.
Her songs get 30-40million views on youtube. She’s a big deal. Please let it be true
Yeah, but Youtube views don’t play any role in the results.
If YouTube views dictated results, Italy would win every year.
I’d sort of be okay with that. More often than not, I prefer whatever Italy has over the winner.
So what. Who wants their country to be represented by a nobody
It’s about the song, not the artist’s fame. Think anyone outside their native countries knew who Duncan Laurence or Mahmood were?
But then again, think anyone IN their native countries knew who Duncan Laurence or Mahmood were? They were totally unknown.
Mahmood at least had his song become a big hit before Eurovision. Arcade didn’t gain steam until the bookies jumped on it.
Yeah but they became known because they got to go to Eurovision, otherwise they would still live in obscurity. And btw those damn bookies made this year’s result seem so forced and fan-service-ish (with very few exceptions like Tamara), hope this doesn’t happen in 2020.
I liked the whole EMA Freš idea so it’d be a bit of a disappointment if they canned it in favor of just an established act. I wouldn’t mind if the broadcaster asked her to compete (Melfest does it all the time), and she would probably be a decent choice, but it would suck to deny all those up-and-comers such an opportunity. So I’m hoping this is fake news.
I’m not buying it. And considering that they have just announced their new national final, it’s clear that they want to include as many artists as possible, but then again, there is just no reason for them to cancel it before it even launches in favor of an interval act. Absolutely fake news.