In 2017 she placed third in Albania’s Festivali i Këngës 56. Last year she won Romania’s Golden Stag Festival. And this year Albanian songstress Inis Neziri has chalked up another win, taking out the top prize in the New Wave music competition.
The contest is held annually in Sochi, Russia and aims to showcase the best in upcoming talent from around the world. But it was Inis from Albania who made the biggest impression.
The 18-year-old songstress performed a number of songs over the week, including her FiK 56 entry “Piedestal”. She was soon established as a competition favourite, taking out the top spot with 281 points.
Azerbaijan’s Eurovision 2018 singer Aisel didn’t quite do as well. The “X My Heart” singer placed eighth overall, with 234 points. Twin sister act Anna Maria — who were last seen in the controversial 2019 Ukraine national final — placed fifth with 243 points.
Depi Evratesil 2018 act Tyom may have decided to “Follow the Ocean” to Sochi, but there he placed ninth with 230 points.
In second place was the Russian group Davinchi, while third place went to Iliana Sanchez of Cuba.
New Wave has a strong connection with Eurovision contestants, both past and future. The contest was previously won by Sergey Lazarev (as part of pop duo Smash!!!), Intars Busulis, Jamala, Natalia Gordienko and DoReDos. They all went on to represent their country at Eurovision — and in Jamala’s case, win it.
Inis Neziri became known in Albania for her participation in the children’s song contest Gjeniu i Vogël (Little Genius) and the song contest Kënga Magjike (Magic Song). She made her Festivali i Këngës debut in 2017 where she performed “Piedestal” (Pedastal) at FiK 56. There she placed third after Eugent Bushpepa and Redon Makashi.
Last year Inis travelled to Romania for the revamped Golden Stag contest. She took home the grand prize, which led to fans wanting to see her back at Festivali i Këngës. With Inis’ star shining brighter than ever, will 2020 be her year for Eurovision?
New Wave 2019 – full results
- Inis Neziri (Albania) – 281 points
- Davinchi (Russia) – 269 points
- Iliana Sanchez (Cuba) – 259 points
- Buranov (Russia) – 247 points
- Anna Maria (Ukraine) – 243 points
- Sandro Nicolas (United States) – 243 points
- Radio Trio (Latvia) – 241 points
- Aisel (Azerbaijan) – 234 points
- Tyom (Armenia) – 230 points
- Taras (Ukraine) – 230 points
- Thomas Grazioso (Italy) – 229 points
- Victor Balan (Moldova) – 224 points
- Juan Ricondo (Spain) – 223 points
What do you think? Should Inis return to Festivali i Këngës? Would you like to see Inis represent Albania at Eurovision 2020? Tell us your thoughts below!
I hope Inis will take part at Fik 58 and win! She MUST go to Eurovision because she is a very talented girl! She already has represented Albania in 3 international festivals in North Macedonia at “Tra la la festival 2018” (2nd place), Golden Stag in Romania 2018 (Winner) and New Wave 2019 in Russia (1st place). I think that she’s ready and as talented as she can represent Albania at Eurovision 2020 and shine there with her performance and voice! Also she has won the 1st place at “Gjeniu i Vogel 5”. It is a talent show for children… Read more »
She wasn’t the best live in 2017 but I really love her song and I’m still listening to it to this day!
If inis is clever she should have kirkorov and the dream team to create her an entry and thats the best chance that Albania could have to reach top 5 cause lets be real, they are not good on staging.
And Kirkorov is not good at songwriting.
Evangelinos is good at staging and thats something that Albania can’t do until now
This can’t happen. FIK has a rule that the songwriters must have albanian citizenship.
the nightmare team is no longer capable of creating good songs tho
well the spotlight is on her now but i already feel that she would compete in FiK with a dated screaming ballad with a questionable dress…..
omg not this screaming lady again
Ladies and gentlemen, IT IS ROTTERDAM FOR EUROVISION 2020! Congratulations!
Good voice but the song is mediocre and outdated,If the winner is so bad I wonder how they others should be xD
To be fair, some of the other contestants were not the best.
It is not a song competition. It is a singer competition 🙂 She sang 3 different songs – one in Russian, one in her native language and one from her repertoir as required by the rules. All the songs were excellent and her performances were exceptional. You usually don’t see this quality in Eurovision 😉
50 minutes left. Hope is Maastricht. Underdog for the win.
Was Sergey in jury at 3 : 07?
He is jury member from 2017
He was!
He also performed “Scream” and a couple of songs from his new album during the evenings.
I hope Ukranians can perform in Russia again now without being scolded by some Ukranian authorities.
Inis is very pretty, she dressed similarly to Ilse in 2014, subtle but elegant.
If FiK submissions didn’t include her, we could say that the other country who could snatch her is San Marino
On an interview to a Russian channel she said that her main career goal is to take part in Eurovision and if Albania doesn’t select her, she will be glad to represent other country. On the other hand Philip Kirkorov is extremely interested in Inis. Anyway she has won 50’000 euros and can spend the money on a quality production of a couple of new songs.