It might feel like only yesterday, but we’ve been living with the names of all 20 Festivali i Këngës 58 acts for several weeks now. And one thing is for certain — the line-up for Albania’s Eurovision 2020 preselection is fire!
So while Tirana gears up to host the iconic national final for three nights on 19, 20 and 22 December, we want to know which of the artists you are most excited for. Yes, the songs are yet to be released but that hasn’t stopped us from checking out the vast back catalogues of all the competitors.
Here’s just three standouts to whet your appetite.
Festivali i Këngës 58 — Ones to watch
Elvana Gjata
Elvana Gjata is huge. We’re talking almost half a billion views on YouTube and 1.4 million Instagram followers huge. In fact, the star is so big that when news of the line-up first broke, many thought it was fake.
Name a contest in Albania and the chances are Elvana has either won it or placed highly — Dancing With The Stars, Kënga Magjike Award and Top Fest Award. She even attempted FiK early in her career. However, that was in the days before the contest was used as a national selection for Eurovision. Some of her many hits include “Kuq e zi je ti”, “Love Me” and “Mike”.
Arilena Ara
Elvana may have the biggest following, but Arilena Ara is not far behind. Her Instagram fans number 1.1 million. She first rose to fame after winning The X Factor Albania in 2013. In the years since she’s racked up numerous chart smashes. And she’s even gone to the other side of the talent show table, acting as a coach on The Voice Kids Albania.
“Nëntori” is her best known single internationally. It enjoyed considerable airplay in Romania and Russia and has over 67 million YouTube views.
Olta Boka
While consumers of Albanian pop are gagging on Gjata and Aja, there’s only one name on the lips of Eurovision fans of a certain vintage. Olta Boka won Festivali i Këngës 46 and represented Albania at the 2008 song contest in Belgrade. She placed 17th in the final with “Zemrën E Lamë Peng”.
Following her Eurovision stint, she’s won awards at both Kënga Magjike and Top Fest and released a slew of popular singles.
Poll: Which Festivali i Këngës 58 act are you the most excited for?
So who are you most excited for? Is it one of the three ladies showcased above? Perhaps it’s someone else?
Could it be Tiri Gjoci or Wendy Mancaku, two of Jonida Maliqi’s backing singers at Eurovision 2019? Or how about FiK veterans like Bojken Lako, Era Rusi and Kamela Islamaj? Up-and-coming popstar Kanita is also generating some buzz.
It’s time to vote in our poll! Choose wisely, you can only vote ONE time. Voting ends just before the 20 competing songs are released — the date is yet to be confirmed at the time of publication.
[crowdsignal poll=10459971]Who is your favourite? Who do you think will surprise us? Let us know in the comments.
Follow all of our Albania Eurovision 2020 news.
ALDO BARDHI FOREVER ???
Does anyone know if the date for the release of the songs has been postponed? I heard that the songs were going to be released today, but as of now, they still have yet to be uploaded on the RTSH channel.
I hope first of all the winning song will be a good one regardless the artist’s name. It might be also a balad. I know that eurovision is bored with Albania’s ballads but if it’s a good one, why not?
Btw i am sending a link of a song from an artist competing in the fellow festival “Kenga Magjike”. Need your opinion if the winning song will be sth like this although it’s a ballad.
https://youtu.be/2tLNn1KHkAU
Elvana is Queen
Arilena and Elvana both could win ESC for Albania given the right song/staging
For me – Elvana, Bojken Lako, Olta Boka, Tiri, and wendi mancaku
It will be nice if albania will finally sand pop song or something else, it always rock song or ballad sang by woman …..And they could sing in other languages (French, Italian) or make half song in albanian and half in english….
I hope they’ll never return to anything other than Albanian tbh
Albanian is nice but sometimes change is good 🙂
This lineup is STACKED and if Albania chooses correctly, they could do extremely well at ESC. I have my eyes on Elvana, Alberie Hadergjonaj and Olta in particular, but there are quite a few names I’m excited about and I cannot wait to hear the songs. My two biggest concerns: 1: Because the lineup contains some famous names, I am worried that names will overshadow the songs and that the winner may not be the best song and could be influenced by names alone 2: The possibility of an English revamp, which as we all know doesn’t always have a… Read more »
I’m soo excited for Albania’s entry this year. I hope they don’t let us down.
ELVANA!!
SLAYVANA *!!!!!!
My biggest fear is, if one of those women win, they will do the…”translation”…
I think Eugent and Jonida both qualifying consecutively with Albanian songs, while Eneda and Lindita failed to consecutively with English translations will mean the broadcaster will stick to Albanian.
And thats why i love you, oh oh, yes I love u ….
I hope so !
Elvana Gjata and Arilena Ara, if they don’t win I’ll riot. I bet Elvana has a banger (she also follows Alex P. on IG so maybe he’s the producer) and Arilena’s song will be by Darko Dimitrov(he wrote “Proud” and “Lost and Found” for Macedonia and also “Kruna” for Serbia) Maybe I preger Elvana, since Albania hasn’t sent pop (non ballad) songs in a while (basically since Juliana Pasha)