Last month Bulgarian broadcaster BNT delighted Eurovision fans by confirming that Bulgaria would return to Eurovision 2020. Now Bulgaria‘s act for Rotterdam has been announced. X Factor Bulgaria star Victoria Georgieva — otherwise known as VICTORIA — will sing for Bulgaria.
The news was announced today by the broadcaster at a press conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. VICTORIA has been introduced in a moody, artistic video.
Upcoming artist VICTORIA shared her excitement, saying “I am proud to be the Bulgarian artist in Rotterdam. I am privileged to be able to make music that I believe in and to have the freedom to be who I am. Being the Bulgarian ambassador on such a huge stage is a big responsibility, as the Eurovision Song Contest matters to so many people in Bulgaria.”
Bulgaria’s Eurovision 2020 project is a partnership between BNT and VICTORIA’s record label Ligna Studios. Also involved is the UK-based label Ostereo — who will distribute the song — and the production consultancy Entiendo, who have been part of Bulgaria’s Eurovision team since its 2016 comeback.
VICTORIA’s song for Rotterdam will be internally selected and publicly released in early March 2020.
A different focus for 2020
While Bulgaria came close to winning Eurovision 2017 — when Kristian Kostov’s “Beautiful Mess” finished in second place — this time they aren’t necessarily in it to win it.
Production team Entiendo say their goal is to simply boost VICTORIA’s music career. They also aim to build business relationships that will benefit other Bulgarian artists in the future.
Broadcaster BNT, meanwhile, is focusing on bringing value to the Bulgarian television audience. They confirm that “The commercial success of VICTORIA and our audience are our top priorities in 2020.”
Bulgaria has previously not been shy of hyping its Eurovision entries, with some fans feeling that 2018 act Equinox were overhyped.
Who is VICTORIA?
VICTORIA is an alum of the X Factor Bulgaria. She placed sixth in the 2015/16 edition — the same series where Kristian Kostov placed second. VICTORIA became known for her strong soul vocals, which earned her the comparison as the “Bulgarian Adele”.
VICTORIA has released a number of Bulgarian singles. Earlier this year she released her English-language single “I Wanna Know”, which has already clocked up over 700,000 views on YouTube. VICTORIA presented the video in Madrid at the Melboss Open, a music industry event.
VICTORIA will release her debut album in 2020, after Eurovision 2020.
What do you think? What sort of song should Victoria sing in Rotterdam? Tell us your thoughts below!
Well they can just win but not host next year it’s simple!!
why do you say that?
I am wondering… being humble is it a good or bad thing for ESC?
Some people will never be happy. If you are humble it’s bad, if you are Aly Ryan it’s also bad.
Humility without shyness is the best IMO. You want big voices but not big egos!
Of course it’s a good thing. At the end of the day, arrogance leads nowhere.
She seems like a fantastic live performer with real musical culture. Someone that really loves music and not just the fame. (Not that little insignificant boy singing about a so-called beautyful mess that he didn’t even understand). I also like this more humble approach of BTV, maybe they have have learnt one thing or two. Now what is really important is not the commercial success, it’s the artistic success. I hope she and BTV understand that. However, this presentation video seemed to me a bit pretensious…
So, in the end it’s all about business… Basically any artist with money and a good record company behind him can represent a country. Well….way to go, what can I say? Unless she’s a good live performer with a great song, I predict an epic fail for Bulgaria…
She is a fantastic live performer and one of the best things that happened to the Bulgarian music scene in the last years. Your comment is intentional and not backed up with arguments. I see just a “regular” hate here 🙂
Thanks God she has a good record label behind her!
People who write their name in all caps, like VICTORIA or M.I.H.A.I, are not always arrogants. Usually they use only their first name, and it’s about independence from their own family, dropping the family name.
That introduction video was so pretentious, and worst than that – BORING.
But I’m hoping for a good song, and she seems to be a really good singer. I’m counting on you Bulgaria!
I see potential.
I’m just going to wait for the song release. Gimme a good song and everything will be fine. But seriously, nobody on the entire planet should write their name in all caps. No, this neither makes you more of an artist, nor grander in any way.
I remember the Ukrainian national final last year when like 50% of the the contestants WROTE THEIR NAMES LIKE THIS.
It does seem a little pretentious, doesn’t it?
“Production team Entiendo say their goal is to simply boost VICTORIA’s music career”
Does the idiot at Entiendo who said this realise it will be repeated Ad nauseam by contest commentators and will probably cost her some votes. Is it the same person who told us that Equinox were a ‘common framework’?
In 2014, didn’t Waylon say that he didn’t give a f*** about the Eurovision result and that the only important thing was that the album would become a success? Didn’t seem to cost them too many votes. People will vote for what they like, in my opinion. They didn’t massively vote for Equinox because they didn’t buy into whatever that thing was trying (or wishing) to be. lol at “common framework”. They probably didn’t even known themselves what they meant with that.
Of course they are there to win and all that with the video screams ambition. Noone invests these resources just like that. It’s very nicely done, very cinematic and very expensive.
I’m working with Bulgarians and I know their mentality. They always want to compete and be successful. It’s just that they can’t afford to tell it explicitly as the whole fandom will attack them as if wanting to win is the biggest sin on Earth. It’s good that they said it now, so that everyone is satisfied.
Don’t like people who say they aren’t in it to win it. It’s an important platform to represent your country and make your people proud!
They cannot afford to host so obviously they don’t want to win, it’d make them go broke. This year is only possible because of sponsorship.
They don’t have to host the contest…
Just win it and let someone else host it
Why do you think they cannot host it? Not sure, but I think they already hosted Kids Eurovision?
Obviously we don’t know the song yet but I imagine she’ll do a contemporary Dua Lipa/Zara Larsson style pop song.
She has a good voice and “I Wanna Know” is quite pleasant. Based on her style and the declared intention to market her, I guess she’ll sing something current and radiofriendly in Rotterdam. If it will be something safe or distinctive, we’ll have to wait a few months to find out.
An “artist” with a really nice voice. Excellent.
I wanted Preslava to represent Bulgaria but oh well
Well, we have had winner coming from countries that never expected to win so this could go either way. 🙂
Well, the overall package looks good. I like her and her music style so let’s wait to see what they bring. Potential here.
Not impressed
Her X Factor Audition shows she doesn’t need all that electonic processing of current chart music. I hope, they will keep that in mind when choosing the song.
So basically they went from overhypping their entries to the other extreme saying we just participate to promote an artists career. Thats sad….
faux-artistic doesn’t do well but if it’s genuine then it’s always appreciated
Unfortunately not *cough* Conan Osiris *cough*
Conan was pretty extreme though, a casual viewer might have thought he was a joke entry.
It also didn´t help his staging was far weaker than FDC.
Conan is the definition of an acquired taste and millions of Europeans got their first look at him in that semi. Not something you can necessarily wrap your head around in three minutes.
Well, I guess she can do either commercial pop or moody songs, so her song would be a big surprise, waiting to be anticipated.
Well, she‘s the type of singer to cover Billie Eilish AND Ed Sheeran on her YT channel – so… beware 😉
https://youtu.be/C7lDrjcKpqI
all i ask is for them to use different songwriters from milanov & co whose sound is stuck in 2016, this girl has great potential so let her shine!
who is this beauty and where was she hidden all these years?
Is this another one of those ambient artsy pretentious alternative pop entries like Austria last year?
Better not getting your hopes up to much..
Think you’re throwing around the word pretentious without actually knowing the definition of it… this doesn’t seem pretentious at all?
The video is pretentious. The Word means that you aspire to present something as high art when it’s not.
She’s actually doing commercial pop prior her announcement, so no.
Pretentious would be a better qualifier for ‘Is it too late for love’. That Austrian song was not instant enough, but it was a great song nonetheless.
Yes so great that it ended up dead last in the semi final.
Meanwhile Too Late for Love got 5th in final.
“Beautiful Mess” finished in second place — this time they aren’t necessarily in it to win it.”
You never win when you are trying too hard. 2020 attitude is the right one. I think Bulgaria has more chances than ever. Local song, don’t try too hard, and you can win. Good luck! Sofia 2021.
Indeed, I feel they are so right this year, maybe without knowing it themselves.
But if you’ve got that attitude, don’t broadcast the fact. It isn’t going to endear Victoria to voters or the media. I have a horrible feeling that the someone connected with UK 2020 will say the same thing. In any case, I want to see people singing their heart out for their country.
”this time they aren’t necessarily in it to win it” … wow they really took the slogan ‘open up’ seriously. I prefer a bit more eagerness to win tho
You do realise there is no way they can afford to host. Hence why winning the contest would honestly be an absolute nightmare for them.
They could only afford to send an act because a sponsor helped them out. Which wouldn´t happen with the massive fee of hosting.
I agree, and hope this strategy will work out well. However there’s no need for the statement. It’s so negative. They could just say a quality song is top priority and a win would be ‘nice’ (secretly hoping they won’t win because of financial reasons). Telling europe you don’t want to win (or host) the contest gives a negative vibe.
I’m aware of the unimportance of it , but I’m really not a fan of stage names in all caps.
nn same here. i edited ZAYN’s album to ‘Zayn’ on my itunes bc i can’t stand all caps
What do you do with ABBA?
that’s an acronym so it’s supposed to be in capital letters
It’s not unimportant. When so many young artists do it, it shows a serious problem with narcissism.
I WANNA KNOW what her song will be
She seems really promising!