slovenia-ema-2020-finalists

The search for Slovenia’s act for Eurovision 2020 started in November 2019.

And on February 22, it will draw to a close, at the final of Slovenia’s national selection EMA 2020.

Now broadcaster RTVSLO has released 30-second snippets of the finalists’ songs.

These include snippets from Eurovision 2014 star Tinkara Kovač and Junior Eurovision 2015 act Lina Kuduzović.

You can hear the songs in the Youtube Clip below.

EMA 2020 SNIPPETS

The songs are featured in the order they’ll be performed during the final:

  1. Simon Vadnjal – “Nisi sam”
  2. Saška – “Še kar lovim tvoj nasmeh”
  3. Gaja Prestor – “Verjamem vase”
  4. Ana Soklič – “Voda”
  5. Inmate – “The Salt’
  6. Manca Berlec – “Večnost”
  7. Tinkara Kovač – “Forever”
  8. Božidar Wolfand – Wolf – “Maybe Someday”
  9. Parvani Violet – “Cupid”
  10. Klara Jazbec – “Stop the World”
  11. IMSET – “Femme fatale”
  12. Lina Kuduzović – “man like u”

Voting at EMA 2020

As with other national finals, there are several stages to voting in Slovenia.

The first round is a jury vote. A three-member jury will pick two out of the twelve songs to advance to a second round. Once there, the Slovenian public will have all the power. They will decide the winning entry.

Slovenia’s Eurovision act will then advance to the contest proper. At the allocation draw Slovenia was drawn to perform in the first half of the first semi-final.

How Slovenia will perform during the semi-final remains to be seen. Since the semi-finals were introduced in 2004, Slovenia has only advanced six times, but five of those instances were in the past decade.

EMA 2020 kicked off with the EMA FREŠ “wildcard” round. That show produced two acts for the EMA 2020 final: Parvani Violet and Saška. We don’t have to wait long to find out whether either wildcard will overturn more established Slovenian acts.

Last year, Slovenia made it to the Grand Final. “Sebi” placed sixth in the semi-final and 15th in the Grand Final.

What do you make of the snippets? Let us know in the comments below!

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Catriona Colville
Catriona Colville
4 years ago

Modern doesn’t = good.

Musimakeup
Musimakeup
4 years ago

This selection is so good. I love the diversity of styles. Voda and Forever are reaaaally too dusty and old but except those two (mmm with maybe Imset too) they ALL have the potential to stand out. My 2 favourites are Manca and Inmate. But Parvani stands out too…… Simon is good too ..Tough choice 🙂 🙂

NickC
NickC
4 years ago

Parvani violet is such a stand out. Klara has such a great voice. While I love both Lina and Tinkara, i do not think this is their year.

noone
noone
4 years ago

Oh my… I’m so disappointed by Tinkara. She’s one of my favourite singers and I put a lot of hopes in her. This 90’s power ballad is not her type of music at all, I don’t know what she was thinking. But the jury will probably give her the gold ticket and put her in the final duel. Who will be the other? Parvani Violet won by jury in Freš, so they might as well give them the ticket. Manca Berlec has also good chances, nice muscic, she’s played by the radio plus it’s about lesbian love. If you understand… Read more »

Jakub
Jakub
4 years ago

I know we know only 30 sec snippets but I definitely can tell we are not going to Lublana in 2021

Musimakeup
Musimakeup
4 years ago
Reply to  Jakub

You’re tough lol I was happily surprised by the quality. I found it more diverse and better quality than Australia or iceland ! Except for 3 dusty and old songs, no “we all poop” or no “banana song”. Only radio ready quality so : not that bad 🙂

Seemone
Seemone
4 years ago

Most interested in Manca.

Linaalltheway
Linaalltheway
4 years ago

It’s mix that will appeal to every age group and genre preference, which is fine, since this is the most popular and watched tv show in the country. Ratings wouldn’t be great if all songs were pop. Keep that in mind when judging.
I think Lina should go to esc, her song is the best regarding that we haven’t heard the climax yet.

Angelika
Angelika
4 years ago

1. Parvani Violet – “Cupid”: I like Jazz so why not?
2. Klara Jazbec – “Stop the World”: is a sweet song but just that

Denis
Denis
4 years ago

For me the three stands out are Klara Jazbec, Lina and Parvani Violet. Lina had a very promising Ariana Grade sound, Parvani Violet very retro and cool and Klara sounded promising.
The rest was bland, disappointed at Tinkara. Why does her song sound early 90’s and not in a good way?

Mia
Mia
4 years ago

Hard to tell from the snippets,but for now:
Inmate
Ana Soklic
Manca Berlec.

John the Go
4 years ago

Excited to hear Simon Vadnjal – “Nisi sam” in full – seems like it has a lot of potential from the snippet.

Alex
Alex
4 years ago

For me the real standout here is Gaja’s song. I really like her voice.

Alo
Alo
4 years ago

Gaja prestor song is promising.

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
4 years ago

I was mostly interested in Gaja’s and Inmate’s songs
I’m still waiting for the full songs of course
I want more from Tinkara, her 2014 entry was great! And also Lina, whose entry sounds nice and we all know she can sing live

thrume8
thrume8
4 years ago

longer snippets will be released in few days on Val 202’s yt channel 🙂

BleuKnaveXD236
BleuKnaveXD236
4 years ago
Reply to  thrume8

Cool!!! Looking forward to hearing more of the songs to get a better feel for them. Full songs would be better… but I’ll take what I can get lol

thrume8
thrume8
4 years ago
Reply to  BleuKnaveXD236

full songs will probably be played on Val 202 (national radio of Slovenia) some days before EMA, but they won’t be online, except someone record and publish them

Ashton Schier
Ashton Schier
4 years ago

lina Kuduzovic shows promise

BleuKnaveXD236
BleuKnaveXD236
4 years ago

Always hard to pick favs from ~30ish snippets… Simon Vadnjal, Inmate, and IMSET’s snippets caught my attention the most and made me wanna hear the complete package. I really need to hear all the songs in full before I can judge them really. I will say i was a bit disappointed with Tinkara’s snippet as i really liked her 2014 entry :/

SunkistRayne
SunkistRayne
4 years ago

Inmate’s and IMSET’s songs really stood out for me(can’t wait to hear the full versios). The others weren’t necessarily bad but I’m just indifferent towards them over all, perhaps will change upon hearing the full releases.

Australian Insomniac
Australian Insomniac
4 years ago

From the snippets, a bit underwhelmed with Tinkara’s effort. Hoped she would give us a good bop like back in 2014. Would really like to see Inmate do well (…and I don’t even like rock)

Mia
Mia
4 years ago

Just searched for Inmate and pleasantly surprised with metal band in competition! If the song is good, I’m rooting for them 😉

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

I hope these snippets are misleading, they don’t sound as diverse and interesting as last year’s finalists. For now, I would say Klara Jazbec was also the one who caught my attention, her voice is lovely. I wish Astrid had qualified, she would have a real chance here.

Ashton Schier
Ashton Schier
4 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Astrid’s robbery will go down as one of the biggest crimes of this national final season

DoTheKiki
DoTheKiki
4 years ago

Klara Jazbec by far sounds the most promising! Parvani Violet to me stands out in a good way with its retro sound and I think Ana Soklic’s ballad could be good (probably not for Eurovision, though). Lina’ s full song could surprise but it sounds very Ariana Grande to me and not in a memorable way. The rest are frankly quite bad. I’m especially disappointed in Tinkara who teamed up with possibly the worst songwriting pair in Slovenia who have been producing the same music since the 90s and their lyrics (especially English ones) are shockingly bad. It’s like they… Read more »

DoTheKiki
DoTheKiki
4 years ago

The moment I saw who the composers for Tinkara’s song were I knew it wouldn’t be any good. They are probably the worst songwriting pair in Slovenia who still produce songs like it’s the 90s musically and their lyrics (especially in English) are terrible. I’m shocked she even took one of their songs.

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago

Klara Jazbec’s song is the only one that has got potential if you ask me. The rest is unbelievably bland and forgettable. I’m disappointed, I expected much more from Slovenia this year. Nevertheless, you only need one great song to succeed in Eurovision, so if “Stop the World” turns out to be as good as I hope it is, another qualification might be a very likely possibility.

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

Am I going crazy? I thought these all sounded really good!

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Joe

Tinkara’s forever together forever and ever? Shockingly bad lyrics. The three I mentioned sound really good to me. Funny how they were all in the beginning. I hope this doesn’t mean RTVSlo already decided those won’t advance.

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

Her voice makes up for it I think. I dunno, that ones my favorite, and I like them all. The Slovenes should be really proud of themselves. This is a terrific selection, on par with Australia and the Czech Republic. And just like with them, I can’t see myself disappointed with any of these picks. (Then again, I’m not from Slovenia, so it only really matters what they think. But hey, Slovenian people! Your songs are really good! I’m rooting for you!)

Malmklang
Malmklang
4 years ago

Klara Jazbec is my clear favourite!

xohxoh
xohxoh
4 years ago

They all are very sterile and soulless. Nothing really stands out to me, maybe Lina or Parvani.

jack
jack
4 years ago

No disrespect to Slovenia. But sometimes internal selection saves money and time. What the heck are these songs?

Isa
Isa
4 years ago
Reply to  jack

Good songs!

Damien
Damien
4 years ago

Wow, I’m surprised at the selection process here; “A three-member jury will pick two out of the twelve songs to advance to a second round.” That’s a small number of jurors to decide the fate of 12 songs. And then, the public only getting to choose between two of twelve?.. Brutal.

If they want to cull some songs from the public vote, then OK, but wouldn’t it be better to have more songs go through.. or a bigger jury?? Just my opinion.

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago
Reply to  Damien

It’s the same format as last year. I guess this way the broadcaster wants to make sure that only the best-quality entries end up being selected without getting rid of the public’s involvement entirely, but to me it seems very undemocratic and even a little suspicious once you start to question the jury’s independence.

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

It’s their way of controlling the result. Remember BQL.

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago

It would be hard not to remember that drama. I actually don’t think that the juries were sabotaging the show, it’s not like BQL were given 0 points or anything like that, they were in top 4 of the jury vote on both occasions. But of course I would much prefer “Heart of Gold” to be the Slovenian Eurovision entry in 2017 instead of “On My Way”, even though I’m not a fan of either of those two.

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

It’s easy to calculate how many points you can give someone who was always going to win the televote to make them lose.

pretty_polly
pretty_polly
4 years ago

This selection is so lame it almost makes me want to cry. I absolutely loved the last two Slovenian entries but there’s no way they’re going to see the Grand Final this year, no matter who wins. Their only hope was Miss Astrid with “Sing to Me” (even if her live vocals were a bit shaky) but they were foolish enough to send her home from the pre-selection round.

Lorena
Lorena
4 years ago
Reply to  pretty_polly

I absolutely agree. If there only was a way to bring Astrid back to the competition…

Eurovisionfan12
Eurovisionfan12
4 years ago
Reply to  pretty_polly

Pretty bold of you to assume that they won’t qualify just based on a ~10 second snippet

JJ Abrahames
JJ Abrahames
4 years ago
Reply to  pretty_polly

if Serhat can qualify than almost everyone has a chance

esc1234
esc1234
4 years ago

Meh nothing excited me. Waiting to listen the complete versions

Renny
Renny
4 years ago

I didn’t think I would say this, but Parvani Violet is still my winner.

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago

‘Nisi sam’, ‘Verjamem vase’ and ‘Voda’ for me.

Timi
Timi
4 years ago

I miss Kaos…

Catriona Colville
Catriona Colville
4 years ago

Parpani Violet sounds interesting.

Colin
Colin
4 years ago

That is the one you can actually hear in the whole online. She and Saska won wildcards in pre-selection and are available on YT.

TD303
TD303
4 years ago

This year better be an all-time Junior Eurovision reunion! Lina’s song is banging!

* Greece: Stefania (KISSES)
* Malta: Destiny Chukunyere
* Slovenia: Lina Kuduzovi?
* Armenia: Vladimir Arzumanyan (only if his song is good, of course!)

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago

hmmm….. I don’t have a fave from these snippets, so let’s just see what happens

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
4 years ago

Klara jazbec sounds promising.