It’s the song that Destiny Chukunyere would have performed for Malta at Eurovision 2020 — but fans could have heard it at Eurovision four years earlier. Bulgarian Eurovision star Poli Genova has revealed that an early version of Destiny’s “All Of My Love” was her second choice for Eurovision 2016.
Poli shared the song’s history in a live chat on Instagram. She was speaking with the Finnish Eurovision star Krista Siegfrids who had given a shout-out to Malta’s entry for 2020.
Poli then said, “There’s a big story behind it. I’m connected to it. It’s about writing the chorus.”
She then dropped some history, telling Krista, “The chorus of the song, it’s supposed to be my second option for Eurovision 2016, but with different verses. And I’m actually part of the writing of the lyrics. But I think the others forgot about it, so cheers for that!”
But Poli had nothing but praise for the singer who ended up with the final version of the song, Destiny Chunkyere. She toasted the Maltese star, saying “Cheers for the lovely artist Destiny Chukunyere, who actually won in Bulgaria in 2015 – the Junior Eurovision which I hosted here. She’s a lovely lady and I hope the song is going to have success even though that’s not going to be on the Eurovision Contest anymore.”
The evolution of “All of My Love”
The song went through a number of changes to get from 2016 to 2020. Last month, the Croatian-born, Swiss-raised singer Bernarda Brunovic revealed that she had originally submitted her version of “All of My Love” to Croatia’s national final Dora.
Bernarda had contributed to the songwriting process alongside the Bulgarian-Austrian maestro Borislav Milanov. While their new version of the song was not accepted for Dora 2020, the song still had a future.
After hearing that Malta was looking for a song for Destiny, Boris submitted the song. Bernarda explained, “A few days passed, and Boris called me again. What good news! Everyone was happy with the song. They still had some ideas for a few details in the arrangement, to make the song even more like Destiny.”
The final credited songwriters for “All of My Love” are Bernarda Brunovic, Borislav Milanov, Sebastian Arman, Dag Lundberg, Joacim Persson and Cesár Sampson.
And while Poli Genova didn’t select the early version of “All of My Love” for her Eurovision 2016 comeback, she didn’t make the wrong choice. Poli’s entry “If Love Was a Crime” was a big fan favourite and went on to place fourth in the Stockholm grand final.
What is the destiny of Destiny?
Destiny’s definitive version of “All of My Love” was a hot favourite prior to the cancellation of Eurovision 2020 and was expected to give Malta one of their best Eurovision results ever. However, despite the music video’s popularity, the song remains the only Eurovision 2020 entry that has not yet been released on music streaming platforms such as Spotify.
Speaking to wiwibloggs earlier this month, the songwriter and producer Borislav Milanov confirmed that “All of My Love” has not yet been officially released. However, there is no word on when the song will be released.
There is also speculation as to whether Malta will internally select Destiny for Eurovision 2021. However, at this stage, neither the Maltese broadcaster nor Destiny herself have publicly commented on Malta’s plans for Eurovision 2021.
What do you think? Should Poli have taken the song to Stockholm? Would you like to see Destiny return next year with a new song? Tell us your thoughts below!
I’ll say it fits Destiny the best out of the three artists who tried with it. I can’t imagine Destiny doing If Love Was a Crime the way Poli did.
Actually, “All My Love” is in my top 3 but I hate these impersonal songs so much. The creative proccess is like a factory with lots of people contributing to produce a digestible and palatable piece of music with no heart from any artist at all. It just come to live because a trendy formula is used but that’s all. I mean, that’s how the music industry works, even Eurovision of course, nothing new. However, outside the bubble, I’m used to listen to pop-rock, indie pop, electronic, alternative rock bands/groups/artists who create their own material. Ofc they collaborate with other… Read more »
…so malta’s song had been lingering around for FOUR years? i’m glad it doesn’t sound dated but it’s still quite depressing to think
She was referring I think to only the chorus from “All of My Love”, not entire song itself necessarily.
From how I understand it, the chorus grew to become the song itself over the years.
Sorry, but Malta need to wake up. I think Destiny has dodged a bullet, but may have done marginally better in Televote given her wider experience. Why bother with these rehashed “songs” by the same people when you have so many talented people at home, such as Rick Edwards? And the best Maltese finishes have been homegrown, Chiara x 2 and Ira Losco 2002. Please spend the time sourcing a great song for Destiny locally! BTW I think Germany got the best of the three versions of the “song” in 2020.
Oh, and I want to add another note to my previous message. It’s absurd to think that every year we are there waiting for a country to present its song, even beyond the deadline, to benefit from the suspense or the fact of being the last to present the song… and then they offer us something that is FOUR years old!I understand at this point why these “songwriters” defend their “right” to present their songs even one year later…
I love Poli Genova, she is my 2nd place 2016 (just behind powerhouse Dami Im, so in other years she might have been my winner) and I adore her attitude. And that’s why I am very happy, that she chose ILWAC, because it’s much better, and a bit happy that she is not credited here, cause AOML is not the biggest masterpiece of Symphonix imho. But in terms of fairness, she definitly should have been!
Let’s face it, most countries resort to buying songs which were already rejected
More like overly keen songwriters who are seen as past their prime and get nowhere in the their own country (Mr G:son for example) hawk their wares to every country till some one takes it.
And that, my friends, is the system that blind fans strenuously defend, screaming at those who dare not stand on the side of the song factory.
What questionable methods. One puts the refrain in Bulgaria, the other puts a sentence in Malta, the other fixes the note in Sweden. Basic lyrics, reusable from year to year, to which banal sentences to say in interviews can be added to justify an autobiographical part story. Then let the song be sung by Cyprus, Azerbaijan or Papua New Guinea, who cares, originality first of all.
Great song. It is on my TOP 3! And it best fits Destiny. Malta did good job choosing this song. They got big attention this year.
Borislav Milanov and team went on and on about the importance of composers and songwriters at Eurovision, and how the contest is now “serving specific interest and totally ignoring and disrespecting the songwriters and their hard work”, yet he himself forgets to include Poli Genova as part of the “All of my love” writing team. Hypocritical much.
Remember the list with Bulgarian songs we could have possibly gotten for 2018? I guarantee you one of them will end up being a song for Malta/Bulgaria/some other country in the future.
Poli didn’t win the semi final, think you need to edit that…
Hello!
Just tossing this idea out here – since if anyone can do it, Wiwibloggs can.
Have a “contest” for 2020, *based on the official videos* of this year’s entries.
Set up a poll, where people choose their Top 10 from the songs assigned to the First Semi-Final. Then one for the Second Semi-Final.
The Top Ten vote getters in each advance to the Grand Final, where you have people choose their favorite from the 26 (10 + 10 + “Big Five” + Netherlands) contestants.
Who would win? It shouldn’t be too hard to set up the proper online polling…..
Yes PLEASE!
Yeah but Croatian, Greek, and Albanian trolls would mess it up. I mean, when all the songs for 2019 were released, there was a poll, and Roko’s The Dream won it despite most people disliking it, by a huge margin, due to Croatian trolls. We don’t need that again.
Russian trolls will mess up every single poll
It was probably trolled by Jacques. In Croatia everyone hated “The Dream”.
Yeah… The Dream was in my personal bottom 5, despite Roko giving his all on stage. Divlji vjetre is a huge step up, but again, wouldn’t get my vote in the semi, even if it was eligible to do so. Switzerland all the way! 🙂
Poor Roko. He deserved better. I hope he gets a second chance to prove how good he is, just like our lovely Poli.
Personally, I would be fond of the Maltese entries being more authentic and crafted by people who are actually from Malta in the near future. I don’t get why broadcasters would go with songs which are rejected. After all, rejected songs weren’t convincing enough to make the cut. The fact that many of these songs undergo changes before getting selected doesn’t really enhance the situation, in my view…
Song from Austria 2018 got rejected in UK, but won jury vote, Denmark 2012 won even if it got rejected in Germany, Germany 2019 got rejected in Switzerland, the list goes on & on.
I am aware that several broadcasters often go with rejected songs and enjoy success at times. However, if the broadcasters keep this up, it might eventually lead to a contest with uninspired and outdated music.