Italy’s success with rock ‘n roll at the most recent edition of Eurovision is clearly having knock-on effects. On Thursday Bulgaria revealed that Intelligent Music Project — a rock supergroup — will sing the song “Intention” at Eurovision 2022 in Torino. Rock legend Ronnie Romero will front the group.
The Intelligent Music Project is an “international rock collaboration” and was founded by the Bulgarian businessman, philanthropist and arts patron Dr Milen Vrabevski. While the group is a Bulgarian rock band, they frequently collaborate with ’80s rock icons from around the world.
The project has included collaborations with musicians such as Simon Phillips (Toto), John Lawton (Uriah Heep), John Payne (Asia), Carl Sentance (Nazareth), Bobby Rondinelli (Rainbow, Black Sabbath) and Todd Sucherman (Styx).
Their song “Intention” will be revealed on December 7.
In a tweet on the official Bulgaria Eurovision account, producers revealed that the band will perform it live during their nationwide tour — helping give the artists some domestic promo.
“This time the fans will not wait long for the premiere of the Bulgarian song,” the tweet says. “In addition to a video, the song will be performed live during the band’s tour of the country. The first participation is on 7.12 in Blagoevgrad. Followed by concerts in Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Ruse and Stara Zagora.”
Bulgaria picks Intelligent Music Project with Ronnie Romero for Eurovision 2022
For Eurovision 2022, the group will feature a series of well-known stars — most notably Ronnie Romero of heavy metal group Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.
Ronnie is a 40-year-old singer from Chile. He’s also been the lead singer of rock bands including Lords of Black, The Ferrymen, Michael Schenker Group and Sunstorm. He’s lived in Madrid since 2009.
Eurofans will most definitely know Intelligent Music Project’s drummer Stoyan Yankoulov. He famously took Bulgaria to fifth place at Eurovision 2007 alongside Elitsa with the song “Voda” (Water). In 2013 the duo returned to Eurovision, but sadly their entry “Samo Shampioni” failed to make the final in Malmö.
Other members in IMP are: X-Factor Bulgaria winner Slavin Slavchev, Bisser Ivanov, Ivo Stefanov and Dimiter Sirakov.
Since 2012, Intelligent Music Project has released six albums: The Power of Mind, My Kind o’ Lovin’, Touching the Divine, Sorcery Inside, Life Motion, and 2021 release The Creation.
The group regularly perform live, both in Bulgaria and at rock events around Europe.
News of their participation was first revealed back in September. At the time their founder Milen Vrabevski claimed they were near signing with BNT for Eurovision 2022. The businessman told Radio Plovdiv:
“The top news I share with you on this radio is that we have been chosen to represent Bulgaria at the next Eurovision Song Contest in Italy. With the idea we took a few months ago with BNT — if we are looking for a vote, a team of international stars with a Bulgarian project will make a much more impression, many more votes than a purely Bulgarian team. That’s what we plan to do with a new approach.”
Do you like what you hear so far? Do you think this Ronnie’s vocals and Stoyan’s drumming will help create some magic? Let us know down below!
just read ronnie romero is wanted by the police in spain since mid-november
https://ogaegreece.com/voylgaria-katazitoymenos-o-ronnie-romero/ (in greek)
bulgaria is falling in the trap of following the trend of the previous winner. The guys have no charisma from what i have seen. I will be waiting for the song but i doubt they will do well.
My main concern is getting a foreign frontman with little prior connection to the band.
Welcome to ESC family, and I cannot wait to hear the song. Good luck, Bulgaria! 🙂
2007 all over again after lordi won woo
2005 actually. That year had a lot o rock and drums
And when I listen through all the Songs for a playlist, I was surprised at how many Rock songs were at 2005 contest.
There’s definitely been a Chilean-born Eurovision contestant before. I think it was Spain that sent them. I’ll have to find the name tho
Betty Missiego is from Peru, its neighbour, if that’s who you were thinking of.
Nope! Alejandro Abad, Spain 1994. Knew there was one, did a whole bunch of research into all the countries Eurovision artists have been born in.
alejandro abad
Rock in Rio Turin edition
Oh hold on, i just remembered that Spain also has a rock band competing lol
Yay bulgaria. Finally some rock! i’m excited.
I feel like people are judging too hard just because they don’t fit the common mold of being some pretty faces under the age of 40. Before 2021 the esc fandom was craving for diversity and having 4 rock songs instead of the usual 1 or 0 won’t kill us. Besides Bulgaria has been killing it the last few years and they have a good team behind them that know how to stage. It will all depend on the song. We saw with the black mamba this year how a song not necessarily liked by the community can really come… Read more »
Why did the Bulgarian Eurovision team quit? This might spell big trouble for Bulgaria at Eurovision next year and in years to come.
You confuse personal taste with what usually does well at Eurovision. I liked Black Mamba, pretty sure I’m not going to hate the Bulgarian song either, but to do well in the televote you do need some pretty faces under the age of 40. Do you think Måneskin would have won if they looked like these guys? Of course not.
You don’t necessarily need a pretty face to win. You need an image/package. Salvador sobral doesn’t fit into that category neither do a lot of others.
Maybe you don’t need to be very handsome, but you do need something to appeal to the young televoters. Salvador had a certain quality, a likeability. I don’t know if this band has that, unless they go full eighties hair metal and don’t take themselves too seriously… but given the band name I doubt that will be the case.
You do have a point. I imagine the majority of Eurovision viewers consist of teenagers or young adults who are around the same age as Maneskin. As a result, they’re more likely to vote for singers who are also around the same age as them.
Aah okay. Im giving the benefit of doubt xD
I’m glad to see some rock featuring in Eurovision. Though I’m not that much into classic rock, I prefer indie rock or alternative rock wich is more subtle. Anyway, better classic rock than basic pop.
International stars??? Really? Never heard of any of them.
Listen to them first before commenting.
https://www.youtube.com/user/intelligentmusicrec/videos
I listened to some of IMP’s songs and they don’t sound very Eurovision friendly. Even though their eurovision song still isn’t released, I’m afraid they won’t get a good result in Turin unless the song sounds different than IMP’s regular songs
Surely Maneskin’s success influenced Bulgaria’s and Georgia’s decision as it may influence other countries to send rock acts to Turin. But IMP’s sound is quite different, metal isn’t the same as hard rock/glam rock. And Circus Mircus seems to be more indie/alternative rock. So fans that don’t like when all pop entries are reduced to being just one thing shouldn’t do the same here. I have the feeling metal is by nature less accessible to wider audiences, so Bulgaria will have a high mountain to climb. In any case, if I were HoD, I would only select internally a rock… Read more »
More rock Music? Yes please! The best Music ?????????
Why everybody is saying Rock can’t go this year, because of last year? I think we first have to wait for the song release to make an opinion about it. And then even, when you see the act on stage we might be impressed after all, let’s wait and see! Good luck Bulgaria!
A guy from Chile? Oh no! My country is going to be represented in Eurovision!!!!!!!!!!
Trying to emulate the previous year’s winner almost never works, because quite a few countries tend to follow that same trend and they all cancel each other out. You have to go back to the early 2000s to find two winners that are similar (but even then, Turkey and Ukraine’s ethnopop and Estonia and Latvia’s pop songs are different from each other as well). Still, it’ll be interesting to see what Bulgaria delivers this year as they’ve been in it to win it the past few years.
So is every rock band this year going to be “emulating” Maneskin?
Of course not, rock is a very versatile genre with different sub-categories and sounds, so it’s not going to be a uniform sound, but there is a concern that if there are too many songs from a particular genre, they could mostly crash and burn because there are too many of them to vote for (or even qualify). We saw it this year with the dozen or so female diva bops mostly flopping because there were too many of them to vote for (only Malta and maybe Greece made the top 10 in the grand final). I personally don’t think… Read more »
Okay but we haven’t seen what other countries will bring to the table, you’re making assumptions out of nowhere. This is a different side of Bulgaria, not just another pop song which is nice.
It is a common trend for the previous year’s winner to influence the following year’s songs. For example, the number of non-English entries doubled in 2018 after Portugal won. When a few of the entries this year are rock or there are more songs not in English than usual, my point will be made.
Well, wiwibloggs is going to have to add an update to this article because I just found out from another Eurovision news site that intelligent music project song’s “intention”is actually going to be released In early December, around the same time as Czech Republic is going to reveal their entries for their online national final. This means Bulgaria is actually the first country to drop their song first for 2022, Not Czech Republic as I thought. I guess Bulgaria will get the top one video treatment. By the end of December, we’re gonna have THREE songs revealed for 2022. I… Read more »
2015 had NM, Malta and Netherlands before Xmas day with Belarus on Boxing Day, and the initial Albanian song just after. 2013’s had Switzerland, Belgium, Albania, Lithuania and Ukraine’s initial versions by Xmas (Belgium and Ukraine heavily changed) and the initial Belarus song.
Like I said, I didn’t get into eurovision to 2016 so I had no clue about past eurovision seasons. It seems like 2013 had the most songs released before the year 2012 was out with six. Unless there’s going to be more song releases this December in addition to Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Albania, I think it’s like we will just have three to kick off the season, but that’s OK. At least in my personal experience never experienced so many songs released before 2022 rolls around
I have watched ESC since the early noughties but didn’t know the selection season until the 2011 one.
Bulgarian Televote in recent years
– 12 points to Maneskin
– 8 points to Blind Channel
– 5 points to AWS
– 7 points to Minus One
It could be interesting to see a Bulgarian rock entry. They need a change I feel. Sometimes taking one year to try something different may be good for the upcoming years.
And just a reminder not all rock artists or songs are the same. There’s different vibes or feel. Like any genre
Yeah, in Eurovisionland everything with an electric guitar is rock, everything with an acoustic guitar is country, and everything with a beat is dance. These guys aren’t like Måneskin at all. They’re both rock bands, that’s where the comparison ends. They’re as similar as Måns Zelmerlöw and Netta.
no offence but i don’t think it’s reasonable to send the same type of song with current winner because it’s not that possible same genre to win 2 times in a row and it’ll be a hard race because many countries send that genre.
I thought Bulgaria would keep sending young and promising artists with strong internally selected songs. I thought the next representer would be DARA , Mihalea Marinova or Eva Parmakova.. Anyways , good luck in Torino.
So no one should rock at all this year?
First Georgia now this, and many similar others to come , makes the whole thing feel like so 2011… they look like troll and flop bands with low budget from 2000’s and early 2010’s
I love rock entries but it is obvious they won’t win. People usually vote for sogs which are the opposite of the previous year. But still, good luck Bulgaria!
Good luck Is all I can really say about Bulgaria. I had It pegged as a country that could win the contest for the first time in the future, but it’s chances seem to be slipping away recently. Even if they have a really good song, I don’t think Bulgaria is going to win with this group, if it turns out to be an overload of rock bands in the contest. On the one hand, rock is actually a very broad genre with many different sub genres so they probably won’t all sound the same, but when you have more… Read more »
No it won’t be as Måneskin but it is still rock. And we know they will not be the only country to send rock..
We see this in ESC ever year, an overload of similar stuff to last year’s winner or runner-up leading to none of them doing well cause they all cancel out each-other. Moderation is always good! That said, it might be a good song, who knows..
You took the exact words right out of my mouth. I completely agree with you. When there’s an overload of countries capitalizing on the success of the winner or runner-up, they’re all going to cancel each other out. We saw that with all those female diva bad Bangers cancel each other out this year Because they were just too many of them. I hope we don’t get an overload of rock to get a similar kind of split vote. There’s also a possibility there could be a load of ballads because that’s what finished in the top three, But we’ll… Read more »
Well, at least we know with Austria that they’re not going to rock band route. It might be something more electronic music based on the clues the scout gave during the interview wiwibloggs. The one country I don’t want to see send a rock band this year to Switzerland, because while I am very appreciative of the recent successes, I can’t help but feel like they were taking off what was successful the year before (she got me from fuego; tout l’univers sharing a Arcade composer).
Greece won’t be going down the rock band route either because their five candidates for their internal selection are all solo singers.
Sounds great! Can’t wait to see what Bulgaria sends.
If they are more metal than rock, then I don’t think they’ll be another Maneskin. It’s too early to tell and perhaps they surprise us.
If nobody knows them, then you can’t know to be disappointed.
Despite this news, I wouldn’t worry about Eurovision 2022 having too many rock bands. I thought Eurovision 2019 was going to be full of female dance bangers due to the success of both Netta and Eleni the previous year yet that didn’t happen so I don’t think Maneskin’s success would affect the lineup of next year’s contest.
But 2021 did have a lot of female dance bangers and most of them all flopped Because there were too many of them and they just split the vote all over the place. That’s why I don’t want to see an overload of rock bands at 2022 because I can see a similar effect happen. It’s not that I don’t want to see more rock at Eurovision , it’s just it needs to practiced in moderation.
Not gonna lie, I’m devastated. Rock at Eurovision is great as long as the band is unique or quirky. Just look at Lordi, Maneskin… etc.
Bulgaria had such a good streak with fresh and young artists over the last few years, but this was a huge leap in the wrong direction. Just look at the comments on Bulgaria’s official ESC Instagram – Bulgarian’s also seem quite upset with this choice.
Are their songs bad? Cause i feel like a lot of people are just criticizing them for being old/not attractive.
I’ll keep an open mind but I hate to sound pessimistic but I’m already sensing a disaster for Bulgaria, we all knew there was going to be a huge wave of Rock bands for 2022 NF season plus a potential few internal selections and anyone who remembers ESC 2007 saw what happened to all the Rock inspired acts and many of us are seeing what’s coming from a mile off yet again next year. Måneskin won Eurovision for their charisma, flexibility, youthful talent, pop cultural appeal and have always expressed an eclectic fashion range which is everything nearly all Rock/Metal… Read more »
That’s an interesting point about whether a band like Intelligent Music Project could appeal to the current Eurovision viewer. From what I’ve heard, their sound is as dated as their look. That’s not to say they can’t bring a great song (and I look forward to hearing it) because they can play, but Eurovision more and more has reflected and even become a part of the modern music scene. That’s a challenge they’ll have to consider when planning their performance.
Wow third act revealed and we are still in November! With Czech Republic soon and Albania in one month too, I think we haven’t had so much confirmed acts before January since long time, and maybe we will have again more surprise revelations soon who knows. These acts will have many time to be prepared so I hope they will come with something good and polished.
seems like rock bands will be 2022’s thing. i wonder which type of song will manage to stand out !
Probably a song that isn’t from the rock genre or it’s sub genres, if it has a chance to win. We could see a Ballad win next year because that’s what happened in 2007 because it stood out from all the other rock entries that went to Finland.
i really hope it’ll be something different from just a ballad, we’ve had so many of them even among recent winners…
Of course, it doesn’t have to be a ballad, but we don’t really know what the field will be like at all the songs are out by March. We’re just speculating at this point.
Wow, Stoyan’s third participation with a completely different act and partner(s) this time! Ngl this shouts NQ but we’ll see, I’m happy for Stoyan!
I just hope the next year won’t be too weird in terms of songs.
I have a feeling many countries this year will send rock/rock-inspired acts/songs, and in the end the winner will be a radio-friendly pop song or a ballad
Or a Country song to win!
I can see Sweden do that
Or electronic dance!
Or rnb, Hip hop, Bey-hop (the Beyoncé-inspired rap I compare Armenia 2020 and Russia and Malta 2021 to) or tropical house/dancehall…
trap and hip-hop is not bey-hop lmao. beyonce did not invent those genres
True but the way she made it her own was unique and the comparison reference point. Ariana (with 7 Rings) and Little Mix (with Joan Of Arc and Wasabi) are nominal non-rappers who have done that style too.
Unless they come up with a completely over-the-top performance, something like I Believe in a Thing Called Love, I think this project is destined to fail at Eurovision. These guys seem way too pretentious, and (let’s face it) way too old to do well in the televote.
Damn I Was Hoping that Bulgaria finally would choose Mihaela Marinova to represent.
I mean I get that not every eurovision is going to be for everyone but cmon first it was twenty twenty where the songs were average and the show cancled then twenty twenty one most songs were average as well, no fun national selection season and the show scaled back. And now these countries are choosing terrible acts like georgia and bulgaria who are usually so amazing like with beautiful mess of love was a crime and victoria. I guess I’m starting to not like eurovision as much as I used to which is really sad because I started watching… Read more »
Go cry somewhere else
2021 was not scaled back and we still mostly have like 75% pop songs lol. Eurovision would not be so succesfull if it was only filled with the diva stereotype that some fans like. Also looking ahead 2022 will be filled with national selections with a nice spread of songs to look forward to from december till march. I expect a great year. It feels like eurovision kinda benefits from covid since it’s one of the only exposure platforms for artists during these times and one of the only uniting events. I think that’s one of the factors that turned… Read more »
Are you really complaining that we don’t have enough pop songs and ballads at Eurovision?? In 2021 we had so many pop dance songs that they all cancelled each other out and second and third place were ballads.
For 2022 we have only three acts and no songs, I think it’s a bit too early to cry about not having enough pop
You still sound seven
Let’s not start with what I feared would happen this year ?
Why can’t national televisions understand that they will NEVER win repeating the act which won the year before…
Just because they are in the samen genre as Måneskin doesn’t mean they’re repeating them. This group has been doing rock music for years, and whilst I haven’t listened to their songs yet I’m sure it’ll be quite different from Italy 2021. By your logic we shouldn’t have had any radio friendly pop song in 2016, or emotional ballads in 2020/2021.
2002: Female pop singer wins
2003: Female pop singer wins
2004: Female pop singer wins
2005: Female pop singer wins
Which were all almost 20 years ago.
They all won because of Staging, performance, choreography anyway.
And they’re not all exactly the same. They all have different spins and instrumentation to make them stand out. Latvia took more of a salsa pop vibe, Turkey combined traditional instruments with a pop dance beat, Ukraine had an ethnic pop folk rock dance vibe, And Greece was another ethnic inspired dance bop.
As someone who is weeeeeeell aware of the music scene in Bulgaria, I think this is garbage. How come you send a “project” like that, when you have soooo many established artists that could bring nothing but success for Bulgaria?
You have the likes of Dara, Gery-Nikol, and Preyah who are not even considered to go to Eurovision. You can even choose between Lidia & Krisia from the Junior Eurovision bc both of them are incredible but it seems like no one cares about talent lmfao… smh
the way preyah or iskrata would EAT. vsichki nashi mesta and zashto tseluvash are two of my fav Bulgarian tracks ever
They could get it by paying for it. Ralph Siegel or Senhit could represent Bulgaria if they wanted to.
I won’t judge until the song is out but we’ve seen “supergroups” before… I mean they didn’t really do that great with Equinox in 2018 so…
Well qualifying is hard enough nowadays so if they manage to do that I wouldn’t count it as a faillure.
I wouldn’t say they were a failure but in comparison to their two entries previously, it wasn’t as good.
I liked the song I just think the whole concept of a supergroup doesn’t really work well. Especially considering most of them are formed for the sake of one performance.
I feel like Bulgaria will regret this come next May. This will be seen as a cheap effort to replicate Maneskin’s formula for success. But of course we’ll have to wait for the song reveal.
That will all depend on the song off course. I cant imagine these guys doing the same as zitti & buoni or the sexual stuff like i wanna be your slave.
Knowing Bulgaria, this certainly won’t be a *cheap* effort.
Okay, true 😀
Maneskin didn’t invent rock. It’s getting annoying at this point.
No, they didn’t and they perhaps are a bit too hyped. But since rock was always underrepresented at Eurovision, suddenly having four, five or six rock bands next year will definitely make people come to a certain conclusion …
so basically this is what paying and simping for BNT looks like! and i’m saying this as a Bulgarian. like seriously. who are they and who knows them? why rock immediately after a rock group won?? (not saying *this* is a copy of *that*, cause it’s a childish argument in most times.) the name itself sounds pretentious and their music is extremely dated. i am certain that BNT will try with this *project*, without the old team that we had in the last few years, they will flop catastrophically and BNT will never return to the contest for at least… Read more »
now I don’t wanna judge the artist as I have never heard of them before. I will like them if their song is good enough.
I guess this will be the first of many rock bands to enter national finals or make it to ESC this year. It’s typical that when a genre breaks through in Eurovision that similar acts follow. And so many rock bands who otherwise would never Eurovision now see Maneskin’s international success and can’t ignore this platform and it’s possibilities. And it’s also typical that similar genres repeat wins the following year at Eurovision.
Wait are we watching the same contest? Not a single song in recent memory has been the same genre as the winner preceding it
Sorry meant to say “never wins”
Another rock band! I’m so happy!