Night three of Festivali i Këngës 62 was all about nostalgia, with the 31 acts performing covers of past songs. But at the end of the show, we learned which contestants had successfully made it to Friday night’s grand final.
The 14 “big artists” already had a secured spot in the final. But the 17 “newcomer artists” have now been whittled down to eight. During tomorrow’s show, the overall winner of Festivali i Këngës 62 will be determined by an eleven-member jury panel.
However, Albania’s act for Eurovision 2024 will be chosen from a separate public vote. And for this, all 31 acts are still in contention — so even the non-qualifiers have a chance.
Festivali i Këngës 62 finalists
Auto-qualifier big artists
- Andi Tanko – “Herë pas here”
- Anduel Kovaci – “Nan’”
- Arsi Bako – “Zgjohu”
- Besa Kokëdhima – “Zemrën n’dorë”
- Besa Krasniqi – “Esenciale”
- Big Basta & Vesa Luma – “Mbinatyrale”
- Eldis Arrnjeti – “Një kujtim”
- Elsa Lila – “Mars”
- Festina Mejzini – “Melos”
- Kastro Zizo – “2073”
- Melodajn Mancaku – “Nuk jemi ne”
- Olimpia Smajlaj – “Asaj”
- Sergio Hajdini – “Uragan”
- Tiri Gjoci – “Në ëndërr”
Newcomer qualifiers
- Erina and The Elementals – “Jetën n’Skaj”
- Irma Lepori – “Me prit”
- Kleansa Susaj – “Pikturë”
- Mal Retkoceri – “Çmendur”
- Martina Serreqi – “Vetëm ty”
- Michela Paluca – “Për veten”
- PeterPan Quartet – “Edhe nje here”
- Shpat Deda – “S’mund t’fitoj pa ty”
Poll: Who should represent Albania at Eurovision 2024?
You can still vote in our poll for who you think should wave the Albanian flag at Eurovision 2024. Vote for as many acts as you want, but you can only vote once.
Are you happy with the list of finalists for Festivali i Këngës 62? Who do you want to see at Eurovision 2024? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks for the list, Jonathan. I’m actually free this evening, so I’ll probably watch the FiK final tonight. Best of luck to all the participants.
I can’t understand what was the jury thinking eliminating Luan. I swear all those Albanian jurors are tasteless every year.
I don’t care about Luan, give me Mal and I will be over the moon, best song Albania had since a long time
Jasmina Hako
Albanians are doing their best to make this festival to look like san remo. We dont need that. We have one san remo and there is no need for another one. They should make something unique that has albanian features, not copy the others
The language and the people have Albanian features. What do you want them to do? Ditch the orchestra? Because that would be copying literally everyone else and making it worse. No thx.
You do realize that Albania has also been organizing this festival in the same format as San Remo since the start, right? They have different festivals for commercial songs, and they have this for artists that can sing live. They will not change a 62 year tradition because you feel like it. In fact you are nobody to Albania, to put it bluntly.
Luan eliminated is nothing surprising. It was too weird for the Albanian audience. Yet another proof that eurofan favoritism means absolutely nothing.
Luan isn’t out of the picture. He can still go to Malmo if he wins a simple televote that all the other participants are in. Also, I think it shows the international audience and the televote appreciation that could happen at actual Eurovision.
His song fell out of the final playlist and the recap only shows the screaming part. Most people who get to vote tune in for the final only. He will not win if most voters don’t know who he is.
Looking at the Youtube views, now Elsa and oddly Mal have gained more than Luan, but they have less likes on the video and Mal has a REALLY BAD like to dislike ratio. But more people have seen it for some reason, like it’s a grower? I wonder if we will get a shock winner. I think the Albanian people should choose a male performer for Eurovision – that way it’s more unpredictable. And I felt the men had better songs this time around.
There is no shock winner in AL. We all know who wins way ahead… Sadly
Elsa ?
I`m speechless….. Luan eliminated.
Now my favourites are Elsa, Sergio, Eldis and the PeterPan Quartet
He could still win if the televote pick him but now that he’s not in the final he’s less likely to be promoted so the finalists have the upper hand.
Another interesting choice would be Kastro Zizo !
It would be hilarious if they announced some run of the mill ballad as the winner of the contest that the jury picked, the crowd boos and so they quickly move on to the televote winner…only to discover it’s a song not even in the final!
Suddenly, an odd man in a hat and glasses with a gigachad beard shows up.
I think they will reveal the televote winner first, as they did last year. And only then the jury winner and the winner of the festival.
Wrong. Seems like you didn’t watch last year.
Elsa or Melodajn for me personally to win
FiK is unique in that it is the only national selection that gets worse every year. At this point Albania is just wasting money participating and should take a break. It’s sad, always had potential but never knows how to reach it.
The one good thing is that they added a televote system so you can get rid of all the same old same old entries but then the jury does a bad job in picking songs to promote.
Nearly half the field being automatic qualifiers seems too much for me
Oh well, they would’ve qualified regardless, I guess
So Luan will not win the jury vote and win the festival…but he could still go to Eurovision if the public are savvy and looked online. Currently his song has the most views and likes so I’m hoping at the least the younger generation will go for him. But yeah it’s gonna be difficult because he’s not in the final but what if most people watched the first semi then tuned out because of the quality of the rest of the songs? I think the problem here is when they opened the voting. From my knowledge it seems they opened… Read more »
I think the jury just votes based on their opinions and personal criteria. Stop with these conspiracy theories.
Literally no conspiracies here. I know our Rtsh very well and this is precisely what they do, quite often, unfortunately
Luan’s Përsêritja has the best potential to stand out at Eurovision Song Contest. It’s different from what I expect from a Albanian Eurovision entry!
If staged correctly to bring out the drama, I see Luan not only qualifying in a Eurovision Semi-Final, but also easily get Top 10 or Top 5 (…maybe even better).
I was rooting for Elsa Lila…she an Albanian FiK legend for a reason.
…but she’s just not entertaining to watch
Kenga e Mal Retkocerit eshte another level. Eshte nga ato kenget qe nuk ngopesh duke e degjuar! Hope he will be the winner
I’m afraid that Luan will not win because as he is not a finalist of the festival, his song will not be broadcast again… And so people will not remember him and will focus on the finalists present I’m afraid ….
If I have to make a choice without considering Luan Durmishi (I hope for him tomorrow!!) it would be:
For the festival I Kenges
Winner: Elsa Lila
2nd: Arsi Bako
3rd: Anduel Kovaci
For Eurovision
Winner: Arsi Bako
2nd: Anduel Kovaci
3rd: Besa Kokedhima
I hope Luan gets his revenge and Albanians vote for him!
Yeah, I’m glad Arsi and Anduel are still around, at least.
Me too !
Mal Retkoceri <3
It would be fairly ridiculous to leave Luan out. I’m hoping that’s wrong.
He could still be the Eurovision representative. All 31 songs are in contention for the public vote.
It feels like the only way someone could possibly not perform on the night most or all people vote and still win is if they were a massive favorite, and Luan is not.
I have a feeling Luan IS but that it’s more of a three to five horse race among Albanians themselves. The younger demographic will love him but unfortunately it’s looking like both the jury and viewers are made up of an older generation that doesn’t neccessary appreciate Luan’s dramatic shift to another style.
Elsa Lila is the best of the best, she has given a deep feeling for all of us
according to Wikipedia, there’s only 8 finalists. That doesn’t seem quite right. If that’s all, then I only have one favorite left and shall be rooting for Mal Retkoceri.
Nevermind. All favorites remain. Apparently now they had a bunch of automatic qualifiers. Feels like they’re making this up as they go along lol
Yeah.
Seems more like you did not read the contest rules before. Just because wiwibloggs didn’t report that the established artists are automatic qualifiers doesn’t mean this rule wasn’t written in contest rules.
Also, a lot of people count Luan out but the televoters could still choose ANYONE from the first and second semi finals. This is such an interesting but strange concept as ANYONE could be sent to Eurovision by that logic.
In the Wiwibloggs interview Olimpia Smajlaj said only the newcomers might be eliminated and the established artists were all guaranteed to advance to the Final. The 8 must be the newcomers. There were originally 14 established but after the dropouts/replacements I’m not sure how many of them there are.
So weird that they just don’t announce all the finalists. Also, the jury guy read those 8 qualifiers names. But hasn’t there been televoting this entire time, too? What about those votes? They often displayed a phone number anyway, I’m assuming for televoting.
It seems to be a copycat of Sanremo and some other NFs, where you dont learn the results. I feel it hinders FiK in this case.
What the hell happened with the judging? Are there only 8 entries for the Final tomorrow?
A lot of Eurovision songs among the covers tonight. A LOT. Kinda nice that it’s a festival on it’s own but still so clearly committed to Eurovision.
Elsa Lila was something else. That cover was more captivating than Mars. With a really good song, she could be Albania’s best ever entry.
Hard rock hallelujah, Wild dances.., the orchestra in Albania can do it all, dear EBU.
Such a great duet by Andi Tako and Angus Dei. Ku është dashuria is one of my favorite Fik songs ever. Should’ve gone to Eurovision.
Gotta love that Ziti e Buoni is now part of Nostalgia Night.
Mal sang Fairytale better than his own song. I liked it. But tbh, his female duet partner was unnecessary. I guess it’s a song that doesn’t really work as a duet.
Can we have Eugen Bushpepa just sing all the songs?
Hello! Anyone has a list of the songs taking part this evening. And sung by whom and when? Thanks, takk and palimber (or whatever 😉 )
RTSH is posting the performances on their YT channel in the order they performed: https://www.youtube.com/@RadioTelevizioniShqiptar/videos
Merry FIKmas everyone! I hope their Christmas present to Europe is that Luan will represent them in FIK. But I like many of the entries. But please not another powerballad 🙂 Usually my taste is a bit rockish, so I also like these songs.
Anduel Kovaci all the way. Strong voice, strong emotions and self-written. I also like Andi Tanko and Mal Retkoceri who also wrote their own songs. So in any case, it’s time for a guy who wrote his own song to win. Surely, Mal would have to work on his vocal issues but I still think it’s a good entry. Anduel though, he is ready to go.
I myself like Melodajn Mancaku, she’s a decent talent
Among the ballads, she has one of the better ones I think
Luan, Arsi or one of the rock songs for me. But as long as they stay away from the “big ballads” I’m satisfied 🙂
I like Anduel too !
Luan having to sing quite likely in cover night will be interesting what that sounds like
I wonder if he’ll do a rap song or something to do with opera (since I heard he was apparently trained operatically!)