Tel Aviv 2019

Bulgaria: “No details will be published this year until the song presentation”

Yesterday (1st September), the Bulgarian Eurovision delegation announced on Twitter that they would not be announcing any details about their entry for the 2019 contest until the song presentation takes place. This is unlike last year’s selection process which saw several juries vote for their favourite song for Bulgaria, which ended up with Equinox’s “Bones” being selected. 

A more “behind-the-scenes” approach than this year

The statement, which was in reply to a tweet, explained that the country would not be publishing any details about their entry for the contest, which will be held in Israel, until the song presentation which, if like this year, would be in March

Last year, despite opting for an internal selection, the Bulgarian delegation revealed quite a lot of details before their selection of Equinox in March. They first announced details about their internal selection in November, when they opened submissions for entries into the internal selection process. In late December, the delegation also released some important statistics about the selection process including number of entries that had been submitted, the number of international artists in the process, the number of producers involved and the number of projects submitted. We won’t however be getting any of this information this year, which could lead to the fact that the Bulgarian delegation have an artist in mind for Israel.

No exact song presentation date as of yet

Currently, the delegation has not yet announced a date for the song presentation. However, looking at the dates that songs in previous years have been announced, we can easily estimate a date that we would expect Bulgaria to announce their song on.

This year, Bulgaria announced Equinox on 12th March which was the day of the Head of Delegations meeting when all the songs had to be presented to the EBU. In 2017, Kristian Kostov was announced as Bulgaria’s representative on 13th March and in 2016, Poli Genova’s entry to the contest was announced on 21st March.

Looking at these release dates, we can only expect a song presentation around the second week of March again in 2019, so we have a long wait before we hear any details about Bulgaria’s entry to the contest. 

UPDATE (3 Sep): A national final has not been ruled out

In a second reply to the original tweet, the Bulgarian delegation have now revealed that though an exact date for the song announcement or a national final has yet been announced, it can be expected to be in February or March. 

The second reply also sheds light on the fact that a national final to select Bulgaria’s entrant for Israel has not yet been ruled out by the delegation. Instead, they have plans in place where any information of public interest if a national final were to be held would be announced at least 30 days before the selection. This includes the date, venue and details about public access. However, all other information will only be provided to the “directly involved stakeholders”. 

Keep a look out on ESCXTRA for any further information closer to the date if Bulgaria were to change to a national final in 2019.

https://twitter.com/bg_eurovision/status/1036561327437819905

Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest

Bulgaria made their Eurovision debut in 2005 with jazz band Kaffe and their song, “Lorraine”, which failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 19th place in the semi-final. Bulgaria also failed to qualify in 2006.

Their first qualification came in 2007 with duo Elitsa & Stoyan and their song, “Water”. The song finished 5th in the grand final with 157 points which is still Bulgaria’s third best result to date.

Despite a successful year in 2007, Bulgaria failed to qualify for six consecutive years from 2008 to 2013. The best result Bulgaria scored in these six years was two 11th place finishes in the semi-final in 2008 and 2012.

Bulgaria withdrew from the contest in 2014, and did not return until 2016. Since 2016, Bulgaria has been one of the most successful countries in the contest, finishing in the top 15 in the final on every occasion, including two top 5 finishes. In 2016, Poli Genova finished in 4th place with her song, “If Love Was a Crime” and in 2017, Kristian Kostov finished runner-up to Portugal with the song, “Beautiful Mess”.

This year, Bulgaria were represented by Equinox and the song, “Bones”, which finished 7th in the semi-final and 14th in the grand final with 166 points. Bulgaria was also able to score one set of 12 points in 2018 from the public of Cyprus. You can watch Equniox’s performance of “Bones” below:

What do you think about Bulgaria not announcing any details about their entry until the song presentation? Do you think they’ve made a mistake?

Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button