Festivali i Këngës 55 finalists announced

On the eve of Christmas, we will enjoy FiKmas. Albania are ready to select their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, but who will it be? We now present to you the list of artists and songs that have qualified through to Friday’s final of Festivali i Këngës 55.
After two ‘semifinals’, in which 12 songs were presented each night to a live audience, a jury panel and a voting public, 14 of the 24 will proceed to Friday’s Grand Final.
The qualifiers are:

• Flaka Krelani – “Osiris”
• Genc Salihu – “Këtu”
• Xhesika Polo – “Eva jam unë”
• Idea Demaliaj – “Besoj në ëndrra”
• Vll Limani – “Shiu”
• Franc Koruni – “Macka”
• Orges Toçe – “Shi diamantësh”
• LYNX – “Sot”
• Lorela – “Me ty”
• Fabiola Agalliu & Agnesa Çavolli – “Shkon e vjen”
• Rezarta Smaja – “Pse prite gjatë”
• Dilan Reka – “Mos harro”
• XUXI – “Metropol”
• Lindita Halimi – “Botë”

After the show, what happens next?

With all the finalists now known, it is a varied field of many genres, vocal ranges and production styles.
The song which is crowned the winner of the Festival i Këngës 55 title will also be the song that proceeds to Kyiv, Ukraine, to represent Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest next year. It will also be the first song and artist formally announced to represent any of the nations which will compete for the title in Kyiv.
Whilst it is expected that the winning entry will undergo some form of transformation before it reaches the Eurovision stage in Ukraine next May, it is not always a drastic reworking of the entry. The artist in question will be allowed to change the entry as they wish, with the final agreement to be made by RTSH and the Albanian delegation. One one occasion before, in 2015, Albania chose to completely change their entry from Festivali i Këngës to Eurovision – though this was due to the songwriter’s refusal to allow changes to be made for Eurovision – and this is not a situation that is out of the question for this year’s winning entry.
Let us know in the comments and on social media who you would like to win the FiK 55 title!