Macedonia: 100+ songs and interview with Jana

100+ songs

Earlier this month, MRT announced that they had received more than 100 entries in an open call for songs. In November they internally chose Jana Burčeska to represent Macedonia in Ukraine. Soon thereafter, they asked for songs: songwriters from Macedonia and beyond could all send in their bids.

Interview with Jana

It is still unknown when the song and the final product will be presented. However, we might be heading for an uptempo song to represent Macedonia in Kiev.
In December, Jana appeared on “Utrinska na Telma”. A large part of the interview was spent chatting about Eurovision. When the host asked her what kind of song she’d prefer to sing, she responded:

“I think it’s obvious based on my energy that I’d like something more upbeat. Like something with a funk/disco/soul rhythm, with retro clothing and stuff like that. But, we’ll see.”

In recent years, Macedonia is one of the least successful countries in Eurovision. Since the two semi system was introduced in 2008, they have only qualified once. Kaliopi managed to secure a spot in the final in 2012. In both 2008 and 2009, they ended 10th in their respective semis. Unfortunately, EBU introduced the jury wild card these years. This caused them to miss out on a qualification.
The host mentioned that a lot of people politicize Eurovision. He asked Jana what her opinion was, and she shared her own theories.

“The artists have all been fantastic, we have sent all of our big names already – Karolina, Tamara, Kaliopi, Tose, Elena – the biggest names. I’m not familiar with politics. The songs haven’t been at their best, and maybe the problem is not using the possibilites that the stage offers. Maybe financial problems, or some technical stuff, but I’m not sure.”

Hopefully the small nation will be more successful this year. In the interview, Jana vowed to work really hard to accomplish a qualification.

“I’m really enthusiastic and positive about the whole thing. I hope I qualify, I’ll work really hard to accomplish that, especially about the staging and performance. I don’t really like being pessimisstic.”