Since becoming the first national selection winner of the season back in December, Jonida has been working hard behind the scenes. In addition to shooting the video for her Festivali i Kuëngës-winning entry, she re-recorded the track with new production. As promised, the new instrumental is darker and holds even more traditional folk elements.
Since Festivali i Këngës wrapped up over two months ago, the Albanian delegation has been working hard on producing the final version ready for Tel Aviv. Jonida joins Spain’s Miki in releasing a video for their revamped Eurovision entry. As you may have already noted, she also joins a number of artists who are releasing their videos just before the March 11 deadline. Although the entries can technically still be released publicly after this date, this is rare.
The revamp and accompanying video premiered this evening on the RTSH evening news. It was then uploaded onto the official Eurovision YouTube channel.
Return to…Albanian
Jonida had previously confirmed, the song has remained in Albanian. She follows her predecessor Eugent Bushpepa in not translating her entry into English like previous Festivali i Këngës winners. Last year, Eugent bucked the trend by making only slight changes to his entry “Mall”. This was clearly the right decision, as he qualified from his semi final and ended up 11th in the grand final in Lisbon earlier this year.
Will the same decision pay off for Jonida? Time will tell. She will be performing in the second half of the second semi-final on May 16th.
Do you like the revamp? Do you think Jonida will bring Albania to the final for the second year running? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates!
