Having struggled in previous years, the last two editions of Slovenia’s EMA have produced two qualifiers. Can they continue this streak for a third year in a row? RTVSLO are getting the ball rolling early by selecting two acts for EMA 2020 in the coming months via an online competition.
RTVSLO – Slovenia’s broadcaster for Eurovision – has revealed that 18 acts have been selected by the broadcaster to compete in EMA FREŠ. This selection, which starts in three weeks, will act as a pre-selection for EMA 2020.
EMA FREŠ kicks off on November 4th, and will run for five weeks. Note, this will be five-times longer than EMA 2019, which was a one-shot national final. The series will culminate in the selection of two acts being chosen to compete in EMA 2020, and potentially representing Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest.
EMA FREŠ is designed to discover emerging Slovene talent. The selection was open to performers under 26 who have only commercially released three songs to date.
Last year, young newcomers Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl scored an unexpected landslide victory in the EMA superfinal against Raiven’s Kaos, earning almost 73% of the televote. Previously, based on the snippets of the 10 EMA entries, Raiven was the fan favourite. It will be interesting to see how this format and the songs put forward will impact EMA 2020.
Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest
Slovenia has competed 24 times as an independent nation. Previously, they have competed as Yugoslavia alongside: Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. As Yugoslavia, only four of the 27 entries were from Slovenia.
Slovenia officially debuted in 1993, where they won the right to compete after winning Kvalifikacija za Millstreet. They qualified along with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, who finished second and third respectively. Slovenia were represented in 1993 by 1X Band who sang “Tih deževen dan”. They finished in 22nd with Nine points.
Slovenia’s best ever finish at Eurovision is Seventh Place, which they have achieved twice. The first of those came in 1995, when Darja Švajger sang “Prisluhni mi”. Likewise the second of those came in 2001, when Nuša Derenda sang “Energy”. In Lisbon last year, it was Lea Sirk who flew the Slovenian flag with her song “Hvala Ne“. She performed in the second semi-final and successfully qualified for the grand final, ending a 2-year non-qualification streak for Slovenia. In the grand final, she finished 22nd with 64 points.
What do you think of this format? Are you looking forward to seeing who Slovenia send to Rotterdam? 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!
