Back in October, EMA FREŠ was announced by the Slovene broadcaster RTVSLO. This online competition will act as a pre-selection for EMA 2020. The full line-up comprised of 18 upcoming artists, which has now been whittled down to 10, with the final round taking place next month.
In week one, the voting for the first round of EMA FREŠ opened. Each duel went online at 10:00 CET and voting remained open on the RTSVLO website until 20:00 CET, the winner is then announced shortly after. In the first week, Stella won the first duel, duo Younite won the second and Martina won the third. After a final duel, Stella and Younite proceeded to the final.
Week three saw the third and final week of duels, with two more acts proceeding to the final and another act proceeding to next week’s “happy losers” round. Saška and Marmoris emerged victorious and proceeded to the final. Meanwhile, Nuša joined Martina and Petra in the second chance (or “happy losers” round).
Some happy losers
“Happy losers” duels
Just when you thought it was over…there were a further SIX duels to decide who would be the remaining finalists. You can check out the results below:
Duel one – 25th November
- Pia Nina – Tukaj in zdaj (Here and now) – WINNER
- Sara Petešič – Sanjaj / Dream
Duel two – 26th November
- Marko Škof – Hočem da je vse kot prej (I want everything as before)
- Nuša Pliberšek – Življenje je čarovnija (Life is magic) – WINNER
Duel three – 27th November
- Alfirev – Črno bela lika (Black and white figure) – WINNER
- Soulution – Bil bom s teboj (I’ll be with you)
In the end-of-week duel, Pia Nina and Alfirev officially joined the final line-up.
Duel four – 2nd December
- Lana Hrvatin – Dream – WINNER
- Martina – Pleši
Duel five – 3rd December
- Astrid in Avantgarden – Sing to Me – WINNER
- Petra Ceglar – Srce naglas
Duel six – 4th December
- Ljudmila Frelih – Vztrajaj, ker je vredno
- Tilen Lotrič – Jaz in ti – WINNER
Then in the final duel of the second chance round, Lana and Astrid beat Tilen, confirming the final two spots in the EMA FREŠ final!
EMA FREŠ finale line-up
After a MARATHON of a pre-selection, literally months longer than EMA itself, we now have our final ten artists, chosen in the most convoluted way possible:
- Stella
- Younite
- Klarity
- Parvani Violet
- Saška
- Marmoris
- Pia Nina
- Alfirev
- Lana Hrvatin
- Astrid in Avantgarden
These 10 acts will be competing for two spots in EMA 2020. Although the pre-selection up until this point has been online, the final of EMA FREŠ will be televised. The exact date has not been confirmed, but it is expected to take place in January, a month before the final of 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.
Who are you rooting for to win EMA FREŠ? 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! Also be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our reactions to the news in the run up to Rotterdam!
