Tel Aviv 2019

Slovenia says “Hvala, Ja” to 2019!

The broadcaster responsible for the Slovenian participation for the Eurovision Song Contest, RTVSLO has confirmed that they will be attending in 2019. Which is expected to take place in Israel. 

RTVSLO has started on it’s quest for glory in Israel by confirming their participation for the upcoming contest. The broadcaster hasn’t outlined any clear details as to the exact method they will use to select their song. But it is however expected that their well established National Final, EMA (Evrovizijska Melodija) will be used again. A National Final has been used to select 23 of their 24 entries since their debut in 1993. In 1993 and 1995 their national final was called Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije. In 2013, Slovenia opted to use Internal Selection to chose their entry. 

EMA 2018 had two rounds. One Semi-Final and one Final. The Semi-Final had a rule that all of the songs had to be sung in Slovene. In contrast to the final when the acts got free reign as to what language they wanted to sing in. Lea Sirk, the winner of EMA 2018 chose to sing in Slovene in both Semi-Final and Final. However in Lisbon she sang in Slovene for most of the song but sang the last chorus of her song “Hvala, Ne” in Portuguese “Obrigado, Não”.

Furthermore, in addition to their confirmation for the contest in 2019, RTVSLO detailed some viewing figures for the contest in 2018. The Semi-Final was watched by 233,800 viewers over 4 years old, this gave RTVSLO a 12.1% share. Subsequently, the Final was watched by 358,400 at 21:25 when Lea took to the stage in Lisbon. This gave RTVSLO a 19% audience share. 

Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest.

As previously mentioned, 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, 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 Twenty-Second Place 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”.

Relive their recent best “Energy” here.

Tell us, what do you think Slovenia should do in 2019? Say in the comments below or get in contact with us on @escxtra on all platforms.

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