Tonight, Slovenia selected the artist and song to represent it in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. Will the country manage to qualify for the third time in a row with ManuElla? What is the song for Slovenia this year and what happened during the EMA 2016? Discover the answers in this article.
The show to select the Slovenian entry is called EMA (Evrovizijska Melodija). The selection was created for the first entry of Slovenia in 1993 and has been used since.
The Songs :
Anja Bas – What If
The song is a cool tune with rhythm and she sang it really well. She was joined on stage by a female dancer and both of them danced during the performance. The singer was dressed in a beautiful sexy outfit.
Zan Sercic – Summer Story
All of the backing group of the artist were dressed in white playing guitars and drums. The song is a ballad, which, due to its title and rhythm of the song, is reminiscent of summertime and summer love stories.
Anja Kotar – Too Cool
Her performance began with a close up of the singer’s face and then we could see the beautiful shining dress on her.
The vocals were good and she sold the performance all the better for some little dancing steps.
San Di EGO – Brez Tebe
The performance began with the main singer and a piano, to be soon followed by the sound of drums and guitars. It’s a rock ballad in Slovenian. The live performance was very good and this was a powerful voice from the soloist of the group.
D Base – Spet Ziv
This entry was an original piece as we saw a guy at the beginning shouting into a megaphone and the song started with a rap part. Mainly, the song was composed of rap with a slow chorus. Not as powerful as the previous ones.
Regina – Alive In Every Way
Regina has already participated seven times in the EMA and represented Slovenia in the contest in 1996. She appeared in her beautiful butterflies dress and began to sing her song with a good vocal. The song had nothing special in the melody, which was a reminder of the 80’s.
ManuElla – Blue And Red
A good rhythmic song with a talented singer with a powerful voice. There was a contrast with her backing vocalists, all dressed in black contrary to ManuElla. Sometimes the screen went black and white and after this, she changed her dress for a shining red dress and finished with a good vocal performance.
Raiven – Crno Bel
A slow beginning for the song to let us get into the atmosphere of this beautiful slow song. A good vocal performance with an original melody and harp part made this song more mystical and strange in a good way.
Nusa Derenda – Tip Top
The singer has already represented Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 when she achieved the best result for Slovenia in the contest (seventh). A mystical atmosphere and a rhythmic sound as dancers appear around the artist who sang her entry without difficulty. Almost a sense of deja-vu in the chorus and the high note, this part could remind us of the song It’s All About You (Albania 2010).
Sebastijan Lukovnjak – Tales Of Tomorrow
A country piece for this singer with another ballad in the show. The voice is forgettable compared to the previous songs and the staging was basic, nothing really good and nothing really bad about the song.
The Show :
EMA 2016 was taking place at the RTVSLO Studio 1 in Ljubljana. The host was Klemen Slakonja whereas a backstage broadcast was presented by Nejc Smit on the website of RTVSLO.
The show began with a parody of Heroes, the winning song of Eurovision Song Contest 2015, which, for Slovenia, was sung by the host of the EMA.
Two guests performed in this national final of Slovenia: the 2015 entrants Maraaya and also the young Slovenian winner of Mini EMA 2015, Lina Kuduzovic, who represented the country in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015, coming third. She sang her entry with the host also. In addition to that, a medley of two songs was sung by the host and Sestre.
After these performances, the host performed a parody song about the president of Russia: Vladimir Putin. The chorus was ‘Put in, Put out’.
ManuElla was selected from two rounds in the national final. The three jurors : Darja Svajger (represented Slovenia in 1995 and 1999), Raay (member of Maraaya) and Tomaz Mihelic-Marlenna (represented Slovenia in 2002 as part of Sestre) decided to send Raiven and ManuElla to the superfinal. Then, ManuElla was selected by a 100% public televote.
The Results :
First Round :
| Anja Bas | What if | Eliminated |
| Zan Sercic | Summer Story | Eliminated |
| Anja Kotar | Too Cool | Eliminated |
| San Di EGO | Brez Tebe | Eliminated |
| D Base | Spet Ziv | Eliminated |
| Regina | Alive In Every Way | Eliminated |
| ManuElla | Blue And Red | Finalist |
| Raiven | Crno Bel | Finalist |
| Nusa Derenda | Tip Top | Eliminated |
| Sebastijan Lukovnjak | Tales of Tomorrow | Eliminated |
Superfinal :
| ManuElla | Blue And Red | Winner |
| Raiven | Crno Bel | Runner-Up |
Below you can watch the winning song of Slovenia for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyJBghMxr5U
Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest :
Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Slovenia has managed to qualify only four times with no win so far. The best result for Slovenia has been a seventh place in 1995 with the song Prisluhni Mi performed by Darja Svajger and, more recently, in 2001 with the song Energy (Ne, Ni res) performed by Nusa Derenda.
After tonight’s show, Slovenia will be represented by ManuElla with the song Blue and Red in the Second Semi-Final on the 12th of May in Stockholm.
