Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "On My Way" written by Omar Naber. The song was performed by Omar Naber, who had previously represented Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 where he failed to qualify to the final with the song "Stop". Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) organised the national selection EMA 2017 in order to select the Slovenian entry for the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. After a two-week-long competition consisting of two semi-finals, and a final, "On My Way" performed by Omar Naber emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from a regional jury vote from six regions in Slovenia and a public vote.

Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Country Slovenia
National selection
Selection processEMA 2017
Selection date(s)Semi-finals:
17 February 2017
18 February 2017
Final:
24 February 2017
Selected entrantOmar Naber
Selected song"On My Way"
Selected songwriter(s)Omar Naber
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (17th, 36 points)
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2016 • 2017 • 2018►

Slovenia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 17, "On My Way" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

Background
Main article: Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2017 Contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-two times since its first entry in 1993.[1] Slovenia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 1995 with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by Darja Švajger and in 2001 with the song "Energy" performed by Nuša Derenda. The country's only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when Tanja Ribič performing "Zbudi se" placed tenth. Since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in 2004, Slovenia had thus far only managed to qualify to the final on four occasions. In 2016, Slovenia was represented by ManuElla and the song "Blue and Red", but the country didn't qualify for the final.

The Slovenian national broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija), broadcasts the event within Slovenia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has traditionally been selected through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. To this point, the broadcaster has only foregone the use of this national final in 2013 when the Slovenian entry was internally selected. For 2017, the broadcaster opted to organise EMA 2017 to select the Slovenian entry.

Before Eurovision

EMA 2017

EMA 2017 was the 21st edition of the Slovenian national final format Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA). The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The 2017 edition of EMA took place at the Gospodarsko razstavišče in Ljubljana, hosted by Maja Martina Merljak, Tina Gorenjak, Tanja Kocman and Mario Galunič (final-only) and consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. The competition was broadcast on TV SLO1, Radio Val 202, Radio Koper, Radio Maribor and online via the broadcaster's RTV 4D platform.

Format

Sixteen songs competed in three televised shows consisting of two semi-finals on 17 and 18 February 2017 and a final on 24 February 2017. Eight songs competed in each semi-final with a seven-member expert jury and public televoting selecting four finalists out of the eight songs to proceed to the final. The televote selected the first two finalists and the jury selected the other two finalists. The jury consisted of Martin Štibernik (singer, composer and music producer), Alenka Godec (singer), Rebeka Dremelj (singer, actress, model and 2008 Slovenian Eurovision entrant), Patrik Greblo (conductor and composer), Eva Boto (singer and 2012 Slovenian Eurovision entrant), Jernej Dirnbek (musician) and Anika Horvat (singer).[2] In the final, the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of points from six regional juries and public televoting. Each jury awarded 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 to their top six songs and the televote awarded 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 points to their top six songs.[3]

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 20 July 2016 and 3 November 2016.[4] 90 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of ManuElla (singer-songwriter, music producer and 2016 Slovenian Eurovision entrant), Boštjan Grabnar (musician, composer and music producer), Aleksander Radić (Head of the Slovenian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest) and Jernej Vene (music editor for Radio Val 202) selected sixteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 4 December 2016.[5] Among the competing artists were former Slovenian Eurovision contestants Omar Naber who represented Slovenia in 2005 and Amaya who represented Slovenia in 2011.[5] On 20 January 2017, Amaya announced that she would be withdrawing from the competition on the advice of her record label and was replaced by Clemens with the song "Tok ti sede".[6][7]

Artist Song Composer(s)
Alya "Halo" Raay, Rok Lunaček, Tina Piš
Amaya N/A Daniel Gidlund, Jakob Shultze
BQL "Heart of Gold" Maraaya, Anej Piletič
Clemens "Tok ti sede" Klemen Mramor
Ina Shai "Colour Me" Martina Šraj
Kataya & Duncan Kamakana "Are You There" Tim Žibrat, Duncan Kamakana, Kataya
KiNG FOO "Wild Ride" Rok Golob, Cherie Lucas
Lea Sirk "Freedom" Lea Sirk, Gaber Radojevič
Nika Zorjan "Fse" Maraaya, Nika Zorjan
Nuška Drašček "Flower in the Snow" Pelé Loriano, Lina Button, Brendan Wade
Omar Naber "On My Way" Omar Naber
Raiven "Zažarim" Jernej Kržič, Tadej Košir, Sara Briški Cirman
Sell Out "Ni panike" Miha Gorše, Uroš Obranovič, Tina Muc
Tim Kores "Open Fire" Jeff Lewis, Drew Lawrence
Tosca Beat "Free World" Andraž Kržič, Tosca Beat, Peter Penko
United Pandaz & Arsello feat. Alex Volasko "Heart to Heart" Arsello, Alex Volasko
Zala "Lalalatino" Zala Đurić Ribič

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final of EMA 2017 took place on 17 February 2017. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Eva Boto, ManuElla and Veseli svatje performed as guests. Four entries proceeded to the final. The eight competing entries first faced a public vote where the top two proceeded: "On My Way" performed by Omar Naber and "Ni panike" performed by Sell Out. A seven-member jury panel selected an additional two entries out of the remaining six to proceed: "Wild Ride" performed by KiNG FOO and "Fse" performed by Nika Zorjan.

  Public vote qualifier   Jury qualifier

Semi-final 1 – 17 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Result
1 KiNG FOO "Wild Ride" 2 407 8 Finalist
2 Nika Zorjan "Fse" 3 1,185 4 Finalist
3 Tosca Beat "Free World" 5 1,270 3 Eliminated
4 Lea Sirk "Freedom" 4 879 5 Eliminated
5 Sell Out "Ni panike" 8 1,828 2 Finalist
6 Zala "Lalalatino" 7 412 7 Eliminated
7 Alya "Halo" 6 864 6 Eliminated
8 Omar Naber "On My Way" 1 2,506 1 Finalist

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final of EMA 2017 took place on 24 February 2017. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Samuel Lucas and Alenka Godec performed as guests. Four entries proceeded to the final. The eight competing entries first faced a public vote where the top two proceeded: "Heart of Gold" performed by BQL and "Flower in the Snow" performed by Nuška Drašček. A seven-member jury panel selected an additional two entries out of the remaining six to proceed: "Open Fire" performed by Tim Kores and "Zažarim" performed by Raiven.

  Public vote qualifier   Jury qualifier

Semi-final 2 – 24 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Result
1 Clemens "Tok ti sede" 6 253 8 Eliminated
2 Raiven "Zažarim" 4 1,467 3 Finalist
3 Kataya & Duncan Kamakana "Are You There" 8 724 6 Eliminated
4 BQL "Heart of Gold" 3 3,486 1 Finalist
5 Ina Shai "Colour Me" 5 788 5 Eliminated
6 United Pandaz & Arsello feat. Alex Volasko "Heart to Heart" 7 370 7 Eliminated
7 Tim Kores "Open Fire" 2 899 4 Finalist
8 Nuška Drašček "Flower in the Snow" 1 1,687 2 Finalist

Final

The final of EMA 2017 took place on 24 February 2017. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2016 Eurovision winner Jamala, 1994 Croatian Eurovision entrant Toni Cetinski and ManuElla performed as guests. The combination of points from six regional juries and a public vote selected "On My Way" performed by Omar Naber as the winner.

Final – 24 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 Sell Out "Ni panike" 0 2,335 24 24 6
2 Nuška Drašček "Flower in the Snow" 56 2,032 12 68 4
3 Tim Kores "Open Fire" 10 1,543 0 10 8
4 Nika Zorjan "Fse" 20 2,419 36 56 5
5 KiNG FOO "Wild Ride" 14 918 0 14 7
6 Omar Naber "On My Way" 64 5,165 60 124 1
7 BQL "Heart of Gold" 42 13,134 72 114 2
8 Raiven "Zažarim" 46 3,292 48 94 3
  • BQL
  • KiNG FOO
  • Nika Zorjan
  • Nuška Drašček
  • Omar Naber
  • Raiven
  • Sell Out
  • Tim Kores - Kori
  • The host: Mario Galunič
  • Guest performer: Tony Cetinski
  • The stage at Gospodarsko razstavišče, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Promotion

Omar Naber made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "On My Way" as the Slovenian Eurovision entry. On 2 April, he performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Naber took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where he performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[8][9] On 8 April, Omar Naber performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[10]

At Eurovision
Omar Naber during a press meet and greet

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[11] On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Slovenia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[12]

Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Slovenia was set to perform in position 17, following the entry from Armenia and before the entry from Latvia.[13]

Semi-final

Omar Naber took part in technical rehearsals on 1 May and 5 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May.[14] This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

At the end of the show, Slovenia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed seventeenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 36 points: 20 points from the televoting and 16 points from the juries.

Points awarded to Slovenia
Points awarded to Slovenia (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Slovenia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Slovenian jury: [15] On 9 May 2017, it was confirmed that Aleksander Lavrini had replaced Mistermash as a member of the Slovene jury.[16]

  • Darja Švajger (chairperson) - singer, vocal coach, represented Slovenia in the 1995 and 1999 contests
  • Nika Zorjan - singer
  • Gaber Radojevič - music producer, composer, audio engineer
  • Aleksander Lavrini - music editor, sound editor
  • Jernej Dirnbek - musician, lyricist
Split voting results from Slovenia (Semi-final 1)
Draw Country Jury Televote
D. Švajger N. Zorjan G. Radojevič A. Lavrini J. Dirnbek Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Sweden 12 1 1 1 12 4 7 6 5
02  Georgia 1 9 8 7 3 6 5 17
03  Australia 2 3 2 2 9 1 12 8 3
04  Albania 11 15 11 12 10 13 10 1
05  Belgium 9 13 4 3 14 9 2 3 8
06  Montenegro 17 17 15 17 17 17 5 6
07  Finland 4 10 5 4 5 5 6 9 2
08  Azerbaijan 6 11 10 9 4 8 3 4 7
09  Portugal 5 2 3 10 2 3 8 1 12
10  Greece 16 14 14 15 11 15 12
11  Poland 7 5 6 6 8 7 4 15
12  Moldova 13 8 7 16 13 12 2 10
13  Iceland 10 12 12 8 7 11 11
14  Czech Republic 3 4 9 5 1 2 10 13
15  Cyprus 15 6 17 14 16 14 7 4
16  Armenia 8 7 13 11 6 10 1 14
17  Slovenia
18  Latvia 14 16 16 13 15 16 16
Split voting results from Slovenia (final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
D. Švajger N. Zorjan G. Radojevič A. Lavrini J. Dirnbek Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Israel 24 25 19 18 17 21 22
02  Poland 7 8 9 12 7 7 4 25
03  Belarus 13 15 14 13 14 14 20
04  Austria 17 10 7 9 15 11 14
05  Armenia 6 7 12 10 8 8 3 19
06  Netherlands 11 17 11 8 4 10 1 13
07  Moldova 14 6 10 19 18 13 8 3
08  Hungary 16 12 16 20 22 18 6 5
09  Italy 5 18 6 7 12 9 2 2 10
10  Denmark 15 26 15 15 13 17 26
11  Portugal 2 1 1 5 1 1 12 3 8
12  Azerbaijan 10 13 17 11 9 12 7 4
13  Croatia 19 19 13 14 16 15 1 12
14  Australia 4 5 5 4 6 4 7 12
15  Greece 23 24 25 21 20 25 23
16  Spain 25 16 24 22 24 23 24
17  Norway 18 22 20 17 10 19 16
18  United Kingdom 3 3 2 1 3 2 10 17
19  Cyprus 20 9 26 26 21 20 15
20  Romania 26 23 18 25 25 26 9 2
21  Germany 12 14 22 16 19 16 18
22  Ukraine 22 21 21 24 23 22 21
23  Belgium 8 11 8 6 5 6 5 5 6
24  Sweden 9 2 3 2 11 5 6 10 1
25  Bulgaria 1 4 4 3 2 3 8 4 7
26  France 21 20 23 23 26 24 11

References
  1. "Slovenia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. Kopina, Klavdija (25 February 2017). "Čestitke nastopajočih Omarju oz. kako so se delili glasovi na Emi". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  3. Granger, Anthony (3 December 2016). "SLOVENIA: REVEALS NEW LOOK EMA SELECTION FOR 2017". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  4. Jiandani, Sanjay (20 July 2016). "Eurovision Slovenia: RTVSLO confirms participation in Eurovision 2017". Esctoday. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  5. Weaver, Jessica (4 December 2016). "Eurovision Slovenia: EMA 2017 participants and dates revealed". Esctoday. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  6. "Slovenia: Amaya se je veselila nastopa na EMI 2017". www.rtvslo.si. RTVSLO. 20 January 2017.
  7. Laufer, Gil (24 January 2017). "Eurovision Slovenia: Clemens to replace Amaya in EMA 2017". Esctoday. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  8. Kavaler, Ron (22 March 2017). "ISRAEL CALLING! EUROVISION PROMO EVENT SET FOR APRIL 3 TO 6". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  9. Laufer, Gil (5 April 2017). "Tonight: Israel Calling 2017 to be held with 28 participating countries". esctoday.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  10. Jordan, Paul (29 March 2017). "Eurovision in Concert sets a new record with 33 acts". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  11. Jordan, Paul (25 January 2017). "Semi-Final Allocation draw to take place in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  12. Jordan, Paul (31 January 2017). "Results of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  13. Jordan, Paul (31 March 2017). "Semi-Final running order for Eurovision 2017 revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  14. "Press". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  15. Jordan, Paul (29 April 2017). "Who will be the expert jurors for Eurovision 2017?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  16. Granger, Anthony (9 May 2017). "ESC'17 changes to juries in five countries". eurovoix.com. Euroviox. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
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