Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Slovenia will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, having internally selected Ana Soklič as their representative. She was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Voda" before the event's cancellation.

Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Country Slovenia
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 16 May 2020
Song: 27 February 2021
Selected entrantAna Soklič
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2020 • 2021

Background
Main article: Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2021 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-six 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 six occasions. In 2018, Slovenia was represented by Lea Sirk and the song "Hvala, ne!", which qualified to the final and placed twenty-second. One year later, in 2019, Slovenia qualified for the final again with Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl, finishing in fifteenth place with the song "Sebi".

The Slovenian national broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija), broadcasts the event within Slovenia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTV Slovenija confirmed Slovenia's participation in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 May 2020. 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. For 2021, the broadcaster opted to organise an internal selection to select the Slovenian entry. To this point, the broadcaster has only foregone the use of the national final in 2013 when the Slovenian entry was internally selected.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 16 May 2020, RTV Slovenija confirmed that Ana Soklič would remain as Slovenia's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[2] Following the announcement of Soklič as the selected artist, composers were able to submit their songs to the broadcaster between 13 July 2020 and 30 September 2020.[3] 191 songs were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Soklič, Darja Švajger (singer, vocal coach and 1995 and 1999 Slovenian Eurovision entrant) and Vladimir Graić (composer of Serbia's winning Eurovision entry "Molitva" in 2007) shortlisted three songs from the received submissions, with the Slovenian entry being determined by an alternate expert committee consisting of Darja Švajger, Mojca Menart (Head of the publishing business of ZKP RTV Slovenija) and Matevž Šalehar (musician and singer-songwriter) from the three shortlisted songs.[4]

The selected song will be presented during the special show EMA 2021 which will take place on 27 February 2021 at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Lea Sirk and Nejc Šmit. The 2021 edition of EMA will also simultaneously celebrate Slovenia's 60th anniversary since their first appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest.[4]

At Eurovision

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. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, will be used for 2021 contest. Slovenia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[5]

References
  1. "Country Profile: Slovenia". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  2. Jumawan, Tim (16 May 2020). "Ana Soklič to represent Slovenia in Eurovision 2021". escXtra. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  3. Jumawan, Tim (13 July 2020). "Slovenia opens search for Eurovision 2021 entry". escXtra. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  4. "Evrovizija in Ema po covidnem načrtu". rtvslo.si (in Slovene). 5 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  5. Groot, Evert (17 November 2020). "2020 Semi-Final line-up to stay for 2021". eurovision.tv. Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
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