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Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

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Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Country Slovenia
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 16 May 2020
Song: 27 February 2021
Selected artist(s)Ana Soklič
Selected song"Amen"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (13th)
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2020 2021 2022►

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Amen" written by Ana Soklič, Bojan Simončič, Žiga Pirnat and Charlie Mason. The song was performed by Ana Soklič, who was internally selected by Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) to represent Slovenia at the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after she was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Voda" before the 2020 event's cancellation. Ana Soklič was announced at the Slovenian representative on 16 May 2020, while the song, "Amen", was presented to the public on 27 February 2021 during the special show EMA 2021.

Slovenia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2021. Performing during the show in position 2, "Amen" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed thirteenth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 44 points.

Background

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Prior to the 2021 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-five 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 2019, "Sebi" performed by Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl qualified to the final and placed fifteenth.

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.[2] 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 forego the use of this national final in order to internally select the Slovenian entry; the last time a Slovenian entry was selected internally was in 2013.

Before Eurovision

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Internal selection

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On 16 May 2020, RTV Slovenija confirmed that Ana Soklič would remain as Slovenia's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[2][3] 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.[4] 191 songs were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Ana 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 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.[5]

The selected song, entitled "Amen", was presented during the special show EMA 2021 which took place on 27 February 2021 at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Nejc Šmit and former Slovenian Eurovision contestant Lea Sirk who represented Slovenia in 2018. The 2021 edition of EMA simultaneously celebrated Slovenia's 60th anniversary since their first appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest (including Slovenia's appearances as part of Yugoslavia).[5] The song was written by Bojan Simončič, Žiga Pirnat, Charlie Mason and Ana Soklič herself. Mason had previously co-written the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 winning entry "Rise Like a Phoenix".[6]

At Eurovision

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The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in 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. The semi-final allocation draw held for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 on 28 January 2020 was used for the 2021 contest, which Slovenia was placed into the first semi-final, which was held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[7]

Once all the competing songs for the 2021 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 2, following the entry from Lithuania and before the entry from Russia.[8]

In Slovenia, the semi-finals were televised on RTV SLO2 and the final was televised on RTV SLO1 with commentary by Mojca Mavec. The contest was also broadcast via radio with all three shows airing on Radio Val 202.[9][10][11][12] The Slovenian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Slovenian jury during the final, was Lorella Flego.

Semi-final

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Ana Soklič during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Ana Soklič took part in technical rehearsals on 8 and 12 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 17 and 18 May. This included the jury show on 17 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[13]

The Slovenian performance featured Ana Soklič performing on stage in a white pant-suit with a floor-length shoulder cape. Soklič was in the middle of the stage at the beginning of the song but later walked towards the satellite stage during the second chorus. The stage colours were gold and the LED screens transitioned from a black hole to glitter and sun and the earth in gold.[14][15] Ana Soklič was joined by an off-stage backing vocalist: Karin Zemljič.[16]

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 thirteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 44 points: 8 points from the televoting and 36 points from the juries.

Voting

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Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia in the first semi-final, as well as by the country in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting.[17] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form. Slovenia's jury consisted of Bojan Cvjetićanin, Nuša Derenda, Boštjan Grabnar [sl], Amaya, and Raay.[18] In the first semi-final, Slovenia placed 13th with a total of 44 points, thus failing to qualify for the final. The performance received 8 televoting points, while the jury points added to 36, including 7 from Romania.[19] Over the course of the contest, Slovenia awarded its 12 points to Cyprus (jury) and Croatia (televote) in the first semi-final, and to Italy (jury) and Serbia (televote) in the final.[20][21]

Points awarded to Slovenia

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Points awarded to Slovenia (Semi-final 1)[20]
Score Televote Jury
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points  Romania
6 points  Cyprus
5 points  Croatia  Malta
4 points
3 points  North Macedonia
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by Slovenia

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Detailed voting results

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The following members comprised the Slovene jury:

Detailed voting results from Slovenia (Semi-final 1)[20]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points Rank Points
01  Lithuania 10 13 10 11 10 12 12
02  Slovenia
03  Russia 2 2 2 3 14 2 10 4 7
04  Sweden 12 7 12 8 8 11 9 2
05  Australia 11 12 11 15 15 14 15
06  North Macedonia 13 4 8 14 3 7 4 3 8
07  Ireland 15 14 15 12 12 15 14
08  Cyprus 1 3 3 2 2 1 12 10 1
09  Norway 9 6 7 9 9 8 3 5 6
10  Croatia 8 5 5 1 4 4 7 1 12
11  Belgium 4 10 1 13 5 6 5 7 4
12  Israel 6 9 13 10 6 9 2 11
13  Romania 14 15 14 7 13 13 13
14  Azerbaijan 3 8 4 5 1 3 8 8 3
15  Ukraine 7 11 9 6 11 10 1 2 10
16  Malta 5 1 6 4 7 5 6 6 5
Detailed voting results from Slovenia (Final)[21]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points Rank Points
01  Cyprus 13 9 15 7 12 15 15
02  Albania 10 12 9 15 5 11 12
03  Israel 5 11 8 14 7 10 1 22
04  Belgium 6 17 4 20 4 5 6 19
05  Russia 2 1 1 9 13 3 8 10 1
06  Malta 11 3 12 5 17 6 5 13
07  Portugal 14 20 19 18 18 19 18
08  Serbia 16 5 11 10 15 13 1 12
09  United Kingdom 20 25 25 26 26 25 25
10  Greece 18 10 10 11 2 8 3 3 8
11   Switzerland 4 2 6 4 3 4 7 6 5
12  Iceland 1 6 3 1 8 2 10 8 3
13  Spain 22 21 21 23 21 21 23
14  Moldova 23 26 24 22 19 23 26
15  Germany 24 24 22 24 24 24 17
16  Finland 12 14 13 3 6 7 4 7 4
17  Bulgaria 19 18 16 19 20 20 20
18  Lithuania 21 22 20 16 10 18 14
19  Ukraine 8 15 7 12 11 12 4 7
20  France 7 8 5 8 16 9 2 5 6
21  Azerbaijan 9 16 14 17 9 16 16
22  Norway 17 4 17 13 14 14 9 2
23  Netherlands 25 23 23 25 25 26 24
24  Italy 3 7 2 2 1 1 12 2 10
25  Sweden 15 13 18 6 23 17 11
26  San Marino 26 19 26 21 22 22 21

References

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  1. ^ "Slovenia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (18 May 2020). "Slovenia: RTVSLO confirms Ana Soklič for Eurovision 2021". Esctoday. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  3. ^ Jumawan, Tim (16 May 2020). "Ana Soklič to represent Slovenia in Eurovision 2021". escXtra. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  4. ^ Jumawan, Tim (13 July 2020). "Slovenia opens search for Eurovision 2021 entry". escXtra. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Evrovizija in Ema po covidnem načrtu". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). 5 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  6. ^ "'Amen' for Slovenia's Ana Soklič". Eurovision.tv. 27 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "Semi-Final running orders revealed". Eurovision.tv. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  9. ^ "TV Slovenija 2 • torek, 18. maj. 2021". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  10. ^ "TV Slovenija 2 • četrtek, 20. maj. 2021". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  11. ^ "TV Slovenija 1 • sobota, 22. maj. 2021". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  12. ^ Washak, James (13 May 2021). "Slovenia: Mojca Mavec Announced as Commentator For Eurovision 2021". Eurovoix. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  13. ^ Muldoon, Padraig (24 May 2021). "Eurovision 2021: Rehearsal schedule published…First run-throughs begin on Saturday 8 May". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  14. ^ Schulz, Julian (8 May 2021). "🇸🇮 LIVE DAY 1 REVIEW: Slovenia's Ana Soklič makes use of the second stage". escXtra. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  15. ^ Schulz, Julian (12 May 2021). "🇸🇮 LIVE DAY 5 REVIEW: Slovenia's Ana brings back the gold". escXtra. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  16. ^ Granger, Anthony (22 February 2021). "🇸🇮 Slovenia: Karin Zemljič Announced as Backing Vocalist For Ana Soklič". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  17. ^ "Voting–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 16 May 2019. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  18. ^ Muldoon, Padraig (23 May 2021). "Eurovision 2021: EBU publishes the names of the 39 professional juries". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 23 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  19. ^ "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  20. ^ a b c d "Results of the First Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  21. ^ a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.