RTSH set the provisional dates for the final of the 47th Festivali i Këngës at 21 December2008, again being the first country to select their entry for Eurovision. Two semi-finals were held before the final on 19 and 20 December 2008. The contest was hosted by Elsa Lila, Julian Deda and Gentian Zenelaj.
Semi-finals
The two semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës 47 were held on 19 and 20 December 2008. Due to criticism of last year's contest, changes have been made to the format of Festivali i Këngës. Firstly, 20 artists performed their selected songs in the first semi-final on 19 December 2008. The songs were then repeated on 20 December, this time with other famous Albanian artists. All 20 songs were in the final on 21 December, performed by their original artists. The winner was again selected by the votes of seven jury members, as in last year. The song titles and running order for both the semi-finals and final were released on 18 December 2008.
Night 1
All of the songs were presented on 19 December 2008 by their original artists in advance to the final of the contest on 21 December 2008.
Presentation Evening 2
The second presentation evening of Festivali i Këngës 47 was held on 20 December 2008. The same 20 songs that were presented on 19 December 2008, this time as duets with other famous Albanian artists.
Final
The final of Festivali i Këngës 47 was held on 21 December 2008. The winner was decided here, through the votes of seven jury members. Each jury member gave 1 to 20 points to each song, with 20 points for their favourite song and 1 point for their least favourite song. "Më Merr Në Ëndërr" performed by Kejsi Tola was the winner of Festivali i Këngës 47, winning with 126 points. The runners-up were "Nje jetë" performed by Juliana Pasha and Luiz Ejlli with 119 points, with "Jehonë" performed by West Side Family coming third with 118 points.
Before Eurovision
Before her performance at Eurovision Kejsi Tola completed a promotional tour of a number of European countries, between daily work on her performance and vocals, with choreography planned by Greek choreographer Julian Bulku, known for planning the 2008 Greek entry, performed by Kalomoira, as well as collaborating with 2005 winner Elena Paparizou. In April Tola was invited by Greek broadcaster ANT1 to perform on their morning program, as well as performing in Montenegro, on RTCG. She also traveled to Macedonia, performing on national TV as well as in a concert organised by RTSH for her fans in Skopje. Finally she travelled to the Eurovision Promo Concert in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where she performed alongside over 20 other Eurovision contestants.
At Eurovision
Since Albania was not one of the "Big Four" nor the host of the 2009 contest, it had to compete in one of the two semi-finals. The song competed in the second semi-final on 14 May, where it performed sixteenth in the running order, following Moldova and preceding Ukraine. It qualified to the final where it finished 17th. "Më merr në ëndërr" was performed in English at Eurovision, under the title of "Carry Me in Your Dreams". The new, 3 minute version of the song, and its promotional video clip, was released on 15 March.
