Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018


Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija organized the national selection EMA 2018 in order to select the Slovenian entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.
It qualified for the grand final and placed 22nd with 64 points.

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-three times since its first entry in. 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 2017, Slovenia was represented by Omar Naber and the song "On My Way", but the country did not qualify for the final.
The Slovenian national broadcaster, Radiotelevizija 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 , 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 2018, the broadcaster opted to organise EMA 2017 to select the Slovenian entry.

Before Eurovision

''EMA 2018''

EMA 2018 was the 22nd edition of the Slovenian national final format Evrovizijska Melodija . The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

Competing entries

On 15 September 2017, RTVSLO opened the submission period for artists and songwriters to submit their songs to the broadcaster. An expert committee consisting of Maja Keuc, Eva Hren, Jernej Vene and Tadej Košir selected sixteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The artists competing in the selection were revealed on 8 December 2017.
ArtistSong 'Composer
Anabel"Pozitiva" 'Nino Ošlak, Marko Golubović
BQL"Ptica" 'Maraaya, Rok Lunaček, Tina Piš
Gregor Ravnik"Zdaj je čas" 'Marko Hrvatin, Gregor Ravnik, Steffy
Ina Shai"V nebo" 'Martina Šraj, Hans Kristjan Aljas
Indigo"Vesna" 'Anja Pavlin, Anže Čuček, Maj Valerij
KiNG FOO"Žive sanje" 'Rok Golob
Lara Kadis"Zdaj sem tu" 'Lara Kadis
Lea Sirk"Hvala, ne!" 'Lea Sirk, Tomy DeClerque
ManuElla"Glas" 'Mike Eriksson, Lauren Evans, Leon Oblak
Marina Martensson"Blizu" 'Miha Koren, Vanja Papež
MILA"Svoboda" 'Denis Horvat, Matevž Šalehar
Nika Zorjan"Uspavanka" 'Maraaya, Nika Zorjan, Jimmy Jansson, Samuel Waermö, Art Hunter
Nuška Drašček"Ne zapusti me zdaj" 'Aleš Klinar, Anja Rupel
Orter"Kraljica" 'Klemen Orter, Martin Bezjak
Proper"Ukraden cvet" 'Nejc Podobnik
Tanja Ribič"Ljudje" Raay, Rok Lunaček

Semi-final (17 February 2018)

The semi-final was held on 17 February 2018. Eight acts qualified for the final: four entries were chosen with the most votes cast by the viewers and four other finalist entries were selected by the jury.

Final (24 February 2018)

The final of EMA 2018 took place on 24 February 2018. It was hosted by Raiven and Vid Valič. In addition to the performances of the eight competing entries, 2011 EMA winner Amaya, 2017 Eurovision delegate Omar Naber, and co-host Raiven herself performed as guests. The combination of points from a public vote and six juries composed of members from OGAE Slovenia, songwriters, radio personalities, television personalities, music performers and international artists determined the winner. Eventually, Lea Sirk was declared the winner with 116 points with her song "Hvala, ne!", just ahead of BQL with 106 points and Nuška Drašček in third place with 88 points.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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 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. On 29 January 2018, 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 second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2018 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 Montenegro and preceding the entry from Ukraine.

Semi-final

Slovenia performed seventeenth in the second semi-final, following Montenegro and preceding Ukraine. At the end, Slovenia was announced as one of the ten countries who had qualified for the grand final, making it their first qualification since 2015 and making them one of two former Yugoslav countries to qualify. Subsequently, Lea Sirk joined the other semi-final two winners in a press conference where they drew which half of the final they would participate in. Slovenia was drawn to compete in the first half of the grand final.

Final

Slovenia performed third in the grand final, following Spain and preceding Lithuania.

Voting

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. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to Slovenia

Points awarded by Slovenia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Slovene jury: