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Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "On My Way" written and 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. 16 entries competed in the national final which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Entries were selected to advance from each semi-final based on a public televote and a jury panel. Eight entries qualified to compete in the final where "On My Way" performed by Omar Naber was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from six regional juries and a public televote.

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 artist(s)Omar Naber
Selected song"On My Way"
Selected songwriter(s)Omar Naber
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (17th)
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. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed seventeenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 36 points.

Background

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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, "Blue and Red" performed by ManuElla failed to qualify to 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. RTV Slovenija confirmed Slovenia's participation in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 20 July 2016.[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. 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

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EMA 2017

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to 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, and consisted of three shows that commenced on 17 February 2017 and concluded on 24 February 2017. All shows in the competition took place at the Gospodarsko razstavišče in Ljubljana and were broadcast on TV SLO1, Radio Val 202, Radio Koper, Radio Maribor and online via the broadcaster's RTV 4D platform.[3]

Format

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The format of the competition consisted of three televised shows: two semi-finals held on 17 and 18 February 2017 and a final held on 24 February 2017. Eight songs competed in each semi-final and a public televote first selected two entries to proceed to the final. An expert jury then selected an additional two finalists out of the six remaining songs. Eight songs competed in the final where the winner was selected following the 50/50 combination of points from six regional juries and a public televote.[4] Each jury assigned points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12, while the televote assigned points that had a weighting equal to the votes of six jury groups. The song that received the highest overall score when the votes were combined was determined the winner.[5]

Competing entries

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Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 20 July 2016 and 3 November 2016.[6] 90 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of ManuElla (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.[7] Among the competing artists were former Slovenian Eurovision contestants Omar Naber who represented Slovenia in 2005 and Maja Keuc (Amaya) who represented Slovenia in 2011.[7] On 20 January 2017, Amaya announced that she would be withdrawing from the competition on the advice of her record label; she was replaced with the song "Tok ti sede" performed by Clemens.[8][9]

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Alya "Halo" Raay, Rok Lunaček, Tina Piš
BQL "Heart of Gold" Maraaya, Anej Piletič
Clemens "Tok ti sede" Klemen Mramor
Ina Shai "Colour Me" Martina Šraj
Kataya and Duncan Kamakana "Are You There" Tim Žibrat, Duncan Kamakana, Katja Ajster
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" Pele 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 and Arsello feat. Alex Volasko "Heart to Heart" Arsello, Alex Volasko
Zala "Lalalatino" Zala Đurić Ribič

Shows

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Semi-finals

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The two semi-finals of EMA 2017 took place on 17 and 18 February 2017, hosted by Tina Gorenjak, Maja Martina Merljak and Tanja Kocman. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Veseli svatje, 2012 Slovenian Eurovision entrant Eva Boto and 2016 Slovenian Eurovision entrant ManuElla performed as guests during the first semi-final, while Samuel Lucas and Alenka Godec performed as guests during the second semi-final.[10][11] In each semi-final, the eight competing entries first faced a public televote where the top two proceeded to the final; an additional two qualifiers were then selected out of the remaining six entries by a seven-member jury panel.[12] The jury consisted of Eva Boto, Martin Štibernik (singer, composer and music producer), Alenka Godec (singer), Rebeka Dremelj (2008 Slovenian Eurovision entrant), Patrik Greblo (conductor and composer), Jernej Dirnbek (musician) and Anika Horvat (singer).[13]

  Public vote qualifier   Jury qualifier

Semi-final 1 – 17 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Result
Votes Rank
1 King Foo "Wild Ride" 2 407 8 Advanced
2 Nika Zorjan "Fse" 3 1,185 4 Advanced
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 Advanced
6 Zala "Lalalatino" 7 412 7 Eliminated
7 Alya "Halo" 6 864 6 Eliminated
8 Omar Naber "On My Way" 1 2,506 1 Advanced
Semi-final 2 – 24 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Result
Votes Rank
1 Clemens "Tok ti sede" 6 253 8 Eliminated
2 Raiven "Zažarim" 4 1,467 3 Advanced
3 Kataya and Duncan Kamakana "Are You There" 8 724 6 Eliminated
4 BQL "Heart of Gold" 3 3,486 1 Advanced
5 Ina Shai "Colour Me" 5 788 5 Eliminated
6 United Pandaz and Arsello feat. Alex Volasko "Heart to Heart" 7 370 7 Eliminated
7 Tim Kores "Open Fire" 2 899 4 Advanced
8 Nuška Drašček "Flower in the Snow" 1 1,687 2 Advanced

Final

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The final of EMA 2017 took place on 24 February 2017, hosted by Tina Gorenjak, Maja Martina Merljak, Tanja Kocman and Mario Galunič.[14] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 1994 Croatian Eurovision entrant Toni Cetinski, 2016 Slovenian Eurovision entrant ManuElla and 2016 Eurovision winner Jamala performed as guests.[15][16] The combination of points from six regional juries and a public televote selected "On My Way" performed by Omar Naber as the winner.[17]

Final – 24 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points
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
Detailed regional jury votes
Draw Song Ljubljana Kranj Maribor Koper Novo Mesto Celje Total
1 "Ni panike" 0
2 "Flower in the Snow" 8 8 10 10 10 10 56
3 "Open Fire” 2 4 4 10
4 "Fse" 2 6 4 2 2 4 20
5 "Wild Ride" 4 4 6 14
6 "On My Way" 10 12 12 12 6 12 64
7 "Heart of Gold" 12 2 6 6 8 8 42
8 "Zažarim" 6 10 8 8 12 2 46
Members of the jury[18]

Promotion

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Omar Naber made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "On My Way" as the Slovenian Eurovision entry. On 2 April, Naber performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell. 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.[19][20] 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.[21]

At Eurovision

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Omar Naber during a press meet and greet

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 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.[22] 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.[23]

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.[24]

In Slovenia, the semi-finals were televised on RTV SLO2 and the final was televised on RTV SLO1. All shows featured commentary by Andrej Hofer. The contest was also broadcast via radio with the second semi-final and final airing on Radio Val 202 and all three shows airing on Radio Maribor.[25] The Slovenian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Slovenian jury during the final, was Katarina Čas.

Semi-final

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Omar Naber during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Omar Naber took part in technical rehearsals on 1 and 5 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[26]

The Slovenian performance featured Omar Naber performing alone in a black leather suit. The stage colours were black, blue and white and the performance also featured the use of the chandelier on stage and mini screens belonging to the chandelier that were lowered for the first half of the song, with Naber in the centre of them, and raised up later on during the performance.[27][28]

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.[29]

Voting

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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.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Slovenia

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Points awarded to Slovenia (Semi-final 1)[30]
Score Televote Jury
12 points
10 points
8 points   Montenegro
7 points
6 points
5 points   Poland
4 points   Portugal
3 points   Poland
2 points
1 point   Czech Republic

Points awarded by Slovenia

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Detailed voting results

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The following members comprised the Slovene jury:[32]

  • Darja Švajger (jury chairperson) – singer, vocal coach, represented Slovenia in the 1995 and 1999 contests
  • Nika Zorjan – singer
  • Gaber Radojevič – music producer, composer, audio engineer
  • Jernej Dirnbek [sl] – musician, lyricist
  • Aleksander Lavrini – music editor, sound editor

On 9 May 2017, it was confirmed that Aleksander Lavrini had replaced Mistermash as a member of the Slovene jury.[33]

Detailed voting results from Slovenia (Semi-final 1)[30]
Draw Country Jury Televote
N. Zorjan G. Radojevič J. Dirnbek D. Švajger A. Lavrini Rank Points Rank Points
01   Sweden 1 1 12 12 1 4 7 6 5
02   Georgia 9 8 3 1 7 6 5 17
03   Australia 3 2 9 2 2 1 12 8 3
04   Albania 15 11 10 11 12 13 10 1
05   Belgium 13 4 14 9 3 9 2 3 8
06   Montenegro 17 15 17 17 17 17 5 6
07   Finland 10 5 5 4 4 5 6 9 2
08   Azerbaijan 11 10 4 6 9 8 3 4 7
09   Portugal 2 3 2 5 10 3 8 1 12
10   Greece 14 14 11 16 15 15 12
11   Poland 5 6 8 7 6 7 4 15
12   Moldova 8 7 13 13 16 12 2 10
13   Iceland 12 12 7 10 8 11 11
14   Czech Republic 4 9 1 3 5 2 10 13
15   Cyprus 6 17 16 15 14 14 7 4
16   Armenia 7 13 6 8 11 10 1 14
17   Slovenia
18   Latvia 16 16 15 14 13 16 16
Detailed voting results from Slovenia (Final)[31]
Draw Country Jury Televote
N. Zorjan G. Radojevič J. Dirnbek D. Švajger A. Lavrini Rank Points Rank Points
01   Israel 25 19 17 24 18 21 22
02   Poland 8 9 7 7 12 7 4 25
03   Belarus 15 14 14 13 13 14 20
04   Austria 10 7 15 17 9 11 14
05   Armenia 7 12 8 6 10 8 3 19
06   Netherlands 17 11 4 11 8 10 1 13
07   Moldova 6 10 18 14 19 13 8 3
08   Hungary 12 16 22 16 20 18 6 5
09   Italy 18 6 12 5 7 9 2 2 10
10   Denmark 26 15 13 15 15 17 26
11   Portugal 1 1 1 2 5 1 12 3 8
12   Azerbaijan 13 17 9 10 11 12 7 4
13   Croatia 19 13 16 19 14 15 1 12
14   Australia 5 5 6 4 4 4 7 12
15   Greece 24 25 20 23 21 25 23
16   Spain 16 24 24 25 22 23 24
17   Norway 22 20 10 18 17 19 16
18   United Kingdom 3 2 3 3 1 2 10 17
19   Cyprus 9 26 21 20 26 20 15
20   Romania 23 18 25 26 25 26 9 2
21   Germany 14 22 19 12 16 16 18
22   Ukraine 21 21 23 22 24 22 21
23   Belgium 11 8 5 8 6 6 5 5 6
24   Sweden 2 3 11 9 2 5 6 10 1
25   Bulgaria 4 4 2 1 3 3 8 4 7
26   France 20 23 26 21 23 24 11

References

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  1. ^ "Slovenia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (20 July 2016). "Eurovision Slovenia: RTVSLO confirms participation in Eurovision 2017". Esctoday. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Ema 2017: V pričakovanju zadnjih štirih finalistov". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  4. ^ Granger, Anthony (3 December 2016). "SLOVENIA: REVEALS NEW LOOK EMA SELECTION FOR 2017". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  5. ^ "Pravila" (PDF). rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  6. ^ "JAVNI RAZPIS ZA SODELOVANJE NA IZBORU PREDSTAVNIKA/PREDSTAVNICE/PREDSTAVNIKOV RADIOTELEVIZIJE SLOVENIJA NA 62. TEKMOVANJU ZA PESEM EVROVIZIJE 2017 (EMA 2017)" (PDF). rtvslo.si (in Slovenian).
  7. ^ a b Weaver, Jessica (4 December 2016). "Eurovision Slovenia: EMA 2017 participants and dates revealed". Esctoday. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Slovenia: Amaya se je veselila nastopa na EMI 2017". www.rtvslo.si. RTVSLO. 20 January 2017.
  9. ^ Laufer, Gil (24 January 2017). "Eurovision Slovenia: Clemens to replace Amaya in EMA 2017". Esctoday. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  10. ^ "EMA 2017: Imamo prve štiri finaliste". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Ema 2017: The last four finalists have been chosen". rtvslo.si. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  12. ^ "EMA 2017". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  13. ^ Kopina, Klavdija (25 February 2017). "Čestitke nastopajočih Omarju oz. kako so se delili glasovi na Emi". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  14. ^ "Slovenia 2017: Tonight the final of Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA)". 24 February 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  15. ^ Ko, Anthony (20 February 2017). "Slovenia: RTVSLO announces EMA 2017 running order, Jamala to perform at final". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  16. ^ "Omar Naber on his way to Kyiv again!". eurovision.tv. 24 February 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Omar Naber on his way to Kyiv again!". eurovision.tv. 24 February 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  18. ^ Kopina, Klavdija. "Čestitke nastopajočih Omarju oz. kako so se delili glasovi na Emi". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  19. ^ Kavaler, Ron (22 March 2017). "ISRAEL CALLING! EUROVISION PROMO EVENT SET FOR APRIL 3 TO 6". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  20. ^ Laufer, Gil (5 April 2017). "Tonight: Israel Calling 2017 to be held with 28 participating countries". esctoday.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  21. ^ Jordan, Paul (29 March 2017). "Eurovision in Concert sets a new record with 33 acts". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  22. ^ Jordan, Paul (25 January 2017). "Semi-Final Allocation draw to take place in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  23. ^ Jordan, Paul (31 January 2017). "Results of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  24. ^ Jordan, Paul (31 March 2017). "Semi-Final running order for Eurovision 2017 revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  25. ^ "Pesem Evrovizije 2017, 1. predizbor iz Kijeva, prenos" [Eurovision week at Televizija Slovenija]. rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Radiotelevizija Slovenija. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  26. ^ "Press". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  27. ^ Cobb, Ryan (5 May 2017). "Day 6: Omar Naber completes his second rehearsal for Slovenia – PREDICTION & REVIEW". escXtra. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  28. ^ Cobb, Ryan (1 May 2017). "Day 2: Omar Naber completes first rehearsal for Slovenia – REVIEW". escXtra. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  29. ^ "First Semi-Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  30. ^ a b c "Results of the First Semi-Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  31. ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  32. ^ Jordan, Paul (29 April 2017). "Who will be the expert jurors for Eurovision 2017?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  33. ^ Granger, Anthony (9 May 2017). "ESC'17 changes to juries in five countries". eurovoix.com. Euroviox. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
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