EMA 2011

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "No One" written by Matjaž Vlašič and Urša Vlašič. The song was performed by Maja Keuc. Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) organised the national final ''EMA 2011'' in order to select the Slovenian entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. Ten entries competed in the national final where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top two entries were selected by a three-member jury panel. In the second round, "Vanilija" performed by Maja Keuc was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote. The song was later translated from Slovene to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "No One".

Slovenia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 13, "No One" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed third out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 112 points. In the final, Slovenia performed in position 20 and placed thirteenth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 96 points.

Background

Prior to the 2011 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixteen 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 one occasion. In 2010, "Narodnozabavni rock" performed by Ansambel Žlindra and Kalamari 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 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 9 November 2011. 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 2011, the broadcaster opted to organise ''EMA 2011'' to select the Slovenian entry.

Before Eurovision

EMA 2011

''EMA 2011'' was the 16th 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 2011 and was broadcast on TV SLO1 and online via the broadcaster's website ''rtvslo.si'' and the official Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.tv''.

Format

Ten songs competed in a televised show where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a three-member expert jury selected two finalists out of the ten competing songs to proceed to a superfinal. Each member of the expert jury assigned a score of 1 (lowest score) to 5 (highest score) to each song with the top two being determined by the songs that receive the highest overall scores when the jury votes are combined. Ties were broken by giving priority to the song(s) that achieved a higher number of top scores (5), which would be followed by each juror indicating their preferred song should a tie still have persisted. In the superfinal, public televoting exclusively determined the winner. In case of technical problems with the televote, the jury would have voted to determine the winner in a similar process as in the first round of the competition.

Competing entries

Ten artists selected by the editors of the broadcaster's entertainment program were directly invited to submit entries. The competing artists were announced on 20 January 2011. Among the competing artists was former Slovenian Eurovision contestant Omar Naber who represented Slovenia in 2005.

Final

EMA 2011 took place on 27 February 2011 at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Klemen Slakonja. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 1995 and 1999 Slovenian Eurovision entrant Darja Švajger and 2006 Croatian Eurovision entrant Croatian Eurovision entrant Severina performed as guests. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a three-member jury panel selected two entries to proceed to the second round. The jury consisted of Darja Švajger, Severina and Mojca Mavec (television presenter). In the second round, a public vote selected "Vanilija" performed by Maja Keuc as the winner.

Preparation

Following Maja Keuc's win at ''EMA 2011'', the singer revealed that "Vanilija" would likely be translated from Slovene to English for the Eurovision Song Contest. On 9 April, the English version, ultimately titled "No One", was presented via the release of the official music video, directed by i3 and filmed in the woods in the Ljubljana Zoo, during the TV SLO1 programme ''Spet doma''.

At Eurovision

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. On 17 January 2011, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals. Slovenia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2011. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 16 January 2011 and Slovenia was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from Israel and before the entry from Romania.

In Slovenia, the semi-finals were televised on TV SLO and the final was televised on TV SLO 1 with commentary by Andrej Hofer. The Slovenian spokesperson, who announced the Slovenian votes during the final, was Klemen Slakonja.

Semi-final

Maja Keuc took in technical rehearsals on 4 and 8 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. This included the jury show on 12 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Slovenian performance featured Maja Keuc performing in a black outfit containing real metal together with four backing vocalists. The performance also included Keuc and her backing vocalists performing a choreographed routine. The LED screens displayed rotating flowers which change colour and shade that remained dark until the chorus of the song. The four backing vocalists that joined Maja Keuc on stage were: Ana Bezjak, Katja Koren, Martina Majerle and Sandra Feketija. Majerle previously represented Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 together with the group Quartissimo where they failed to qualify to the grand final of the contest with the song "Love Symphony".

At the end of the show, Slovenia was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that the Slovenia placed third in the semi-final, receiving a total of 112 points.

Final

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine the running order of the final. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Slovenia was drawn to perform in position 20, following the entry from Azerbaijan and before the entry from Iceland.

Maja Keuc once again took part in dress rehearsals on 13 and 14 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Maja Keuc performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 14 May. Slovenia placed thirteenth in the final, scoring 96 points.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding points from 1-8, 10 and 12 as determined by a combination of 50% national jury and 50% televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. 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.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final and the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Slovenia

Points awarded by Slovenia

References

External links

EMA 2011 official website

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2011

2011
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Eurovision