"Me tana" (; ) is a song by Albanian singer and songwriter

Elvana Gjata Elvana Gjata (; born 3 February 1987), is an Albanian singer, songwriter and entrepreneur. Born and raised in Tirana, she has been referred to as a "Diva of Albanian music". She rose to recognition in Albania and other Albanian-speaking territo ...

released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on 10 December 2019 by East Music Matters (EMM). The song was written and composed by Gjata herself and produced by German-Greek producer

UNIK The University Graduate Center (UNIK) is a research foundation at Kjeller in Norway. UNIK has four focus areas Network, Information Security and Signalprocessing for Communication * Electronics and Photonics * Cybernetics and Industrial Mathematic ...

. Musically, "Me tana" was described as an Albanian-language

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

- pop song, which lyrically explores the theme of unconditional and hopeless

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

Music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

and reviewers applauded the song upon its release, with praise concentrated on the song's composition, lyrics and Gjata's vocal delivery. In December 2019, Gjata participated in the 58th edition of

Festivali i Këngës Festivali i Këngës (; ), also referred to as simply FiK, is an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). Broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1962, it has also determ ...

to represent Albania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the Netherlands. She finished in the second place despite being the favourite to win the competition. During her red and black-themed show of the song, she was accompanied by six backing dancers, while the background

LED screen A LED display is a flat panel display that uses an array of light-emitting diodes as pixels for a video display. Their brightness allows them to be used outdoors where they are visible in the sun for store signs and billboards. In recent y ...

s displayed different

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

-inspired images. An accompanying

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

lyric video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

was premiered to the official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel of

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; en, "Albanian Radio and Television"; mostly called RTSH ) is an Albanian public broadcasting radio and television company. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmi ...

(RTSH) on the same date and trended in numerous countries throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Background and composition

"Me tana" was released on digital platforms and to

streaming services An over-the-top media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributors of s ...

as a single on 10 December 2019 through East Music Matters (EMM). The Albanian-language song, which runs three minutes and forty seconds, was produced by German-Greek producer UNIK and composed and written by Elvana Gjata herself, approximately a year prior to her participation at

. ''Note: Open description for credits.'' Musically, "Me tana" draws influence from the

musical genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

s of

- pop intertwined with

elements. It lyrically focuses on Gjata's unconditional and hopeless love in which, according to a music reviewer, the singer "burst with emotions letting them out through the song". The song's title translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, "With all" or "With everything", is an expression for giving up everything of yourself, and giving it to the other person you love.

Reception

"Me tana" received universal acclaim from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

upon its release and was further considered a favourite to win Festivali i Këngës in December 2019. Robyn Gallagher of

Wiwibloggs Wiwibloggs is a fansite and YouTube channel focusing on the Eurovision Song Contest, launched in 2009. It has a seasonal audience, peaking at 250,000 page views per day during the week of Eurovision in May 2016, based on Google Analytics data. ...

commended the song an "examination of deep feelings of love" and praised the song's lyrics which, according to her, reflect on "emotions" and "sensual delights". An editor of SoundsEuropean! was generally positive towards the song's nature calling it a "fresh blend of pop" with "ethnic touches". German Eurovision.de writer Irving Wolther compared the song with " Fuego" (2018) by

Eleni Foureira Eleni Foureira ( el, Ελένη Φουρέιρα; born Entela Fureraj; 7 March 1987) is a naturalised Greek, Albanian singer and dancer. She began her music career in 2007 as a member of the Greek girl group Mystique, pursuing a solo career afte ...

. Several prominent figures, such as

Aurela Gaçe Aurela Gaçe (; born 16 October 1974) is an Albanian singer and songwriter. She is a three-time Festivali i Këngës winner, a three-time Kënga Magjike winner and a two-time Balkan Music Award winner for ''Balkan's Song of the Year'' and ''Bes ...

, Besa Kokëdhima,

Capital T Trim Ademi (; born 29 February 1992), known professionally as Capital T, is a Kosovo-Albanian rapper, singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Pristina, his uncle introduced him to music and rapping at an early age. He rose to recognition in the ...

Ledri Vula Ledri Vula (; born 10 July 1986) is a Kosovo-Albanian rapper, singer and songwriter. Life and career Ledri Vula was born on 10 July 1986 to Agron and Xheraldina Vula in the city of Pristina, then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugo ...

and Eleni Foureira, came out in support of the song through their

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

accounts. Premiered by

(RTSH), the official

of "Me tana" appeared on the

trending charts in several countries, including in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, resulting as the most-viewed entry in Festivali i Këngës.

Festivali i Këngës

The national broadcaster of Albania,

(RTSH), organised the 58th edition of

in order to select the country's representative for the

, the Netherlands. The competition consisted of two semi-finals and the final held in December 2019 as well as 20 songs out of which the winner was determined by the votes from a jury panel. It opened a submission period for artists and composers between 28 May and 15 September 2019, while out of all received submissions, a jury panel internally selected 20 songs to participate in the competition's semi-finals. After being selected to compete, Elvana Gjata performed the song in the first semi-final on 19 December and qualified for the grand final on 21 December 2019. Despite being the favourite to win, the song eventually reached the second place in a field of 12 participants in the grand final. The three members of the international jury, consisting of

Christer Björkman Christer Samuel Björkman (; born 25 August 1957) is a Swedish singer and television producer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "I morgon är en annan dag". From 2002 to 2021, he served as a producer of Me ...

Dimitris Kontopoulos Dimitris Kontopoulos (Greek: Δημήτρης Κοντόπουλος born November 9, 1971, in Athens, Greece) is a Greek music composer. Personal life Dimitris Kontopoulos was born in Athens, Greece on November 9, 1971. After graduating from the ...

and Felix Bergsson, ranked the song first, whereas the two Albanian jury members ranked it lower.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *Elvana Gjatacomposing, songwriting, vocals *UNIKproducing

Track listing

*Digital download and streaming #"Me tana"3:40

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2019 singles 2019 songs Albanian-language songs Dance-pop songs Elvana Gjata songs Festivali i Këngës songs Pop songs Songs written by Elvana Gjata