Albania: Ronela Hajati wins ticket to Eurovision 2022 with "Sekret"
Ronela Hajati will represent Albania at Eurovision 2022 with the song "Sekret" after winning the country's national selection, Festivali i Këngës #60
After three nights of Festivali i Këngës, the jury panel has made its choice and selected Ronela Hajati for Eurovision 2022 with the song "Sekret".
Tonight's show kicked off with a dance number of a medley of previous winners of Albania's national selection such as "Mall", "Fairytale" or "It's All About You" and by a performance of Anxhela Peristeri, last year's winner of Festivali i Këngës, who represented Albania in Eurovision 2021 with "Karma".
Later on, for the interval act, Eneda Tarifa (Albania 2016), Juliana Pasha (Albania 2010) and Jonida Maliqi (Albania 2019) joined forces on stage to pay homage to previous Eurovision winners just before the results were announced and culminated with Ronela Hajati winning.
"Sekret" is written by Ronela Hajati and Marko Polo.
Festivali i Këngës #60 – Results
The results were 100% up to the jury panel composed by Agim Doçi, Osman Mula, Anxhela Faber, Olti Curri, Olsa Toqi, Rozanna Radi and Anxhela Peristeri (Albania 2021).
Eldis Arrnjeti and Rezarta Smaja tied for third place.
Ronela Hajati
Ronela Hajati is an Albanian singer, songwriter and dancer. She studied both ballet and piano during elementary school and went on to perform in various singing and dancing competitions as a child.
It was back in 2013 that Ronela rose to fame with her smash hit "Mala Gata". Since then, Hajati has released over 20 singles having the big majority cracked within the top 20 of Albania's singles chart.
Ronela is scheduled to release her first studio album in 2022 that will include some of her most recent songs, also her biggest hits in the country.
Festivali i Këngës #60
The 60th edition of Festivali i Këngës was divided into three shows, all aired live from Tirana's Palace of Congresses:
- 27 December 2019: Contestants' Night
- 28 December 2019: Nostalgia Night
- 29 December 2019: Final, Eurovision Night
All three shows were hosted by Albanian TV hosts Isli Islami, Kelvi Kadilli, Xhemi Shehu and singer Jonida Maliqi (Albania 2019). The second show had a fifth presenter, Ardit Gjebrea.
The jury panel was formed by Agim Doçi, Osman Mula, Anxhela Faber, Olti Curri, Olsa Toqi, Rozanna Radi and Anxhela Peristeri (Albania 2021) who decided the winner of the competition
Festivali i Këngës is organized by the Albanian national broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). Since its start in 1962, all artists have been asked to perform live, with a jury selecting the winner. Since 2003 the winner of the festival is Albania's representative to Eurovision Song Contest.
When Albania in 2004 finally applied EBU to participate in Eurovision Song Contest, they agree to let the winner of the country's most popular festival represent Albania.
Albania in Eurovision Song Contest
Since debuting in 2004, Albania has been participating in Eurovision Song Contest every year. Best result is a 5th place in 2012, where Rona Nishliu sang "Suus".
Out of the 17 times Albania has participated, they have qualified for the Grand final 10 times.
