Slovenia: Ana Soklič to Eurovision 2020 after winning EMA

Slovenia held the the 24th edition of Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) tonight to select the Slovenian representative for Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam.

Ten candidates competed in EMA 2020, but the main name tonight was Ana Soklič who won the national selection with the song Voda ("water"). It is undecided if Ana will perform her song in Slovenian or English language at Eurovision 2020.

Voda is written by Ana Soklič and Bojan Simončič.

EMA 2020 - The Show

Klemen Slakonja (TV host, actor and singer) was not only in charge of the show's presentation but also of the opening number that consisted in a cover of last year's Eurovision winning song, "Arcade", with a very similar staging.

The performance ended quite dramatically with the lamp falling on the piano and breaking it, making Klemen fall and "injure" his head.

In charge of the green room was Maja Pinterič - this year's EMA Freš host.

This year's EMA jury panel was built of Maja Keuc (Slovenia 2011), Darja Švajger (singer) and Nuša Derenda (singer).

Once the superfinalists (Ana Soklič and Lina Kuduzović) were announced, the two acts got to perform their entries once more before the lines were opened.

Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl (Slovenia 2019) also got to sing their new song live before the lines were closed. The host, Klemen, had yet time to pay an homage to all the Slovenian's representative in Eurovision over the years.

Ana Soklič was given the EMA 2020 trophy from the hands of Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl.

EMA 2020

This year's Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) was divided into two parts:

• EMA Freš: Slovenia's Pre-selection for EMA 2020 (2 best proceeded to EMA 2020) – online
• EMA 2020: Slovenia's National Selection for Eurovision 2020 – live show

The winner of EMA 2020, Ana Soklič, will represent Slovenia at Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam.

At the final of EMA, the voting process consisted of two rounds. In the first, a jury panel choose the best two songs to proceed to a Superfinal (Ana Soklič and Lina Kuduzović). The superfinal was decided solely by the public televoters.

Slovenia in Eurovision Song Contest

Slovenia had its debut in Eurovision Song Contest 1993, and since then participated 25 times in Eurovision. They have never won the contest, and the best result for Slovenia is two 7th places in 1995 and 2001.

Since the introduction of Semi-finals in 2004, Slovenia only managed to qualify for the Grand Final 6 times out of 16.