Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands with the song "Amen" written by Ana Soklič, Bojan Simončič, Žiga Pirnat and Charlie Mason. The song was performed by Ana Soklič, who was internally selected by the Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO) to represent Slovenia in the 2021 contest, having previously been selected to represent Slovenia in 2020 with the song "Voda", before its eventual cancellation due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Ana Soklič was revealed to be Slovenia's representative on 16 May 2020, with the song "Amen" being released as the Slovenian entry on 27 February 2021.

Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Country Slovenia
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 16 May 2020
Song: 27 February 2021
Selected entrantAna Soklič
Selected song"Amen"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (13th)
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2020 • 2021 • 2022►

Slovenia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2021. Performing during the show in position 2, "Amen" 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 thirteenth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 44 points.

Background
Main article: Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2021 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-six 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 six occasions. In 2018, Slovenia was represented by Lea Sirk and the song "Hvala, ne!", which qualified to the final and placed twenty-second. One year later, in 2019, Slovenia qualified for the final again with Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl, finishing in fifteenth place with the song "Sebi".

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 2021 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 May 2020. 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 2021, the broadcaster opted to organise an internal selection to select the Slovenian entry. To this point, the broadcaster has only foregone the use of the national final in 2013 when the Slovenian entry was internally selected.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 16 May 2020, RTV Slovenija confirmed that Ana Soklič would remain as Slovenia's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[2] Following the announcement of Soklič as the selected artist, composers were able to submit their songs to the broadcaster between 13 July 2020 and 30 September 2020.[3] 191 songs were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Soklič, Darja Švajger (singer, vocal coach and 1995 and 1999 Slovenian Eurovision entrant) and Vladimir Graić (composer of Serbia's winning Eurovision entry "Molitva" in 2007) shortlisted three songs from the received submissions, with the Slovenian entry being determined by an alternate expert committee consisting of Darja Švajger, Mojca Menart (Head of the publishing business of ZKP RTV Slovenija) and Matevž Šalehar (musician and singer-songwriter) from the three shortlisted songs.[4]

The selected song, entitled "Amen", was presented during the special show EMA 2021 which took place on 27 February 2021 at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Lea Sirk and Nejc Šmit. The 2021 edition of EMA also simultaneously celebrated Slovenia's 60th anniversary since their first appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest (including Slovenia's appearances as part of Yugoslavia).[4] The song was written by Bojan Simončič, Žiga Pirnat, Charlie Mason and Ana Soklič herself. Mason had previously co-written the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 winning entry "Rise Like a Phoenix".[5]

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 in 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. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, was used for 2021 contest. Slovenia was placed into the first semi-final, which was held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[6]

Once all the competing songs for the 2021 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 2, following the entry from Lithuania and preceding the entry from Russia.[7]

At the end of the show Slovenia was not announced among 10 qualifiers of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

Voting
See also: Voting at the Eurovision Song Contest

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia in the first semi-final, as well as by the country in the final. 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.[8] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form. Slovenia's jury consisted of Bojan Cvjetićanin, Nuša Derenda, Boštjan Grabnar, Amaya, and Raay.[9] In the first semi-final, Slovenia placed 13th with a total of 44 points, thus failing to qualify for the final. The performance received 8 televoting points, while the jury points added to 36, including 7 from Romania.[10] Over the course of the contest, Slovenia awarded its 12 points to Cyprus (jury) and Croatia (televote) in the first semi-final, and to Italy (jury) and Serbia (televote) in the final.[11][12]

Points awarded to Slovenia
Points awarded to Slovenia (Semi-final 1)[11]
Score Televote Jury
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points  Romania
6 points  Cyprus
5 points  Croatia  Malta
4 points
3 points  North Macedonia
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by Slovenia

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Slovene jury:

Detailed voting results from Slovenia (Semi-final 1)[11]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Lithuania10131011101212
02  Slovenia
03  Russia22231421047
04  Sweden12712881192
05  Australia11121115151415
06  North Macedonia13481437438
07  Ireland15141512121514
08  Cyprus13322112101
09  Norway967998356
10  Croatia8551447112
11  Belgium41011356574
12  Israel69131069211
13  Romania1415147131313
14  Azerbaijan384513883
15  Ukraine7119611101210
16  Malta516475665
Detailed voting results from Slovenia (Final)[12]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Cyprus139157121515
02  Albania101291551112
03  Israel511814710122
04  Belgium61742045619
05  Russia21191338101
06  Malta113125176513
07  Portugal14201918181918
08  Serbia16511101513112
09  United Kingdom20252526262525
10  Greece1810101128338
11   Switzerland426434765
12  Iceland1631821083
13  Spain22212123212123
14  Moldova23262422192326
15  Germany24242224242417
16  Finland121413367474
17  Bulgaria19181619202020
18  Lithuania21222016101814
19  Ukraine815712111247
20  France7858169256
21  Azerbaijan916141791616
22  Norway1741713141492
23  Netherlands25232325252624
24  Italy37221112210
25  Sweden1513186231711
26  San Marino26192621222221

References
  1. "Country Profile: Slovenia". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  2. Jumawan, Tim (16 May 2020). "Ana Soklič to represent Slovenia in Eurovision 2021". escXtra. Retrieved 6 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. Jumawan, Tim (13 July 2020). "Slovenia opens search for Eurovision 2021 entry". escXtra. Retrieved 6 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "Evrovizija in Ema po covidnem načrtu". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). 5 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. "'Amen' for Slovenia's Ana Soklič". Eurovision.tv. 27 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. Groot, Evert (17 November 2020). "2020 Semi-Final line-up to stay for 2021". eurovision.tv. Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  7. "Semi-Final running orders revealed". Eurovision.tv. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  8. "Voting–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  9. Muldoon, Padraig (23 May 2021). "Eurovision 2021: EBU publishes the names of the 39 professional juries". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 23 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  10. "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  11. "Results of the First Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  12. "Results of the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
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