Slovenia: Read back our liveblog for the EMA final

In a few hours Slovenia will reveal its entry for Kiev through the final of national selection of EMA taking place in Ljubljana Exhibition. A total of eight finalists will battle for victory as the winner of the night will represent Slovenia in Kiev.

The Slovenian entry for the 62nd edition of Eurovison Song Contest will be chosen by 50/50 combination of televoting and six-member jury voting. The show will feature interval acts for which special guests are invited: the winner of last year’s Eurovison Song Contest, Jamala is a special guest along with her Slovenian competitor ManuElla as well as Toni Cetinskim, who represented Croatia at the 1994 Euovision Song Contest.

Tonight’s show will also feature some familiar faces among participants. Among the finalists will sing a Eurovision start Omar Naber, who  represented Slovenia in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. Omar did not qualify for Grand Final in Kiev 2005, however being a finalist tonight, he takes another chance to battle for another Kiev experience.

You can watch the show live at 20:00 CET  by clicking on THIS link and/ or follow our live commentary with latest updates appearing on top.

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22:25 End of the Live-blog

Thank you for following the show together with ESC Daily. Stay tuned for all the upcoming news and more live-blogs tomorrow.

22:22 Jamala to congratulate Omar 

Jamala congratulates Omar on winning the EMA final and passes the winner’s trophy, after which Omar sings his winning song once again.

22:18 Omar Naber off to Kiev

Omar wins EMA 2017 and  is to represent Slovenia  in Kiev for the second time. Last time he represented his country in 2005 Eurovision again in  Kiev when he did not qualify. Tonight Omar has taken his chance to try it again in Kiev with his song On My Way the author of which is Omar himself.

22:17 Televoting results:

12 points Nuška Drašček

24 points Sell Out

36 points Niki Zorjan

48 points Raiven

60 point Omar Naber

72 points BQL

22:09 Celje Jury results:

2 points Raiven

4 points Nika Zorjan

6 points KiNG FOO

8 points BQL

10 points Nuška Drašček

12 points Omar Naber

22:08 Novo Mesto jury points:

2 points Nika Zorjan

4 points Tim Kores

6 points Omar Naber

8 points BQL

10 points Nuška Drašček,

12 points Raiven.

22:07 Koper jury results:

2 points Nika Zorjan

4 points Tim Kores

6 points BQL

8 points Raiven

10 points Nuška Drašček

12 points Omar Naber

22:06 Maribor jury results:

2 points-Tim Kores

4 points- Nika Zorjan,

6 points BQL

8 points- Raiven

10 points- Nuška Drašček

12 points Omar Naber.

22:05 Kranj  jury votes:

2 points BQL

4 points King Foo

6 points Nika Zorjan

8 points Nuška Drašček

10 points Raiven,

12 Omar Naber.

22:04 Ljubljana tells  jury results:

2 points -Niki Zorjan

 4 points -King Foo

6 points – Raiven

8 points – Nuška Drašček

10 poits-Omar Naber

12points -BQL

21:52 JAMALA: If you have a dream you have to believe in it

The winner of last year’s Eurovision in Stockholm fills another interval act of Slovenian national selection EMA. She delivers her eurovision song “1944” in the same emotional way as she did in Stockholm. After her performance Mario Galunič speaks to her when she expresses her great impression of EMA songs and later on tells how her life has changed after Eurovsion, calling everyone to believe in their dreams.

21:42 Interval Act  

Toni Cetinskim is another special guest to fill the interval act.  Toni Cetinskim represented Croatia in the 1994 Eurovison Song Contest  with the song “Nek’ ti bude ljubav sva” placing 16th in the final. Tonight he presents that very song followed by another song called “Laku Noć” which means “Good night” from Serbo-Croatian.

21:40 Recap

After ManuElla’s performance we go to follow the second recap of the songs.

21:35 ManuElla back on stage

ManuElla takes the EMA stage once again as a special guest to fill the interval act. She is presenting a new single “Salvation” – a pop song which has some similarites with her eurovision song “Blue and Red”.

21:30 Recap

We follow the recap of all the entries of tonight once again making sure that the stagings for the shows did not change much from that of the semifinals.

21:27 Voting rules

We are back from the commercial with Mario Galunič explaining the voting rules as we have followed all the entries of tonight it has come time to start the voting.

21:20 Green Room

We go back to the green room where the host continues her talk to participants. Which is followed by a another short commercial.

21:12 Raiven – Zažarim

Raiven, who is another known name of the night is closing the contest. She was the super finalist of last year. This year she tries to reach eurovision with “Zažarim”. Her song is a modern ballad, reminding of “Chandelier” by Sia. Like last week, Raiven starts her song playing on harp. Later on, she starts sparkling standing alone on stage with her purple hair dressed in a sparkling white outfit.

21:07 BQL – Heart of Gold

BGL consists of two members:  Lead singer is singing and playing guitar in white sweater, the other member in black sweater is playing the piano in the back. Just like last week from the half piano player comes and joins the lead singer- both singing shoulder to shoulder. On backdrops we see forest displayed. The camera shots stay the same too.

21:01 Omar Naber – On My Way

Here comes one of the favorites of the night. Omar the Eurovision star who represented Slovenia in 2005 in Kiev. However he did not succeed last time to qualify for the final, however, tonight he battles to give it another try and again in Kiev. Omar also sticks to his last week’s staging. He starts singing with black and white screen which turns colorful only when the chorus starts. Omar is alone on stage and demonstrates good vocals while delivering his  ballad “On My Way” the author of which is Omar himself. After the performace, Omar gets a good amount of applause from the audience.

20:55 KiNG FOO “Wild Ride”

KiNG FOO is up next bringing another performance  with no change from that of the semifinal. Behind the lead singer there are two electro-guitarists and one drummer. Everyone is dressed in black.They deliver their pop song “Wild Ride with lots of rock influences.

20:50 Nadiya Bychkova

After a short commercial break Mario Galunič calls Nadiya Bychkova on stage to speak about Kiev, Ukraine and upcoming contest.

20:45 Green Room

Time for green room discussion where the hosts speak to participants abut their experience of the night.

20:35 Nika Zorjan “Fse”

Nika is in black and the main visual focuses is on her purple hair and gold belt. Everything seems to look like just  it was last time at the semifinal. Nika is not first time standing on EMA stage. This time she comes with her song “Fse”. It’s a pop song with some oriental influences. From the middle of the song there are also much electronic sounds.

20:25 Tim Kores Kori – Open Fire

Tim Kores Kori is up next with his very eurovision-like staging. Although Kori is dressed very simple just last time, just adding his leather jacket, his performance is well thought just like a ready eurovision performance with lots of fire on stage for his song “Open Fire”.  While performing his up-tempo pop Kori doesn’t miss his last week’s trick of opening fire with his hands and throwing it to his drummer’s cymbals. Backdrops are rich in fire too. Song style reminds of Swedish singer Darin.

20:10 Nuška Drašček – Flower in the Snow

Nuška’s performance does not differ from that of the semifinal. She alone on the stage dressed in a black dress just like last week. She brings a  pop ballad “Flower in the Snow”.

20:14 Sell Out – Ni panike

Sell out is to open tonight’s contest with their ska song. “Ni panike” is a very cheerful song reminding of the close listener of Athena (Turkey 2004). Two of the members in the back of the lead singer are playing guitar, there is also a drummer and  another two members are holding trumpet and a saxophone.  The five-member band, all members dressed in black, deliver the same positive performance, which seems to be a good opening of the contest. From the middle of the song the band makes a long pause leaving an impression as the song is over, however, after the pause they continue the cheerful song.

20:12 Tonight’s line-up is as follows:

  1. Sell Out – Ni panike
  2. Nuška Drašček – Flower in the snow
  3. Tim Kores – Open Fire
  4. Nika Zorjan – Fse
  5. KiNG Foo – Wild Ride
  6. Omar Naber – On My Way
  7. BQL – Heart of Gold
  8. Raiven – Zažarim

20:08 Hosts to perform a short song

Tina Gorenjak , Maja Martina Merljak and Tanja Kocman are performing a short song after they have been introduced by Mario Galunič.

20:05 Introduction

After ManuElla’s openning performance hosts and participants are introduced. Like in semifinals, tonight’s show is hosted by Tina Gorenjak , Maja Martina Merljak, Tanja Kocman along with Mario Galunič.

20:00 The show is underway with Manuella opening the show

ManuElla, who representing Slovenia in last year’s contest in Stockholm, is opening the show with her Eurovision song “Blue and Red”.