Albania will stage a new edition of Festivali i Këngës in December and the winner of the competition will represent Albania at Eurovision 2021. Meaning Arilena Ari has not been chosen internal after winning the Albanian preselection for the cancelled contest in 2020.
In today’s episode we look at Albania in 2021. For a full review of their potential entry for 2020, check out this article on our partner website Eurovision Union. Check out our thoughts for next year below.
Key takeaways: Very strong vocalist
Arilena had a lot of things going for her. Albanian singers are consistently some of the best at Eurovision, and Arilena continued this trend. Her vocal qualities would have impressed a lot of people at the Eurovision stage, especially that big note at the end of her meant-to-be Eurovision song.
Albania did not stick with Arilena, but it would have been a good choice to do so. She is a gifted and capable singer and it’s nice to watch her perform.
Exploring other options
Local news media outlet Zëri reports that it has become clear that the Festivali i Këngës will take place no matter what. There is not a lot known about the line-up, obviously. And if Arilena Ara will tick part, and whether she wants to take part again, remains to be seen. Either way, we often see some former Eurovision stars return to FiK, like Olta Boka did this year. Elvana Gjata was a fan-favourite in 2020 with “Me tana” and we expect her return would spark a lot of enthusiastic responses.
Albania is usually the country to get us going in the new Eurovision season in December. So we’ll know the actual line-up soon.
This was supposed to be Albania’s Eurovision 2020 entry
About “Next Up: Eurovision 2021”
In our series Next Up: 2021, we look ahead to the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. After the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, all participating countries now face the choice: Stick with their Eurovision singer, or come up with a new preselection or internal selection.
We make an analysis based on what we know so far. What will this country do, or most likely do? And is that the wise choice, looking at the fact that the Eurovision Song Contest remains a music competition?
