While most of Europe are only just finalising their preparations for Eurovision 2020, Slovenia are already deep into their process, and the first week of EMA FREŠ has concluded with two artists moving on in the selection.
The new process acts like a wildcard round, with the lucky two winners of the FREŠ process winning a slot at the main EMA competition in 2020. Each week, six acts are pitted against each other in duels, with one artist in each duel advancing to the weekly final, where one of the three acts will be moved to a second chance round and the remaining two advancing to the EMA FREŠ final in December.
Voting sees a mixture of a jury and online voting to decide which acts make the final and which go into the second chance round. Overall, ten acts will make the final of the competition – six directly from the weekly finals, with a further four given another chance later on in the competition.
This week, the duals were as follows (winner in bold);
- Stella – “Ne vem, če sem v redu” vs. Pia Nina – “Tukaj in zdaj”
- Soulution – “Eno” vs. Younite – “The Cure”
- Astrid in Avantgarden – “Sing to Me” vs. Martina – “Pleši”
Today, the jury and voters got one last chance to deliberate on the winning entries, selecting Stella and Younite to reach the final of EMA FREŠ, as Martina is moved to the second chance round.
Sounds complicated? Perhaps, but the price for these budding artists is vast, and of course there are no easy routes to the Eurovision stage!
Next week, two more hopefuls will be unveiled on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with voting open on each day for the best entry of each duel. The process will continue each week until 6th December, when two acts will win the right to perform at EMA 2020 and aim to reach Rotterdam next year.
What do #YOU think of the competition and its hopefuls? Who do #YOU like the sound of so far? Share your thoughts with us on our forum HERE or join the discussion below and on social media!
