Photo Credit: Eurovisionworld
It’s almost Slovenia’s time to decide who will represent them in Eurovision this year! After Raiven continued Slovenia’s qualification streak in 2024, we take a look at the 12 artists hoping to take to the stage for Slovenia in Eurovision 2025.
Format
Submissions were open from 29 October 2024 to 25 November 2024. The broadcaster RTVSLO also invited artists from the local music scene to take part. 114 entries were submitted and the final 12 will take part in the 25th edition of EMA (Evrovizijska Melodija). The expert committee helping to decide the entries included former Slovenian Eurovision representatives such as Lea Sirk and Filip Vidušin (the latter as part of the group LPS) who took part in 2018 and 2022 respectively. The contest will be hosted by Raiven & Štras.
The 12 acts will compete in the final where they will be judged by Slovenian and international juries. The juries alone will be voting for their two favourite songs, and those artists will qualify for the Superfinal.
In the Superfinal, only the public will vote for their favourite out of the songs chosen and the overall winner will represent Slovenia at Eurovision 2025.
The Artists
These are the 12 acts competing:
Anna – Čau
Astrid & The Scandals – Touché
Eva Pavli – Niti
Jon Vitezič – Vse ti dam
July Jones – New Religion
Kiki – O-ou!
Klemen – How Much Time Do We Have Left?
PolarAce – Kind
RAI – Frederick’s Dead
Trine – Grace
Žan Videc – Pusti da gori
ZveN – Divja
The running order for EMA is as follows:
Photo Credit: RTVSLO
Now that we have the artists and songs, let’s get to know more about each act!
Anna
First up is Anna, who will be making her first appearance at EMA. She’s only 20 years old but has already made a name for herself in the Slovenian music industry. She releases music under the record label Menart Records Slovenia, releasing several songs, such as ‘Zgodbe’ (Stories), which is one of her most popular.
For EMA, she’ll be singing ‘Čau’ hoping to wow the juries.
Astrid and the Scandals
Astrid & The Scandals are an alternative group from Ljubljana, Slovenia and Astrid herself is no stranger to performing at EMA as she participated in EMA FREŠ 2020 (A competition where new acts can compete and the Top 2 advance to the EMA final) under the name Astrid in Avantgarden who sang ‘Sing With Me’ but was eliminated in the first round.
Since then, they have released music under their new name and their most popular song on YouTube is ‘COCONUT’ which has 25,000 views at the time of writing. Will it be 2nd time lucky for Astrid?
Eva Pavli
As well as singing, Eva Pavli is a model, songwriter and vocal coach. She sings in a variety of genres from pop to opera, like last year’s contestant Raiven. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana where she studied singing as well as opera. She then went on to study at the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the advanced program. These enabled her to develop her craft while she was performing.
Over the years, she has performed at an extensive list of concerts and events in Slovenia and beyond, even taking part in a month-long tour in Japan for the production of the opera ‘Carmen’.
She sang ‘Let’s Go Together’ with Miss Angel and Jeremy Lior, which was the official song of the EuroVolley 2019 Championships. She has released several pop singles to date with the most popular song ‘Juno’ having 35,000 streams on Spotify. With all her years of experience, will she be able to win EMA on her 1st attempt?
Jon Vitezič
Jon Vitezič is a musician, author, singer and guitarist. He took part in EMA FREŠ 2022 where he finished in 5th place with his song ‘Jesus Style’ just missing out on a place in the EMA Final. The live performance of the song was unusual as he had a live haircut from his backing dancers midway through his song.
After EMA, he continued to release his music and unveiled his debut album ‘Mars’ featuring ‘Jesus Style.’ His most popular song ‘UTrip’ has 35,000 views on YouTube.
This year, EMA Fres isn’t part of the selection process meaning he’s made his first final and he’ll be singing ‘Vse ti dam‘.
July Jones
Born Julija Aljaž, July Jones is a singer and songwriter. At 15, she moved to the United States, where she studied jazz at the University of California, Berkeley. However, she later dropped out after realising she wanted to pursue a career in pop music. She then moved to London at the age of 18.
Before making her debut as a singer, she was well-established as a songwriter having co-written the song ‘We Are Bulletproof’ by one of the biggest bands in the world BTS.
She first appeared in EMA 2022 singing ‘Girls Can Do Anything,’ finishing in 5th place overall but she was instantly a favourite amongst Eurofans praising the contemporary nature of the song, her stage presence and the empowering feminist message. But, she didn’t let her EMA Result deter her. In 2023, she was awarded the Best New European Artist at the Music Moves Europe Awards. Now, at the age of 26, she’s making her big comeback to EMA singing ‘New Religion’, will she go all the way?
Kiki
Born in Vienna, Austria, as Laetitia Pohl, Kiki is a singer who’s ready to make her mark on the music world. She is one of Slovenia’s brightest alternative music talents.
She first gained attention back in 2020 when she and her classmate Nina composed the song ‘Paper Doll’ for a school project at the Drama and Theatre Gymnasium in Ljubljana to which she entered into the Slovenian Note Festival in 2021. She finished in 2nd place and her song began to go viral on TikTok gaining hundreds of thousands of views. Over time, she’s been performing at numerous festivals and concerts across Slovenia and after graduating in October 2024 from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT) in Ljubljana. Now she sets her sights on EMA and Eurovision. Will she get far with her song ‘O-Ou‘?
Klemen
Klemen Slakonja is one of the most well-known names taking part in EMA this year. He’s an actor, singer, comedian, impersonator and host. He hosted previous EMAs in 2011, 2012, 2016, and 2020. The latter featured Klemen using all his impersonating and singing skills, parodying every single Slovene entry in their 25-year Eurovision history, looking and sounding just like each one of them. That video as well as his parodies of politicians have amassed millions of views on YouTube.
Eurovision fans may also recognise him as the Slovenian spokesperson in Eurovision 2011!
This will be the first year where he’s involved in EMA as a contestant and he’ll be singing ‘How Much Time Do We Have Left?‘ which is a song about his life partner Mojca who was diagnosed with a serious illness which she eventually overcame. Klemen could definitely be one to watch.
PolarAce
PolarAce is the stage name of Aleksej Kolar, a young singer and violinist who dreams of representing his country at Eurovision! He posts covers on his YouTube as well as his original material. He was a finalist in the TourMusicFest European Music Contest 2023 in San Marino. This will be his first EMA and he’ll be hoping to make his mark on the Slovenian music industry with his song ‘Kind’.
Rai
Throwing their hats in the ring are the band Rai! Rai are a rock band that released their debut single ‘Stay Awake’ last summer and they’ve been making a name for themselves ever since. Rai will be making their first-ever appearance in Slovenia’s National Final and will be singing the dramatic ‘Frederick’s Dead’, but what happened to Freddie? You’ll have to find out on Saturday!
Trine
When Trine announced she was taking part in EMA this year, it was her 19th birthday! Despite, her young age, she’s been releasing music since she was 15 when she released her first single ‘Soulmate’ back in 2021. As well as singing, she can play the guitar, and she’s also produced music for herself and other artists. For EMA, she’ll be singing the song ‘Grace’ hoping to make a big impression.
Žan Videc
Žan Videc is a singer and guitarist who’s already had success in Slovenia where he won the MMS 2024 festival, a prestigious Slovenian music festival celebrating local talent with his song ‘Neznano’. Ever since his victory, he performed at a festival in Maribor to thousands of people, so with his recent success, he could be a dark horse. He’s already won one Slovenian music competition, can he add EMA 2025 to his list of trophies?
Zven
Last but not least is Zvezdana Novaković otherwise known as Zven, who’s a singer, composer, vocal coach and harpist! Her distinctive voice and sound have already made waves in Slovenia and beyond. She’s also performed at various concerts with a full orchestra. She released her debut album ‘Čaralice’ back in 2023 showing off her talents. In an interview with OGAE Slovenia, when asked which Eurovision contestant she would duet with, she answered Salvador Sobral who sang ‘Amar Pelos Dois’ for Portugal. He won 8 years ago giving Portugal their first Eurovision victory, and Zven we’ll be hoping to give Slovenia their first Eurovision win in 2025, but first, she has to win EMA to earn the right to represent her country.
You can watch EMA 2025, on RTVSLO on Saturday night at 7pm UK time, 8pm CET!
Who do you want to see represent Slovenia at Eurovision?
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