Tonight, the second heat of the 2004 Slovenian preselection, or Ema 04- Predizbor 02 as it has been christened by Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO, sets off. Televoting again determines which three songs of eight proceed to the big final on 15th February 2004 at Gospodarsko razstavišče in capital Ljubljana.

Competing in the second semifinal are (music/ lyrics/ arrangement):
1. Monika Pučelj- Nič ne ustavi me/ Nothing can stop me (Aleš Klinar/ Anja Rupel/ Franci Zabukovec, Aleš Klinar)
2. Natalija Verboten – Cry on my shoulder (Matjaž Vlašič/ Urša Vlašič/ Aleš Čadež)
3. Jasmina Cafnik – Si tukaj al' te ni/ Are you here or are you not (Danilo Kocjančič/ Drago Mislej – Mef/ Marino Legovič)
4. Chantal Hartmann – Here and there and everywhere (Chantal Hartmann/ Chantal Hartmann/ Chantal Hartmann)
5. Marijan Novina- Svet se vrti nazaj/ The world spins backwards (Marijan Novina/ Marijan Novina, Urša Mravlje Fajon/ Sašo Fajon)
6. Yuhubanda – Če zdaj odideš sama/ If you leave alone (Matjaž Vlašič/ Urša Vlašič/ Matjaž Vlašič, Boštjan Grabnar)
7. Ana Dežman – Ni bilo zaman/ It was not in vain (Patrik Greblo/ Milan Dekleva/ Patrik Greblo)
8. Kalamari – Bođ prišla/ You will come (Jože Jež/ Jože Jež/ Matjaž Švagelj)

This seems to be the strongest semifinal of all four. The only two surprises would be Natalija Verboten's (pictured) not winning the semifinal and the totally unknown German singer Chantal Hartmann's proceeding to the big final immediately. Two festival winners (Verboten and Pučelj) and two songs by the same team (the Vlašič family writing songs for Natalija Verboten and Yuhubanda) will be competing head to head — and incidentally, Matjaž Vlašič co-wrote Slovenia's 2001 entry, Energy.

The semifinal will once again be hosted by Bernarda Žarn and Peter Poles. Slovenian television viewers can also enter a competition which will take two lucky people to Istanbul to see the Eurovision Song Contest. You can watch the show live at RTVSLO's website (requires RealPlayer).