In anticipation of the final of Eurosong 2010, Ireland's pre-selection to determine the country's representative at the Eurovision Song Contest, esctoday.com will be providing you with interviews of the participants competing for the honour of representing Ireland in Oslo. The national final will be held on Friday, March 5th and our series of interviews continues with Monika Ivkic. Find out what she had to say below.

First of all, congratulations on qualifying to the irish national final – Eurosong 2010. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got involved with the music business in the first place.

Thank you. I'm Monika Ivkic.I'm originally from Bosnia and now live in Austria. I've always loved music. When I was 15, I took part in my first casting show.Unfortunately, I was disqualified during the recalls because I didn't meet the minimum age requirement (and perhaps hadn't been quite as truthful about my age in my application as I should have been). In 2008 I finished fourth in the German version of Idol.Since then I've focused on my own music and collaborated with various artists from the U.S., Germany and Austria. I can't tell you how thrilled I am about the opportunity to perform in Ireland.

You decided to enter to represent Ireland this year even though you were born in Bosnia and living in Austria. What would it meanfor you to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest?

It would be a huge honor to represent a country as successful as Ireland. As for my own nationality, I don't think it really matters where an artist comes from or where he or she lives.Nobody would say Chelsea isn't a U.K. football club only because it has players from Germany and France.

Your song 'Fashion Queen' is said to be a typical Beyoncé Knowles style number. What does the song mean to you personally? Can you relate to its' message?

I love Beyonce, true, but "Fashion Queen" isn't all that similar to the stuff she does.Obviously, I like to wear nice clothes, and you'll see that in the performance.The song is an uptempo number that's primarily meant to be entertaining. If you wanted to read a message into it, you might say it pokes a bit of fun at our culture.

The Eurovision Song Contest is extremely popular in Ireland, especially after a record seven wins. How much of a fan are you personally and what does the contest mean to you?

I watch Eurovision every year, and yes, I'm definitely a fan. For a newcomer like me, the opportunity to sing on a stage on which some of the biggest names in the business have performed on is just fantastic.

Do you think the Eurovision Song Contest would an acceptable way to represent and to express music you love?

Why wouldn't it?It's a unique opportunity to perform in front of millions of people.Unless you're Madonna and go on a world tour, you'll never have the chance to entertain an audience like that.

Let's talk a bit about the national final to be held on March 5th. How are the rehearsals going? In your opinion, how big are your chances of winning and who do you see as your main competitor for victory?

Clearly, it's a strong field, but I think with "Fashion Queen" we have a great song with a unique concept, so let's see what happens.Our focus right now is to come up with the best possible performance.I'm lucky to work with a great team, and we're having a lot of fun.

What can we expect from your performance on Eurosong? Will there be alot of dancing?

Of course.What else do you think a fashion queen would do on stage? 😉

After Eurosong 2010, what are your future (music) plans and, incase you won't win, will you be back at next year's Irish national pre-selection?

Again, my focus at the moment is March 5th, and I try not to think of too much else.It's a great opportunity to perform in Ireland, and I hope we can convince the Irish people that we'd be a worthy representative of their country.Everything else is for another day.

What is your favourite colour and why?

Red because it's a sign of strong emotions, and that's how I am, that's how I feel about music.

To come to the conclusion, what message would you like to give to the readers of esctoday.com?

Well, I hope you'll like "Fashion Queen". See you on March 5th, and enjoy the show!

Monika

esctoday.com would like to thankMonika Ivkicfor taking the time to this interview and wish her the best of luck for the Irish national final on Friday, March 5th.