Introducing 2011: Slovenia

All songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 have been selected. During the weeks between the national final season and the actual Eurovision Song Contest, we will introduce all 43 entries in random order. We are half way through and part thirty-eight of the series is dedicated to the Slovene entry.

Basic information

The song

No one is a classic pop ballad. Through the lyrics of the break-up song, the protagonist tells her former lover that she will now stand up for herself:

You’re the one who’s never satisfied,
There is no one like I… like I am

I can feel what you’re looking for
I’m not that girl no more
I’m not made of stone
I’m gonna stand on my own
Not gonna break me down

The performer

Maja Keuc has appeared in various musicals in Slovenia including We will rock you. However, she became famous when she competed in the first season of the Slovene edition of the Got talent franchise entitled Slovenija ima talent. In the final, she finished second behind Lina Kuduzovic.

In 2011, Maja Keuc competed in the Slovene national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. With the song Vanilja she was declared winner by a clear margin getting far more than twice as many votes as the runner-up. In Düsseldorf, she will perform No one, the English version of the song.

The songwriters

No one was written by Matjaž VlašiÄ� (music) and Urša VlašiÄ� (lyrics). They are the most busy songwriting team for Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest as there are already three entries on their account. Naj bogovi slišijo was performed by Vili Resnik in 1998 (18th place), Energy was performed by Nuša Derenda in 2001 (7th place) and Anžej Dežan sang their song Mr. Nobody in 2006 (16th place in the semi final). Urša VlašiÄ� also co-wrote Omar Naber's Stop in 2005.

The national selection

EMA 2011 was a one-eving show. Ten acts competed and the winner was chosen in two rounds of televoting. In the first round, the top two had been selected before the eventual song for Düsseldorf was selected.

Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Slovenia entered the Eurovision Song Contest as an independant country in 1993, when they had hosted andwon the semi final in Eastern Europe. Since then the country has finished in the top ten only three times in a final including their best result – two seventh places – in 1995 and 2001. 2007 was the only time Slovenia managed to qualify from the semi final under the current format. Under the flag of Yugoslavia, songs from Slovenia took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 (which was the debut of Yugoslavia), 1962, 1966, 1967,1970 and 1975.

Statistics

This will be Slovenia's 17th participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. For the ninth time the country is represented by a female solo performer. Furthermore, it will be the seventh in twelve times since the abolishment of the language rule in 1999 that the Slovene entry is performed entirely in English.

No one is the thirteenth song to be presented in the second semi final. It is preceeded by the dance pop song from Israel and it is followed by the Romanian show tune. A clear advantage might be the fact that the Slovene entry is the last ballad in the line-up of the second semi final. So far, the last ballad performed in a semi final has almost always qualified for the final.

Sloveniji z Majo Keuc želimo veliko sreÄ�e in obilico uspeha v Düsseldorfu!

Videos

Live performance in the national final/preview video:

The English version of the song:

Maja Keuc sings I love rock 'n' roll:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuLcpGJRUwA

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Russian entry.

Previous parts of the series:

1. Estonia
2. Italy
3. Croatia
4. Slovakia
5. Lithuania
6. Finland
7. Switzerland
   
8. Ukraine
9. Norway
10. Moldova
11. Belgium
12. Azerbaijan
13. Ireland
14. Portugal
    
15. Austria
16. Latvia
17. France
18. Bosnia & Herzegovina
19. Romania
20. Sweden
21. Bulgaria
22. Armenia
23. Denmark
24. Cyprus
25. Spain
    
26. Belarus
27. San Marino
28. Malta
    
29. Germany
    
30. Georgia
31. Greece
32. Iceland
    
33. Serbia
34. Turkey
35. Netherlands
36. Hungary
37. Albania