SLOVENIA

The Slovene Final was held on March 8th, hosted by Ula Furlan. The winner was chosen through two rounds of televoting - the first to select the top 2 and the second to select the winner. In the end the winner was "Spet (Round and Round)" sung by Tinkara Kovač.

Due to the other Eurovision programmes on at the same time, I did not watch the final however I was able to catch the voting reprise half way through. Unfortunately the songs were not of a particularly good standard and nothing seemed to stand out - in a good way at least!

The stage for EMA was white and the background changed colours to fit each song and create a different atmosphere.  For her song, Tinkara is centre holding her flute and wearing the most awful two-skirt outfit! Behind her are two female backing singers and three male instrumentalists on guitar, electric guitar and drums. Nothing very much happens visually apart from some basic choreography by the backing singers.

The song is a mid-tempo pop number mainly in English however the first verse and last chorus are both in Slovenian. This makes is similar to the Israeli entry although the use of dual language is used in such a way it doesn't quite make sense, like it has been shoehorned in as an after thought. The structure of the song is very formulaic however it only the bridge part that sticks in your mind quick enough inside the 3 minutes. Tinkara has a nice voice and the style of song really suits her. Tinkara's shtick is the fact that she also plays the flute - this doesn't have the visceral appeal of Alexander Rybak's fiddle  or the folkish charm of Nicole's guitar but it does give the viewer a memorable visual connection to the song.

The main problem with this song is that it just isn't good enough - for Eurovision at least. It needs a lot of work visually to start with. Ideally she should get rid of the three instrumentalists and either get more backing singers or a couple of dancers. Tinkara also needs to work on her facial expressions which can be a little extreme when the cameras on close up (especially the wide eyes!). If I were in change I would get rid of the Slovenian bits, especially the first verse.. This sets us up for what we expect to hear and to have it change within 30 seconds is not a good surprise. Starting in English is more likely to get people into the song and get them to stay along.

Let's face facts - this is not a good song, it's not the best performance, has a weak ending and most of Slovenia's Balkan neighbours are either staying away from Copenhagen or are in the other semi-final. Unless this gets a very severe make-over, visually and aurally, the chances of this qualifying are extremely slim.

Artist - Tinkara Kovač

Song - Spet (Round and Round)

Music - Raay

Lyrics - Tinkara Kovač, Hannah Mancini, Tina Piš