Slovenia's pre-selection: All ten finalists selected for EMA Freš 2020

Despite the fact that we will only meet Slovenia's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in February, it is safe to say that the national selections season is about to begin with EMA's new online pre-selection – EMA Freš – taken place online the last 6 weeks.

This sort of online pre-selection was created to provide a platform for upcoming new artists to win access to Slovenia's national selection show, EMA 2020. Out of 18 performers, there'll be space for two at next year's EMA.

EMA Freš – Finalists

Two of these EMA Freš finalists will win a spot in EMA 2020.

• Stella – "Ne vem, če sem v redu"
• Younite – "The Cure"
• Klarity – "Diham"
• Parvani Violet – "Cupid"
• Saška – "Še kar lovim tvoj nasmeh"
• Marmoris – "Moj pristan"
• Pia Nina – "Tukaj in zdaj"
• Alfirev – "Črno bela lika"
• Lana Hrvatin – "Dream"
• Astrid in Avantgarden – "Sing to Me"

EMA Freš

• EMA Freš: Slovenia's Pre-selection for EMA 2020 (2 best proceed to EMA 2020) – online
• EMA 2020: Slovenia's National Selection for Eurovision 2020 – live show

The winner of EMA 2020 will represent Slovenia at Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam.

EMA Freš officially started in the beginning of October 2019 with the first two artists battling against each other and continued throughout the following six weeks with more battles. Each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday there were online battles between two songs, where the winners proceeded to a final round every Friday that determined the two weekly finalists: one chosen by the visitors, the other by an expert panel.

The competition was held on the broadcaster's official website, through an online survey which means the visitors (with no restrictions) would be able to vote for their winners.

The songs have been chosen by an expert panel, and were published on the broadcaster RTVSLO's website and on social networks.

EMA Freš – Schedule

EMA Freš is an online pre-selection, that in the end will choose two songs for the Slovenian national Final, EMA 2020.

The online pre-selection has 18 songs, that will be narrowed down to 6 songs the first three weeks: 3 songs by online voting plus 3 songs by jury selection:

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Duels winners proceed to Friday's "Winner of the Week"
• Friday: Winner of the Week winner proceeds to EMA Freš Final along with one picked by a jury:

Monday 4 November

• Stella – "Ne vem, če sem v redu"
• Pia Nina – "Tukaj in zdaj"

Tuesday 5 November

• Soulution – "Bil bom s teboj"
• Younite – "The Cure"

Wednesday 6 November

• Astrid in Avantgarden – "Sing To Me"
• Martina – "Pleši"

Friday 8 November

Winner of the week

• Stella – "Ne vem, če sem v redu" EMA Freš Final
• Younite – "The Cure" EMA Freš Final
• Martina – "Pleši"

Monday 11 November

• Klarity – "Diham"
• Tilen Lotrič – "Jaz in ti"

Tuesday 12 November

• Marko Škof – "Hočem da je vse kot prej"
• Petra Ceglar – "Srce naglas"

Wednesday 13 November

• Parvani Violet – "Cupid"
• Sara Petešič – "Sanjaj / Dream"

Friday 15 November

Winner of the week

• Klarity – "Diham" EMA Freš Final
• Petra Ceglar – "Srce naglas"
• Parvani Violet – "Cupid" EMA Freš Final

Monday 18 November

• Saška – "Še kar lovim tvoj nasmeh"
• Ljudmila Frelih – "Vztrajaj, ker je vredno"

Tuesday 19 November

• Alfirev – "Črno bela lika"
• Nuša Pliberšek – "Življenje je čarovnija"

Wednesday 20 November

• Marmoris – "Moj prista"
• Lana Hrvatin – "Dream"

Friday 22 November

Winner of the week

• Saška – "Še kar lovim tvoj nasmeh" EMA Freš Final
• Nuša Pliberšek – "Življenje je čarovnija"
• Marmoris – "Moj prista" EMA Freš Final

EMA Freš – Second Chance

After the first three weeks, 6 songs have been selected for the EMA Freš Final. The 12 "losers", will have a second change the following two weeks:

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Duels winners proceed to Friday's "Winner of the Week"
• Friday: Winner of the Week winner proceeds to EMA Freš Final along with one picked by a jury

Monday 25 November

• Pia Nina – "Tukaj in zdaj"
• Sara Petešič – "Sanjaj / Dream"

Tuesday 26 November

• Marko Škof – "Hočem da je vse kot prej"
• Nuša Pliberšek – "Življenje je čarovnija"

Wednesday 27 November

• Alfirev – "Črno bela lika"
• Soulution – "Bil bom s teboj"

Friday 29 November

Winner of the week

• Pia Nina – "Tukaj in zdaj" EMA Freš Final
• Nuša Pliberšek – "Življenje je čarovnija"
  
• Alfirev – "Črno bela lika" EMA Freš Final

Monday 2 December

• Lana Hrvatin – "Dream"
• Martina – "Pleši"

Tuesday 3 December

• Astrid in Avantgarden – "Sing To Me"
• Petra Ceglar – "Srce naglas"

Wednesday 4 December

• Ljudmila Frelih – "Vztrajaj, ker je vredno"
• Tilen Lotrič – "Jaz in ti"

Friday 6 December

Winner of the week

• Lana Hrvatin – "Dream" EMA Freš Final
• Astrid in Avantgarden – "Sing To Me" EMA Freš Final
• Tilen Lotrič – "Jaz in ti"

After the five weeks of online duels, 10 songs are ready for the EMA Freš Final (date unknown).

At EMA Freš Final, two songs (one chosen by the audience and another by a jury), will proceed to the EMA 2020 Final, where they will compete with other songs for the honour of representing Slovenia at Eurovision Song Contest 2020.

Slovenia in Eurovision Song Contest

Slovenia had its debut in Eurovision Song Contest 1993, and since then participated 25 times in Eurovision. They have never won the contest, and the best result for Slovenia is two 7th places in 1995 and 2001.

Since the introduction of Semi-finals in 2004, Slovenia only managed to qualify for the Grand Final 6 times out of 16.