Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Slovenia was represented by Anžej Dežan with the song "Mr Nobody". The song is written by Urša Vlašič and composed by Matjaž Vlašič.
Eighteen-year-old Anžej Dežan, born on 17 June 1987 in Celje, was one of the youngest performers in Athens. He was a newcomer to this year EMA, but has past experience by providing the backing vocals to Slovenian superstar Nuša Derenda's song in 2005. He originally came to fame on Bitka talentov, the same talent show which discovered Slovenia's 2005 Eurovision singer Omar Naber. Anžej has already recorded a duet with EMA runner-up Saša Lendero. Anžej is a very style conscious young man, and goes through more image and hairstyle changes in a couple of years, than most people manage in a lifetime.
Before Eurovision
EMA 2006
EMA 2006 was the 11th edition of the Slovenian national final format Evrovizijska Melodija . The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.Competing entries
107 entries were received by RTV Slovenija during a submission period. An expert committee selected fourteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 24 January 2006.| Artist | Song ' | Composer |
| Alenka Godec | "Hočem stran" ' | Anja Rupel, Alenka Godec, Aleš Klinar |
| Andraž Hribar | "Rapad tepe ipi mapam" ' | Milan Hribar, Andraž Hriba |
| Anžej Dežan | "Plan B" | Urša Vlašić, Matjaž Vlašić |
| Atomik Harmonik | "Polkaholik" ' | Dare Kaurič |
| Katrinas | "Najdi me" ' | Katarina Habe |
| Maja Slatinšek | "Vihar" ' | Maja Slatinšek, Gregor Sulejmanovič |
| Marijan Novina | "V mojih dlaneh" ' | Marijan Novina, Bojan Vojnovič |
| Monika Pučelj | "Ostani z mano" ' | Anja Rupel, Aleš Klinar |
| Natalija Verboten | "SOS" | Urša Vlašič, Matjaž Vlašič |
| Nuška Drašček | "Nora sem, da te ljubim" ' | Rudolf Gas |
| Rebeka Dremelj & Domen Kumer | "Noro se ujameva" ' | Natka Geržina, Borut Lipavec |
| Saša Lendero | "Mandoline" ' | Andrej Babić, Saša Lendero |
| Sergeja | "Tu da du" | Franco Zabukovec |
| Ylenia | "Hokus pokus" ' | Damjana Kenda-Hussu, Marino Legovič |
Final
EMA 2006 took place on 29 January 2006 at the RTV Slovenija studios in Ljubljana, hosted by Janez Škof, Aljoša Ternovšek and Boris Koba. The combination of points from televoting, SMS voting and a five-member jury panel determined the winner. The jury consisted of Martin Žvelc, Nataša Assejev, Cole Moretti, Dragan Trivič and Črt Sojar Voglar. Although Saša Lendero won both the televote and SMS vote, "Plan B" performed by Anžej Dežan was selected as the winner.Controversy
EMA veteran Saša Lendero and her ethnic dance song "Mandoline", won both the televoting and SMS votes while in the end, the jury decided the outcome and Anžej Dežan with the song "Plan B" won the competition, causing much controversy. This was second time in 3 years that voting jury expelled the televoting winner from their votes. In 2004 also Natalija Verboten with Cry On My Shoulder" had won the public vote, but the jury gave her 0 points. If they had get only 1 point - both, Lendero in 2006 or Verboten in 2004 would have won EMA. Many polemics and discussions were raised after this - people and media wondering if jury did this on purpose. More dispute was caused when accusations were made that "Plan B" was a copy of a song called "Santa Maria" sung by Austrian singer Simone, therefore breaking the contest rules. The European Broadcasting Union, however, did not see it as a copy, and therefore the song was not disqualified.At Eurovision
In the 2006 contest, Anžej performed the English version of the song, "Mr Nobody".Because Slovenia failed to qualify in 2005 Anžej was forced to compete in the Eurovision semi-final, performed 3rd, following Bulgaria and preceding the Andorra he came 16th with 49 points failing to qualify to the Grand Final. Therefore, Slovenia will have to compete in the semi-final again in ESC 2007.
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |