Prior to the 2019 Contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four times since its first entry in. Slovenia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 1995 with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by Darja Švajger and in 2001 with the song "Energy" performed by Nuša Derenda. The country's only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when Tanja Ribič performing "Zbudi se" placed tenth. Since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in 2004, Slovenia had thus far only managed to qualify to the final on four occasions. In 2018, Slovenia was represented by Lea Sirk and the song "Hvala, ne!", which qualified to the final and placed twenty-second. The Slovenian national broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija, broadcasts the event within Slovenia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has traditionally been selected through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija , which has been produced with variable formats. To this point, the broadcaster has only foregone the use of this national final in 2013 when the Slovenian entry was internally selected. For 2018, the broadcaster opted to organise EMA 2019 to select the Slovenian entry.
Before Eurovision
''EMA 2019''
EMA 2019 was the 23rd 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 2019.
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 9 November 2018 and 14 December 2018. 103 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee selected ten artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 27 December 2018. Among the competing artists, Ula Ložar represented Slovenia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014.
Final
EMA 2019 took place on 16 February 2019 at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Ajda Smrekar. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a three-member jury panel select two entries to proceed to the second round: "Sebi" performed by Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl and "Kaos" performed by Raiven. The jury consisted of Darja Švajger, Lea Sirk and Vladimir Graić. In the second round, a public vote selected "Sebi" performed by Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl as the winner.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Slovenia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Slovenia was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from Poland and preceding the entry from Czech Republic.
Semi-final
Slovenia performed fifth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Poland and preceding the entry from Czech Republic. At the end of the show, Slovenia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed sixth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 167 points: 93 points from the televoting and 74 points from the juries.
Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.
Points awarded to Slovenia
Points awarded by Slovenia
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Slovene jury:
Žiga Klančar – Chairperson – music editor, head of music programme
