February 18, 2019
It is clear that Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl will represent Slovenia at the 2019 Eurovision Song contest in Tel Aviv. So decided the national broadcaster’s audience in a show called EMA, but only after the jury of three judges made sure that Slovenia doesn’t lose face internationally with some weird metal or turbo oom-pah stuff. Luckily, when we were already pretty much asleep, last year’s winner and one of this year’s judges Lea Sirk, dropped a double f-bomb at the end of the show in support to the runner-up Raiven. Thanks to her, the nation woke up and is now fighting over which song is better or rather, which one is worse.
Lea Sirk: (f*** come on, I can’t f***ing believe this)
Lea Sirk explaining in backstage: Zdaj je cela senzacija okrog tega, zakaj sem jaz rekla, ozvočena, faking ne morem verjet. In ja, to sem faking mislila: ne morem verjet, ker sem bila prepričana, da bo zmagala Raiven. Ko jih jebe! (Now there’s a total sensation about why have I said, on a mic, I can’t f***ing believe this. And yes, this is what I f***ing meant: I can’t believe (this) cause I was certain Raiven would have won. F*** them!)
Raiven, 22, appeared on the EMA scene three years ago with purple hair and a harp in her hands. She came second but many believed she was the one to revive Slovenian pop with a pinch of that fresh neo-goth feel of hers. A hint that expectations might be running a bit too high was already sensed in her second EMA performance, which cut significantly on the goth and harp input and played extensively on Raiven’s second job as a model. Her third performance on EMA was not as a contestant but rather as the host of the show, and she was the one to announce Lea Sirk as the 2018 winner. That was when her hair was half blue half purple, and Lea’s hair was pastel lavender.
The rules of EMA change every year, and this year it was particularly clear that surprise was given as little chance as possible. It was quite apparent that Raiven was the pop establishment’s favourite, and the new rules allowed the jury of three to eliminate from competition everyone but two contestants. Raiven’s performance was announced with the following words: “Every year after the winner of Eurovision is known, dozens of copy-cats emerge, trying to catch that secret recipe for success. But something completely different wins in a year that follows. So, has there ever been a winner with green hair? No. Has there ever been a winner who played harp? No. Has there ever been a winner that is named after a crow? No. On EMA she has performed in the accompanying programme, as its host, was once third and once second. There is nothing left for her but to win. First at home, then at Eurovision.” Then Raiven appeared, without a harp, and put on stage something that looked and sounded very much like Lea Sirk’s performance last year.
The jury then offered Raiven and Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl to the public to vote for the winner. The sleepy esoteric duo won the popular vote in a landslide. They did not have much to say on the impolite behaviour of Lea Sirk, nor the subsequent comment wars on social media. “We do not follow the comments nor do we have time for that ” they stated for the MMC. “EMA is full of a variety of emotions, which is ok, but it is also true that we could be using our opinions to make the world better, not worse.”
