Our penultimate ex-Yugoslav country hasn’t had much success at Eurovision lately but they’ve made it to the upper echelons of my own rankings this year. With just three qualifications to the final in the last 10 contests, can the sparky Lea help them get there this time with “Hvala, ne!” (In English, “Thanks, no!”)

I have to say it’s refreshing to have an ex-Yugoslav country singing in their own language but with a modern pop song rather than the usual Balkan ballad. It certainly makes it stand out even more and while it perhaps can get a little repetitive by the end of the three minutes, I think it’s a spunky, cool number and Lea certainly delivers a confident performance which adds to its appeal. I also think that this will work well with the non-LED staging of Lisbon.  Lea has tried to represent Slovenia three times previously and looks to be enjoying the opportunity to finally get to the contest.

As already mentioned, Slovenia’s record in the contest has been very poor in the last decade, but they have landed a place in the second semi-final and given a decent place in the running order (second from last) so I think this could be best chance Slovenia has had to qualify since 2015. They will have to do it without their own real voting ally still in the contest though (Croatia) as they are in the other semi. But I think Europe may be saying “Yes please” rather than “Hvala, ne!” on that second semi Thursday.

Official music video (live performance):

Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest:

First entered: 1993

Appearances (excluding this year): 23

Best result: 7th in 1995 and 2001

Last year’s result: 17th in semi-final (did not qualify)