Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

EMA FREŠ was the first phase of the national final format Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The final of the competition was broadcast on TV SLO1 and online via the broadcaster's RTV 4D platform.[3]

Eighteen songs competed in nine duels over three weeks between 4 and 20 November 2019. Three duels were released online each week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and online voting exclusively selected the winner of each duel to proceed to the second round. In the second round, an expert jury and online voting selected two finalists out of the three songs to proceed to the final. The online vote selected the first finalist and the jury selected the other finalist. Six songs in total directly proceeded to the final and the remaining twelve songs competed in the Second Chance round through the same process as in the first round of the competition between 25 November and 6 December 2019 and four songs in total were selected to proceed to the final. In the televised final, a three-member expert jury and public televoting selected two finalists out of the ten songs to proceed to EMA 2020. The televote selected the first two finalists and the jury selected the other two finalists.[4]

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 1 August 2019 and 19 September 2019.[5] All artists must be under the age of 26 and have three or less commercially released songs. An expert committee consisting of Maja Pinterič (social media influencer), Rebeka Tomc (social media influencer), Denis Živcec (journalist and Eurovision expert), Klemen Kopina (television presenter) and Bojan Cvjetićanin (singer-songwriter) selected eighteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions.[6] The competing artists were announced on 21 October 2019.[7][8]

The final of EMA FREŠ took place on 18 January 2020 at the RTV Slovenija Studio 2 in Ljubljana, hosted by Maja Pinterič and Bojan Cvjetićanin. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Fed Horses, Lumberjack and Raiven performed as guests. Two entries proceeded to EMA 2020. The ten competing entries first faced a public vote where the winner proceeded: "Še kar lovim tvoj nasmeh" performed by Saška. A three-member jury panel selected an additional entry out of the remaining nine to proceed: "Cupid" performed by Parvani Violet.[9] The jury consisted of Urša Mihevc (singer-songwriter and member of Fed Horses), Rok Ahačevčič (singer-songwriter and member of Lumberjack) and Jernej Vene (music editor for Radio Val 202).

EMA 2020 was the 24th edition of the Slovenian national final format Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA). The competition was used by RTV Slovenija as the second phase of the national final to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and was broadcast on TV SLO1 and online via the broadcaster's RTV 4D platform.

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 1 August 2019 and 18 November 2019.[10] 74 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Raiven (musician and singer), Mojca Menart (head of the publishing business of ZKP RTV SLO) and Jernej Vene (music editor for Radio Val 202) selected ten artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions.[11] The competing artists were announced on 20 December 2019.[12] Among the competing artists were former Slovenian Eurovision contestant Tinkara Kovač who represented Slovenia in 2014 and former Slovenian Junior Eurovision contestant Lina Kuduzović who represented Slovenia in 2015. Bozidar Wolfand Wolf represented Yugoslavia in Eurovision 1984 as a backing vocalist.

EMA 2020 took place on 22 February 2020 at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Klemen Slakonja. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2019 Slovenian Eurovision entrants Zalagasper performed as guests. An online backstage broadcast at RTV Slovenija's official website also occurred concurrently with the competition, which was hosted by Boštjan Gorenc, Anže Tomić and Eva Košak.[13] The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a three-member jury panel selected two entries to proceed to the second round: "Voda" performed by Ana Soklič and "Man Like U" performed by Lina Kuduzović. The jury consisted of Maja Keuc (singer and 2011 Slovenian Eurovision entrant), Darja Švajger (singer, vocal coach and 1995 and 1999 Slovenian Eurovision entrant) and Nuša Derenda (singer and 2001 Slovenian Eurovision entrant). In the second round, a public vote selected "Voda" performed by Ana Soklič as the winner.[14]