STA, 28 February 2021 - Singer Ana Soklič will represent Slovenia at this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with a song titled Amen. The song was premiered during the annual EMA music event on Saturday evening with Soklič singing it in English.
Since it was already known that Soklič will represent Slovenia this year as she did not get the chance to do that in 2020, the only thing left to announce was the song.
The latest Slovenian Eurovision entry will be first presented to the European audience during the contest's first semi-final on 18 May.
The inspiration for the song was life itself, said Soklič, who co-wrote music along with Žiga Pirnat and Bojan Simončič and lyrics with Pirnat and US lyricist Charlie Mason, whose credits include hits by Miley Cyrus as well as the 2014 Eurovision winning song Rise Like a Phoenix, performed by Conchita Wurst.
The production of Amen also included the RTV Slovenija Symphony Orchestra and an accompanying choir led by Dorian Holley, who was one of Michael Jackson's backing vocalists.
The vocals for the song were recorded in EastWest Studios in Hollywood with record producer Tony Maserati on hand. Maserati is famous for working with music celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Jennifer Lopez, Whitney Houston and David Bowie, RTV Slovenija said.
He contributed to the development of the New York R&B and hip-hop scene in the 1990s and has been since cooperating on Grammy nominated and winning projects including with Black Eyed Peas and Beyoncé.
This year's EMA was held in a different format due to the Covid circumstances and the cancellation of last year's Eurovision contest. Instead of 12 songs competing for the honour to represent Slovenia, the show paid tribute to the most famous Slovenian and Yugoslavian Eurovision performances to mark the 60th anniversary of former Yugoslavia's first Eurovision appearance.
Slovenia was first represented at Eurovision as an independent country in 1993. Since then, the country has never failed to take part except for 1994 and 2000. The country's best result to date is 7th place, both in 1995 with Darja Švajger and in 2001 with Nuša Derenda.
