Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Stay Forever" written by Diana Lečnik and Simon Gomilšek. The song was performed by the duo Platin, which consists of Lečnik and Gomilšek. Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) organised the national final EMA 2004 in order to select the Slovenian entry for the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey. 32 entries competed in the national final which consisted of five shows: four semi-finals and a final. Entries were selected to advance from the semi-finals based on a public televote and a four-member jury panel. Sixteen entries qualified to compete in the final where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top three entries were selected following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. In the second round, "Stay Forever" performed by Platin was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote.

Slovenia competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2004. Performing during the show in position 16, "Stay Forever" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed twenty-first out of the 22 participating countries in the semi-final with 5 points.

Background
Prior to the 2004 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine 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. In 2003, "Nanana" performed by Karmen placed twenty-third.

The Slovenian national broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija), broadcasts the event within Slovenia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTV Slovenija confirmed Slovenia's participation in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 September 2003. The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has traditionally been selected through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. For 2004, the broadcaster opted to organise EMA 2004 to select the Slovenian entry.

EMA 2004
EMA 2004 was the ninth edition of the Slovenian national final format Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA). The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, and consisted of five shows that commenced on 11 January 2004 and concluded on 15 February 2004. All shows in the competition were broadcast on TV SLO1 and online via the broadcaster's website rtvslo.si. The final was also broadcast on Radio Val 202.

Format
The format of the competition consisted of five televised shows: four semi-finals held on 11 January 2004, 18 January 2004, 25 January 2004 and 1 February 2004, and a final held on 15 February 2004. Eight songs competed in each semi-final and public televoting exclusively determined three finalists to proceed to the final. A jury also selected four wildcard finalists out of the twenty competing songs that did not qualify from the semi-finals. Sixteen songs competed in the final where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the 50/50 combination of points from a five-member expert jury and a public televote selected three songs out of the sixteen competing songs to proceed to a superfinal. The expert jury and the televote each assigned points as follows: 1-8, 10 and 12, with the top three being determined by the songs that receive the highest overall scores when the votes were combined. Ties were broken by giving priority to the song that achieved the most points from the jury. In the superfinal, public televoting exclusively determined the winner.

Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 3 October 2003 and 28 November 2003. 83 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Alen Steržaj (musician), Martin Žvelc (music producer), Darja Švajger (1995 and 1999 Slovenian Eurovision entrant) and Armando Šturman (music editor for Radio Koper) selected thirty-two artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 11 December 2003. Among the competing artists was former Slovenian Eurovision contestant Regina who represented Slovenia in 1996.

Semi-finals
The four semi-finals of EMA 2004 took place on 11 January, 18 January, 25 January and 1 February 2004 at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Peter Poles and Bernarda Žarn. A public televote selected three entries to proceed to the final from each semi-final, and the four entries that received a jury wildcard were announced during the fourth semi-final. The four-member jury panel that selected the wildcards consisted of Jernej Vene (music editor for Radio Slovenija), Martin Žvelc (music producer), Branka Kraner (singer) and Alen Steržaj (musician).

Final
The final of EMA 2004 took place on 15 February 2004 at the Gospodarsko razstavišče in Ljubljana, hosted by Miša Molk with Peter Poles and Bernarda Žarn hosting segments from the green room. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, former Slovenian Eurovision entrants performed as guests. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, three entries were selected to proceed to the second round based on the combination of points from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. The jury consisted of Daniela Tami (Head of the Swiss delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest), Karolina Gočeva (singer, 2002 Macedonian Eurovision entrant), Manuel Ortega (singer, 2002 Austrian Eurovision entrant), Drago Ivanuša (composer and musician) and Lara Baruca (singer). In the second round, a public televote selected "Stay Forever" performed by Platin as the winner.

Controversy
Like in many previous editions of EMA, the public televote and the jury awarded conflicting scores. This caused some controversy, because the strongest televote favourite Natalija Verboten, received 0 points from the jury. Similarly, Bepop in 2003, Karmen Stavec in 2002 and 2001, and Tinkara Kovač in 1999 were also televote favourites. These entries usually came second, or failed to qualify because the points awarded by the jury outweighed the points they received from the televotes. The controversy led to the 2005 EMA results basing solely on the results of the televote.

At Eurovision
It was announced that the competition's format would be expanded to include a semi-final in 2004. According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 12 May 2004 in order to compete for the final on 15 May 2004; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 23 March 2004, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Slovenia was set to perform in position 16, following the entry from Macedonia and before the entry from Estonia. At the end of the semi-final, Slovenia was not announced among the top 10 entries and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed twenty-last in the semi-final, receiving a total of 5 points. The duo got married in Bosporus, Turkey the day after the semi-final, and Eurovision Song Contest 2003 winner Sertab Erener appeared during the wedding as a witness.

In Slovenia, the semi-final was televised on RTV SLO2 and the final was televised on RTV SLO1. Both shows featured commentary by Andrea F. The two shows were also broadcast via radio on Radio Slovenija with commentary by Jernej Vene. The Slovenian spokesperson, who announced the Slovenian votes during the final, was Peter Poles.

Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Serbia and Montenegro in the semi-final and the final of the contest.