Albania has found its representative for Eurovision Song Contest 2020.
Arilena Ara, who performed Shaj, was chosen by the jury consisting of Mikaela Minga, Christer Björkman, Dimitris Kontopoulos, Felix Bergsson and Rita Petro on Albanian national selection show ‘Festival i Këngës’.
Kicked off on 19th December, the selection show went on till 22nd to decide the country’s representative from 12 acts selected for the final round.
Ara was the winner of the second season of X Factor and garnered attention with the release of the single “Nentoni”. Active since 2012, her other popular songs include “Aeroplan” and “Business Class”.
The Albanian singer will succeed Jonida Maliqi who represented the country last year with the song “Ktheju Tokës”. Ara’s song “Shaj” has been written by Lindon Berisha and composed by Darko Dimitrov and Lazar Cvetkoski.
Announced so far are Blas Cantó for Spain, Hooverphonic for Belgium, VICTORIA for Bulgaria, Sandro for Cyprus and Vincent Bueno for Austria. The remaining countries are expected to reveal their acts in the coming months.
The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted at the Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands after Duncan Laurence won the 2019 contest with the song “Arcade”.
The two Semi-Finals will take place on 12 May 2020 and 14 May 2020, with the Grand Final taking place on 16 May 2020. A total of 41 countries will compete in the contest.
Share your thoughts on Arilena Ara’s selection via Twitter @CelebMix.