On 23 December 2016, Albania’s national selection show, Festivali i Këngës 55, took place. The winner would become their selection to the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Lindita won with her song “Botë”.
This means the first song for Eurovision 2017 has been revealed. We have 42 more songs to be announced.
Lindita had quite the competition on her hands to win this national selection, going up against 23 other participants. Points were awarded by 12 jurors, five of which lived outside of Albania, and a televote acted as a thirteenth juror. Second place was a whole 35 points away from her. However, she came third in the televote; Yll Limani won the televote with “Shiu”.
Watch Lindita Perform Her Eurovision Song “Botë” here:
https://youtu.be/90211t4A9wk
Lindita, real name Lindita Halimi but also known as Linda Halimi, launched her musical career in 2009 when she won Albanian song contest Top Fest. She then entered Festivali i Këngës 53 in 2014, where she came third.
Before this contest, she appeared on US show American Idol in 2016. Unfortunately, she finished in the top 51. Then she applied for the Albanian national selection show, and the rest is history.
Watch Lindita’s American Idol Audition Here:
https://youtu.be/Ou63WBII2qk
“Botë” is a strong and soulful ballad. It’s highly catchy and is one of those songs that you want to hear again. Lindita is a powerful singer, she blows us away with her ability to hold and stretch a long note; if she pulls that off perfectly on the Eurovision stage, it will sound amazing; just like Paula Seling did with Ovi in 2014 with their song “Miracle“.
With five months still to go until Kyiv hosts the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, it’s quite possible that Albania will revamp this song in time for the contest in Ukraine. The past three years, they have sung in English, translating the original Albanian song; so it’s more than likely that they will do that again this year.
Regardless, they have a brilliant singer in Lindita, and if the song is just as good as this in English, if not better; then Albania may have a great shot.
It looks like the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 is hotting up. A total of eight countries have announced their representatives for the contest, with Albania being the only country to reveal their song so far. Lindita will be competing against Cyprus’ Hovig, the Netherlands’ O’G3NE, Belgium’s Blanche, Macedonia’s Jana Burceska, Azerbaijan’s Dihaj, Ireland’s Brendan Murray, and Austria’s Nathan Trent.
Only five months to go, how excited are you? What do you make of Lindita and her song “Botë”? Let us know on Twitter @CelebMix.