Jonathan Currinn
After months of speculation and a couple of rumours here and there, San Marino has announced their Eurovision 2019 act, Serhat. He’s no newcomer to the world of Eurovision, having previously represented San Marino in the contest, where he failed to qualify for the Grand Final back in 2016, with the song “I Didn’t Know”.
If you’re wondering who Serhat is, well he’s from Turkey and he’s 54 years old. He has been making waves in the music industry for many years, but since Eurovision he has gone on to collaborate with two great artists – Martha Wash (from The Weather Girls) on a revamped version of his Eurovision 2016 song “I Didn’t Know” which managed to chart on the US Billboard Dance Club Chart; and, Eurovision 2005 winner, Helena Paparizou on the 2018 track “Total Disguise”.
As for his participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, he didn’t fare so well. Serhat managed to place 12th in his Semi-Final with a total number of 68 points. It’s actually San Marino’s third best placement in the competition, just behind Valentina Monetta’s 2013 attempt, with “Crisalide (Vola)”, where she came 11th in her Semi-Final; and Valentina Monetta’s 2014 attempt, with “Maybe”, where she made it to the Grand Final placing 24th overall. In fact, going on points alone, Serhat has received the most points ever for a San Marino representative – however, that was the year the points scoring system changed dramatically, to the extent where this isn’t a justifiable comparison, just yet.
Considering the previous rumours for the San Marino representative, we’re actually not too disappointed with Serhat, although we were expecting Valentina Monetta again, since San Marino decided not to go down the national selection route for a second time, pushing aside the 1 in 360 format that they used last year. We wonder what Serhat’s song will be, and whether San Marino will make it to the Grand Final a second time – it would be great to see them have a shot at winning the contest.
To do so, they will need to beat the other 41 countries and their representatives. Announced so far are Srbuk for Armenia, Tamta for Cyprus, Jonida Maliqi for Albania, Eliot for Belgium, and Miki for Spain. The other countries are expected to reveal their acts in the forthcoming months.
The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted at the Expo Tel Aviv in Israel after Netta won last year with the song “Toy”. The two Semi-Finals will take place on 14 May and 16 May with the Grand Final taking place on 18 May. A total of 42 countries will compete in the contest.
