"Omar Naber won over the jury in Slovenia's national final. What is our first impression of his song "On My Way"?
It isn't all that unusual for Eurovision alumni to pop up every now and again. However, in this case, Omar Naber has the unique distinction of representing Slovenia for a second time in the same host city as his previous participation.
Omar Naber performed "Stop" for Slovenia in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, which also took place in Kyiv, Ukraine. Unfortunately, he placed 12th in that year's semi-final, so he did not advance to the Grand Final stage. This year, he will perform the song "On My Way", which won Slovenia's EMA contest this past Friday.
.... Eh? I'm not finding much to get excited about with this track. There isn't much to the stage performance aside from the switch from black and white to color. There isn't much story in the song and the lyrics need another pass, which probably won't happen at this point. And don't get me started on that unearned key change.
If anything, this is a safe but unremarkable entry. Which is a shame, since I'm a huge Slovenia fan and there were some really good entries in this year's EMA. Though "On My Way" won the jury vote, the audience vote was overwhelmingly in favor of runner-up "Heart of Gold" by BQL (written by 2015 rep Maraaya). How overwhelming? BQL had 13,134 televotes to Omar Naber's 5,165. Slovenia's audience vote is based on fixed points, where first place gets 72 and second place gets 60, regardless of the difference in vote totals. Had Slovenia used a pooled points system, here's how the final standings would have shaken out:
[table id=16 /]
Maybe something to consider next year, Slovenia?"