Slovakia is one of those countries that has a relationship with Eurovision that it would rather forget frankly. Back in 1994 Slovakia was one of 7 eastern bloc nations that made their debut in Dublin, Tublatanka represented Slovakia with “Nekonečná pieseň” and received a shocking 12 from Malta and 3 from Greece giving Slovakia a 19th place finish. They then returned in 1996 represented by Marcel Palonder and “Kým nás máš”it came 18th with 19 points, this was to be Slovakia’s best result in Eurovision to date. Slovakia did come back in 1998 to give it another go but 19th place and just 8 points was not enough to convince Slovakia to stay in the contest.
It was another 11 years later until Slovakia decided it was time to give Eurovision another go, but only after pressure from Slovakian artists. RTVS staged a selection contest consisting of a number of rounds and then a final. The Slovakian public chose Kamil Mikulčík & Nela Pocisková with “Let T’mou” meaning “Fly Through The Darkness” it received over 25% of the sms vote in the final, 10% more than 2nd place. In Moscow Slovakia performed in Semi Final 2 slot number 8, ironically 18th place and 8 points was all that Slovakia could manage. “Let T’mou” is a song that really you either hate or love.
RTVS was not disheartened and they returned for the 2010 contest this time with something with a more ethnic feel. Kristina with “Horehronie“, Horehorina is actually a region of Slovakia. Kristina won through with 37.5% of the televote giving her 12 from the public, she then scored 11 from the Jury. At the contest in Oslo Slovakia improved once again receiving 24 points and 16th place, the song was one of the fan favourites however the jury and televote disagreed.
In 2011 RTVS suffering from financial difficulties cut the national selection out and went straight for an internal selection. TWiiNS were selected, they were indeed two identical Twins Daniela and Veronika Nízlová, they would be singing “I Am Still Alive“. The Twins were the first acts to represent Slovakia who had been to Eurovision before, in 2008 they were backing singers and dancers for Tereza Kerndlová of the Czech Republic. In Düsseldorf the Twins performed 5th in the 2nd Semi Final, they finished 13th with 48 points, they did receive 12 points from Ukraine as well.
The 2012 contest was a bit of a shambles for RTVS. On October 8th they announced they were withdrawing, then 2 days later they said they had not decided yet. Then a month later RTVS announced that Miro Šmajda would represent Slovakia, then two days later Miro’s management denied this. Finally on the 20th of December Slovakia announced they would be in Baku, but they were selecting internally. Finally on the 7th of March, 1 week after the artist representing Slovakia should have been announced, Max Jason Mai aka Miro Šmajda was announced as their representative. Max would go to Baku with his song “Don’t Close Your Eyes“, he performed 15th in the second semi final but finished 18th with just 22 points. Slovakia had now had their worst result in the history of their participation.
So what does this leave for 2013? It seems that a Slovakian withdrawal is likely unless an artist is willing to pay for Slovakia’s participation. The continuing financial difficulties of RTVS will not help either. For Slovakia to take part in Sweden there will have to be an artist who really wants to boost their career and enter the European stage and is willing to pay for that. If not we may not see Slovakia at all in Eurovision.
