Arilena Ara has confirmed to Albanian media that her song ‘Shaj’ will mainly be in English for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Speaking on her return to Albania, Arilena Ara has spoken about her preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The singer was interviewed on Vizion Plus about her work in Los Angeles that has seen ‘Shaj’ revamped following her Festivali i Kenges victory. She said:
We traveled to Los Angelos to work on my first album in English, but after the surprise win I really had to work on the song … I’m looking forward to sharing it with you because it’s a different sensation, a different power, a different emotion,
‘Shaj’ was originally recorded in English before being translated into Albanian so that it was eligible to compete in Festivali i Kenges. Arilena will compete in the second half of the second semi-final.
Who is Arilena Ara?
Arilena Ara is 21 years old and has been known to the Albanian public since 2012 when she auditioned for the X Factor. She went on to win the 2012 edition of the competition at the age of 15 and released her first single in 2014.
In 2018 she went on to become a judge on The Voice Kids Albania replacing Albania’s 2016 Eurovision participant Eneda Tarifa. She competed in the 58th edition of Festivali i Këngës with the song “Shaj” scoring 67 points, 3 point ahead of Elvana Gjata.
Source: Dosja.al
Albania made their debut at the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2004, the same year the televised semi final was originally introduced to the competition. Albania succeeded in their first showing with Anjeza Shahini’s “The Image of You”, sailing through the semi final in 4th place and eventually landing in a respectable 7th place at the grand final. Albania have competed in the Eurovision Song Contest every single year since their debut. Since the success in their original attempt, they have reach the grand final a further six times. They bettered their 2004 score in 2012 with Rona Nishliu’s song “Suus” who finished the contest in fifth place with 146 Points, their first time reaching the top 5 and their best placing to date.
The revamped entry will be released in March 8th
As long as no one complains about the revamp 🙂 She better do a music video for the new version of “Shaj” before going to Rotterdam 🙂