by Avi Zaikaner Comment Closed




Albanian national broadcaster, RTSH, reveals the number of songs submitted to “Festivali i Këngës” and announces for the first time how the representative for Eurovision 2025 will be chosen.

Albania’s national broadcaster, RTSH, announced yesterday the 30 contestants for the 63rd edition of “Festivali i Këngës,” which will once again serve as the national finals to select Albania’s representative for Eurovision. Today, RTSH revealed to us that the Eurovision representative will be chosen for the first time through a combination of jury voting and public televoting.




Changes in Albania’s Eurovision Selection Process

Albania selected its Eurovision representatives from 2004 to 2022 through the long-standing “Festivali i Këngës” festival, with the winner chosen solely by a jury panel. In the last two years, 2023-2024, the festival producers decided to continue selecting the festival winner by a jury panel, while the Eurovision representative was chosen for the first time by public vote alone. This resulted in a situation where the festival winners did not represent Albania at Eurovision in the past two years.

This year, RTSH has decided to change the selection process once again. There will be a single winner of the festival who will also represent Albania in the Eurovision competition. The results will be determined by a combination of jury voting (60%) and public voting (40%).

84 Submissions for “Festivali i Këngës”

RTSH also reveals that 84 songs were submitted for this year’s Albanian national final. A similar number of about 80 songs were submitted in the previous two years as well. However, while last year saw submissions from songwriters in countries such as Kosovo, North Macedonia, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and the United States, this year only Albanian songwriters or those holding Albanian citizenship were allowed to submit songs to the competition.




List of contestants:

Among the contestants are several familiar names:

  • Mal Retkoceri – Winner of the 2023 festival with the song “Çmendur“. In 2023, the winner was chosen by a panel of judges, while the Eurovision representative was selected by the audience, so he was not chosen to represent Albania at Eurovision.
  • Elvana Gjata – A famous Albanian singer who has participated in previous editions of the festival. In 2004, Gjata participated with the song “Pranë teje” but failed to advance to the final. In 2020, she participated with the song “Me tana,” which made it to the final and finished second.
  • Orgesa Zaimi – Was a backing vocalist for the song “Carry Me In Your Dreams” performed at Eurovision 2009 by Kejsi Tola, who finished 17th in the grand final. Zaimi participated in the Albanian national selection in 2018 (“Ngrije zërin“), 2019 (“Hije“), and 2021 (“Valixhja e kujtimeve“), advancing to the final in each of her appearances.
  • Gjergj Kaçinari – Participated consecutively in the last three editions of the festival, advancing to the final in all of them. In 2021, he participated with his song “Më jep jetë“. In 2022, with “Në ëndërr mbete ti“. In 2023, with “Dje“. Additionally, in 2019, he was a backing vocalist for singer Lindita, who performed her song “World“, which failed to qualify for the grand final that year, finishing 14th out of 18 in the first semi-final.
  • Martina Serreqi – Participated in the 2023 festival with the song “Vetëm ty“.
  • Kleansa Susaj – Competed in the Junior Eurovision national selection in 2017 with the song “Melodi” and again in 2019 with “Kënga e ngjyrave“. In 2023, she competed in the Albanian Eurovision national selection with the song “Pikturë“, advancing to the final.
  • Erma Mici – In 2023, she participated in the Eurovision national selection with her song “Kozmosi i dashurisë“, which advanced to the final, but voting results were not published except for the top two positions.
  • Devis Xherahu – Participated in previous editions of the festival. In 2008, he advanced to the final with the song “Endacaku” but finished last. In 2020, he competed with “Bisedoj me serenatën” but did not advance to the final. In 2021, he competed with “Peng“, advancing to the final, but voting results were not published except for the top three positions.
  • Santino De Bartolo – Competed in the Albanian Eurovision national selection in 2024 with the song “Dua të rri me ty” but did not advance to the final.
  • Luna Çausholli – In 2023, she competed in the Albanian Eurovision national selection with the song “Jetën ta fal” but did not advance to the festival final.
  • Shkodra Elektronike – A musical ensemble that wrote the song “E jemja nuse“, performed by singer Rezarta Smaja in the 2023 Eurovision national selection, reaching a respectable third place.
  • Ardit Çuni – Was a backing vocalist for the song “Karma” performed at Eurovision 2021 by Anxhela Peristeri. The song reached 21st place in the Eurovision final.




The Albanian National Selection – All the Details

The date of the competition has not yet been set, but it is expected to take place, as every year, at the end of December. According to the competition rules, contestants must be Albanian citizens.

To celebrate Albania’s 20th anniversary at Eurovision, the Albanian broadcaster announced back in May a “Nostalgia Evening” as part of the festival. Details about this evening have not yet been published.

The Albanian festival has been held continuously since 1961, and in 2003, the Albanian national broadcaster decided to turn it into the Albanian Eurovision national selection. In the festival, all contestants must sing in Albanian, and the winner of the competition has the option to sing in English at Eurovision, as happened this year with singer Besa, who performed at Eurovision with the song “Titan”.




Albania in Eurovision 2024

“Titan” is the title of the song performed by singer Besa Kokëdhima, representing Albania in the second semi-final of Eurovision 2024 held in Malmö, Sweden. Albania failed to qualify for the final, finishing 15th in the second semi-final with 14 points received from Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and San Marino.

The last time Albania sent an English-language song and successfully qualified for the grand final was in 2015, with Elhaida Dani’s performance of “I’m Alive.” Since then, every time Albania has submitted an English-language entry, they have failed to advance to the final.

Eurovision 2025: This will be Albania’s 21st participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Albania joined the competition in 2004 and achieved its best result in Eurovision 2012 when singer Rona Nishliu reached fifth place with the song “Suus.”