by Ido Kizel Comment Closed




Listen: Albanian national broadcaster RTSH today unveiled the songs competing in the 63rd edition of the Albanian Eurovision national selection “Festivali i Këngës”. The Albanian representative and song for Eurovision 2025 will be chosen on December 22.

Albanian national broadcaster RTSH today revealed the 30 competing songs for the Albanian Eurovision pre-selection “Festivali i Këngës”, which will take place from December 19-22. For the first time, the Albanian representative for Eurovision will be chosen  through a combination of jury and public voting, with the jury having significantly more power than the audience, with a 60%-40% vote ratio in favor of the jury. This comes after the jury’s favorite was crowned the festival winner in the last two years, while the audience favorite was chosen to represent Albania in the competition. The winner of the local competition will represent the country at Eurovision 2025 to be held in Basel, Switzerland.




The full list of contestants and their songs is as follows:




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.

Changes in Selecting the Albanian Eurovision Representative

Albania chose its Eurovision representatives between 2004 and 2022 through the long-standing “Festivali i Këngës” festival, where the festival winner, who was selected to represent Albania at Eurovision, was chosen solely by a panel of judges. In the last two years, 2023-2024, the festival production decided to continue selecting the festival winner by a panel of judges, while the Eurovision representative was chosen for the first time by the audience alone. This created a situation where in the last two years, the festival winners did not represent Albania at Eurovision. The Albanian national broadcaster previously revealed to us that 84 songs were submitted for this year’s Albanian Eurovision national selection. A similar number of about 80 songs were submitted in the previous two years as well. However, last year, songs were submitted by creators from countries such as Kosovo, North Macedonia, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and the United States – while this year, only Albanian creators or those holding Albanian citizenship could submit a song to the competition. This year, RTSH decided to change again the way the Eurovision representative will be chosen.

This year, there will be one winner in the festival who will also represent Albania in the Eurovision competition. The competition results will be determined by a combination of a jury panel (60%) and public voting (40%). In the first two evenings of the pre-Eurovision competition, on December 19 and 20, the 30 competing songs (15 each evening) will perform. At the end of each evening, the results of the audience and judges’ votes will be published. On the third evening, December 21, all 30 participating artists will perform in a special “Nostalgia Evening”. At the end of the third evening, the 18 artists who advanced to the final will be announced. At the end of the fourth evening on December 22, the winner from among the 18 finalists who will receive the right to represent Albania at Eurovision 2025 will be declared.

Albanian Eurovision National Selection – All the Details So Far

“Festivali i Këngës” will once again serve as Albania’s national final for Eurovision 2025 in Basel. RTSH recently revealed the list of contestants and song titles. The full songs will be available on YouTube as lyric videos on December 6th, with live performances scheduled between December 19th and 22nd.

The winner, to be announced on December 22nd, will receive Albania’s ticket to Eurovision 2025 in May. As is customary for Albania, the winning artist may have the opportunity to revamp their song before the March deadline for all Eurovision entries.

The competition will take place on December 19-22, with Albania’s representative and song for Eurovision being chosen on December 22. According to the competition rules, contestants must hold Albanian citizenship. In honor of Albania’s 20th anniversary at Eurovision, the Albanian national broadcaster announced a “nostalgia evening” as part of the festival back in May. 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 are required to 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 Kokëdhima, 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.

Source: RTSH Youtube.

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.”