Albania: Lindita Halimi to Kyiv!

On December 23rd, we finally received the first song to the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Lindita Halimi will represent Albania in the International Exhibition Centre in May with the song “Botë”.

Elhaida Dani will represent Albania in Vienna!

Well guys, that’s it! After three hours, we FINALLY know who will fly the Albanian flag in the Wiener Stadthalle in May of next year. The jury in Tirana have just selected Elhaida Dani to represent the country with the song “Diell” – translated to “Sun” in English. So what do we think of it and – more importantly – what is YOUR opinion on the song?

So, the 2014 edition of Festival i Këngës (FiK) took place tonight in the Palace of Congresses in Albania’s capital, Tirana. The show consisted of three hours full of ads, songs, awkward stage invasions from jury members, a phenomenal performance from Rona Nishliu and – to be honest – quite a lot of ‘bantaaaa’ between the hosts..whether that banter was any good or not, you’ll have to ask an Albanian speaker! After all those events and all that awkwardness, we have a representative for Albania for next year’s Eurovision! To listen to it, have a look at the video provided below (although in the video title, the name of the song is ‘Të kërkoj’, but is actually called ‘Diell’)!

So the song is a ballad and so far, in the five songs we now have selected for Eurovision – not one of the selected songs would be properly classified as a ballad, so thank you very much – faleminderit – to Albania for providing the first ballad of the entire Contest. Elhaida delivers the song’s lyrics with a burning passion – as if she was the person to experience all the emotions that the song contains. The use of the orchestra is also crucial in the telling of the story in my opinion, as Elhaida pours her heart onto the stage. And is it just me, or does she look a little bit like Jennifer Lopez when she is singing in the video, or is that just me?

Now that the song has been picked out, what happens next? Well, the obvious question will be – will they change the language to English or will they keep the song in Albanian? Then, they’ll have to work on the arrangement of the song to ensure the song is able to reach out to a wider audience than Albania. Personally, I think the song needs to be made more accessible to those who have only one chance to listen to the song, so I feel some work may be needed on the arrangement and staging of the song, but whether or not they can make the changes to suit everyone is anyone’s guess. So what do you think of the song?

Your views:

Did Albania make the right choice picking Elhaida?

Honza Sak from the Czech Republic: This song is unusual, strong and great!

Nadine Glöck from Germany:  I like it, but I wait with the rating till the final version is known.

Nakata Velichkov from Bulgaria: The voice is perfect, but the song… With BIG help from the juries final is possible!

Nick Eurovision from Greece: Good singer but the song it’s the epitome of unoriginality. It can’t be compared with Suus. This is another classic ballad of the many we’ve heard in Eurovision.

So it seems that Albania’s selection has split fans’ opinions, with some saying that they adore the song, and other saying that they wish Lindita Halimi had won – and that’s good! We’re all not going to agree on everything, are we? So what do YOU (yes, I’m looking at you right there!) think of the selection? Do you think that she’ll do well in Eurovision? Did you hope that someone else would have represented Albania? Feel free to let us know your thoughts on everything by commenting below!