This year, in the mini EMA format, Slovenia has chosen Lina Kuduzovic, who will be singing Prva Ljubezen (First Love). This is Slovenia’s second entry into Junior Eurovision, and both entries have been strong, female voices.
We’ve heard the song in both the recorded and live forms, which gives an insight on how the song will be performed at Junior Eurovision in a few weeks’ time. At first I wasn’t drawn to the song, however after a few listens I can see the appeal. It is a slow ballad, but her voice has the opportunity to shine. Also I think the song has quite an ‘adulty’ feel, which we’ve seen in the last couple of years, especially after Gaia won for Malta. I think that the juries tend to reward the mature sounding songs just as much as the fun songs, so I think this will score well with the jury, at least.
Her live performance is pretty spot on, so I can’t see this being a vocal flop on the night. I can imagine it with a very simple staging, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they have Lina on stage alone.
This song has grown on me, but is still not my favourite this year – so I’ll give it a 7/10.
