Slovenia: Raiven releases her Eurovision 2024 song 'Veronika'

This morning, Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO has released the song which will represent the Balkan country at Eurovision 2024 in Malmö, being 'Veronika' by Raiven.

You can view the official music video below:

Raiven or Sara Briški Cirman is a singer, songwriter, and harpist who is very familiar to long-term Eurovision fans, having previously tried to represent Slovenia on three separate occasions (2016, 2017 and 2019).

Her song for Eurovision 2024, 'Veronika', has lyrics in her native Slovene and was written in collaboration with Joker Out lead singer and Eurovision 2023 participant Bojan Cvjetićanin.

'Veronika' tells the story of Veronika Deseniška, a figure from fifteenth century who was the wife of the then-Count of Celje.

The Count, Frederick II, ruled over the territory that is now modern-day Slovenia, and his wife Veronika came from a less aristocratic background than was expected for a man of his station at the time. Unhappy with his son's marriage, Frederick's father had Frederick imprisoned and Veronika was tried for witchcraft - ultimately leading to Veronika's death by drowning.

Speaking about the song, Raiven had the following to say:

The song was not written with the idea of going to Eurovision. When creating it, I focused primarily on the dramatic quality, which is key to telling Veronika's story effectively. I wanted her story to not only be expressed but also resonate with the year 2024. The idea that she needed music, which was just right – cinematic and contemporary – was present throughout the creative process.

The entry was selected out of 100 entries recieved by RTVSLO by an internal jury from the broadcaster in combination with an international jury.

Slovenia has participated at Eurovision since 1993, after playing host to 'Kvalifikacija za Millstreet', the first "qualification round" in the Contest's history. The country has only missed two Contests since, in 1994 and 2000, and has qualified for the Grand Final six times since the official semi-final system was launched in 2004.

Last year, Slovenia's Joker Out came 21st in the Grand Final with their fan-favourite song 'Carpe diem' - will Raiven be able to build on this result in 2024?

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