Slovenia chose a married couple to represent the country this year. The duo Maraaya won the national final with the catchy song ‘Here For You’. A 13th place by Maja Keuc in 2011 is the best Slovenian result in 10 years and there are high hopes that Marjetka and Raay will top this, as their song is in top 10 with the bookmakers. But what is it like to go to Eurovision as a married couple? And do they feel the weight of the hopeful Slovenian people on their shoulders?
When did you meet each other and when did you decide to make music together?
Marjetka: We met each other 12 years ago at music college.
Raay: We first became a couple and after a year we started to make music together in a folk dance group. That was our teenage music era and when the years passed by our music evolved into pop and urban and now we are Maraaya.
How do you deal with the madness of the Eurovision Song Contest as a married couple?
Marjetka: Actually we are kind of used to this tempo and lack of sleep.
Raay: We like to call ourselves the living zombies of this Eurovision Song Contest. Our two sons inspire us to do this and it is great that all of this is happening, because we don’t want to be quiet for too long.
You are in top 10 with the bookmakers. Does it put pressure on you to finally bring Slovenia some success in Eurovision?
Marjetka: No, quite the opposite actually. We don’t worry about the result too much as we have some own goals we want to achieve. I want to be calm in order to give the most emotional performance I can and if I succeed I will already be a winner.
Raay: A few days ago she actually said to me: when I sing this song and feel the emotions, I want the viewers to feel the same. We hope we will be able to do this on stage.
What does ‘Here For You’ mean to you?
Raay: It means a lot as it reflects our path of the past twelve years. It feels like a conformation that we were always on the right path, although we had our ups and downs. A lot of people think that she is singing about me, but actually when we created the lyrics together with Charlie, we had a friendship in mind. We wanted a song that eveybody could relate to. We hope everyone has that someone that says: ‘I’m here for you.’
Is that why you decided to send this song to Eurovision?
Marjetka: Actually that was decided by hundreds of friends, family and people around us. We already had four singles ready and we asked them which song they would choose and they went with ‘Here For You’.
Raay: We already chose these four singles out of a lot more songs and I think they all could have been suitable for Eurovision, but it is important that you go with the song that makes the best impression on the first listen and not on the second or third, because people will hear it only once before they start voting.
Will your performance look similar to the staging during EMA?
Marjetka: Yes, it will be similar. Of course the capacity of this performance will be a lot bigger, but the main idea will stay the same. We will be wearing headphones and our violinist dancer is joining us.
Do you see your future after Eurovision as Maraaya or would you like to try some solo stuff?
Marjetka: As long as it feels good we would like to continue the story of Maraaya, but you never know, we are unpredictable.
Raay: Once you stop enjoying, there is no point in continuing.
What do you think about the other songs in the competition? Any favourites?
Raay: We really like the songs of Italy, Sweden and Estonia. Marjetka also likes Israel, because you can dance to it. Guy Sebastian from Australia sounds like Bruno Mars and he is amazing.
Which songs from the history of Eurovision would you like to cover?
Raay: We recently covered Conchita’s ‘Rise Like A Phoenix’.
Marjetka: I would love to do ‘Euphoria’ by Loreen and ‘Satellite’ by Lena as well.
Read more Eurovision 2015 interviews:
Albania: Elhaida Dani
Azerbaijan: Elnur
Germany: Ann Sophie
Latvia: Aminata
Norway: Mørland & Debrah Scarlett
Sweden: Mans Zelmerlöw