Omar Naber back at Eurovision stage for Slovenia

For quite a few Eurovision participants, going through the whole circus once, makes them want to do it again. Often those second attempts, turn out less successful than the first ones (Malta 2016, Sweden 2008, The Netherlands 2007 etc., the list is long), but every once in a while a returning artist surprises us all, like Poli Genova from Bulgaria did last year. She did not make it past the semi finals back in 2011, but brought the country its best result so far last year with a 4th place. Omar Naber from Slovenia is probably hoping for a similar turn of events. After his failed attempt to make it to the finals back in 2005, he returns this year with the big ballad ‘On My Way’.

At this stage however, it seems highly unlikely Omar will even come close to Poli’s impressive result, as he is the very last on the scoreboard of the bookmakers at the moment. I can’t say I’m surprised by this prediction, as it is hard to see the appeal of ‘On My Way’. The chorus tries to be bombastic and vivacious, but to these ears it sounds loud and unpleasant. Naber has a strong voice, but it does not at all suit the song he will be performing in May. With a lot of ballads in the contest this year, this seems one of the most likely to be forgotten before it even ended.

UPDATE – Review on semi final performance:
After he failed to qualify for the final back in 2005, his second attempt this year with the song ‘On My Way’ did not go any better, which wasn’t very surprising. Slovenia was in the bottom of the bookmakers for weeks and his performance did not change that. Vocally it was not very pleasant to listen to and the song was just too dated to make any impression in this semi final full of ballads. He sang ‘I’m on my way and never coming back’, but he will probably be back home sooner than he hoped for.

UPDATE – Semi final result:
Slovenia just escaped the very last position, ending up 17th overall. Juries awarded him the 17th position while televoters placed him 16th.

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