Lea will sing in Slovene. Photo: Eurovision.tv/Andres Putting Foto:
Lea will sing in Slovene. Photo: Eurovision.tv/Andres Putting Foto:

Lea will represent Slovenia with an energetic song Hvala, ne! (Thank you, no!) accompanied by four dancers and backing singer Karin Zemljič. Before the second refrain, the music disappears for a few seconds, so at the first rehearsal many people thought it might have been a technical glitch. But no, this is a "little secret of the great masters", or that tiny but important factor of surprise, which will help millions of Eurovision audiences to hopefully remember Slovenia among 43 songs.
Lea responded to the unusual addition at a press conference after the second rehearsal: "I had the feeling that the song gets slightly boring somewhere in the middle, so we thought we should do something to fix it. And we came up with an unexpected pause in the middle of the song."

The first pre-selection will be held in Altice Arena hall on 8 May, where out of 19 countries or songs ten will win places in the final. Two days later, on 10 May, Slovenia will be able to cheer for Lea, who will compete against 17 songs for a spot in the grand finale.