Slovenia’s wild card: Joker Out are seizing the day

After taking the Balkans by storm since they formed in 2016, Joker Out made quite an impression on Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO). Instead of the usual competition to choose a Eurovision competitor, the broadcaster made their choice internally, and Joker Out won the hand, with a song they wrote themselves.

The Slovenian quintet enjoyed every moment of their first rehearsal on Tuesday 2 May, bringing their native language to the Eurovision stage. Joker Out arrived wearing some seriously impressive pink trousers (featuring crushed velvet and sparkles), and rocked out with guitars, bass, and drums, as the stage lit up with a giant 'Carpe Diem' sign. It’s clear that these boys like to party.

The official Eurovision Live Blog was on hand to get all the details. They noted: "Their big stage experience really shows too - this is an effortless performance, and they look like they're having the time of their lives right now."

The Joker Out musicians are all huge Eurovision fans, which started with Ruslana’s winning Wild Dances performance in 2004 and has grown ever since. In fact, they say that if they had 3 wishes, they’d use all 3 to win Eurovision 2023.

A lot of Joker Out’s favourite songs are fit for a party. ABBA’s classic Dancing Queen takes pride of place on their playlist, as does Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. They also love Mahmood’s Eurovision 2019 runner up, Soldi and Toxic by Britney Spears.

Joker Out told the Official Eurovision Song Contest Podcast about their journey to Eurovision: “We’re all fans of Eurovision since we were little kids, but we really started thinking about Eurovision maybe in the last half year, because before that we didn’t really feel like we were adequately equipped or if it was the right time to do it. But then we decided we wanted to go and participate in the national selection.”

They got cracking on a song, and they made the call to put their names forward. The response they got back was certainly a vote of confidence. “They were like, ‘What about, if you guys can go directly to Liverpool?’” That’s what you call seizing the day.

There’s more from Joker Out on Episode 5 of the Official Eurovision Song Contest Podcast.

You can learn more about Joker Out from Slovenia right here.