Slovenia’s songbird: Raiven is taking flight

Raiven has had her sights set on Eurovision for a while after competing in Slovenia's national selection competition EMA 3 times. But 2024 is Raiven’s year, after she stunned the broadcaster in an internal selection. 

Raiven’s Eurovision entry Veronika is all about the first woman in Slovenia who was tried as a witch, Veronika Deseniška. There are other witchy numbers in Eurovision this year, but Raiven is quick to point out that Veronika was not, in fact, a witch — although she still met a bitter end. It’s never too late for justice, and the Eurovision stage is a pretty great place to celebrate iconic women.

This songbird can definitely sing. As well as bringing the world her pop hits, she’s also a talented opera singer (a mezzo soprano, if you’re interested), and to top it off she’s also a harpist. You can see her love for the stage coming through in her ethereal song Veronika, which is full of drama and storytelling. She says the Eurovision stage is the perfect place for bringing stories like this to life visually. And Europe is watching.

Raiven’s top moment as a musician was the first time she performed on TV, at one of Slovenia’s EMA national final competitions. With another huge TV moment around the corner (just a little thing called the Eurovision Song Contest), she might be about to top that moment. She also once performed in a flower shop, which sounds odd but lovely. Do any florists in Malmö have space for a reprise?

Keeping with the theme of her name, Raiven has a very impressive pet — a huge blue and yellow macaw (incidentally, the colours of Sweden’s flag) called Georgie. We’re sure Georgie will be watching Eurovision from Slovenia, and maybe even singing along…

Like a lot of the other Eurovision 2024 artists, Raiven’s top Eurovision heroes are ABBA. And she can’t resist getting up on the dance floor if the DJ plays Lay All Your Love On Me. In the year celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s Eurovision win, there will no doubt be a few Dancing Queen parties in Malmö.

In other Eurovision news, Raiven is buddies with Bojan Cvjetićanin from Joker Out, who represented Slovenia at the 2023 Contest, and Bojan played a part in writing Veronika. He’s had plenty of Eurovision advice for Raiven too.

As you might expect, Raiven’s playlist of top tunes is packed with female powerhouses who produce out of the ordinary music. She loves Banks’ Gimme, Florence + The Machine’s Seven Devils, and ROSALÍA’s DIABLO. ROSALÍA would also be on the guest list if Raiven could choose any 3 people from history to come to dinner, along with the iconic Marilyn Monroe and Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča.

Raiven might have tried out for Eurovision before, but in 2024 everything has fallen into place. She says: “I would not want to go with any other song than Veronika. I just always thought that at least once in my life I would be on that stage. I think that stage is perfect for me.”

Look out for Raiven on upcoming episodes of the Official Eurovision Song Contest Podcast.

You can learn more about Raiven from Slovenia right here.