Sofi Marinova to represent Bulgaria in Baku!

29 February 2012 at 23:30 CET

The Bulgarian national final was held tonight in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture hosted by Milenita, Alexander Sano and Drago Draganov. 

Here is the order of appearance in which the songs were performed in the show (winner in bold):

  1. Go Week - The Way You See The World
  2. Todor Gadzhalov - Still Love You
  3. Steliyana Hristova feat. Mariana Popova - Putyat
  4. Rene Ranev - Alone
  5. Dess - Love Is Alive
  6. Svetozar Hristov - Keep Me Down
  7. Simona Sivanio - Eternal
  8. Ivaylo Kolev feat. Hipnotik - Searching For The Words
  9. Sofi Marinova - Love Unlimited
  10. Vyara Pantaleeva - Vyara
  11. New 5 - Chance For A Better Life
  12. Tsvetelin Atanasov-Elvisa feat. DZ - Love Goes Around

The show

Most notably, Steliyana Hristova was accompanied on stage by Bulgaria's performer at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, Mariana Popova, turning her song into a duet. The group "New 5" were joined again by DJ Balthazar, from Deep Zone Project, who represented Bulgaria in 2008.

In between every performance the “Diva” Ballet Group created the "postcards" with a dance and the melody of the participanting song in turn. The show featured the guest performances of four of this year's contestants: Kurt Calleja from Malta, Denmark's Soluna Samay, the Cypriot performer Ivi Adamou and from France Anggun.

Local acts also starred in the show such as the band TE, Grafa, Nely Rangelova or Vassil Naidenov. Eurovision 2007 Bulgarian performers Elitza Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov, who gave the country their best placing to date, 5th, sang a medley of their hits, and last year's Junior Eurovision performer Ivan Ivanov sang his Superhero.

...then came the points

The entry that will represent Bulgaria in Baku was determined by televoting (the first figure in brackets) and the jury-Academia (the second figure in brackets). The latter figure is the total number of SMS per entry:

  1. Sofi Marinova - Love Unlimited 20 points: (12+8) 6910
  2. New 5 - Chance For A Better Life 20 points: (8+12) 2861
  3. Dess - Love Is Alive 15 points: (10+5) 3730
  4. Todor Gadzhalov - Still Love You 12 points: (2+10) 532
  5. Ivaylo Kolev feat. Hipnotik - Searching For The Words 11 points: (7+4) 1785
  6. Go Week - The Way You See The World 11 points: (5+6) 1033
  7. Steliyana Hristova feat. Mariana Popova - Putyat 9 points: (6+3) 1708
  8. Svetozar Hristov - Keep Me Down 8 points: (1+7) 530
  9. Tsvetelin Atanasov-Elvisa feat. DZ 6 points: (4+2) 713
  10. Simona Sivanio - Eternal 3 points: (3+0) 556
  11. Rene Ranev - Alone 1 point: (0+1) 331
  12. Vyara Pantaleeva - Vyara 0 points: (0+0) 366

The Academia ranked the group "New 5" as their favorite and Sofi third, while the Hot favourite, Dess, was only sixth with the experts. The SMS voting has Sofi Marinova as number one with a big difference of votes over the second ranked, Dess, and third were the "New 5".

The winner, Sofi Marinova

When the two sets of votes were added, Sofi and the "New 5" tied with 20 points and, as the public vote prevailed, Sofi Marinova was announced as the winner, something which she received with surprise and was visibly moved.

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Sofi Marinova is one of the top Bulgarian singers that stands out from the others with her great vocal abilities. Sofi won the public appreciation because she sings from the heart and is considered a sincere and humble personality.

Sofi collaborates with many Bulgarian artists, making her career more active because the songs never stop coming. In Baku she will perform in the second semi-final on the 24th of May. The song Love Unlimited is written by Doni Vasileva (text) and music by Yasen Kozev and Krum Georgiev.

Special thanks to Petar Petrov and Teodora Stancheva for their help in this article.

You can watch the show again on our Web TV Player.