Introduction

In this year’s choice of the San Marinese broadcaster SMRTV there have been some inconsistencies. The singer Valentina Monetta has been determined already and during the official song presentation, the song “Facebook” did not meet the EBU regulations. Due to the fact that it is not allowed to use brand names, the EBU intervened immediately. There has been a case in 1987 when the Swedish entry by Lotta Engeberg was titled “Fyra bugg och en Coca Cola”, this had to be altered as well, and at the end it was named “Boogaloo Dansa”. Therefore San Marino was asked to change either the title or the entire song with a deadline. The legendary composer Ralph Siegel and the lyricist is Jose Juan Santana had to make up their minds. Now the song is the same, but simply renamed into “The social network song” – not very original at all.

But what does all these discussions and nervousness bring when the song does not stand out at all? San Marino is surrounded by Italy, a country of wonderful music, why is it necessary to rely on foreign support? For Ralph Siegel it is the 20^th Eurovision entry, he has also composed songs for Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and Montenegro, but this year’s song is one of his weakest. San Marino has not even qualified for the final with good songs, what did the national broadcaster think when choosing this entry? This will probably remain big question mark until the semi final.

History

This is the third time that ministate San Marino takes part in the Eurovision Song Contest. The debut song in 2008 was “Complice” by the group Miodio, which made an undeserved 19^th place in the semi final – it was one of the strongest songs in the Belgrade competition, but probably this has been overseen. This entry might have shaped up very well in the final. Last year’s entry “Stand by” sung by Senit made a 16^th place in the semi final. Unfortunately, the San Marinese entries never made it into the grand final so far. On the other hand it can be seen as an achievement that such a small country with a little bit over 31.000 inhabitants is taking part in this big event. Just imagine that there are about 23.000 viewers expected in the Crystal Hall in Baku. In recent years also other ministates tried their luck in the ESC like Andorra and Monaco, with a little success only. In the case of a victory a country must make sure that it can host the next contest. It seems that it’s a bit unrealistic that those countries have the infrastructure in regards of an appropriate arena, but that’s another story.