Introduction

• Participant(s): Poli Genova
• Song: If Love Was A Crime
  
• Writer(s): Borislav Milanov, S. Arman, J. Persson & Poli Genova
• Composer(s): Borislav Milanov, S. Arman & J. Persson
• Broadcaster: VRT
• Social media: 
• Team review: 

Bulgaria is back in the ESC! After a pause of two years it’s great to see that Bulgaria is back in the contest. The Bulgarian broadcaster BNT has not made a national final. In past there was too much turmoil in these shows. Therefore BNT has made an internal selection and they have taken an experienced ESC singer Poli Genova, who sang “Na Inat” in Düsseldorf in 2011. Unfortunately, Poli could not make it into the Grand Final. Furthermore she hosted the Junior ESC in Sofia in 2015. As the last country Bulgaria has revealed the entry for Stockholm “If Love Was A Crime” a few days after the official deadline.

Poli Genova was born in Sofia in 1987. She started singing in the children choir Bon-Bon and later on she studied the clarinet and film direction at the Bulgarian National Academy for Theatrical and Film Arts. In her young life she has already participated in several shows and musicals such as X Factor, Dancing with the Stars, BG TOP 40, The Magnificient Six, I Can Do That, Your face sounds familiar and Music Academy, which made Poli to a well-known face in her home country. Poli is also active in various charity organisations such as UNICEF and SOS Children’s Villages. Her participations in the ESC 2011 in Düsseldorf and the JESC in Sofia 2015 have contributed to her popularity not only in Bulgaria, even beyond. Watch Poli at the JESC with “Where is my dress? “

“If Love Was A Crime” is the Bulgarian entry. The very amenable song with electronic elements has very interesting lyrics. This is about that love is not free for everybody, it sometimes stigmatized and people lose their freedom. It encourages people to love who they love, even if others say it’s wrong. This can be interpreted as a silent call for the LGTB community, as homosexuality is still a punishable offense in many countries. The sad thing is that it’s still realty in many countries, also in countries which do take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Let’s see how Poli is going to bring the message through at the ESC, as not all of the commentators will mention the meaning of this song.

History

• Debut: 2005
• Participations: 10
• Victories: 0
• Finals: 1
• Top 10: 1
• Chance for Top 10 placing: 10 %

We are now celebrating the 10th anniversary of Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest. Congratulations! Bulgaria has paused in the last two years, but is back now in the 61st edition of the ESC in Stockholm.

The Bulgarian debut entry “Lorraine” by Kaffe was a wonderful song and unfortunately this entry has not qualified for the Grand Final in Kiev. Since then Bulgaria is always trying to participate. The neighbour country Romania has already joined the ESC family in 1994.
The biggest success so far was the spectacular percussion performance “Water” by Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov in Helsinki 2007, when Bulgaria entered the Grand Final and came 5th ! This was also the best place ever!

Bulgarian entries were not bad at all, but maybe the international audience did not believe in successful songs from Bulgaria and neither the televoters nor the juries voted for Bulgaria. The verve for the ESC in Bulgaria has increased from year to year, even if Bulgaria could only qualify for the Grand Final once.