Introduction

• Participant(s): Alicja
• Song: Empires
  
• Writer(s): Patryk Kumor, Dominic Buczkowski-Wojtaszek, Laurell Barker & Frazer Mac
• Composer(s): Patryk Kumor, Dominic Buczkowski-Wojtaszek, Laurell Barker & Frazer Mac
• Broadcaster: TVP
• Social media:         
  
• Team review: 

The Polish broadcaster TVP has renounced the national final this year, the disappointment was probably too big as last year’s girls from Tulia did not even reached the Grand Final in Tel Aviv. Instead there has been a small show called “Szansa na sukces" with casting show character, where three singers had to sing against each other. One of them was even Albert Černý, the lead singer of last year’s Czech entry “A Friend Of A Friend”. At the end Alicja Szemplińska received the highest votes both from the jury and public. She won the ticket to Rotterdam. Regrettably, the ESC 2020 has been cancelled. It’s still not known if Alicija will have the right to got 2021.

Alicja Szemplińska was born in Ciechanów, north of Warsaw in 2002. As a child she got teached singing in a children’s choir. In 2016 she took part in the TVP show “Hit Hit Hurra”, where she won and received had to chance to be teached by Seth Riggs, the vocal coach of Michael Jackson.

In 2019 she won “The Voice Poland” and received her first record contract. Her debut single “Prawie my” was released shortly and within ten days she had over one million views on YouTube (now over 4 million).

The Polish ESC song “Empires” will be Alicija’s first English single. The song is a power ballad where her vocal talent can be ladle out to the outmost. It’s about the destruction of our world¬¬. “People tend to build empires, and they become blind to what is important, do we have to repeat the same scenario all the time? We build and destroy...maybe we should learn.” she utters. The James Bond sound is nothing new at the ESC, as Conchita Wurst could win with it in 2014. For winning the Polish song is too far away from easy listening.

History

• Debut: 1994
• Participations: 23
• Victories: 0
• Finals: 14 (6 since 2004)
• Top 10: 3
• Chances for Top 10: 13%
• Chances for Final: 40%

Poland had its wonderful debut in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, Ireland. So this year would have been the 23rd time for Poland in the ESC already, but this won’t happen as the ESC has been cancelled for the first time in history. Together with six other debutants, the year of 1994 was the year of new countries all from Eastern Europe. It’s a truly success that the Polish entry “To Nie Ja!” by Edyta Górniak made a great second place from the stand. This has opened a world career for Edyta and she is still one of the biggest stars in Poland. And it proofs that a good song with a good singer could change everything. This brought a lot of positive attention to Poland.

Unfortunately, this strong performance could not be maintained over all those years until today. Poland’s contributions in the first years were quite extraordinary and special in particular as they have tried to find their position with offbeat compositions. The effort of the Polish composers and performers to develop Poland as a new highlight in the ESC has paid off. But some of the songs might have been too complicated for the average European music taste. That’s why the Polish entries struggled and still do struggle with the qualification for the Grand Finals recently. Since 2004 Poland only made it six times into the Grand Final. And over all Poland made it in the Top 10 three times.

This is statically chance of 13% for Poland. In Stockholm 2016 Michał Szpak could achieve a fabulous 8th place with “The Colour Of Your Life”, he was one of the last countries to be announced the fourth highest points from the public voting. Last year the folk group Tulia couldn’t make it to the Grand Finald with their white singing in “Fire Of Love (Pali się)”.

After organizing the European Football Championship in 2012 together with the Ukraine, Poland could be a good host for the Eurovision Song Contest as well, last year Poland hosted the Junior Eurovision in Gliwice, Silesia.

The Polish people have developed such a great enthusiasm and it would be well deserved if Poland will host the Eurovision Song Contest one day.

Biggest successes

• 1x 2nd place
  “To Nie Ja!” |Edyta Górniak (Dublin 1994)
• 1x 7th place
  “Keine Grenzen - Zadnych Granic“|Ich Troje (Riga 2003)
• 1x 8th place
  “The Colour Of Your Life” |Michał Szpak (Stockholm 2016)

Video Nostalgia

• “Ale Jestem” | Anna Maria Jopek
  Rank 11, Dublin 1997
  
  
• “Przytul Mnie Mocno” | Mietek (Mieczyslaw) Szczesniak
  Rank 18, Jerusalem 1999
  
  
• “Love Song” | Blue Cafe
  Rank 17, Istanbul 2004