Meet Jessika and Jenifer Brening for San Marino!
This year 43 countries will be present at this years Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Lisbon in May. With around two weeks to go until all of Europe descends on Portugal's capital, Eurovoxx will introduce you to each country that will be participating.
Who are Jessika and Jenifer?
29 year old Jessika Muscat, from the sunny island of Malta, is a singer and actress. Jessika is very well known among Eurovision fans for her participation in Malta's national final every year between 2009 and 2016. She achieved her best result in 2016 when she reached 7th place with "The Flame". Jessika even attempted to represent Malta at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Norway, but ultimately finished in 16th place in the national final.
With regards to Jessika's acting career, she plays the character of Emma on the daily Maltese soap opera, Ħbieb u Għedewwa.
21 year old singer and rapper Jenifer Brening hails from Germany. She has previously participated in The Winner Is..., a vocal game show and Deutschland sucht den Superstar. She has released two singles followed by one album in 2016, "Recovery"
Check out Jessika and Jenifer's Eurovision song below:
How were Jessika and Jenifer chosen?
Jessika and Jenifer were chosen to represent San Marino at Eurovision 2018 through 1in360. In October 2017, the Sammarinese broadcaster RTV and 1in360 announced that they would be launching a worldwide online talent show to find San Marino's next Eurovision act.
Singers from all over the world were encouraged to upload videos of themselves singing, either original songs or cover songs to the official 1in360 YouTube channel and from there, people from all over the world could vote for their favourites. The singers that received the highest numbers of votes eventually advanced on to the semi final and final stages of the national final.
Jessika sang two songs in the national final and featured with IROL on one of his songs, whilst Jenifer sang two solo songs as well as rapping with Jessika. For their song "Who We Are" they received 12 points from the Crowfunding Vote and 10 points from the juries, making them the winners only 2 points ahead of Sara de Blue.
San Marino in Eurovision
In June 2007, the San Marino broadcaster SMRTV hinted at an interest to join Eurovision in the near future, and in 2008, they joined the Eurovision family. Their first attempt didn't go very well though and they finished last in the semi final with only 5 points.
They withdrew in 2009 and 2010 due to financial reasons and returned in 2011 with Italian singer Senit, who also failed to qualify from the final.
2012 saw the first of four Eurovision participations for Valentina Monetta. In 2012 and 2013, she failed to qualify, despite being a fan favourite in 2013 with "Crisalide". It wasn't until 2014 that Valentina brought San Marino to the final for the first, and only time so far with "Maybe", finishing in 24th place. Valentina was back again in 2017 with American-born singer and actor Jimmy Wilson with their dance number "Spirit Of The Night", but unfortunately, they finished last in the semi with only 1 point.
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