100 Days. 100 Songs. Countdown To Eurovision - 'Energy'
The 7th of February marked exactly 100 hundred days until Eurovision, it seems fitting to celebrate this by counting down 100 days with 100 songs. The last sixty three years has brought us nearly eighteen hundred fantastic, and unique Eurovision entries that some will love, whist others might not like so much. Each day we will bring you a song, and give you details on how it performed at the contest, but also information on the artist, and find out what happened next? Join us on this journey as we countdown from day 100 to 1 where we will have another 43 songs to add to this list.
Day 85 - Nusa Derenda - "Energy" for Slovenia 2001
The year was 2001, and the Eurovision song contest was in it's 46th year. The contest came live from Copenhagen, Denmark this year, after the Olsen Brother's triumphed a year before with, "Fly On The Wings Of Love". It was 37 years since the country last hosted, and their second time of doing so. They wanted to do it in style, and style they did. This contest saw the biggest live audience in history. 35,000 people were there in the Parken Stadium, almost doubling the record breaking amount that was set in the Globen Arena, a year before. To this day, there has never been a bigger audience. The presenters were Danish journalist and TV-show presenter Natasja Crone Backand, and the famous Danish actor Søren Pilmark who spoke most of their announcements in rhyming couplets. The show would be won by Estonia, with Dave Benton, Tanel Padar & 2XL taking the crown scoring 198 points. It was a two horse race between hosts Denmark, and Estonia through the night. The pre-contest favourites France, Greece, and Slovenia also performed well. The hosts were offended by the British commentator Terry Wogan who made reference to them being Dr Death, and the Tooth Fairy, whilst the interval Aqua had complaints in regards to the amount swearing that their songs had. This year saw 23 countries compete with Austria, Belgium, Finland, Cyprus, Macedonia, Romania, and Switzerland withdrew, whilst Bosnia, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia all return.
This year Slovenia was represented by the Blond bombshell, Nuša Derenda, and her very energetic electric pop anthem "Energy". It was a pre-contest favourite. It did not win, however it scored very well with the juries making the top 10. Ultimately she placed 7th scoring 70 points. A total of 15 countries awarded Slovenia points this year. The countries top scores came from the neighbours Bosnia who awarded Nuša 10 points, whilst Croatia was to give the song 8 points. Check out the entry below:
Who Is Nuša Derenda?
Nuša Derenda was born Anuška Žnideršič on March 30, 1969 in Brežice, Slovenia, and is 49 years old. She is known internationally as the singer to represent Slovenia in 2001. However, there is more to the artist than her Eurovision appearance. Music was in her blood, and from a very young age she would sing in concerts, and to her parents. At a young age, she also learnt to play the accordion. Even before she finished primary school, the talented singer joined a band. Although, she spent a year working as a primary school teacher. The singer persisted with music and was very successful throughout the 90's. She travelled throughout Europe with her band. When the time came for them to disband, she would then perform with her partner Frank, and toured Yugoslavia, Germany, Switzerland, and even America was in the pipeline. The hard work culminated in over 150 concerts a year. Since 1998, Derenda has mostly been working with a group called Happy Hour, with whom she recorded music in the studio and performed live. In 1999 she made her first album "Vzemi me veter", with one of the songs from this album, named the same, won the Slovene TV contest Orion a year before. She also won several other awards in the 90's which included, an award from the Slovene Pop Contest 1999 (Slovenska popevka) Nuša received the award for best singer, and at the MMS festival (Melodies of the Sea and the Sun) the second prize from the audience with the song "Boginja". Her next big challenge came in 2001 when she would represent her home country, and make the top 10, finishing seventh.
What Happened After Eurovision?
Nuša Derenda has capitalised on the success given to her from Eurovision. She performed a solo concert in Cologne, Germany in 2001, she was to win prizes in Croatia for her music later that year. She was nominated for Woman of the year 2001 in Slovenia, whilst December 2010 saw her release her third album, "Na štiri oči". In 2004 she would release her Greatest hits album which would sell extremely well, and has released numerous albums since. Nuša has tried a further four times to represent Slovenia at the Eurovision song contest, with her latest attempt coming in 2016. A further six albums, since Eurovision have been released (8 in total), and a further 12 singles (16 in all) have also been released by the singer, with her latest "Kadarkoli" only dropping three days ago. The talented singer did not win, but her song is still considered an ever green of the contest that year. She certainly brought a lot of "Energy" to the contest.
Did you like the song? Do you think it should have placed higher? Please tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
