This year, despite the disheartening news that four nations would be withdrawing from Eurovision (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Portugal, Slovakia, and Turkey), the 2013 event welcomes Armenia back into the competitive fold.  Skipping the show in Azerbaijan citing security reasons, nearly as soon as the curtain fell in Baku, the team from ARMTV confirmed their participation in Sweden.  Of course, the rumors about who would carry the nation’s tricolor started swirling.  The ever-present whispers of Armenian-American rockers System of a Down were quelled, and the gossip about the return of 2008 alumna Sirusho simply resulted in a lot of great publicity for her new single (which happens to be quite good)!

After a bit of hemming and hawing over whether ARMTV would be sponsoring a full National Final or simply going for an Internal Selection, the network announced that they would be splitting the difference, and sending Gor Sujyan (lead singer of popular rock band Dorians) to Malmö with a song to be determined later.  A backing singer for Eva Rivas in 2010, Gor will be the first featured male voice from the country since Hayko in 2007.

Interestingly, as Armenia pondered entering the contest in Baku last year, there were strong rumors suggesting that Dorians, Gor’s band, would be representing the nation with the song “This is Our World”.  However, as the broadcaster withdrew before a song was officially announced, the world will never truly know.  Here’s what could have been:

Armenia’s National Final will be held on March 2, the same day as the finals from Hungary, Moldova, and Estonia, as well as a Serbian Semifinal and the Swedish Andra Chansen round.  Viewers, get your DVRs ready!