As announced back in February, Bulgaria’s representatives for Eurovision 2013 would be their 2007 alums, Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov.  Three songs were in the running to best the high water mark set by their ethno-electronica entry “Voda“, which gave the nation its highest placement on a Eurovision scoreboard.

The three candidate entries were:

• “Dzupaj, libe boso (Jump, barefoot sweetheart)” (feat. SkilleR & Jahmmi)

• “Kismet (Luck)”

• “Samo Shampioni (Only Champions)”

Following the three live performances (not to mention guest appearances by Switzerland’s Heilsarmee and 2011 Bulgarian representative Poli Genova), it was time to reveal the votes.  While the juries favored “Samo Shampioni”, putting “Kismet” in second, and “Dzupaj, libe boso” in third, the public vote put “Kismet” ahead.  In the case of a tie, it’s the public’s voice that wins out, and so pre-contest favorite “Samo Shampioni” (also, the favorite of Elitsa and Stoyan) was relegated to the annals of National Final history.

Update: It appears that, supposedly due to a conflict with the composer of “Kismet” (riiiiight), Elitsa and Stoyan will now be performing “Samo Shampioni” in Malmö! 

Like I said in my piece about Spain’s National Final, when an artist has submitted multiple songs into a single National Final, sometimes it might be advantageous for the person who will have to perform it to have a wee bit of influence.  The public and jury vote worked in favor of El Sueño de Morfeo’s pick, but the final result in Bulgaria diverged from Elitsa and Stoyan’s ideal.  I assume that there will be a touch of rearrangement and tightening-up of the song, but they might need a touch of “Kismet” for this to equal “Voda”‘s high finish.