Who is Poland's Eurovision 2020 entry? Meet Alicja Szemplińska who will sing Empires
The 17-year-old singer won another singing competition last year
At 17-years-old, Alicja Szemplińska is no stranger to the music scene.
Just last year, she won The Voice of Poland, and this year she's coming for the Eurovision title as she represents Poland in the 2020 Song Contest.
So will she be able to get Poland their first win in the competition, and bag a second trophy in a year for herself?
Here's everything we know about the young star...
Who is representing Poland at Eurovision 2020?
Age: 17
Instagram: @aliciaszemplinska
Alicja Szemplińska, more commonly known as Alicja, is a Polish singer who won Season 10 of The Voice of Poland in 2019.
She was selected to represent Poland after full marks from both the jury and the Polish public via televote.
With a total of 10 points, she beat Lake Malawi's Albert Černý (6 points) and Kasia Dereń (2 points).
She currently has two singles, Prawie, which came out last year, and Empires - the song she'll be performing in the first half of the 2nd Semi-Final.
What is Poland’s Eurovision 2020 song called?
Alicja will be performing her hit Empires, which is an emotional and very powerful hit about destruction in the world.
The video currently has 460k views (at the time of writing) and has received huge praise from fans, with one suggesting it could be a soundtrack for a Hollywood film.
"This could be a song for a James Bond movie," they wrote.
Explaining the meaning behind the track, Alicja said: "The song talks about the mechanism of destruction and difficult issues in our present world. People build empires, become obsessed with power and are distracted from what is really important."
She added: "We spill oil into an ever-burning fire, which results in a huge catastrophe. But there is hope because we rise and fall…it is the circle of life but the question is, 'Why?' Do we have to repeat the same scenario all the time? We build and destroy. History repeats itself, unfortunately."
You can see the video below.
Where did Poland come in last year’s Eurovision?
Poland joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 and finished second with Edyta Górniakin their debut year. However, this remains their best placing, and the country failed to qualify from the semi-finals in six out of seven years between 2005 and 2011, before withdrawing from the contest in 2012 and 2013 and returning in 2014.
Nevertheless, the competition remains a popular event in Poland. In 2016, the country won Eurovision Young Musicians. A year later, Poland won Eurovision Young Dancers for the second time in a row, and in 2018 and 2019, the country also won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
It sounds like there's a lot riding on Alicja's shoulders for Poland to get the big win.
When is Eurovision 2020?
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest grand final will take place at the Ahoy Rotterdam Arena on Saturday 16 May, and will be broadcast live on BBC One.
The semi-finals will take place on Tuesday 12 and Thursday 14 May, with 10 countries from each qualifying to Saturday’s grand final – and both will be aired on BBC Four.
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 final is on 16th May 2020
