After several years of poor results, Slovenian television decided to change its method of choosing its representative. Despite rumors that the network would again bet on EMA as a pre-selection for Eurovision, they ultimately announced Joker Out as the internal selection, something that had not happened in ten years since 2013, and only the second time it had occurred.
Last February, RTVSlo revealed through the special program ‘Misija Liverpool’ the song with which Joker Out will represent Slovenia in Liverpool: “Carpe Diem”. The song was recorded last December in Hamburg and is entirely sung in Slovenian.
Get to Know Joker Out
Bojan Cvjetićanin (vocals), Jure Maček (drums), Kris Guštin (guitar), Jan Peteh (guitar), and Nace Jordan (bass) are the members of Joker Out, a pop-rock band from Ljubljana that is very popular in Slovenia. They describe their style as “shagadelic rock ‘n’ roll.”
The guys come from different bands. Kris Guštin and Jan Peteh, former members of the group Buržuazija, joined Bojan Cvjetićanin, Martin Jurkovič, and Matic Kovačič, three members of the disbanded group Apokalipsa. This first formation of five guys took place in May 2016, giving birth to “Joker Out” as a group.
On May 21 of that same year, they had their first public performance at the Festival Na Gaju. That same November, they released their first single “Kot srce ki kri poganja”, for which they also filmed their first video. A few days later, on November 10, they appeared in the Špil Liga, a competition for original songs by student bands from Slovenia. After several stages, they were crowned champions of the fourth season (2016/2017) in June 2017. After a year of performances around the country, they did not release their second song, “Dazed Body,” until November 2017.
They took an eight-month hiatus in 2019, as Bojan wanted to try launching his solo career since his artistic vision differed from Kris Guštin, the other band creator. Eventually, the band’s vocalist realized that working as a group was better. After that break, on September 12 of that same year, they released their single ‘Gola,’ collaborating for the first time with the producer Žaret Pak.
They released their fourth single “Vem, da greš” in March 2020, and subsequently “Umazane misli” (October 2020) and “A sem ti povedal” (July 2021). The song “Umazane misli” was voted by the public as the best Slovenian song of 2020 in the first presentation of the Frišno/Fresh festival. Between the release of the last two singles, drummer Matic Kovačič left the group and was replaced by Jure Maček, the current member of the band.
Their debut album was released in October 2021, under the same name as one of their most successful singles, “Umazane misli.” It was initially scheduled to be released in April 2020 but was postponed several times due to the coronavirus pandemic. The album’s release was presented in two consecutive concerts on October 20 and 21, 2021, at Cvetličarna, both sold out since 2020.
They have been awarded several “Golden Flutes,” professional Slovenian music awards given by the Cultural and Artistic Society Zlata piščal to the best of the year in Slovenian music. In 2020, they received the award for the Artist Revelation of the Year, and in 2021 and 2022, they were awarded in the Artist of the Year category.
The last single from their first album was “Barve oceana,” for which they released a video in April 2022. On August 31 of the same year, they released their second album, “Demoni,” with “Katrina” as the lead single.
On October 10, 2022, the band announced on Instagram that bassist Martin Jurkovič was leaving the band to study abroad, and since then, they have continued as a quartet, with Nace Jordan joining them for their performances. At the end of October 2022, they released “Demoni,” their first single in Serbian and their first official release for the ex-Yugoslavian market.
“Carpe Diem,” their song for Liverpool
In an interview with YOUNG Spain magazine, Joker Out stated that the message of the song was simple: “whatever life brings you, music and dance are always the right answer.”
Recently, the Slovenian band released the English version of the song in response to the great demand from European audiences to understand the message of “Carpe Diem.” In this way, they want European followers outside the borders of their country to connect more with the song and enjoy the vitality they emit in each live performance.
The song has been very well-received by European audiences, even surprising them by singing the Slovenian version live. As this was something they expected to happen, they rewrote and recorded the English version in the same session in Hamburg as the original version. They stated that it was not a direct translation, but the message and vibe were the same.
According to their own statements, “the video takes place in a mystical hotel, where the apparently ordinary and boring world merges with the crazy and magical. You never know what awaits you in the next room or hallway. The only question is: do you dare to surrender to the magic or not?”
“Carpe Diem” by Joker Out Lyrics
Original lyrics
Mi bomo cell noč plesali
Ljubili se in se igrali
Kot da nas jutri več ne bo
Vedno manj besed,
Tank led pod nogami žge
Mi pa bežimo s prepiha
810.000 let mroaš delat’ le
Da duša malo zadiha
An ban, pet podgan
Ti loviš, če preživiš
Jaz ti bom vzel vse
Ti ničesar no dobiš
Ah, ah, owww
Si tega res želiš?
Igra sovraštva je za vas
Hvala lepa, ne računajte na nas
Na nas
Mi bomo cell noč plesali
Ljubili se in se igrali
Kot da nas jutri več ne bo
Ne bomo šteli ur do zore
Preskakovali bomo gore
Da nas objame nebo
Prvi dež odplaknil ves bo blišč
Da ne bi kradel magije s plesišč
Tema bo prižgala žar v očeh
Igra sovraštva je za vas
Hvala lepa, ne računajte na Nas
Še bolj na glas
Mi bomo cell noč plesali
Ljubili se in se igrali
Kot da nas jutri več ne bo
Ne bomo Šteli ur do zore
Preskakovali bomo gore
Sprejeli, da smo večni samo in srečni samo
Ko objema nas nebo
Vso noč do jutra smo plesali
Ljubili se in se igrali
Živeli, Kot da jutri nas mogoče več
Ne bo
English lyrics
We’ll be dancing all night long.
We’ll love each other and play.
As if there was no tomorrow.
Ever fewer words, thin ice burning under our feet,
But we’re running away from the draught.
You must only work for 810,000 years to make your soul breathe a little.
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
You win if you stay alive.
I’ll take everything, you get nothing.
Do you really want it like this?
The game of hatred is your thing, thank you,
Don’t count on us.
On us.
We’ll be dancing all night long.
We’ll love each other and play.
As if there was no tomorrow.
We won’t count the hours until the dawn arises.
We’ll jump across the mountains.
To be embraced by the sky.
The first rain will wash away all the fake glitter,
So it stops stealing the magic from the dance floors,
The darkness will bring out the shine in our eyes
The game of hatred is your thing, thank you,
Don’t count on us.
We’ll be even louder.
We’ll be dancing all night long.
We’ll love each other and play.
As if there was no tomorrow.
We won’t count the hours until the dawn arises.
We’ll jump across the mountains.
We’ll accept that we are eternal and happy
Only as long as the sky keeps embracing us.
We danced, loved, and played all night.
We lived as if there was no tomorrow
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Slovenia debuted in Eurovision in 1993 with 1XBand and their song “Tih deževen dan“, and was one of the first three countries to join the contest after the fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Since then, the country has participated in 26 editions, with their best result being in 1995 when they placed 7th with Darja Švajger and her ballad “Prisluhni mi“. They also achieved the same position in 2001 with the song “Energy“. Since the introduction of the semi-finals, Slovenia has only made it to the final 6 times, making it one of the countries with the most eliminations in the semi-finals.
In 2022, the group LPS with their song “Disko” finished in 17th place in the semi-final with only 15 points, failing to qualify for the grand final.