Monty’s Eurovision Countdown 2025 Part 32 – Slovenia

How Much Time Do we Have Left by Klemen

Last time I was with you I was pondering the troubled fate of Serbia in Eurovision. Their near neighbours and fellow ex-Yugoslavs Slovenia have had it even tougher. You need to go all the way back to Nuša Derenda in 2001 for their last top 10 placing, and her 7^th place is jointly the highest they’ve ever reached. They’ve tried a range of styles over the years, but perhaps none so confronting as this existential story of upended love and the shock of a stark health diagnosis.

Klemen is a singer, actor, presenter and comedian. He’s known to Eurovision fans for his hosting of the Slovene national final EMA and his parodies of all the Slovene entries to date as an interval act. His comedy sketches lampooning Putin and Trump have gone viral. But his Eurovision song is no laughing matter and tells the story of the impact of his partner receiving a potentially terminal rare cancer diagnosis.

The simplicity of the questioning title, how much time do we have left together, strikes a very raw emotion that anyone who’s had a loved one who’s received such news will instantly connect with. For those who haven’t, the emotional impact is still very clear, and lyrically this has the potential to resonate very strongly with both jurors and viewers alike. Musically, however, I’m not so sure this has quite the same impact.

Klemen has revealed a staging decision from EMA will be retained for Basel. He’s spun 180 degrees and delivers 30 seconds or so of the song suspended upside down. The mve is presumably to illustrate all-too literally the feeling of your word being turned upside down, but I’m not convinced such an emotional song needs this kind of gimmick, and the somewhat clunky transition into and out of position needs some cleaning up for the Eurovision stage.

Klemen must have been confident of victory as he had already updated his Slovene act parody video to perform a medley of all the Eurovision winners since 2000, cheekily adding himself as the ‘winner’ of 2025 at the end. Whilst most of his renditions were widely praised a decision do use blackface for 2001’s winner Dave Benton attracted huge controversy and highlighted the differences in local attitudes to this. Viewed as an absolute taboo in many countries the condemnation of blackface seems not yet to be as universally acknowledged in some other countries. The backlash was swift, Klemen highly apologetic, and even Benton himself weighed in to take the heat out of the argument. I always prefer to see events like these as an opportunity to learn and progress, although in a cultural environment of unforgiving social media it remains to be seen how damaging this might ultimately be to Klemen’s embrace by some in the fandom.

My marks: 6 points

Photo: Tomo Brejc/EBU