Last year we had a large crop of performers who were lined up for a certain event in 2020, only for it to not take place. For some 2020 performers, however, they had to qualify all over again. Or not.
One of those 2021 performers who wasn’t picked for 2020 was today’s birthday girl Anxhela Peristeri. As we know, Albania selects a song in the calendar year before the contest, so Anxhela was the first ‘new’ confirmed performer for the Rotterdam contest. She chose to song in Albanian – good for her – and it paid dividends as she made the Grand Final. She qualified in a fairly comfortable 10th place, only to perform second in the Saturday night show. The organisers perhaps didn’t give her much hope for Albania’s first win. Nevertheless she still beat five countries. So it wasn’t all bad.
Anxhela is 36 today.
Gëzuar ditëlindjen, Anxhela!