2006: The Honorable

ELENA RISTESKA WITH "NINANAJNA" FOR NORTH MACEDONIA

PHOTO: Getty/Sean Gallup

This song is most notable for how different the original lyrics are compared to the final English version. It's a modern R&B/Dance song with a traditional Balkan dance beat and a huge chorus. In Macedonian, it's about a girl who loses interest when her boyfriend gets too into Turbo Folk music. In English, it's about a girl getting a man to notice her. Pretty big difference huh?

The chorus makes more sense in her native Macedonian. She complains that her boyfriend sings too much "Ninanjna" to her, which is a vocal line often heard in Turbo Folk music, apparently. The whole song is an indictment on a guy who gets too into his new favorite genre of music. We all know that guy. The change in the English lyrics, that make the song much more banal, are fine. It's when you mix the two that you get an interesting mix of narrative. She performs the song in both languages on stage in hot pants. When it came to staging the song, it definitely seemed like they went with English meaning.

Semi-Final Score: 76 pts (10th place out of 23)

Final Score: 56 pts (12th place out of 24)

Written by Darko Dimitrov & Rade Vrčakovski

Semi-Final Performance:

Music Video: