Arilena Ara was crowned as the winner of the Festival i Këngës 58 national selection with Shaj (Shout) and will represent Albania at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam.
Shaj is composed by Darko Dimitrov, Lazar Cvetkovski and Lindon Berisha. Darko has composed many successful songs for Eurovision and other popular festivals and for many popular artists from North Macedonia, Albania and other Balkan countries. He wrote Ninanajna for Elena Risteska (2006 FYR Macedonia) and Pred da se razdeni by Esma & Vlatko (2013 FYR Macedonia) and To The Sky by Tijana Dapčević (2014 FYR Macedonia). He has also had songs in the Junior Eurovision including the classy Doma by Marija Spasovska for FYR Macedonia 2018). Darko has also worked with Albanian Eurovision acts like Kejsi Tola (2009) and Juliana Pasha (2010).
Arilena Ara rose to stardom after winning the X Factor in Albania in 2013. She is from Shkodra. Arilena has released several successful singles including Aeroplan, Vegim and Business Class. Arilena also had a hit in Romania entitled Nëntori.
Arilena also recently participated in a dance show called ‘Dance With Me’. Her dance partner was Labi, who is an Albanian journalist from Kosovo.
You can see Arilena perform Shaj and Nëntori below.
Source: ESC Covers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOXsVHMTbNU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AKoKgVls54
