We are almost halfway through the competition in the second semi-final and now have to a point where there has been a lot of genres presented from a number of countries from all over the continent. The next nation who was drawn to perform in the eight position is one who cannot say that they have been successful over the years due to dismal results. In fact, the nation is Bulgaria who have reverted to calling on their most notable names in the industry with hope of reaching the final and also obtaining a decent result. The chosen representative is the renowned Sofi Marinova with the song Love Unlimited composed by Krum Geopriev & Iasen Kozev and penned by the likes of Donka Vasileva.

Sofi Marinova (36) is one of Bulgaria's most popular performers. Devoted to arts since her childhood, Sofi established herself little by little as a top vocalist in Bulgaria. Coached by her mother in singing and dancing, Sofi excelled at school in Etropole while impressing musicians from a local band with her beautiful voice. Soon after, granting permission from her parents, she started singing covers at weddings and christenings; Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson's hits were part of her repertoire as well as gypsy songs from her cultural heritage.

Then her participation in many festivals, where she became victorious, followed and led Sofi to the release of her first album Old Wounds alongside the band Super Express which, according to numerous producers, is the best selling album in the country. Some solo albums followed until she began working with Sunny Music in 2004 and the producer Krum Krumov, a collaboration which is still successful.

In her career the singer has had mostly first place awards in festivals and contests and said she will be very disappointed if she ever comes second, but in 2005 she reached the second place at the national selection for Eurovision in Bulgaria with Edinstveni (Only One) with Slavi Trifonov. In 2007 she took part again with the rapper Ustata and the songYa Tvoya (I'm Yours) placing third. Now Sofi Marinova embraces the challenge of trying to win the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time for Bulgaria on her own.

The Critics Voice Their Opinion

Magnus Kaxe

• Ahh…this sounds interesting. Modern with a good house/club feeling. Great chorus, but maybe too long verses. And question but where are the dancers on stage? It’s after all a club track! All I’m looking at now is a non-moving female singer in an evening dress. I like this, seven (7) points from my end. 

Marion Welter

• There are number of dance songs in this years' Eurovision Song Contest and this is neither better nor worse but I am not fond of such tracks hence I cannot give it more than one (1) point. I am very sorry!

Tobias Larsson

• One of the strongest dance tracks of the year, performed by a real singing diva with style and flair. My objection concerns the visual presentation, which needs a lot of work still. If they get that right, this could go down well. I believe that seven (7) points are well deserved.

Entry Background

Performer: Sofi Marinova

Composers: Krum Geopriev, Iasen Kozev

Author: Doni Vasileva

Song: Love Unlimited

Languages: Bulgarian, English, Arabic, Azeri, French, Greek, Italian, Romani, Spanish, Turkish, Serbian, Croatian

Broadcaster: BNT

History of the Nation

This will be marking the eight participation of Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest meaning that they remain as one of the last countries to become part of the family but as already mentioned, their results have not been that good unfortunately. They have only made it to the final on one occasion, back in 2007 when Elitsa & Stoyan with their song Water made it and ultimately reached fifth place in the finals for their interesting performance. They have been close to qualification on another two tries, one of them being the following year in 2008 with DJ Please Take Me Away performed by Deep Zone & Balthazar finishing in eleventh place and last year with Poli Genova and Na Inat managing a twelfth position. Will Sofi make their second final? Many are yet to see though she is a marginal qualifier according to most of the fans of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Source: Eurovision.tv for the Biographical Information and all respective media