Beatriçe Gjergji and Kolë Laca, winners of the 63rd Song Festival with their track Zjerm, recently appeared on Prime Minister Edi Rama’s podcast, Flasim. During the interview, the duo reflected on their triumph with Shkodra Elektronike and expressed their surprise at the overwhelming public reception of their song.

“We didn’t expect this success. We wrote the song specifically for the Festival,” Kolë Laca shared. “Beatriçe came up with the initial idea, sent it to me, and we worked on it together before presenting it. Our goal in participating was simply to gain more recognition and build a fan base for our upcoming album. When the songs were released, Zjerm became the second most-listened-to track after Elvana’s. That was already a big surprise. Winning was completely unexpected.”

Beatriçe echoed this sentiment, stating, “We created the song for ourselves, but I never imagined it would resonate so widely with audiences.”

A Collaborative Journey Rooted in Tradition

Both artists currently reside in Italy, where they have built individual artistic careers. They revealed that their collaboration on Shkodra Elektronike began in 2019, inspired by traditional Shkodra music.

Kolë explained, “I moved to Italy at 20 years old and initially performed Shkodra songs with an Italian singer. That’s how Beatriçe discovered me. Our Festival entry wasn’t our first project together; we’ve been collaborating since 2019.”

Beatriçe added, “I moved to Italy at six and completed my schooling there, but I’ve always spoken in the Shkodra dialect, which makes it hard for me to speak standard Albanian. I discovered Kolë on YouTube, sent him a message on Facebook, and we became friends. I used to post videos of myself singing with Italian bands, and Kolë saw something he liked. That led to our joint project, Shkodra Elektronike.”

Representing Albania at Eurovision

Participating in the Song Festival for the first time, Shkodra Elektronike captured the hearts of audiences and judges alike, earning 143 points to claim victory. Their song Zjerm will represent Albania at Eurovision, set to take place next year in Basel, Switzerland.