The Final of Una voce per San Marino 2024 is tomorrow, so today we chat with the guys from BOOOM!, a band from Slovenia who made it through months of auditions and Semi Finals in the Sammarinese Eurovision selection process.

BOOOM! is a trio comprising Matevž Derenda, Luka Cvetičanin, and Patrik Mrak. Luka and Patrik are orginial members of the group, while Matevž joined more recently.

The band made it all the way to the Semi Finals of UVPSM, and were competing against 30 other acts in their Heat. This is how they found out they had qualified for Saturday’s Final:

“We found out [we had qualified] then and there. We though that after a couple of days that we would get the results, but then after the first Semi Final, we saw that they were already picking the Top 5 winners, so we were like, I guess we’re going to know everything today! It was fun because there were a lot of great singers, a really tough competition, so we were already dressed in case we weren’t in the Top 5, we could just pack up and leave, we were already in our casual outfits. Then they were naming the Top 5, and they said ‘BOOOM!’, so we started to run straight to the locker room to change in minutes, in about a minute and a half we were in our performing outfits and running on stage!”

– Luka Cvetičanin

Between winning their Semi Final and the Grand Final of UVPSM, BOOOM! only have a week to prepare, so we asked them how they can possibly get ready for the bigger stage at the Teatro Nuovo in San Marino:

“We don’t have huge expectations, we just want to try and do our best, to be happy about our performance. We’re preparing very hard, we’re focused, and I think there are a lot of ways we know that we can elevate our performance in the Final.”

– Luka Cvetičanin

“I think the first thing that will elevate it is the fact that we have a mastered track now, we have a track that actually sounds good. […] I don’t want to take [away] from any others who were in the Semi Finals, was the fact that you just couldn’t use any backing vocals, and I know how much a song can lose its identity if it doesn’t have something that is core to it.”

– Patrik Mrak

Their remastered version of Dance Like This will be available to stream immediately after the Final of UVPSM.

The guys also gave some advice for anyone hoping to enter UVPSM 2025, and we tested their Italian skills! To hear the rest, listen to the full episode, now streaming everywhere you get your favourite podcasts! You can also check out some of the boys’ songs on Spotify, like their hit Briga me (I don’t care):

Would you like to see BOOOM! represent San Marino in Malmö? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or at our socials @buildingbridgespod!