"Thank you for your support... Sending lots of love and kisses. I hope I can represent a part of all of us on that stage. Come on, let's go!"
Eva Maria, the representative of Luxembourg, sent this emotional short message to the audience across the region before going to Vienna for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Born and raised in Luxembourg, in a family of Slovenian parents, Eva Maria grew up surrounded by different languages, identities and cultures. Today, this 20-year-old singer-songwriter and violinist speaks several languages, studies songwriting in London and openly nurtures her connection with the Balkan cultural space with which she grew up.
"We speak Slovenian at home, but with friends we often speak Serbian and Croatian as well," she says. "I've always felt most at home among people who speak my native language - or something very close to it."
It was this feeling of connection that became the emotional basis of the song "Mother Nature" with which he entered the Eurovision Song Contest.
Moving between Luxembourg, Slovenia and London, Eva Maria says she was looking for something that connects all those places.
She found it - in nature.
Eva Maria, photo: Lampshade Media promo
"No matter where I am, I can feel at home," she explains. "Nature connects all those countries and allows me to carry a part of home with me."
Her song Mother Nature, an organic and emotional violin-led track, is already attracting attention with its gentler atmosphere and sincere emotion.
And maybe that's why Eva Maria seems so close to the audience throughout the region - because her story tells about growing up between cultures and languages, but also about how we often find a sense of home in people, music and the emotions we share.
At this year's Eurovision Song Contest, which is increasingly marked by spectacle, maximalist production and songs made for social network algorithms, Luxembourg's representative Eva Maria comes to Vienna with something completely different - warmth, sincerity and a quiet sense of belonging.
Eva Maria represents Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with the song "Mother Nature"