Ronela Hayati speaks openly about Eurovision: I cried, they left me in the middle of the road, I paid for 4 nights out of my pocket

2023-12-11 10:40:00, Lifestyle CNA

Ronela Hayati

The Albanian singer, Ronela Hajati, in a TV show, spoke about her experience at Eurovision and said that despite her great desire for the stage, she still faced many challenges.

Hayati says that everyone turned their backs on him while he was participating in an important festival, mostly from RTSH staff.

"Actually, I have never talked about Eurovision as an experience in the media because I kept it to myself, but when I was there I saw that there was a flood of criticism and remarks about the appearance, the dress", said Ronela, adding that outside state, the song has been a hit.

"Many people turned their backs on me here, and I didn't expect it, because the audience knows me and knows what kind of character I have on stage. Everything happened (on the Eurovision stage), every gesture was well thought out. He is not a festival of national songs and it's not that you have to represent the traditions or culture of your country, it's an extra-modern festival, beyond all expectations and maybe it sounds selfish, but I thought there to make a 'show' for my name, because I tell you to be honest, the relations I had that year with the entire staff of the Albanian Radio and Television were very close", said Ronela.

The singer emphasized that she did not receive any financial support or any message from the director of RTSH, while representing Albania at the European festival.

"I wanted something big, a giant stage to be extra for me, but that budget was never given to me and I was forced to pay for the representative clip myself," said the singer. You should see what hotels the other countries stayed in, we slept in a motel outside Turin and when the fans came, because there really are fans, they didn't know where to find us, because it was so far in the suburbs. In the last few days, I never received a message from the director, no "success", not that it is taxing, but I have had no support and this is shameful", she said.

Ronela also said that she had paid for the stay of her staff for 4 days, because the RTSH staff left.

"We had to stay for another 4 days until the festival ended and they left. I was forced to pay for the hotel myself for all the staff, because the RTSH staff broke up, ran away and left me in the middle of 4 streets. I don't understand why this happened because I tried with all the kindness and the greatest desire and this is not discussed because I was there and my song, but regardless I had many mistakes that I made there and I accept them. I could have left something similar to the performance I left at RTSH, but I was very happy, because I sang in front of 30,000 people every two days. And from all that great joy, you forget that you don't have to strain your voice... I had many mistakes, but the support from those who really supported me was zero", said the singer further.

Hayati called the comments from different people about her performance disgusting.

"I was there and I saw that shows were made every day with men and women of a considerable age who sat down and talked about a girl how she had 'shamed' them, 'put her head down', 'went naked'. My eyes really fill with tears and I don't want to remember this at all, but it's disgusting to deal with an artist who has been singing for years and make shows that are also political formats, to insult an artist who has worked endlessly to go out there, because this was seen, since my song, well, bad, is the only hit song that has really come out of Albania, it hurts my soul that we have zero support for each other", she said. /CNA