The Macedonian broadcaster announced Toše Proeski as the Macedonian entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Tose Proeski participated in 2000 Macedonian National Final and 1998 as well. In 2000, Tose Proeski won the televote and XXL were 2nd. In 1998 he came eighth. Proeski also won Beovizija in Belgrade on April 2003, with a Serbian song entitled "Čija Si", a song which became a huge hit in Macedonia and the other former Yugoslav republics. This song was due to represent Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 but the EBU stated that too many countries wanted to enter in that year and so some would be forced to withdraw. Serbia and Montenegro were one of them.
National final
Eight songs competed, which were all recorded in Macedonian and appeared on Proeski's album Den Za Nas. Six of the songs from the final were recorded in Serbian and appeared on the Serbian version of the album entitled Dan za nas. All eight songs were also recorded in English and a small sample of each of these were played after each song was performed at the national final, lasting approximately 40 seconds each. This was to give viewers an idea as to what the song would sound like in English. On February 14 2004, the final took place at the Universal Hall in Skopje and hosted by Aneta Andonova and Karolina Petkovska. Tose Proeski sang all the songs and the winner was chosen by televoting, an "expert" jury and Tose himself - "Angel si ti" was the favourite with all three. The song was written by Jovan Jovanov, who also participated in the Macedonian National Final in 2007 and came fourth. The English version of "Angel si ti", titled "Life", appears on both versions of the album as well as the official Eurovision Song Contest 2004 compilation album, however the full English versions of the other seven songs have yet to be released.
At Eurovision
For the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, a semi-final round was introduced in order to accommodate the influx of nations that wanted to compete in the contest. Due to missing the 2003 contest, Macedonia had to compete in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. At Eurovision, Proeski created an ethno sound on the Istanbul stage. The performance contained elaborate choreography and dancers who wore very little clothing. Tose was dressed in white, while the backing vocals were dressed in black. He performed 15th, following Cyprus and preceding the Slovenia Macedonia qualified to the final, placing 10th in the semi-final and scoring 71 points. In the final he also performed 15th, following Russia and preceding the Greece The performance contained attention grabbing shots, which placed Macedonia in the 14th position. As Macedonia failed to reach the top 12 in the final, the country was forced to compete in the semi-final of the 2005 contest.
