The Slovene participating broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO), held the national final Evrovizijska Melodija 2004 in order to select its entry for the contest.

In the first round, the top three entries were selected following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote.

Performing during the show in position 16, "Stay Forever" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

Its only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when "Zbudi se" performed by Tanja Ribič placed tenth.

[2] The broadcaster has traditionally selected its entry through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats.

Eight songs competed in each semi-final and public televoting exclusively determined three finalists to proceed to the final.

The expert jury and the televote each assigned points as follows: 1-8, 10 and 12, with the top three being determined by the songs that receive the highest overall scores when the votes were combined.

[8] An expert committee consisting of Alen Steržaj (musician), Martin Žvelc (music producer), Darja Švajger (who represented Slovenia in 1995 and in 1999) and Armando Šturman (music editor for Radio Koper) selected thirty-two artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions.

[10] RTVSLO held the four semi-finals of EMA 2004 on 11, 18, 25 January, and 1 February 2004 at its Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Peter Poles and Bernarda Žarn.

This caused some controversy, because the strongest televote favourite Natalija Verboten, received 0 points from the jury.

According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom), and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 12 May 2004 in order to compete for the final on 15 May 2004; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final.

[16] The duo got married in Bosporus, Turkey the day after the semi-final, and Eurovision Song Contest 2003 winner Sertab Erener appeared during the wedding as a witness.