In the second round, "Vrag naj vzame" performed by Rebeka Dremelj was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote.

The country's only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when Tanja Ribič performing "Zbudi se" placed tenth.

The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has traditionally been selected through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats.

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

[6][7] An expert committee consisting of Elza Budau (lyricist), Andrej Šifrer (singer-songwriter), Vojko Sfiligoj (musician and composer), Samo Koler (public representative) and Igor Pirkovič (RTV Slovenija Eurovision project manager) selected twenty artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions.

[9] On 4 January 2008, "Eo eo", written by Aleš Zibelnik, Matej Vidovič and Urša Mravlje and to have been performed by Zaka' pa ne, was disqualified due to the song having been publicly released before the competition and replaced with "Samara" performed by Brigita Šuler.

[14][15] Rebeka Dremelj made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Vrag naj vzame" as the Slovenian Eurovision entry.

[17] On 27 February, Dremelj performed the English version of the song, "Heavy Weather", during Greek Eurovision national final Ellinikós Telikós 2008.

[18] On 9 March, Dremelj performed "Vrag naj vzame" during the semi-final of the Serbian Eurovision national final Beovizija 2008.

[19] Dremelj also took part in promotional activities in Belgium and performed during an event held at the Place Sainte-Catherine in Brussels on 28 April.

[21] According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine songs from each semi-final as determined by televoting progress to the final, and a tenth was determined by back-up juries.

[28] Dremelj was joined by three on-stage backing vocalists: Jelena Majić, Marina Durović and Sandra Feketija.

The two dancers that joined Dremelj on stage were Matej Bedič and Željko Božič, with the latter also choreographed the Slovenian performance.