They’ve staged one of the most remarkable turnarounds at the Eurovision Song Contest ever, placing fourth and second following years of non-qualification and non-participation.

And on Sunday Bulgaria’s BNT confirmed that they will keep the momentum going by participating at Eurovision 2018 in Lisbon.

They made the announcement on their official Eurovision Twitter feed — first in English and then in Spanish. Both tweets were deleted quickly after they went up, causing many in the fandom — including us — to have a minor meltdown.

But we’ve reached out to our contacts at BNT who assure us that they are back in the game for sure.

Earlier in the summer they confirmed their participation, only to rescind it because of a leadership change at the broadcaster. BNT’s forced delay had many fans worrying about whether they would return to the contest after finishing as runner-up in Kyiv with Kristian Kostov.

In early August BNT’s official Eurovision Twitter account explained that the broadcaster was electing a new director general on August 23, and that the broadcaster’s policy regarding Eurovision would be announced afterwards.

And today confirmation of participation finally came.

Bulgaria knows that good things come to those who wait. You’ll remember that Poli Genova was the last artist to reveal her Eurovision song ahead of Eurovision 2016. At the contest, Poli stormed to Bulgaria’s best ever result at the time, finishing 4th.

And they managed to go two places better with Kristian, whose electro-ballad “Beautiful Mess” featured magical monochrome staging, under the direction of Swedish stage guru Sacha Jean-Baptiste.

Ahead of Eurovision, wiwiblogger Robyn suggested that staging would be key for success. She wrote:

“Beautiful Mess” sounds like something right out of the pop charts (or a Spotify playlist). It has a very current sound and Kristian delivers a mature and emotional vocal. The song does feel a bit repetitive and it doesn’t quite reach a satisfying conclusion, but it sounds like Bulgaria has some clever staging planned that might make it all work.

Are you excited that Bulgaria is headed back to Eurovision? Do you think they’ll be extra hungry for a win following last year’s second place? And who do you think could secure the victory? Let us know in the comments box below.

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Photo: Andres Putting (EBU/Eurovision.tv)