San Marino returns to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2026 with a collaboration for the ages. The microstate's official broadcaster, San Marino RTV, has confirmed that SENHIT — one of the contest's most beloved returning champions — will carry the blue-and-white flag to the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, armed with the electrifying anthem "Superstar", a feat of cross-generational pop built around British music icon Boy George. It is a pairing that transcends decades: SENHIT's explosive contemporary energy fused with Boy George's four-decade legacy as the flamboyant frontman of Culture Club. For a nation whose Eurovision ambitions have grown bolder with every passing year, this is the boldest statement of intent yet.

The Artists

SENHIT: San Marino's Perennial Champion

Born Senait Zadik Habte in Bologna, Italy, to parents of Eritrean heritage, SENHIT embodies the multicultural fabric of modern European pop. Before she became synonymous with the Eurovision stage, she honed her craft in the demanding world of musical theatre, performing in landmark productions of The Lion King, Hair, and Fame across Germany and Switzerland — a rigorous training ground that would later give her the commanding stage presence for which she is now globally recognised.

Her Eurovision Song Contest story began at Düsseldorf 2011, when she represented San Marino with "Stand By". A decade of evolution later, she returned at Rotterdam 2021 with "Adrenalina", a dance collaboration with Flo Rida that finally delivered San Marino its first-ever Eurovision Grand Final qualification. The song went on to surpass 20 million Spotify streams, cementing her status as the tiny republic's greatest Eurovision champion. In the years that followed, SENHIT released the full-length album DANGEROUS, a record that featured high-profile collaborations with Steve Aoki, Benny Benassi, and Flo Rida and underscored her position at the forefront of European dance-pop.

Boy George: The Icon Who Needs No Introduction

Boy George — born George Alan O'Dowd on 14 June 1961 in Eltham, London — is one of the most distinctive voices and personalities in the history of popular music. As the lead singer and primary creative force behind Culture Club, he helped define the sound and image of an era with chart-topping anthems including "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?", "Karma Chameleon", and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya". His genre-defying fusion of reggae, new wave, and soul — combined with a flamboyant, gender-fluid aesthetic that refused all compromise — made him one of the most culturally significant artists of the 20th century: a pop pioneer and a proud, enduring LGBTQ+ icon whose influence continues to reverberate through contemporary pop and fashion alike.

His partnership with SENHIT on "Superstar" is a natural collision of two artists who have always operated on their own terms. While Boy George participated in the San Marino Song Contest 2026 national final via video link from the United States, Roberto Sergio, Director General of San Marino RTV, confirmed that he will be physically present on the Eurovision stage in Vienna — a powerful endorsement of the project's scale and ambition.

The Song: "Superstar"

"Superstar" is a declaration, a celebration, and an invitation — all packaged in a pulsating dance track built for the largest stages in the world. Described by San Marino RTV as "una canzone dance con sonorità che viaggiano attraverso i decenni" — a dance song whose sounds travel through the decades — the track bridges the vintage pop grandeur associated with Boy George and the contemporary, high-energy production championed by SENHIT. The result is both timeless and immediately relevant: an arena-ready anthem designed to land on streaming charts and in Eurovision semi-final voting alike.

The title carries quiet self-awareness. SENHIT's first instinct upon winning the national final was characteristically precise: "Superstar avrà il giusto palco — soprattutto con la grande collaborazione di Boy George." ("Superstar will have the right stage — especially with the great collaboration of Boy George.") It is a statement of intent from an artist who understands the architecture of a Eurovision campaign: the song was written for this moment, and the moment has arrived.

Roberto Sergio, Director General of both San Marino RTV and RAI, delivered an unambiguous post-final verdict: "Il pezzo che ha vinto è molto da Eurovision" — "the winning song is very much Eurovision." Coming from the man who oversees Italy's and San Marino's national broadcasters, and who sits among the most connected figures in Italian broadcast media, that assessment carries genuine industry authority.

The Road to Vienna

The path to Vienna runs through the San Marino Song Contest 2026 — a competition that, as detailed by San Marino RTV's official regulation page, functions as the microstate's institutional vehicle for its growing Eurovision ambitions. Organised in partnership between San Marino RTV, the Segreteria di Stato per il Turismo, and Media Evolution, the contest is positioned as "an increasingly significant strategic investment" that strengthens San Marino's standing on the European and international stage — and reinforces the republic's presence at one of the world's most-watched annual television events.

Two semi-finals — the First Semi-Final on 4 March and the Second Semi-Final on 5 March, both co-hosted by Maddalena Corvaglia and Marco Carrara — fed 10 qualifiers (five per round) into a 21-act Grand Final on Friday, 6 March at the Teatro Nuovo di Dogana. They were joined by ten "Big" acts directly selected by artistic director Massimo Bonelli, and one representative from the Dreaming San Marino Song Contest, completing a field whose breadth reflected the contest's now-serious production values.

The winner was determined entirely by a five-member expert jury led by broadcaster and music critic Federica Gentile, and comprising Roberto Sergio, Mario Andrea Ettorre (Director of Marketing, SIAE), Massimo Zanotti (maestro and arranger), and Beppe D'Onghia (producer and Festival di Sanremo orchestra director). The rigorous three-phase scoring system — weighting both pre-listening musical quality and live performance capability — left no room for chance, with a maximum of 30 points per juror available per artist.

The Grand Final itself was a spectacle worthy of San Marino's cultural ambitions. Hosted by Simona Ventura — also serving as the evening's creative director — the broadcast ran live on San Marino RTV (channel 550), Radio San Marino, Rai Radio 2, and via streaming on RaiPlay, before an audience that included Capitani Reggenti Matteo Rossi e Lorenzo Bugli (San Marino's joint heads of state) and Secretary of State for Tourism Federico Pedini Amati. A quality jury of Iva Zanicchi, Morgan, and Red Ronnie awarded special prizes. Guest performances from Al Bano, Elettra Lamborghini, Tommy Cash, and Cristiano Malgioglio — who received the Career Achievement Award — made it the most star-studded edition of the contest to date.

San Marino's Eurovision story is one of remarkable recent momentum. Having first competed in 2008 and spent years unable to advance beyond the semi-final stage, the republic finally cracked the Grand Final in 2021 — courtesy of SENHIT and "Adrenalina". Now, for the third time on the Eurovision stage — and the fourth time she has been chosen to carry the republic's flag, having also been selected for the cancelled 2020 edition — she returns. As confirmed by the EBU, she will perform "Superstar" in the second half of the First Semi-Final on Tuesday, 12 May 2026 — with Boy George, in the flesh, at her side.

Technical Analysis

SENHIT's voice is a precision instrument. Her range — spanning from a warm, chest-powered lower register through a bright, penetrating upper mid-tone — has been field-tested on some of Europe's most demanding theatrical stages and on the Eurovision platform itself. Her 2021 Rotterdam performance of "Adrenalina" demonstrated not merely technical command but full athletic stagecraft: sustained high-energy delivery without sacrificing vocal clarity or pitch stability under heavy choreographic load. "Superstar" appears architecturally designed to showcase exactly these strengths.

From a staging perspective, the song's live potential is formidable. Even at the national final, the performance featured dancers descending from the stage directly into the auditorium floor — a theatrical device that foreshadows the kind of immersive, multi-level spectacle achievable on Wiener Stadthalle's expansive Eurovision platform. The confirmed physical presence of Boy George adds a second, potent storytelling layer: the visual juxtaposition of SENHIT's sleek contemporary energy alongside Boy George's legendary, instantly recognisable iconography is a tableau that writes its own narrative before a single note sounds.

Musically, "Superstar" occupies the intersection of club-floor immediacy and retro-pop nostalgia. Its driving dance pulse and melodic hooks — evoking the best of the Culture Club era — give it cross-generational appeal rare in a Eurovision field that typically skews toward either pure contemporary pop or maximalist ballads. The song delivers a clear identity, a title with built-in swagger, and the ultimate Eurovision "moment": a living legend sharing the stage with one of the contest's most dedicated champions, representing a nation that has invested deeply in making this contest matter. San Marino has rarely, if ever, sent a more commercially, theatrically, or emotionally compelling package to the Eurovision stage.