Prior to the 2011 Contest, Slovakia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest five times since its first entry in . The nation's best placing in the contest was eighteenth, which it achieved in 1996 with the song "Kým nás máš" performed by Marcel Palonder. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Slovakia had yet to feature in a final. Slovakia achieved their least successful result in 2009, where they returned to the contest and failed to qualify to the final with the song "Leť tmou" performed by Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková. In 2010, Slovakia failed to qualify to the final with the song "Horehronie" performed by Kristina.