SERBIA

The Serbian Final was held on February 15th at the RTS TV Studios in Belgrade, hosted by Maja Nikolic. Before the final there was a show to offer places in the final for 'wildcards'. The winner was chosen by SMS voting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%). The winning entry was Bojana Stamenov with "Ceo svet je moj" (The whole world is mine)

Back in September, RTS announced they would be back at Eurovision in 2015 after a year away. It then announced that the tree songs in their national final would be written by Vladimir Graić, one of the peple behind their winning entry 'Motlitva. This year saw Serbia choose between 3 acts - two chosen internally, one via the wildcard round, and the songs were then premiered in their selection show.

This is a song of two halves.- the first half is more your stereotypical Balkan ballad with a smattering of drumming whilst the second half is more big diva disco. The start of the song is quite quiet and slowly builds up to the change in the middle of the song. This is almost its problem. The end of the song is a real anti-climax. The genre change is really ear catching and you expect the song to grow and get bigger and bigger but it never quite reaches the heights you expect. When you get tot he end you feel a little bit let down it's almost like it need more repetition of the chorus during the second half and less wailing about.

Bojana is no stranger to competitions. In 2012 she made the final of "Ja imam talenat! - the Serbian 'got talent' show, coming in a respectable fourth. Since then she has appeared on a number of songs as a featuring artist and has worked in children's theatre. She has a powerful singing voice and seems very confident on stage. She certainly gives the song gusto in terms of passion but very much dislike how she has been treated on stage. The dancers are annoying, the use of the 'dress' and the fact that the lighting hides her.

I hope that RTS has seen that the song has been seen in a favourable light but that so much about the performance lets it down. I'd like to see Bojana more free and not tied by the stupid dust sheet she wears OR by the dancers that surround her. I know she's a big girl but that didn't stop Hera Bjork moving about a bit and interacting with the crowd. The backing track needs to be beefed up much more in the last minute or even rearranged to make it more powerful. The show needs to be much more active and interactive with the crowd.

This really isn't as good as it first seems. Bojana is much better than the song and the more you listen to it the more cumbersome it becomes. The tune of the chorus is pretty memorable but isn't repeated enough to make an impression. I have the feeling that this has all the hallmarks of an 'all time fan favourite' or OGAE-wank that doesn't get out of the semi final.

ARTIST - Bojana Stamenov

SONG - Ceo svet je moj (The whole world is mine)

MUSIC - Vladimir Graić, Leontina Vukomanović

LYRICS - Vladimir Graić, Leontina Vukomanović