Wednesday, 6 March 2019

SERBIA

The Serbian Final was held on March 3rd at the RTS TV Studios in Belgrade, hosted by Dragana Kosjerina, Ivan Mihailovic, Kristina Radenkovic & Slaven Došlo. Before the final there were 2 semis with 6 qualifying from each. The winner was chosen by SMS voting (50%) & an "expert" jury (50%). Going to Tel-Aviv is former Moje 3 member, Nevena Božović, singing her self-penning song“Kruna” (Crown).

Nevena is on her own centre stage wearing black dress cut shorter at the front and longer at the back. The dress is strapless and her neck wrists and upper arms all adorn various silver jewellery. Behind her the backdrop is black/dark blue and white, reminiscent of bokei city lights. Near the end there are a couple of pyrotechnic displays. Not very much happens on stage and there is very little movement.

The song is a ballad although not necessarily in the pure Balkan style. Although it starts off quietly it gains momentum in the choruses and by the time the last chorus comes the song has more of a rock edge. The song starts off in a quite nondescript way when your ears prick up for the two line bridge which is the only bits in English. The chorus starts and is much more melodic and powerful than the rest of the song. Then there is a break when Nevena starts oh-oh-ohing which actually stops the flow of the song. But here the song starts to get quite intricate as the next verse cuts over the rhythms of before and sounds very different. The English bridge comes in then there is a full length chorus followed by a repetition of the last line but the finish just stops a little too suddenly. If she omitted the oh-oh-ohing she might be able to elongate this last section to a proper finish.

There is no doubt that Nevena is a great singer and you can tell that she has written and composed this song to show off her vocal strengths but I have to say in many respects I am left lacking. The song doesn’t really have any instant appeal, there is no way I would remember this if it was near the start of song contest semi or final. At times, her passion and feeling for the song comes across more as shouty and angry, possibly also because it is not particularly clear what or who she is singing about. This could be easily rectified through the staging or possibly by having a dancer or two on stage. This would help with the storytelling and create much needed movement on stage.
Personally I feel like this is a less impressive version of Mall with many of the lyrical qualities of Croatia’s 1998 entry but with any of the personality erased from it. I personally don’t rate this and think it is just a bit to introverted to make an initial wow statement on the stage. That said, in a sea of quirkier, edgier and more up-tempo songs this might provide a welcome change of direction. Either way this just does not do it for me at all.

ARTIST –  Nevena Božović
SONG –  Kruna (Crown)
MUSIC -  Nevena Božović
LYRICS - Nevena Božović


1 comment:

  1. "because it is not particularly clear what or who she is singing about"

    She is singing about her fiance whom she will marry in April. She is very much in love and wanted to tell him and shout it to the world.

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