The Serbian song and act were selected on February 28th using the national final show "Pesma za Evroviziju '25". Prior to the final there were two semis where 8 qualified from the 15 songs in each show. The winner was chosen by adding an equal score from SMS voting to a jury vote. Going to Basel is Princ with the song "Mila" (Darling)
Stefan Zdravković performs under the stage name Princ (pronounced prince) and is from the city of Vranje but has lived in Belgrade since 2002. As a youngster, karate was his first love and was at one point Serbian national champion. However in his teens, he began to play music, founding a band with his friends. As an adult, he has been the lead singer of the band Sizip and has competed in singing competitions and festivals all around Europe, including reaching the semi-finals of "The Voice Bulgaria". He was due to participate in the Serbian national final in 2022 but withdrew, however he came back in 2023 with "Cvet sa istoka" which was the runner-up behind Luke Black. Away from music, his academic background is in Nordic Languages, Literature and Culture.
The song structure is simple going verse, chorus, verse, chorus, instrumental and final chorus. The start is orchestral and gentle but progresses to something louder and rocky although maintains its ballad feel. To begin, the camera is fixed on a rose but the rose falls apart (as it is made from ribbon) and from behind a moon comes into view. Then in front of this projected full moon comes, from above, another moon - this time a crescent - which Princ is sitting on. Once lowered, Princ moves onto the stage. He has his hair down and wears shiny dark trousers and a black waistcoat. A catwalk on the floor turns into a moonscape but the background stays dark with shades of blue. Faces appear on the back screen and below him on the floor (in a very interesting overhead shot) and he crouches to touch it. Then a aerialist appears from on high, wrapped in a bright red silk, spinning exceptionally quickly and upside down. After a short blackout, Princ appears in a spotlight holding a rose before it blacks out again.
The song is an impassioned ballad about a man losing his beloved. The show has a visual, but simple, staging. I like the moon imagery although this is forgotten about half way through and I am not quite sure how the lyrics link to this visual. The rose motif starts and ends the show but again was not really referred to in between. Although the aerialist was an interesting addition but it felt a little shoehorned in as a spectacle. Maybe if the acrobat and the faces on the backdrop were somehow visually related, the viewer could follow the story better. Princ's vocal is strong and the melody utilises his full voice and falsetto. The Serbian language sounds pleasant in this song and allows Princ to really live the song so I hope this is not changed. Unfortunately, as a 3 minute work of art, it feels very pedestrian, a little old fashioned and visually confusing. I would almost say this feels like the big solo number in a longer musical theatre piece but taking this one song out of context doesn't sound right. They either need to weave the moon, rose or face metaphors into something understandable , ditch everything and make it as pared back as possible OR start from scratch and find something knew that works.
ARTIST - Princ
SONG - Mila
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Dušan Bačić, Dejan Nikolić
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