SERBIA 2025

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

SERBIA 2024

The Serbian act and song was chosen on March 2nd through their process "Pesma za Evroviziju". There were two semi-finals of 14 songs each with eight qualifying from each one. During the semis and the final, the qualifiers and eventual winner was determined by using a 50-50 mix of televoting and jury score. The Serbian act for Malmö is Teya Dora performing the song "Ramonda".

Teodora Pavlovska was born in 1992 in Bor, which at that time was in FR Yugoslavia. After studying in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade, she received a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. After graduating she stayed in America, working as a songwriter. She returned to her homeland in 2018 writing songs for other Serbian artists as well as making her debut record  "Da na meni je", released in July 2019. Her big breakthrough came last year with her song "Džanum". In Serbia, this gained fame for being recorded for the TV series "Južni vetar: Na granici" However the song then gained momentum worldwide as it became the protest anthem for the Belgrade school shooting and was then used on many of the accompanying videos on youtube and TikTok. The single peaked at number 4 on the Spotify's Top Songs Global chart, becoming only the third Serbian artist to have over a million monthly listeners (the first two being Eurovision competitors Konstrakta and Luke Black).

This song is a very gentle and emotional ballad with lots of harmonies and Balkan qualities. The backdrop has a dreamlike quality, soaring through the clouds. This is also reflected on the floor which floods with smoke during the song. Teya Dora is sat on a rock type feature at the back of the stage from which she starts then moves off later in the song, She is wearing a black-grey outfit with slightly wet hair. The whole set up looks a little bedraggled and possibly needs some refining. The song begins with two verses in quick succession although neither are lengthy. The pre-chorus builds up to the chorus which has a very ethereal quality. After a short break, the pre-chorus is revived and then the chorus continues until the end. The song ends with Teya Dora back on the rock singing a short outro while a stylised purple flower is shown on the back wall. Teya is alone on stage but the camera work is clever and she never looks engulfed by, or lonely on, the stage.

The ramonda is a flower and is an important flower in Serbian culture. It is also known as the "phoenix flower” due to its ability to flower again in atrocious conditions. This flower became a symbol to the Serbians during First World War and has a similar importance/resonance as British people would have to the poppy. The song has a solid grounding in Serbian culture but I am not sure this message gets through at all to the non-Serbian speakers at home. Luckily they are in a semi-final with other ex-Yugoslav nation that might understand the symbolisms more than most. The chorus is very ear-catching and memorable but is does sound like somebody mumbling along rather than having actual meaning. The whole staging is rather minimal and I think Teya Dora could do more physically and gesturally to get through the meaning of the words. Alternatively, there could be scope for dancers on stage or projected on the backdrop. This is a nice enough song which definitely stands out against so many up-tempo entries but this doesn't necessarily mean people will vote for it.

ARTIST - Teya Dora

SONG - Ramonda

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Luka Jovanović, Andrijano Kadović, Teodora Pavlovska

SERBIA 2023

The Serbian final "Pesma za Evroviziju '23" was held on March 4th at the RTS TV Studios in Belgrade presented by Dragana Kosjerina and Milan Maric. On the two nights before the final there were two semis, 8 songs qualifying from each. The final result equally combined SMS voting and a jury score. Going to Liverpool is Luke Black with song "Samo mi se spava" (I'm just sleepy).

Luka Ivanović started his interest in music at the age of 12 when he started writing his own lyrics and later began creating and producing music. He then moved to Belgrade to study but also to learn more about the music business. In 2014, Black released his first single "Nebula Lullaby" and an EP followed this up the next year. One of his next songs "Demons" was also nominated to the internal selection process to represent Serbia in 2016. He has also embarked on a solo tour of China and performed as part of Berlin Alternative Fashion week. 

The stage show for this is very different. At the start Luke is reclining on what looks like a decayed white leaf podium and in front to him are four dancers that by thick tubing to the back of the stage. The choreography is very jerky and robotic. The backdrop has lines from the song as well as a rather strange crustacean-cum-swiss army knife computerised character. Luke himself is wearing a floaty white shirt with black trousers. He starts singing verse one from on the white plinth., which has a prominent piano backing. On sitting up the song moves into a short instrumental which has a very tinny over synthesised feel, almost to point where it feels distorted and dizzy. From here the chorus kicks in which has a great beat emphasised by the dancers. The next verse is in Serbian and leads once more into the distorted instrumental, which this time almost feels off key, and back into the chorus. From here there is a small refrain where Luke unhooks the cords from the dancers and they dance freely during the final chorus. We finish with the title of the song and the words ENEMY DEFEATED on the backdrop.

On the plus side this has a visual and aural identity like nothing else we've seen this year. The subject matter of the song is menacing and dark and the setting is stark and interesting. One might say the lighting in particular is too dark and I personally would like to see more of his face because he is very expressive. His vocal is quite whispery, which is a nice juxtaposition with the harsh synthesised sounds on the backing track, but I would like to hear more of his tone. I think the mixture of Serbian and English works well but again, it is sometimes unclear what he is saying because of the mix. The dancers are great and add a lot of the mix. Luke is a little bit less precise in his moves but is extremely enthusiastic.

However, I wonder if this is a little bit too odd and weird. For example the chorus part is extremely catchy and has a great beat but it doesn't last anywhere near long enough and I almost feel a little let down once it's over. The aural distortion is also a little disconcerting and would imagine some people finding this very uncomfortable to listen to, especially if you don't know it is coming. The staging is eye-catching but you don't quite get sucked into the story as much as I feel one probably should. This could be a "Rhythm Inside" artistic moment but needs more fine tuning in terms of stage direction, camera angles and vocal precision.

ARTIST - Luke Black

SONG - Samo mi se spava

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Luke Black, Milovan Bošković, COMANAVAGO, Majed Kfoury

SERBIA 2021

The Serbian song was released on March 4th, via the Eurovision youtube channel. The group Hurricane who won Beovizija last year was invited to represent the nation in 2021 Unlike last year this year's entry was internally selected. The song they are singing is called "Loco Loco" (Crazy , Crazy)

The video has three main settings - singing in the bath, singing sola and singing altogether in a stereotypical might club. The video has an 80s tinge to it and the night club scenes even have a filter on them to look slightly blurry like old archive footage. They also have very full on make up and masses of curly hair, shoulder pads, leopard print, feathers, shiny fabrics, large earrings and sunglasses. When in the bath they are wearing little but this is  obscured by the disco balls in the tub with them. All these different sections are cut rather finely, changing plenty and often, possibly to emphasise the change of person singing and the craziness in the title. 

The song starts will a synthesised brass bassline with the name of the song and band in the intro followed by an extended instrumental in the same vein. The first verse is a little less frantic and the backing track is less beat driven which helps create build up for the next parts. The short pre-chorus is more staccato and monotone, almost a bit shouty, and helps the beat build up in response. The chorus has that dancehall bassline while the girls sing repetitive monosyllables which sound a little bit silly to an English ear - but makes total sense in Serbian. The backing track business continues as the instrumental and flows back into another verse, then pre-chorus and chorus. Then flows in a different style of instrumental which is rather minimal but keeping the dancehall syncopation - I can imagine this being a rather pivotal dance break section - which leads into a key change and a final chorus. After some big notes and showy-off vocal gymnastics the name of the song 'Loco Loco' is once again repeated.

Hurricane the band has been together since 2017. Ivana is a successful dancer having won multiple national dance championships as well as duetting with Eurovision participants Jala Brat. Ksenia, is Knez's daughter and was one of  his Eurovision backing singers in 2015. Sanja was a member of the pan-genre band ZAA for five years prior to Hurricane and she also represented Serbia as a soloist back in 2016. Needless to say they already have quite the following amongst fans and have a lot of performing experience between them.

The song is in a very similar vein to their song from last year, but this one lacks any of the of the power of "Hasta La Vista" Yes, it is really great that the girls are singing in Serbian but to get any purchase for a non-Serbian speaker you need good rhythm, repetitive tunes and some charisma from the girls. but this song is overly complicated and you need multiple listens to even think about what is going on. To me, the girls look a bit aloof and sometimes smarmy, like a too-cool-for-school 6th form clique who've 'made a pop video'. Something about this is also missing for me in basic terms of  not sticking in my head. Maybe a conducive dance routine might help emphasise the repeated parts of the song but I am kind of clutching at straws here. I am also hoping their staging is less busy than the video and helps the girls (and the audience) focus on their vocals although I suspect the pre-recorded vocals may well be high up in the mix.

ARTIST - Hurricane
SONG - Loco Loco (Crazy Crazy
WRITING CREDITS - Nemanja Antonić, Sanja Vučić

10/03/12 SERBIA

Earlier in the year it was announced that former entrant and host of Eurovision, Željko Joksimović, would be representing Serbia with an internal selection an on the 10^th February they unveiled the song. However, it was presented twice, once in Serbian and once in English. It is thought a final decision on the language presented for Eurovision will be made soon.

There was much anticipation for this entry because of his pedigree as a performer and writer for the contest. Not surprising then that I feel disappointed by the entry. Like many of his songs there is a long intro. This one doesn’t seem to give off enough atmosphere to set up for the singing. The song dawdles along but only starts winding up the power until about 2 minutes in - which is about a minute too late. The tune is not memorable although it has a very Željko chord sequence in the middle.

The performance was a little strange. Željko was backed by an orchestra which seemed to help. He had a man on piano, another man with a long flute and 3 ladies on backing vocals. I feel being dressed in quite plain modern clothes did not fit with the song and this will need addressing. He looked a bit odd on stage, especially when moving about. I feel that a lot needs to be done about the production of the song and its staging.

As for language, I feel that the English version is interesting but it loses a certain something that the Serbian version has. I don’t know what but it just sounds less powerful in English.

This will get obvious from the Balkan countries and will qualify, but this is no winner

Below are both perfomances in Serbian and English

SONG – Nije Ljubav Stvar (Love isn’t a thing)/ Synonym

ARTIST – Željko Joksimović

COMPOSERS – Željko Joksimović, Marina Tucaković, Miloš Roganović

LANGUAGE – English or Serbian

SERBIA

The Serbian Final was held on February 26th at the RTS TV Studios in Belgrade. The winner was chosen by SMS voting. This ear three songs have been written especially for the contest, written by the three members of the Kovac Family - Kornelije, Aleksandra and Kristina. All three have written each song individually and chosen the act to sing their song.

The show starts with a recap of last years winning song by Lena, then a review of previous Serbian entries as well as a look back to when the contest was held in Belgrade. Then Maria Serifovic sings the disco version of her winning song “Motlitva”

First up are The Breeze singing Kornelije’s song “Ring Ring Ring” This is a very 60’s song with a lot of influence from the Beatles- but in Serbian XD They areal wearing retro clothing including matching Beatles style wigs and hippy glasses. The song is not bad, the ring repetition is a little boring. Not exactly a memorable or singable song although the visuals are very memorable. However I feel that the 60s gimmick may make people think they are being a joke. It is a fine line.

Next Aleksandra sings her own composition “Idemo dalje” (We’re moving on) This is a very typical slow Balkan dramatic ballad. She stands on her own on the stage and is sporting some tattoo type jewellery on the shoulder of her dress – very nice ! She is singing the song very passionately, verses remind me slightly of “Hello” by Lionel Richie, but in a Eurovision way XD Not a bad effort but I feel the backing track need to be much bigger and fuller to give it much more impact. A better song than the first, but really not memorable or singable.

Finally, Nina sings “Čaroban” (Magical) written by Kristina. This another 60’s inspired number. Nina and her 3 female backing singers are all dressed in mini dresses and have very Mary Quant-esque haircuts and make-up . She also has 2 very active male trumpeters. This feels like a much more put together and professional performance visually. This song does have some kick to it in the fact that it is danceable and clapable to and have a structure that your ear can pick up, even if you don’t speak Serbian. The ending however is a little weak

The SMS lines open up straight away and are open for a whole hour.

During the voting process we go behind the scenes from the past few weeks seeing how the acts and their ‘mentors’ made the songs and the performances to what they are today.
Dado Topić (Croatia 2007) takes the stage followed by a number of female singers taking on some of Aleksadra’s songs. Karolina Gočeva (FYROM 2007/2002) as well as a boy band sing some of Kristina’s songs. Boris Novković (Croatia 2005) sings a Aleksandra song. Jelena Tomašević (Serbia 2008) sings with Kornelije on piano

The lines are now closed !

The votes are revealed – and with well over half the vote is Nina!

SINGER – Nina
SONG – Čaroban (Magical)
MUSIC – Kristina Kovač
WORDS – Kristina Kovač