SERBIA – PESMA ZA EVROVIZIJU FINALE
Having followed Serbia’s Eurovision selections over the years, I must say that this one was certainly the most competitive one since 2004. Sure, there were some notable snubs from the semis – or rather, semi 1 (Tijana Dapčević, Angellina, Savo Perović) but overall the show was stacked with good songs and performances. A notable thing was also the highly visible presence of minorities. There were a number of LGBTQ2+ performers and three (or more?) acts who were Roma. Going into the finale, there was no clear favourite for victory, but several acts that were of interest and/or have caught people’s attention.
The winner of the televote (although by a narrow margin of 328 votes) was Princ od Vranje, who sang an ethnic-pop mid-tempo song, that was reminiscent of the Zeljko Joksimovic school of ESC songs from Serbia, but had more oomph to it. The (surprise) winner of the jury vote was the previously unknown Nađa, who stormed into the #1 slot with the juries with two 12s, two 10s and an 8. When the votes were all combined, both performers received 18 points, placing them in 2nd and 3rd place (Princ being second due to the televote win).
One of the folks in contention was Filip Baloš, with his synth-pop, Lady Gaga-inspired “Novi plan drugi san”. He had worked with Konstrakta’s stage designer, which could be seen from the relatively minimalist approach. Ultimately, Filip finished in 4th place, with being 3rd for the juries and 4th in the televote.
Two Roma artists were talked about as potential winners: Zejna and Dzipsii. Dzipsii actually ended up winning the second semi-final, but ended up 5th in the finale. His Michael Jackson-inspired 80’s number was hailed as a quality song with great representation for the LGBTQ+ and Roma communities. Zejna had the most Youtube views from any performer before the contest, but ultimately ended up in 7th place after underwhelming the juries, who gave her only 1 point.
The new assembly of Eurovision-favourites Hurricane, was also tipped for a potential win with “Zumi zimi zami”. Ultimately, their inexperience showed on stage and they underwhelmed both audiences and juries, and placed 12th (out of 16) with only 1 point from the televote.
The actual winner of the selection was the London-based Luke Black with “Samo mi se spava.” His angsty number seemed to hit the right note with both performance and concept, getting 10 points each from juries and televote. He was second to Princ of Vranje by only 328 votes. The song is about the existential angst of living in a world that has so many problems and is, in many ways literally, on fire.
Overall, great contest with some interesting voting by the juries but overall 100% deserved victory by Luke. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of some of these artists in the coming years…