Serbia will select their Eurovision entry this weekend, with their national selection show Beovizija 2020. It will be held over three nights, with 24 songs competing in two semi finals and a grand final. The contest will be run in the same format as the last few years, with 50% public vote and 50% jury.
Ahead of the competition, here’s a preview of some of the stand outs to keep an eye on.
Neda Ukraden - ‘Bomba’
Neda is a big name in Serbia. She released her first single in 1969 and has been actively releasing albums every decade since - still going strong now at age 69. She actively tours Europe and the world, including coming to Australia for a five date tour in 2016. Bomba is a catchy Balkan sounding pop song with strong percussion and a punchy chorus. It’s midtempo, but has plenty of drive thanks to the rhythmic vocals, synths and the Balkan instrumentation. The studio version is quite highly produced, including vocal autotune, so it will be interesting to see how it translates in a live performance.
Hurricane - ‘Hasta La Vista’
Hurricane are one of the favourites leading up to the contest and are getting a lot of attention from fans. The group includes two past Eurovision performers, Sanja Vučić (who represented Serbia in 2016 with ‘Goodbye (Shelter)’ and Senija Knežević (who performed backing vocals for her Dad Knez on Adio in 2015). ‘Hasta La Vista’ is a modern sounding electro pop song that features strings that give it eastern vibes. The vocals of the three artists work well together and the overall package feels like it has everything required to make a big impact. The group are currently a pretty big deal in Serbia, so it’s likely they will be popular with the public.
Balkubano - ‘Svadba velika’
This entry has been surrounded in controversy in the lead up, receiving numerous complaints that the lyrics were misogynistic and promoted violence against woman. The group have now changed the lyrics in order to stay in the contest. Shortly after this it was announced that Bora Dugić, who was originally to perform on the song had pulled out, due to health issues. The song will now be performed by Balkubano only. The song has a distinct Balkan feel with a traditional folk flavour. It includes flutes (which we assume Bora Dugić was to play in the live performance, as he did for Jelena Tomašević at Eurovision in 2008 on ‘Oro’).
Andrija Jo - ‘Oči Meduze’
This one is another fan favourite going into the contest. The song is a duet with Isidora Mitić and the two voices sound great together. It’s a modern sounding midtempo pop song, which is instantly likeable and could easily be a radio friendly hit. It could be popular with the public and the jury, so it’s likely to be a big contender.
Ivana Jordan ‘Vila’
This will be Ivana’s third appearance at Beovizija. The song has a dance beat, and both the strings and vocals are delivered with eastern vibes. The song is uplifting and sexy and will deliver one of the more upbeat performances in the contest. It has been an interesting one to watch as far as fan reactions go. The song has so far come out close to the top of some fan polls and close to the bottom on others.
A couple of others to look out for will be Ana Milenković with ‘Tajna’ and Sanja Bogosavljević with ‘Ne Puštam’. They were part of the group Beauty Queens and performed backing vocals at Eurovision in 2007 for Marija Šerifović on ‘Molitva’. They both have strong ballads in the contest and are well known with the public.
The artists have been previewing their songs on various TV shows over the last month, but have not been singing live, so the contest will be our first chance to see the songs with live performances.
The contest will be held over three nights:
Semi Final 1 – 28th Feb 9pm CET
Semi Final 2 – 29th Feb 9pm CET
Grand Final – 1st March 9pm CET
For Australian viewers, this will be Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning at:
7am AEDT (Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart)
6am AEST (Brisbane)
6:30am ACDT (Adelaide)
4am AWST (Perth)
5:30am ACST (Darwin)
It can be viewed on the RTS Planet website, the broadcaster’s streaming service.