Just outside the Top 5 in the Aussievision Team rankings of Junior Eurovision songs is Serbia in 6th place.
Get details on Serbia's entry plus our individual rankings and comments below.
The entry
Darija Vračević - Podigni Glas
11-year-old Darija Vračević was internally selected by RTS and will represent Serbia. Her song is called “Podigni Glas”, which in English means Raise Your Voice. The song is all about protecting the environment.
Despite being only 11-years-old, Darija has done a lot. She has taken part in several music festivals in Serbia and abroad and is also an actor and a dancer. She has landed roles in the shows like Tesla and the Battle at the Magnetic Field, as well has done subbing for Disney, Pixar, Paramount and Nickelodeon movies. She is also a member of a pro dance team and has won five gold and two silver medals at dance festivals in Serbia.
The Aussievision Team rankings
Fleur - 1st
Guy - 2nd
Alyce - 3rd
Aaron - 4th
Liv - 8th
Dale - 10th
Emma - 11th
Mike - 15th
Kyriakos - 18th
The comments
This is good, this is really good. She could win it and I hope she does. It is my favourite. It is a very strong entry. Great production, yet it’s not over the top. I can see this appealing to both children and adults as it is quite contemporary but still retains its trademark Balkan nuances. Saving the planet is definitely the theme this year. I absolutely love this!!! ~ Fleur
There's a lot of songs sharing this message and I find most of them appealing. This is unremarkable and dare I say a little bland. I don't find it memorable and I can't see it standing out among the others ~ Mike
Great track - could really pack a punch if she can put on a good live performance. ~ Guy
This delivers the best key change of the season – it enhances that last minute of the song and brings home the powerful message. The lyrics are clear and easy to understand – good for young children. Loving the string realness going on. Worried it might not be as powerful live – this song really needs to pack a punch in the choruses and sometimes can fall flat. I have faith though. ~ Liv
It’s modern sounding with enough going on instrumentally to keep my ears happy. Like a few other songs, it’s gone for an environmental message and because it’s more of a pop/power ballad song, it’s doing a better job of getting it across without sounding like a sermon ~ Aaron
This is the kind of tune that I just can’t help but sing along to, even though I don’t speak the language. It’s anthemic and has a very timely message about the environment and how what we are doing is affecting the planet. I’m keen to see what Serbia have got in store for the staging. ~ Alyce
Sweet voice but I found this very one dimensional. ~ Emma
There's a lot of 'save the planet' songs but this is the only one that feels empowering. Darija is a great little performer and the song itself has the catchiest chorus out of the ballads this year. Her biggest competitor will probably be Spain - this is a better song, but Spain has an epic vocal. Will be interesting to see how this goes, I'd probably rank this higher today than I did at the time ~ Dale
Serbia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Serbia made their debut in the contest as an independent country in Bucharest in 2006 (Serbia & Montenegro competed the year before). They had a pretty good debut, finishing fifth with the song “Učimo Strane Jezike” by Neustrašivi Učitelji Stranih Jezika. The following year they did even better, when Nevena Božović (yes the same one that’s represented Serbia at the adult contest) finished third with the song “Piši Mi”. In the following two years, they finished 12th and 10th before in 2010 they once again finished 3rd, which has subsequently been Serbia’s highest placing.
They were then absent from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 contests, before returning to finish 10th in the 2014 contest in Malta. They did better in 2015 in Bulgaria, finishing 7th before finishing 17th in Malta the following year. In Georgia in 2017 they had another top 10 finish before last year in Minsk they only finished 19th.