Serbia sends traditional ballad performed by Nevena Božović
It has only happened three times that Serbia did not succeed to qualify for the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest. They crashed out in the semi finals in 2009, 2013 and 2017, missing the final by just a few points each time. After last year’s 19th spot in the final, Serbia hopes to do better this year. Their national final Beovizija was won by singer Nevena Božović with her ballad ‘Kruna’. Nevena is a familiar face for Eurovision fans. She finished in 3rd place in Junior Eurovision in 2007 and was part of girl group Moje 3 who represented Serbia in 2013, reaching the doomed 11th spot in their semi final. Nevena is hoping to bring her country to the final of Eurovision on her own this year.
Nevena is going to represent her country with the song ‘Kruna’, which she wrote completely on her own. That is impressive either way! Her song is a big, dramatic ballad in a style that we have heard before at Eurovision, especially coming from Serbia. The track starts out stripped back, builds to a chorus with vocal acrobatics and halfway through the song breaks into an instrumental part with prominent strings. The song structure and sound are not exactly new to Eurovision; I would go as far as to say that no contest is complete without a good old ‘Balkan ballad’. Luckily for us, ‘Kruna’ is pretty strong within its genre!
During Beovizija, Nevena proved that she completely masters the song vocally. She hits all the big notes and is a charismatic performer at the same time. She added a couple of lines in English which feel a tad out of place on first listen, but might help make the song more memorable to audiences that don’t understand her language. I don’t think that Serbia is going to come close to a spot in the top 5 this year, but a place in the final is definitely possible!
Review on her semi-final performance:
Nevena served some of the absolute best vocals of the night and she looked stunning doing so. Visually, this performance was just perfect as well with projections on the floor and screens that elevated the track, rather than distracting from it. Long story short, Nevena showed everyone how it is done tonight and I would not be mad if she sneaks into the top 10 on Saturday too!
Review on her final performance and result:
Serbia’s Nevena Bozovic delivered another pitch perfect performance of her Balkan ballad ‘Kruna’. Her vocals are some of the strongest of the night and the atmospheric staging does the song justice. The appeal of ‘Kruna’ was not universal enough to come close to top 10, but the Serbian delegation definitely should not be ashamed of this 18th place. They kept it classy!
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