On March 4 Serbia’s Telegraf claimed that Sanja Vucic would sing at Eurovision 2016. And it seems they forced officials to show their hand, as today Serbia’s state broadcaster RTS has confirmed the news. Interestingly, they did not confirm the Telegraf‘s report that she will sing a song called “Shelter“, which reportedly discusses violence towards women, or that she will follow in Bojana Stamenov‘s footsteps and sing in English.
According to today’s statement, the 22-year-old currently studies Arabic language and literature at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, and speaks English, Italian, Spanish and Arabic. She’s also a fan of R&B, hip-hop, soul, jazz, reggae, folk, Oriental music and grunge. So it seems we can expect anything — except a Balkan ballad.
Interestingly, her potential success at Eurovision stems from what could be considered a personal failure. She had hoped to enroll at the Music Academy in Belgrade, but that didn’t work out, giving her the time and open schedule for ESC.
The Telegraf claims she was picked because of her low profile. She was the lead singer of the band ZAA and has toured across the former Yugoslavia with the group, performing at more than 100 concerts at EXIT, Love Fest, Nishville, Arsenal Fest, the Lake Fest Niksic and others. So there’s a chance she will have some considerable regional support behind her.
The Telegraf also reports that Sanja was not the first choice of the Serbian broadcaster. Reportedly, RTS wanted Ivana Peters from the band Negative. But then Ivana signed up for the Serbian version of “Your Face Sounds Familiar” instead. What’s interesting is that “Shelter” — Sanja’s rumoured song — was written by Ivana. So maybe she’ll show face at Eurovision after all.
The choice comes after the likes of girlband The Frajle and turbo-folk queen Jelena Karleusa were rumoured to be the Serbian representative. RTS have clearly decided to go down the lesser known route though and will be hoping that it brings them continued success, following Bojana’s top 10 finish on their return.
What do you think of the choice? Are you excited? Let us know in the comments box below!
Thank you to wiwireader Nenad for his assistance.
Sanja will sing „Goodbye“
Jack 117, I think that she will sing something like Georgia last year because the song Shelter is about unprotecting wifes. Sorry for my English
This is awesome! Listen to ZAA – Unconditional Love. If Serbian song is like this one, they surely are already in finals.
Listen Uncoditional Love, grupa ZAA
The song in the link is really good. It blends rock, reggae, and Balkan influences in a manner that is actually cohesive. I’m really looking forward to what Serbia puts out! 🙂
@smartllama You said “it’s either Australia or Azerbaijan”. Curiously, their song is yet to be revealed, hard to tell if they are potential winners or not…
I wish they would have had a young male singer, or a duet, instead. The only young male singer Serbia ever sent was Milan Stankovic.
Damn. I was getting my hopes up for a Balkan Ballad
Anything better than karleusa
I THOUGHT THEY WERE HAVING A NF
OMG … kill me already …. This is so bad bad bad bad bad bad bad … 🙁
Link doesnt exist. It seems it will be band Zaa with Sanja as lead vocalist.
If you follow the link to the site of RTS where Serbian broadcaster allegedly confirmed the news, you’ll see that the link is broken and leads to a non-existent page. Therefore, nothing is certain (yet). 🙂
Curious. she looks good!
its decided this year is the one of the weakest ever. all the songs are average i really dont care who actually wins. i think its either australia or Azerbaijan