Won’t somebody save Serbia tonight? That was the question many Serbian viewers asked after the country failed to qualify for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Tijana Bogicevic, who performed the song “In Too Deep” in Kyiv, stalled in 11th place in the second semi-final, much to public disappointment in Serbia. But she isn’t letting it stop her.

Tijana was satisfied with her performance, but confessed she was sad that she missed out on the final by only one spot.

“I am sad that I lost to the Danish girl by just three points. I found out that was the main factor. Still, I do not consider myself a loser. I come back as a winner,” she told Serbian newspaper Blic upon her return to Belgrade.

“This was a very special experience for me and I do not think it will ever happen again. I gave my best, just like my team behind the scenes.”

“My first impression was great because we really did a fantastic job,” Tijana continued. “Everything that I was supposed to do I did the best way I could. Everything else was not up to me and therefore I cannot comment on the reasons why we did not make it to the final.”

Tijana acknowledged that some viewers may not have liked what she had to offer. “I gave my best and I do not want to blame anyone for it. I have always said that tastes are different. Someone might not have liked the song, someone might not have liked the way I look, the way I sing.”

“Here you have a battle of tastes so you have to be really careful when you choose who and what you send.”

Reacting to the negative reaction to her non-qualification — including the 2007 winner Marija Serifovic, who said that Serbia would not achieve anything as long as RTS treats Eurovision as “an excursion” — Tijana explained: “It is not the end of the world. I do not know why people make such a fuss about it. Life goes on after Eurovision.”

RTS issued a statement as a reaction to Marija Serifovic’s comment, in which they expressed their satisfaction with Tijana’s performance in Kyiv:

We do not take any project as an excursion and we dedicate ourselves to all the projects as much as we can. Tijana sang excellently indeed in the semi-final, and her performance was seen as very modern. Our director Ivan Pasorovic received nothing but praise for his work. By the way, this year there were many difficulties with the technics, the production and the organisation, which was noticeable in the first semi-final, and in the second one as well.

Tijana Bogicevic: Snippet of new song

NEW! USKORO! (pokusaj drugi ?) #tiimaspravo #tijanabogicevic

A post shared by ??????? ????????? (@tijanabogicevic_music) on

Tijana is not concerned about the fact she might have been forgotten by the public like other Serbian representatives whose entries were predominantly pop, such as Nina and Mirna Radulovic of Moje 3.

“In Serbia, pop music has been under radar for quite a long time. I was not very present in the public before Eurovision. I was planning on releasing my album regardless of Eurovision,” Tijana said, announcing that her album will be released in October.

“Eurovision could not have brought to me anything else but a wonderful experience and new fans, who will hopefully continue to listen to my music. But I am not unrealistic to believe that everyone in Serbia will listen to my music.”

“I am in pop music, which is not mainstream in Serbia and which is not supported by the media,” she told the interviewer, “Maybe you forget me and never again wish to do an interview with me, but that is up to you, not me.”

Who else was considered to represent Serbia in Kyiv?

In the meantime, it has been revealed which other singers were considered to represent Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017: Aleksandra Radovic, Jelena Tomasevic and Ivana Peters. All three of them are often cited as the best female vocalists in Serbia.

“They called me from RTS, but I could not accept it because I had already had other very important arrangements that were supposed to happen right after Eurovision,” Radovic commented. “But I think that the contest has changed a lot and that the focus is no longer on music, but on some other things.”

Jelena Tomasevic, who represented Serbia in 2008 with the song “Oro” and finished sixth, kindly refused the offer and explained that she was “not ready to venture into all that again.”

Ivana Peters, who composed Sanja Vucic ZAA’s 2016 entry “Goodbye (Shelter)“, also declined, citing health issues that prevent her from flying. The singer-songwriter was not by Vucic’s side last year in Stockholm for the same reason.

Are you excited for Tijana’s upcoming album? Do you think one of the three other singers would have done a better job in Kyiv than Tijana? Tell us in the comments section below!

Follow our Serbia Eurovision news here

33 Comments
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s
s
6 years ago

i am happy jelena,aleksandra and ivana refused,because if they were ever to go,i’d want them to go with a much better song. i can’t picture jelena singing this basic song after the masterpiece that was ”oro”.

EUROFAN MEXICO
6 years ago

JELENA AN SEIKO ARE GREATH SEND THEM AGAIN IN DUET

jj
jj
6 years ago

It is time for Serbia to send a male act. They haven’t had a male singer since Zeljko in 2012. It was the males who ended up with almost all the top 10 places in this year’s Eurovision. Many are tired of female singers with ballads.

MTD
MTD
6 years ago

WOW, I really like her. Why? This is how you manage your situation and non-qualification or everything in life, really. “I gave my best and I do not want to blame anyone for it. I have always said that tastes are different. Someone might not have liked the song, someone might not have liked the way I look, the way I sing. Here you have a battle of tastes so you have to be really careful when you choose who and what you send.” Can somebody give this as a USER MANUAL for the NQs or sore losers next year… Read more »

Charles
Charles
6 years ago
Reply to  MTD

This was a splendid way and I applaud her for her words. She does have a much better and more humble way to accept defeat instead of blaming neighbouring countries and political figures for it. Isn’t it Mr. Croatian Qween? #catchtheshade

MTD
MTD
6 years ago
Reply to  Charles

This is really great attitude which is so uncommon.

“This is me, this is my style, this is my song. If you like it, I am happy, if you don’t – I am happy to be here presenting what I really like. Life goes on.”

Oh, THIS is great. But yeah…that person from Croatia. LOL

Christian
Christian
6 years ago

Serbia should consider NOT engaging Swedish songwriters anymore. They know they could do better, especially with their own composers. I hope Željko is going to compose one of the 2018 songs.

jj
jj
6 years ago
Reply to  Christian

I read that it was the Swedish-Bulgarian team that had sent Serbia their songs to consider without Serbia/RTS requesting them.
So Serbia was not looking for outside help, but when they received the choice of songs, they decided to go with it.
I’m wonder if the same thing happened with Macedonia – that the composer team sent them their song too without Macedonia requesting it.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

Everything about Serbia’s entry was wrong this year. The song was way too bland, and the performance was even worse. I wish Tijana the best, but this was a huge fail, also considering that they called Swedish songwriters for this.

Charles
Charles
6 years ago

Swedish pop songs work better in the charts and radio airplay than on an Eurovision stage … unless you and your dancers use a treadmill to perform. I actually like the song, but that’s because I don’t imagine it being performed. Just me and my headphones and I’m all good, Not on a stage … it does not translate well without some sort of circus going on maybe.

jj
jj
6 years ago

Actually Serbia did NOT ask for these songs – the songs were sent by the Bulgarian-Swedish team to Serbia without it asking for them. They were presented for songs to consider for Eurovision. So you can say the Bulgarian-Swedish composer team was peddling their wares. I also wonder if that was what they for Macedonia too.
The info comes from a letter/rant written by Dusan Alagic (composer/musician) after Tijana failed to qualify.

Alex
Alex
6 years ago

I thought Serbia had a great performance, but it was placed too close to the very similar entry from Macedonia in the running order. The two entries sort of cancelled each other out. Moreover, going early didn’t help, and neither did having generic lyrics or a chorus that sounds a lot like Katy Perry’s “Firework” (in the sense that it didn’t have much of a novelty factor going for it).

nn
nn
6 years ago
Reply to  Alex

I agree, but EBU told us that new draw by producer and EBU refernce group is better , and they put from 1 to 10 place to Serbia sing first, Macedonia to sing 4 (after Russia withrdraw sing 3) , Romania to sing 6 ( 5)

Alex
Alex
6 years ago
Reply to  nn

Yeah, arguably they messed up in this case. But the running orders were otherwise quite good.

Charles
Charles
6 years ago
Reply to  nn

And don’t forget that while the chorus screamed Katy Perry. the verses screamed a Max Martin tune written for Kelly Clarkson … which one? Take a careful listen.

esc1234
esc1234
6 years ago

Apart from the fact that the song is meh, no offence but tijanas perfomance was not great. I mean, you can realise she was a backing singer for many years, she wasnt delivering well, while anja with a bad song went through because she perfomed amazing

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago
Reply to  esc1234

Anja went through because the juries gave her 96 points… she only got 5 from the televote.

Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago

Praise for srbian director and blame for mixed team in contest? Duahaha. That stage was an empty hall with doubtful dance routine (weaker than malteese from ’16), as weak as mess from greeks. Even better camera work wouldn’t save it. Also both countries were nagging about organisers while somehow rest did relavitely better than these ambitious two – no wonder though, I could even guess some political throw if keep in account that they’re not friendly much countries with ukrainian government. About Tijana: I’ve noticed that she didn’t look comforted there, still delivering very credible vocally. I wish her best… Read more »

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

Jelena was AMAZING in 2008! One of my favourite songs that year! I’d love to see her again at Eurovision some time! As for Serbia in general, a country doesn’t send a great song every single year. Some entries are weaker. It’s normal. “In too deep ” wasn’t that good and it didn’t qualify. Don’t forget the 2nd semi was open! Serbia is one of my favourite countries in the contest even since there was “Serbia and Montenegro” as one country. They’ve always sent decent songs, many of which were more than just good. To be honest, it was strange… Read more »

Milla
Milla
6 years ago

I remember when people went nuts over that instrumental snippet.. LOL

Azaad
Azaad
6 years ago
Reply to  Milla

To be fair, the instrumentation of the chorus was really good, and even with the verses. The downfall of Serbia came from the subpar vocal performance, bad running order and underwhelming staging. And it still came 11th (28th overall) in the semi final and within a few points of qualifying, suggesting that the songs had fans.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago
Reply to  Azaad

12 – Macedonia, Switzerland
10 – Croatia
6 – Austria
5 – France

Those fans were all Serbian immigrants, let’s face it. If it had been Malta’s song, it wouldn’t have hit double digits. It was basic and awfully performed (both vocals and choreography), it was clear from the very beginning that it would fail. The bookies had it 6th for a long while for some unexplainable reason…

nn
nn
6 years ago

But she got more points that juries , she was 3rd in Denmark with juries…

Ela
Ela
6 years ago

Wow Aleksandra, Jelena and Ivana are our most famous pop singers (Marija also) it would be great to see one of them on the Eurovision especialy Jelena cause I think Oro in 2008 was one of our best songs and I think it could’ve been in top 5 if Serbia wasn’t the host that year. Anyway I think Tijana did a great job but in my opinion we need to get back to our language and our type of songs

Möhrant
Möhrant
6 years ago

Serbia is one of my favourite countries in Eurovision and they sent a very credible entry that was well performed this year. Unfortunately, there are only ten spots in the final and poor Tijana only just missed out.

Side note: It seems to be a trend that when Serbia fails to qualify, they are one spot off making into the mix (as seen in 2009, 2013 and 2017).

M_K
M_K
6 years ago

“Our director Ivan Pasorovic received nothing but praise for his work.”

Come on… really?

Jo
Jo
6 years ago

Serbia was top 10 two years ago, so I guess they achieved something besides an excursion.
The results came from a combination of factors: average pop song, too early in the running order and forgettable performance.

Maniac
Maniac
6 years ago

Serbia should sing in serbian language , end of story , this song was just bad , serbian version of this song is better

KuhKatz
KuhKatz
6 years ago

The song itself was good enough to qualify, but the staging wasnt really memorable.

I just see the fact that almost every country is satisfied with the overall package but I dont see anyone really analysing, why their entry didnt work at all, as for most of them, reasons why they failed are pretty much obvious.

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
6 years ago

I would LOVE to see Jelena represent Serbia again, Oro was one of my favorites in 2008.

Davve
Davve
6 years ago

It wasnt anything wrong with her song… But her performance was forgettable

Lewis
Lewis
6 years ago

I think Serbia need to look at there previous entries that have done quite well… generally they have one thing in common, they are sung in serbo-Croat. It’s a beautiful language that allows for a beautiful song and a great finishing position, especially like Molitva and Nje Lubajve Star ( sorry it’s badly spelt)

Tomás Patrick davitt
Tomás Patrick davitt
6 years ago

“Our director Ivan received nothing but praise for his work”

Uh are you sure? I’m pretty sure everyone slated the boring staging