National final season is slowly coming to a close and Serbia finally kicked off their much anticipated selection process: Beovizija 2019. Twelve acts competed in the first of two semi-finals for six spots in the final on Sunday 3rd March. They served drama, passion and soul….but only the best would ultimately advance to the next round.
Who was in the running?
In total, Beovizija 2019 has 24 entries — 12 in each semi. Hosted by Dragana Kosjerina and Ivan Mihailović, the Serbian national selection showcased everything that the Balkan nation had to offer. The contest was kicked off with an explosive performance from the aptly named Funked Up and was wrapped up by diva-duo Natasa & Una with their number “Samo bez straha”. Additionally, last year’s returnee and winner of our poll for Beoviija, Saška Janks, performed in this semi-final along with the ultimate Yugoslav entrant in Eurovision – Extra Nena.
1. | Funked Up | “Zašto da se ne desi” |
2. | Aleksandra Sekulić | “Tugo” |
3. | Osvajači | “Voda i plamen” |
4. | Dunja Vujadinović | “7” |
5. | Mr. Doo | “Do 100” |
6. | Saška Janks | “Da li čuješ moj glas” |
7. | Ivan Kurtić | “Bela” |
8. | Sofija Perić | “Aritmija” |
9. | Extra Nena | “Još ti čujem glas” |
10. | Eleonora | “Samo Lagano” |
11. | Wonder Strings & Ivana Vladović | “Moja bol” |
12. | Nataša & Una | “Samo bez straha” |
On top of the 12 competing acts, in true Beovizija fashion, we were treated to a star-spangled list of interval acts. Much like last year where we had a catalogue of former Balkan Eurovision entries, numerous Eurovision acts from bygone years took to the stage once more to entertain the crowd. Bojana, Sanja and Jacques Houdek gave us a powerful rendition of Loreen’s “Euphoria”, which was then followed up by a solo performance of “Beauty Never Lies” by Bojana herself. To top that, Jacques Houdek, Sanja as well as Knez then performed their Eurovision entries one after another as well as cover of “Moltiva”, after which we were finally taken to the results.
Which lucky six made the final cut?
The axe had to fall. Only six acts would advance to the grand final from each heat to the grand final on Sunday. These were determined by both a jury of music professionals and a televote. In no particular order, the top six of the night that advanced to the final were:
1. Aleksandra Sekulić – “Tugo”
2. Saška Janks – “Da li čuješ moj glas”
3. Nataša & Una – “Samo bez straha”
4. Ivan Kurtić – “Bella”
5. Wonder Strings & Ivana Vladović – “Moja bol”
6. Sofija Perić – “Aritmija”
These six will be joined by six more acts who will qualify from tomorrow’s heat, bringing us to twelve finalists still in the running for Tel Aviv. Very soon, 24 will come down to 1 and Serbia will have their entrant for Eurovision 2019
What do you make of the six who advanced to the final? Are you surprised by the results? Did your favourite make the final cut? Let us know your opinion in the comments down below!
The 2 songs that stood out for me were Saška Janks – “Da li ?uješ moj glas” and “Moja bol” which reminded me of the old good times. Beautiful song.
Semi 2 qualifiers are again basically all the right songs – Kruna, Nema suza, Viktorija, Radnicki sin, Lutas, Budim te.
I knew Serbians have good taste. 🙂
What a wonderful show it was. And this wasjust the 1st semi! Those interval acts were fantastic
Saska needs to work on a stage performance, other than that that it is good. Moja bol is really nice too
Only Moja Bol was a great performance last night But Ivana Vladovic was a bit too stressed , I hope she is gonna chill out a bit in the finals !
Moja bol is pure masterpiece. Aritmija is püre horror.
I’m so so happy because Aleksandra Sekulic qualify in final, she was total outsider!!!She is so many beautiful that it not real…My favs Saska Janks and Ivana Vladovic are also qualify…Other finalists aren’t my “cap of tea”…I’m waiting Nevena Bozovic to qualify in final and to complete my choice.Also i can say to i’m disappointed with Saska’s performace because stage performance and styling which is not sync with song…But Beovizija 2019. is better organized of Beovizija 2018.
Kruna, Nema Suza or Moja Bol should represent us. All three songs are decent and could qualify. Anyone but Sashka tbh, her song is terrible and I’m tired of seeing her ads on youtube.
Is Sashka going to buy downvotes now just like she bought views (last year as well), made some bigger artists shill her song etc? Maybe write a decent song for once and you won’t need to waste money on stuff like this lmao.
We’re going to flop if she somehow manages to win.
I agree with you. She is a good singer but she needs a better song.
Frankly, I can’t see anyone *but* Sashka being a good choice, particularly after hearing the live. True, she could do with a slight revamp, but all the energy it needs is there.
Kruna will win
That would be fine, I suppose.
No, he won’t.
Unpopular opinion, but i wanted Funked Up to make it through, sad they didn’t
Ivana Vladovic has to win now. They were the best.
They were ok. Nothing more.
Natasa i Una and Ivan Kurtic were the best. The other finalists are also good but nothing we haven’t seen many times before.
I only liked ”Moja Bol” and I hope they win the whole thing (Dzenan will obviously win though, I like the song but it’s not for Eurovision at all). Sashka’s song has potential but that chorus is terrible, it ruins the whole song.
What makes you so sure Dzenan will win? Yes he will have a strong public vote, but the juries may not agree. And he would flop at Eurovision.
It is not really clear what the chorus is and what the bridge is. I find the part “za tebe babo/za tebe mamo” just briliant, and the part “o da li ?uješ…” is kind of an anticlimax after that.
Is there anywhere we can see the performances?
I believe it will be available on YouTube soon.
I hope so. I’ve seen that last year’s performances are there in the official channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC38DtsndJajrtKmveBwjnTg/featured ), so let’s wait and see.
Here it is, but I must warn you- the quality is pretty bad
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0mCzq_pXmX0vLLKVbUSlWA
Not just that but also the videos are so short 🙁 There’s a recap of the 12 performances in RTS’s website. Not enough to say who did well and who didn’t. http://www.rts.rs/page/rts/ci/%D0%95%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3/%D0%95%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3+2019/story/2832/beovizija-2019/3435823/srbija-bira-prve-finaliste-beovizije-2019-.html
Here it is, RTS released everything on their YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC38DtsndJajrtKmveBwjnTg
I think it’s time for us to send Zeljko Joksimovic again…
But, all jokes aside, Ivana Vladovic and Wonder Strings are still my favourite even though I didn’t like their staging.
Ivana Vladovic the best performance of the night!
That’s not true.
I’d trade Ivan Kurtic for Extra Nena instead, but other than that, quite solid picks. Haven’t seen live performances yet, so that might be the reason.
Shame for Extra Nena. So many diva wibes. And that voice!
I just have to say I am so proud of my country! RTS and the public vote definitely exceeded my expectations, and the picks for the final are amazing! Omg and the interval acts! I’m so over the moon! Sofija for the win!