It’s the news that fans of Serbian pop divas have been waiting for: Sara Jo, once a member of Moje 3 and now a successful solo artist, has submitted an application for Serbian broadcaster RTS’ National Eurovision Selection.
Sara Jo submits entry to Serbia’s Eurovision 2022 selection
Sara announced the news on Twitter on 1 December, by posting a screengrab of the RTS website with a notification, saying “you have successfully submitted the application”. She submitted her application on the day of the deadline and joked with her followers that “we wouldn’t be us if we didn’t do this at the last minute…”.
Mi ne bismo bili mi da ovo nismo uradili u poslednjem trenutku… ??? pic.twitter.com/tSBZ68E38t
— Sara Jo (@MissSaraJo) December 1, 2021
Serbia’s Eurovision entry will not be selected through Beovizija in 2022, as Beovizija will be broadcast on a different channel to Serbian national broadcaster RTS. Instead, Serbia’s song for Turin will be selected through a new format, RTS Takmicenje za Pesmu Evrovizije (RTS Contest for the Eurovision Song).
Though fans have hoped for years that Sara would make a return to Eurovision, it feels fitting that she is considering Eurovision on the year that the Contest is hosted in Italy. Sara was born and raised in Italy, and even sings in Italian on her latest single Divlja.
Sara first took to the Eurovision stage in 2013, as part of the girlband Moje 3 with their song ‘Ljubav Je Svuda’. Though the group failed to make it past the semifinal, the members of Moje 3 went on to have successful solo careers. Her bandmate Nevena Bozovic even returned to Eurovision as a solo artist in 2019 with her ballad ‘Kruna’, finishing 18th in the Grand Final with 89 points.
Sara has released a string of successful solo singles since going it alone after Moje 3, most recently she has channeled her inner 90s chick with ‘Mili Mili’, served Brigerton realness alongside singer Edita in ‘Varalica’ and launched the lead single of her debut album, ‘Divlja’. In August, Sara became the first Serbian artist to perform at the closing ceremony of the WorldPride event in Copenhagen.
Since 2013, Eurovision fans have been craving a solo redemption for this Moje 3 teen turned fully-fledged pop diva. We’re crossing our fingers that 2021 will be the year we see it happen!
Would you like to see Sara Jo back at Eurovision? What style of song should she sing? Let us know below.
Sara Jo, Angelina, Zorja, Goca Tržan, Dušan Svilar submitted their songs. Aca Lukas also, i think. We will see, but this will be strong year for Serbia.
If Sara wins, hope she will have a better fate that Nevena (her song was actually really good, I don’t what went wrong with the juries) But I really don’t know what to expect from Sara (I don’t actually follow her music)
Moje 3 was such an outdated group in all the possible ways that I have no expectations, but nothing can be worse than that.
Moje 3 was only made for Eurovision. It didn’t exist before that. It was made to push the girls who got the top 3 in a voice contest.
The song was pretty good, but those RTS hired to do the staging ruined it with awkward choreography and weird distracting outfits.
I want someone not so popular here in Serbia to submit a banger song and crush everyone. All these “popular” singers never do anything worth noting (aside from a very few incredible songs – Željko Joksimovi? or Jelena Tomaševi?).
This is nothing against her but I’d like Serbia to send something different this year. After two years of Hurricane I don’t really want another upbeat female banger from Serbia. Personally I’d like to see them send a male vocalist. They’ve not sent a solo male vocalist to Eurovision in 10 years now.
So let me get this straight – you want them to send the same stuff they’ve been sending for 10+ years just because they tried something new twice? A male vocalist would automatically mean a ballad so no, thanks.
I also think that you can’t really compare Sara Jo and Hurricane. Hurricane are dangerously flirting with turbofolk, especially in Sanja’s parts and Sara is waaaaay more modern and West oriented then them.
A male vocalist would not automatically mean a ballad.
How many male performers whose songs are not ballads and aren’t signed with Grand Production are there? The only person that came to my mind was Sasa Kovacevic and I don’t recall him having very upbeat songs aside from those reggaeton attempts. (I just googled him and I can’t believe his face looks like that now)
Please, tell me. For whatever reason I only have a few male artists in my playlists and I certainly don’t keep up with the Serbian music scene. Maybe there are a few good options and I’m just unaware.
“Sending the same stuff they’ve been sending for 10+ years…” Okay so you clearly you don’t pay attention to what Serbia sends to Eurovision so here is a quick run down 2007 – Female led power ballad 2008 – Female led etherial ballad 2009 – Male led joke entry 2010 – Male led balkan pop 2011 – Female led upbeat dance pop 2012 – Male led balkan ballad 2013 – Female led dance pop group 2015 – Upbeat female led dance number 2016 – Female led power ballad 2017 – Upbeat female led dance number 2018 – Male/Female ethnic pop… Read more »
I was obviously exaggerating because that’s the sentiment most people have whenever Serbia goes with a slower song but I do have to admit I was sure there were more ballads in the mix than that. I’m actually not that into the “yaas kween” bops that much, I just want them to shake up their image. I’m sure most ESC fans would say Serbia is known for sending ethnic ballads. Every Beovizija so far had a bunch of Balkan ballads, dated rock and only a few upbeat songs, always with lackluster production. I would like to see something fresh and… Read more »
To be fair 2018 had a slow balladlike beginning and the 2015 entry also starts slow and then speeds up. That’s why it seems like we are sending a ballad every year
I liked Moje 3 but their performance and infamous dresses were a disaster, what seemed to be a safe qualifier was thrown in the mud completely. Nevena had a wonderful entry in 2019 and I’m sure Sara Jo can serve some magic as well, Serbia’s track record at ESC recently is good but not great and they seem to struggle appealing to juries and televoters outside the Balkans. Also been a whole decade since their last Top 5 finish so I hope RTS are pushing towards full speed to get close to victory again!
Some think Serbia will never get above 15th place with the current system. The juries deliberately downgrade Serbia and work against it. I mean when Nevena sings perfectly but is ranked near or at the very bottom by several countries’ juries versus others who sang poorly and off-key, then there is something fixed in the contest.
Also, with the juries you have 5 people controlling 50% of a countries’ points – that is just too much power and a recipe for corruption.
Wow, really? I didn’t know this!! Why would do that to Serbia?
This is going to be our strongest national final to date.
If you like turbofolk, yes. If you’re like rest of the world, probably not.
Anyway, RTS hasn’t even announced the participants, so we may see some awfulness, like Aca Lukas.
Oh, alright, alright. I assume there will be some great artists at the Serbian National Final this year! Fingers crossed!
i have been waiting for this day for years <3 she better win
Zorja Pajic is gonna be the best representer of Serbia ever!! Get ready Europe for her!!
I hope to be proven wrong but my expectations are low. She has a nice voice but just holding a microphone and swaying side to side doesn’t cut it at the ESC. It took Hurricane 2 years to figure out a stage performance and they went right back to their ‘everybody fend for yourself’ dance style as soon as it was over. There’s no need for them to learn new choreographies and practice when they can earn the same amount of money by just going through the motions and jumping around to the track. Also, Zorja’s first single was super… Read more »
Yes, it would depend on the song for Zorja, but a song that plays to her strengths – high notes and some metal/rock style of singing and behavior – would set her apart from all previous Serbian entries/singers.
I remember Sara was my favorite in Moje 3, I loved her voice. So excited to see what she will give us.
Exciting! She can serve us a great pop banger!
I’m expecting serbian NF to be one of the best this year!
Can we real quickly just mention how uninspired “RTS Takmicenje za Pesmu Evrovizije (RTS Contest for the Eurovision Song)” is as a TV show title. Like… they really couldn’t think of something with an ounce of creativity, could they.
Direct and straight to the point. I like it.
Well, most of the other NF shows also have not-so-exciting names as well. Melodifestivalen is literally “Melody Festival”, MGP is just “Melody Grand Prix”, others either have “Eurovision Song Contest” or National Selection” like Romania, Russia, Belarus, Malta and Ukraine, and there’s even “A Song For Europe”. As boring as those names are, broadcasters stuck through it and really just owned it, which is probably why many Eurofans don’t really mind it.
Also it makes sense to have boring names so that everyone knows what the show’s purpose is.
I had the feeeling she was going to make the move this year. I think she’ll be a strong contestant. I’ll be rooting for her
I’m glad how Hurricane encouraged more popular singers to apply and with it increased the reputation of Beovizija, but I’m looking forward to see Teodora Dzehverovic on Beovizija one day, which will most likely be in 2023 as she has American tour this year. 🙂
PS: I did not know she was member of Moje 3
Serbia has better acts on offer.
You obviously know nothing about the Serbian music industry then
Ok and? If there are better acts they will win, nothing wrong with submitting a song.
Looking at your previous comments on this website you must have a sad and depressing lifestyle.
Well they have better singers/voices for sure. I don’t like her voice – I find it weak and she has no breath support. I think she would flounder singing a song live on the Eurovision stage. You need a voice with some power that can project for a big stage. If she was in a duet with a good male voice, she might do okay. I think that was the problem with Tijana Bogicevic – who is much more talented vocally than Sara – but Tijana lacks enough power for a large stage, so she didn’t do well.
Ohh I’m excited to see what she brings