At Eurovision 2015 she wowed audiences in Vienna with her powerful vocals and message of tolerance.
And last Sunday Serbia’s Bojana Stamenov stayed true to the theme of her Eurovision song, as she performed “Beauty Never Lies” at Belgrade Pride.
Speaking to the TV magazine Premijera (Premiere), which airs on TV Pink, Bojana said: “All of us that walk on this planet, no matter what religion or sexual orientation we are, should respect each other.”
Fast forward to the 5:00 mark in the video below to see Bojana speaking. (And fast forward to 6:55 if you want to hear Dana International playing in the background)!
Her appearance came on Sunday — at the conclusion of festivities — amid heightened security.
Unfortunately Serbia’s LGBT community still faces plenty of challenges, forcing officials to call in thousands of riot police to cordon off the city centre and parade route as a pre-emptive measure. Thankfully, and as proof that the situation is improving, there were no major incidents.
Bojana was one of three pop stars that performed at Pride, the others being Serbian popstrel Natasa Bekvalac and 80s Croatian star Marina Perazic.
Natasa shared this pic of the trio with her 353,000 Instagram followers, along with the caption: “In room 23”. That refers to “Room 23”, a song performed by Perazic’s former group Dennis & Dennis. It was a big hit in Yugoslavia in the 80s. Obviously.
Apart from the three singers, several other celebrities attended the parade to show their support, including actress Mirjana Karanovic and the Mayor of Belgrade Sinisa Mali.
A considerable number of straight people showed up to cheer on the LGBT community and spread the idea of tolerance.
Many of them actually brought their kids with them so they could hear Bojana’s message — that we should all be free to express who we love — up close. Colour us emotional!
Bojana is now getting ready for new professional challenges, as she will make her theatre debut in the musical Tajna crne ruke (The Secret of the Black Hand) this October.
Surprised it went ahead. A lot of Serbians are homophobic animals.
I think ”Beauty never lies” is a song about how everyone has his/hers beauty no matter what other people say. ”Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”, and I think it is about Bojana being overweight, but it can be about gay too if they like it.
I think people mistake ‘Beauty never Lies” for a gay song 🙂 Maybe I am biased, but I dont think it is meant to be ‘gay’ at all. People seem to misunderstand the “finally I can say….” Part. Look at the song title 🙂 i think it is more about the fact that looks are not so importmat. Personality is more important. It is ok to look “unusual” etc and that real beauty comes from inside….so a nice message lyrically then 🙂 (rather cheesy melody though in my opinion)
In Eastern Europe you can see crazy religious, but also many people who don’t care about LGBT and are peaceful, but the problem is with the politiciens from parliament, because they are cowards, they could create laws, but they just want to win next elections, so they do not take any risk.
I can totally see Bojana doing theater. She’s got the voice and personality for it. Good luck to her!