SERBIA 2024

       


PZE (Pesma za Evroviziju) is always one of the strongest national finals, and it was wide open once again this year. Representing Serbia in May: Teya Dora and "Ramonda":


About the Artist

Teodora Pavlovska, a 31-year-old singer from Bor in eastern Serbia, went viral last year with her song "Džanum" and her PzE entry this year was very widely anticipated. She went to Berklee College in Boston, apparently at the same time as Charlie Puth.

Best Things We Lost Along the Way

  • Breskvica, "Gnezdo orlovo", 2nd: The landslide televote winner, but the juries weren't on board. Rather controversial lyrics - could easily be interpreted as being anti-Albanian.
  • Zorja, "Lik e ogledalu", 3rd: The requisite Balkan James Bond ballad, one of the most impressive vocal performances of the national final season.
  • Konstrakta, "Novo, bolje", 4th: Back again with more political commentary - this one about politicians promising new, better things while nothing actually changes. The staging purposely reflects that.
  • Zejna, "Najbolja", 5th: Literally saying "Zejna is the best", it's really more about Romani acceptance in Serbia.

Song Analysis

Ramonda is a flower, generally used in a similar way to the poppy in Britain - this song is about World War I. Certainly it's very moving. I do keep waiting for it to build to something, and that never quite happens, but I think that's fine?

Serbia's History


Certainly one of the strongest modern Eurovision countries, Serbia won on their 2007 debut and have generally made it to the final almost every year. They also consistently send songs in Serbian - one of the few countries with such a track record of native-language entries.


One of my favorite ESC countries - 7th overall, 5th among currently competing nations. 

Prognosis

Semi 1 is tough, and this could easily get buried. But Serbia has their televote friends in here, and there just aren't many songs that sound like this. I'd feel hopeful if I were Teya Dora.

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