Best of the Bunch: Serbia

Serbia debuted as an independent nation in 2007, and for the most part, has had a successful run, with a winning act on debut as Serbia, and the worst result being 11^th in the semi-final. Not bad at all! Today, we’re going to be recapping the Serbian entries between 2007 and 2015 to decide which is the Best of the Bunch!

Serbia set the bar high on debut, with Marija Šerifović who performed the ballad Molitva. Her voice, and the drama of the song sent it to the top of the leaderboard with 298 points. This was also the most recent time where the winning Eurovision song was sung completely in a language other than English. Go Serbia!

The following year, with Serbia as the host nation, they sent Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić with the song called Oro. It was another dramatic ballad, and although it had automatically qualified to the final, it still made a great impression with audiences, ending up in 6^th place with 160 points.

In 2009, Serbia took a more comical approach to Eurovision, sending the duo of Marko Kon and Milaan. The song was called Cipela, and only just missed out on the final by a hair. They came 10^th in the semi-final, which would usually send them to the final, however in 2009 the jury qualifier was Croatia, which took the place of Serbia.

The next year, Serbia continued with the fun, upbeat theme and sent Milan Stanković. With the song Ovo je Balkan, Milan captured the voters hearts and came in 5^th in the semi-final, and finished just outside the top 10 in the final, with 72 points in 13^th place.

In 2011, Serbia sent Nina with the song Čaroban. The retro, cutesy theme for the stage show was enough to push Nina into the qualifying top 10 in the semi-final, and then in the final finishes only one place lower that Milan the previous year, with a total of 85 points.

The following year, Serbian Eurovision royalty Željko Joksimović took to the Eurovision stage once again to attempt to score Serbia’s second Eurovision win as an independent nation. The song was called Nije Ljubav Stvar, and it was in his usual Balkan ballad style. He hasn’t lost his touch, ending up in 3rd place in the final with 214 points.

In 2013, the girl group called Moje 3, which included a former Junior Eurovision singer, performed the song Ljubav je Svuda. Unfortunately, the girls ended up in Serbia’s worst Eurovision position, which still wasn’t that bad, coming in at 11^th place. Maybe the costumes were a bit much?

In 2014, unfortunately Serbia did not participate.

Returning in 2015, the participant was chosen through a national final, where three songs were specifically written, and the challenge was to find the right singer to fit the song. Out of three potential acts, Bojana Stamenov took charge with the song Ceo Svet je Moj, which for Eurovision was then changed to Beauty Never Lies. This was the first time the Serbian song featured a language other than Serbian. It still managed to impress audiences, coming in at 10^th place in the final with 53 points.

And that leads us to the end of our road in Serbia’s Best of the Bunch! Make sure you vote in the poll down below to tell us which is your favourite song between the years 2007 and 2015!