Through our Best of the Bunch series, we gave a recap on the Eurovision entries from 2006 to 2015 and gave you the opportunity to choose your Best of the Bunch. As you may remember, the current Best of the Bunch winners were put into our ‘Ultimate Eurovision’ but it’s time to see which of the latest three entries have remained as your favourites! In our Best of the Bunch: The Trials series, we are going to recap the entries from a certain nation starting with 2016 and continuing through to the latest Eurovision season of 2018. Your job is to simply enjoy the music, and vote for your Best of the Bunch winner!
Today we will be looking at the most recent three entries from Serbia, a nation with a fairly successful history at Eurovision since their independent debut in 2007. Having won the contest on debut, and also having a third place finish, Serbia know how to bring their A-game when it comes to Eurovision, but they aren’t always at the top of the results table! We will be recapping the latest three entries, then it will be up to you to decide which is the Best of the Bunch!
Serbia 2016
Starting us off today is the internally selected Sanja Vučić who revealed her English language entry Goodbye (Shelter) with a positive reception from Eurovision fans. It was a strong entry reminiscent of the former winning song Molitva, with the main difference being the language the song would be performed in. It was a strong ballad that with good staging had the potential to climb up the ladder. At Eurovision, Sanja only just qualified into the final in 10th place, and even with a powerful stage performance, the song managed to reach only 18th place with 115 points.
Serbia 2017
The following year, an internal selection was once again used to select the Serbian Eurovision entrant, and it was announced that it would be Tijana Bogićević who would represent the nation with her song In Too Deep. This was not her first experience at Eurovision, having first attempted to represent the nation in 2009, but then also being a backing singer for Nina at Eurovision 2011. Although an experienced artist, Tijana’s semi-final opening song only just missed out on reaching the final finishing in 11th place with 98 points, just three points behind Denmark who placed 10th.
Serbia 2018
Finishing off today’s Best of the Bunch trials is the most recent entry from Serbia, which as you may remember was Sanja Ilić & Balkanika. The group was selected through a national final, which was a selection process unlike the previous few years. The group aimed to connect traditional sounds with more modern styles of music, and the result of that was the song Nova Deca. It had mixed reviews within the Eurovision community, but on the night the votes were on their side, having qualified into the final at 9th place. In the final itself, the group finished in 19th place with 113 points.
So now you’ve seen all three performances, it’s time to vote for your Best of the Bunch!
If you want more Best of the Bunch from Serbia, check out our original series:
If you want to check out who made our Ultimate Eurovision, check it out here: