Serbia Semi-Final One (the one without Konstrakta or Teya Dora)
The first semifinal of “Pesma za Evroviziju” was held on Thursday, Feb 27, and eight songs move onto the Finals on Saturday out of fourteen alongside some great theming and the expected Abba tribute.
Among the highlights and recommended songs:
- Zorja ("Lik u ogledalu") was the clear winner of the night. A strong vocal and intriguing staging involving dancers holding mirrors and removing a wig at the end, this is the one song that I could see winning on Saturday.
- Marko Mandić was a surprise qualification with the song "Dno." Staged like he was appearing on a talk show, complete with a makeup chair, it made enough of an impression to make the Finals.
- Lena Kovačević’s performance ("Zovi me Lena") grew on me over her three minutes. Starting soft and extending into a sequence where it was just her and her band’s silhouette, it turned into something special. She’s performing next-to-last on Saturday so will benefit from a performance order bump.
- "Elektroljubav" by Saša Báša and Virtual Ritual was the “interesting” song of the night. Set inside a computer, I think, game avatars came in over the course of the performance (complete with T-Poses) and were shut off at the end. It’s worth checking out, even if it had no chance of qualifying.
- Another non-qualifier worth watching was Ivana Vladović’s "Jaka” aka “Strong.” As she sang, a bodybuilder dressed as a bull came out and confronted her, and they fought in slow-motion complete with blur effects. While it didn’t quite work, I enjoyed the attempt.
- Finally, attention must be paid to Hristina for "Bedem.” It takes real strength to sing the last minute of your song while hanging from a flying rig. Points to the production team for attaching the cables while the camera was in closeup.
Overall, a very solid showing that sets Serbia up for a killer Final on Saturday!