Blast from the past: Serbia 2017

We know a lot about Eurovision. We want to share our knowledge by highlighting former Eurovision songs in a blast from the past. Today: Serbia’s entry from 2017.

Selection

Serbian broadcaster RTS decided to ask its music editors to select a participant. On February 27th it became public that Tijana Bogićević was going to be the Serbian participant for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine. She was going to sing a song written by the songwriters team Symphonix International. Borislav Milanov, Joacim Bo Persson, Johan Alkenäs and Lisa Ann-Mari Linder would take the challenge to write the song.

Tijana Bogićević

Tijana Bogićević was 35 years old when she was presented as the 2017 Serbian contestant. Her career started in 2001 when she sang as a backing vocal for Vlada Georgieva. In those days, she also sang in a band called Shanene. She did an earlier attempt to go to Eurovision, back in 2009. It was not a great success: her song “”Pazi šta radiš” did not get any votes in the semifinal of Beovizija, the Serbian national selection. Two years later, in 2011, she actually sang on the Eurovision stage: as a backing vocalist for Serbian representant Nina, who sang “Čaroban” to a place in the final. 

In too deep

The song Symphonix International wrote for Tijana was called “In too deep”. It was a song about someone who madly fell in love. “Won’t somebody save me tonight? Feels like I’ve been sentenced to life. I’m falling so deep, I’m in too deep, I’m falling so deep”, she sings. On March 11th, the song was debuted on YouTube. For promotion, Tijana went to the promo concerts in Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Madrid.

Rehearsals in Kiev

The rehearsals in Kiev went well. Tijana sang well; however, there was a problem. According to many people, the song was okay, but it did not really stand out. It would therefore not be an easy match for Tijana to get into the final. Half of the journalists, present in the press centre, predicted a place for Serbia in the final. The other half did not expect Tijana to make it.

Results

The same thing happened when the real jury had to vote: the juries were divided. The expert jury gave Serbia an 11th place, the televoters wanted the song to be in the final with a 10th place. The televoting juries from North Macedonia and Switzerland even gave it their 12 points. It was not enough. In the overall result, Serbia became 11th and thus did not reach the final.

After Eurovision

This definitely did not end Tijana’s career. She released her debut album “Čudo” in 2018. It contained many of the songs she released before. The follow up of “In too deep” was the song “Dodirni me“. After that, she scored a hit song in duet with Damir Kedžo, the man who was supposed to represent Croatia in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest. Their song, “Hram“, became a hit in Croatia in 2021.

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After the Eurovision fame: Sandra Kim
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Sandra Kim, born Sandra Caldarone in Montegnée (Liège, Belgium) on October 15, 1972, won the Eurovision Song Contest in Bergen (Norway) at the age of 13.5 in 1986, making her the youngest winner in the history of the festival.   J’aime la vie Her single, “J’aime la vie,” quickly achieved double platinum status. With over 350,000 copies sold in Belgium and 1.4 million worldwide, it topped the Belgian Top 50 for weeks. The following year, she participated in the Yamaha Tokyo Festival, finishing in fourth place alongside Eros Ramazzotti. Together with the Italian singer, she embarked on a tour of Japan. A few months later, Sandra was asked to sing the theme song for the animated series “Il était une fois la vie,” composed by Michel Legrand. She then enjoyed success with numerous singles, albums, gold records, and television appearances in Belgium and internationally. Her fame extended to the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Romania, Israel, Japan, and the United States. Personal life Sandra Kim is of Italian descent. Her parents came to Belgium in the 1950s. In 2001 she married Jurgen Dlanghe.The singer also really wanted children, but, as she said: “Mother Nature didn’t grant them to me”. And the singer is still very sad about that. Furthermore, Sandra Kim is very discreet about her private life. The media attention is mainly focused on her work as an artist National Career Since 1990 she has focused mainly on her national career: she performed a patriotic song “J’aime mon pays” (I love my country)  before the Belgian royal family for King Boudewijn’s 60th birthday and his 40 years on the throne. That same year, she co-presented the music show “10 qu’on aime” on RTL-TVI. Her TV presence continued with her role as a jury member on “Pour la Gloire” in 1996 and singing “Song for Kosovo” in 1997 with Helmut Lotti and Paul Michiels. She then joined the cast of “Les Misérables” in Antwerp as Éponine. In the early 2000s, she performed as a soloist in musical revue shows touring Flanders and the Netherlands. In 2003, to celebrate Belgium’s monarchy’s 10th anniversary, Sandra and other artists recorded “Mon Pays.” ( My country).  In 2005, she performed “No n’ho l’eta” at Eurovision’s 50th anniversary gala. From 2006, she explored soul music with “The SouldivaZ,”   In 2011, she sang the Belgian national anthem in three languages at the Spa- Francorchamps F1 Grand Prix, and a documentary about Eurovision, “L’Autre vie,” ( The orher life)  was produced. The following years saw her sharing her life on TV, performing for national celebrations, and releasing new singles reflecting her Italian roots. In 2017 and 2018, she participated in Télévie and paid homage to Maurane. She collaborated on the “Bella Italia” project with Marco Z and Bejir, celebrating Italian culture. In 2022, she released the single “Gravity,” marking her 50th birthday, with a special concert and new song “Take me as I am.” In 2023, she performed at “The Masked Singer,” “Night of the Proms,” and celebrated her career milestones. She’s also involved in holiday projects and special commemorations. Sandra Kim is still active. Her current schedule can be found here Share

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After the Eurovision fame: Sandra Kim
After the Eurovision Fame
Anja Kroeze

After the Eurovision fame: Sandra Kim

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