Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Beovizija 2019 was the ninth edition of the Beovizija national final organised by RTS in order to select the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The selection consisted of two semi-finals featuring twelve songs each to be held on 27 and 28 February 2019, respectively, and a final featuring twelve songs to be held on 3 March 2019. The three shows were broadcast on RTS1, RTS HD, RTS Svet and RTS Planeta as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website rts.rs.[5]

Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries between 8 August 2018 and 15 November 2018. Artists were required to be Serb citizens and submit entries in one of the official languages of the Republic of Serbia, while songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit songs. At the closing of the deadline, 76 submissions were received.[6] A selection committee consisting of RTS music editors reviewed the submissions and selected twenty-four entries to proceed to the national final. The selected competing entries were announced on 10 January 2019 and among the competing artists were Extra Nena, who represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992, and Nevena Božović who represented Serbia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 and 2013, the latter as part of the group Moje 3.[7]

Two semi-finals took place at the Studio 8 of RTS in Košutnjak, Belgrade on 27 and 28 February 2019. Semi-final 1 was hosted by Dragana Kosjerina and Ivan Mihailović and semi-final 2 was hosted by Nebojša Milovanović and Ana Babić.[8] In each semi-final twelve songs competed and six qualifiers for the final were decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Zoran Lesendrić (musician), Dragomir Stanojević (musician), Nenad Pribak (president of OGAE Serbia), Aleksandar Aleksov (composer and producer) and Ivana Peters (singer-songwriter), and the Serbian public via SMS voting.

In addition to the competing entries, other performers and former Eurovision contestants featured during the shows. Knez, who represented Montenegro in 2015, Bojana Stamenov, who represented Serbia in 2015, Sanja Vučić, who represented Serbia in 2016, and Jacques Houdek, who represented Croatia in 2017, featured as guest performers in semi-final 1; and Emilija Kokić, who won the contest for Yugoslavia in 1989 as member of the band Riva, Laka and Mirela, who represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2008, Jelena Tomašević, who represented Serbia in 2008, Kaliopi, who represented Macedonia in 2012 and 2016, Lea Sirk, who represented Slovenia in 2018, and Sanja Ilić and Balkanika, which represented Serbia in 2018, featured as guest performers in semi-final 2.[9][10]

The final, hosted by Dragana Kosjerina, Ivan Mihailović, Nebojša Milovanović and Ana Babić, took place at the Studio 8 of RTS in Košutnjak, Belgrade on 3 March 2019 and featured the twelve qualifiers from the preceding two semi-finals. The winner, "Kruna" performed by Nevena Božović, was decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Miša Aleksić (musician), Bojana Stamenov (represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015), Dejan Ivanović (lyricist), Goca Tržan (singer) and Aleksandar Milić Mili (composer and producer), and the Serbian public via SMS voting. Former Eurovision contestant Željko Joksimović, who represented Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 and Serbia in 2012, was featured as a guest performer during the show.[11]

Nevena Božović during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Nevena Božović took part in technical rehearsals on 4 and 9 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 13 and 14 May. This included the jury show on 13 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Serbian performance featured Nevena Božović performing in a black dress and silver accessories which included a necklace, wristband and upper armband. The stage lighting and background LED screens predominately displayed silver colours in the shape of a broken glass which transitioned to yellow and orange colours in the shape of a floating galaxy as the broken glass shatter throughout the song. The performance also featured smoke effects.[17][18] Nevena Božović was joined by four off-stage backing vocalists: Ivana Vladović, Olga Popović, Dušan Alagić and Mladen Lukić. Lukić had previously represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 as part of the group Balkanika.[19]

At the end of the show, Serbia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Serbia placed seventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 156 points: 65 points from the televoting and 91 points from the juries.

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Serbia was drawn to compete in the second half.[20] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Serbia was subsequently placed to perform in position 24, following the entry from Italy and before the entry from Switzerland.

Nevena Božović once again took part in dress rehearsals on 17 and 18 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Nevena Božović performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 18 May. Serbia placed eighteenth in the final, scoring 89 points: 54 points from the televoting and 35 points from the juries.

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.[21]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Serbia and awarded by Serbia in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following members comprised the Serbian jury:[21]

• Sanja Ilić (jury chairperson) – composer, represented Serbia in the 2018 contest with Balkanika
• Aleksandra Milutinović – composer
• Leontina Vukomanović – singer, composer
• Silvana Grujić – editor of music programme RTS
• Vojislav Aralica (Voja) – music producer

Detailed voting results from Serbia (Semi-final 1)[22]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		S. Ilić	A. Milutinović	L. Vukomanović	S. Grujić	Voja	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Cyprus	4	5	4	3	4	3	8	11
02	Montenegro	1	1	1	1	1	1	12	3	8
03	Finland	10	14	13	14	7	11		15
04	Poland	9	13	10	4	8	8	3	13
05	Slovenia	7	4	3	5	3	4	7	2	10
06	Czech Republic	2	3	2	2	2	2	10	10	1
07	Hungary	3	2	5	11	5	5	6	1	12
08	Belarus	6	6	9	7	9	7	4	7	4
09	Serbia
10	Belgium	15	7	14	13	13	13		14
11	Georgia	14	11	12	12	11	14		16
12	Australia	5	9	8	6	6	6	5	4	7
13	Iceland	16	16	16	16	16	16		5	6
14	Estonia	13	10	7	8	15	10	1	8	3
15	Portugal	12	15	15	15	14	15		12
16	Greece	8	8	6	9	10	9	2	9	2
17	San Marino	11	12	11	10	12	12		6	5

Detailed voting results from Serbia (Final)[23]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		S. Ilić	A. Milutinović	L. Vukomanović	S. Grujić	Voja	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	14	12	5	20	12	12		19
02	Albania	20	15	25	25	25	25		15
03	Czech Republic	9	8	6	10	2	7	4	12
04	Germany	10	9	17	22	20	17		24
05	Russia	16	6	16	9	19	14		3	8
06	Denmark	13	18	10	14	1	9	2	16
07	San Marino	21	24	24	24	8	18		10	1
08	North Macedonia	2	1	2	7	3	1	12	1	12
09	Sweden	3	3	4	1	18	3	8	17
10	Slovenia	12	23	11	15	10	16		2	10
11	Cyprus	11	13	9	12	9	13		18
12	Netherlands	7	7	13	13	17	11		8	3
13	Greece	24	22	18	21	13	22		23
14	Israel	25	20	14	17	16	20		22
15	Norway	22	19	15	5	14	15		7	4
16	United Kingdom	19	17	22	16	15	21		25
17	Iceland	17	25	21	18	21	24		6	5
18	Estonia	6	14	12	2	4	5	6	21
19	Belarus	18	16	23	19	22	23		13
20	Azerbaijan	1	11	19	4	23	8	3	14
21	France	8	10	7	11	24	10	1	20
22	Italy	5	2	1	6	6	2	10	4	7
23	Serbia
24	Switzerland	4	4	8	8	7	6	5	5	6
25	Australia	15	5	3	3	5	4	7	11
26	Spain	23	21	20	23	11	19		9	2