Wednesday 2 May 2012

Serbia - 2012

Wanting to take the crown in Baku is Željko Joksimović who will represent Serbia. He will sing Nije Ljubav Stvar, which in English, translates to "love is not an object".



Željko is huge! He is famous in a vast number of European countries, and I'm not just talking about Bosnia & Herzegovina either! As well as that, he has lots of involvement with the ESC in recent years. In 2004, Željko was pipped at the post by Ruslana of Ukraine, finishing 2nd for Serbia & Montenegro. After Molitva of 2007, he co-hosted in Belgrade, as well as write the Serbian entry for 2008, which ended up finishing 6th. Any BBC viewers might remember Terry Wogan banging on about how brilliant the Serbian entry was in 2008? Anyway, he has a very large fan base in Europe, so he is naturally, already highly popular and one of the favourites to take the win. To the song then!

Well there have been a number of people working on Nije Ljubav Stvar - and it seems quite evident that Serbia are gunning for Belgrade 2013! Željko composed the song, combined with a number of writers...and there will be a number of instrumentalists and backing vocals going on stage with Željko in Baku...and according to a few sources, James Cruz has done the postproduction and mastering on Nije Ljubav Stvar. For those that don't know who Cruz is (I didn't, had to look him up), he is very well-known in the music industry, having worked with a great number of stars, including Beyonce and Nina Simone, and he has taken 9 grammy awards. So yes, Serbia are taking this very seriously. So I don't want to put a bummer on it...BUT...
Is this not just a little bit boring? Personally, I like the song, but that's about it. I don't love it, would not listen to it over and over again, and am not going to remember it in 12 months time. Sorry to any Željko Joksimovic fans, but the song isn't that great. I will admit it has a nice arrangement and there is emotion in the song. But this ballad doesn't have the same feel to me as say Korake Ti Znam, which feels a lot more classy and emotional.
Maybe I am being overly pessimistic and critical, but I just don't value the song that highly, especially compared to a lot of other songs entered for 2012. (And also, it's just a theory, but does the arrangement not remind you a little bit of Molitva? The composition is a little too similar not to go unnoticed).
But there we go...I have written so much about a man with a song that I'm not overly fussed about. This tells me immediately about how crazy people will be for him in Baku...how the media will go into a frenzy trying to talk to him...and how people will be expecting a massive performance from him. He will perform 1st in the second semi-final. Usually this would be hugley problematic...for one he is a man, two the song isn't in English, and three, it's first! But I don't see Željko having any problems in qualifying. Will it win? Now that does depend on the draw. If this performs 25th then quite possibly Željko would stand a chance, but it's too hard to predict from so early on. The following song rating is personal, I'm sure many of you will disagree, but I feel the liklihood to win rating is fairly unbiased:

Song Rating: 5/10
Liklihood to win: 8/10

Current odds: 10-1                       (oddschecker.com)

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