Radio-televizija Srbije (RTS) have announced that Serbia will participate in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, due to take place at Kyiv’s International Exhibition Centre on 9th, 11th and 13th May. This will mark Serbia’s 10th appearance at Eurovision as an independent country after participating every year since 2007, with the exception of 2014 when Serbia withdrew due to financial difficulties.
Nevertheless, the financial difficulties of two years ago seem a long time ago now with head of entertainment at RTS, Olivera Kovačević, stating that the upcoming television season at RTS will be “the most expensive so far”. As a result, Ms Kovačević revealed that the entertainment department at RTS are already discussing various different types of national selection processes which could see the broadcaster return to a national final after the internal selection of ZAA’s lead vocalist Sanja Vučić in 2016. Sanja finished in a respectable 18th place with her emotional power ballad Goodbye (Shelter) in Stockholm.
This makes Serbia the 40th country to announce that they have applied to take part in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Of the 2016 participants, Australia, Moldova and San Marino are the only countries yet to announce their plans for the 2017 contest as Bosnia & Herzegovina have been forced to withdraw as a result of financial difficulties. In addition, Slovakia and Turkey are yet to rule out participation in 2017 with final decisions expected in the coming days.
Serbia have been very successful at Eurovision, with a victory on their debut in 2007 with Marija Šerifović’s Molitva and appearing in the grand final on seven of their nine appearances at the contest so far. Which artist do you think could give Serbia a second Eurovision victory? Post your suggestions in the comments below!
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