RTS confirm an internal selection for Serbia in 2017

In the last few minutes, Serbian national broadcaster RTS have confirmed that they will internally select their entry for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Serbia confirmed their participation in October. At the time, the head of entertainment at RTS, Olivera Kovačević, revealed that the broadcaster was discussing “various different types of national selection processes”. This was because the upcoming television season at RTS would be “the most expensive so far”. Therefore, it was possible that RTS would use their larger budget to stage a national selection. Nevertheless, the broadcaster has finally decided that they would internally select their entry for the second consecutive year. In early March, the entry will be revealed.

Ten years since Serbia’s historic victory

Ten years ago, Serbia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent nation. In a historic turn of events, the Balkan nation went on to win at their first attempt. Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki ahead of Ukraine’s Verka Serduchka. Her song, Molitva, remains the most recent Eurovision winning song to not contain any English language lyrics. Every single winning song from 2008 onwards had been performed entirely in English, up until 2016 when Jamala included Crimean Tatar language lyrics in 1944.

Last year, Serbia internally selected Sanja Vučić to represent them. Her power ballad Goodbye (Shelter) only just qualified from the second semi-final, finishing in 10th place. Sanja gathered more support in the final, finishing 18th in a field of 26. Prior to the country’s absence in 2014, Serbia had presented seven consecutive entries entirely in Serbian. Nevertheless, both their entries in 2015 and 2016 were performed entirely in English. It remains to be seen whether Serbia will stick to their new formula or revert back to their pre-2014 use of the Serbian language.
Which artist would you like to see represent Serbia in 2017? Do you think an internal selection is the right decision by RTS? Let us know in the comments section below or via our Facebook and Twitter pages @escXtra!