Back in September, Serbia’s RTS published the submissions form for their 2022 national final. With the December 1st deadline passed, RTS has now officially announced that they have received 150 songs for Beovizija! This is much more than the number of submissions of the 2020 edition of Beovizija, which received 90 in total.
Famous names?
While not much is yet revealed about the composers and artists, Serbian news outlets are reporting that there are several famous names among the competitors. These names include Sara Jo, Angelina, Goca Tržan, Igor Simić, as well as Dušan Svilar, whose song is performed by Bajaga. Eurovision fans might know Sara Jo from her participation in 2013, when she was part of the girl group Moje 3, who sang “Ljubav Je Svuda.”
The selection process
Olivera Kovačević, the editor-in-chief of the RTS Entertainment Program announced that over the course of the next 10 days, a jury (formed of representatives from Radio Beograd, PGP RTS records and RTS’ music editors) will listen to all the songs and make a selection of songs that will compete in Beovizija.
The broadcaster is aiming for 30 songs to compete in the selection overall, but this may be higher or lower depending on the quality of songs received. Although the selection is slated to take place in February, the jury reserves the right to select the entry internally if the pandemic prevents the selection from going ahead.
Following the internal selection of Tijana Bogićević in 2017, Beovizija was used by RTS to select their entrants between 2017 and 2020.
Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
In 2020, Balkan pop sensation Hurricane won Beovizija 2020 with a maximum total of 24 points from the combined televote and jury scores with their song “Hasta La Vista”. However, just weeks after selection, the EBU had to unfortunately cancel the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
After much media speculation and public desire to see the girls return, RTS finally confirmed the news everyone had been waiting for in November 2020. Earlier this year, RTS made the decision to hold an internal song selection for Hurricane, and later released “Loco Loco”.
Having become a huge regional hit, the semi-final in which the entry qualified scored a 43% viewership share last Thursday. It also surged above its fellow semi two entries in terms of YouTube views. At the Grand Final, Hurricane placed 15th with 102 points, notably placing 9th in the televote.
Who would you like to see represent Serbia next? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify and YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the 2022 national final season!
