We’re less than 10 songs in to the previews countdowns but we’ve already reached our third Balkan/ex-Yugoslav country (I don’t have anything against songs from that region, just they’re not proving my favourites this year!). Eurovision veteran Nevena brings us a classic Balkan ballad (with some rock pop elements).

So Nevena has quite a Eurovision pedigree – she represented Serbia at the Junior contest in 2007, and was one member of the group Moje 3 who were Serbia’s entry in the main 2013 contest (thought they missed out on a place in the final). She’s back as a solo artist this year having won the Serbian national final. She has a formidable set of pipes on her and they’re put to full use in her (fairly rock-y) Balkan ballad.

Balkan ballads are part of the tradition of Eurovision so it feels appropriate we have at least one (or a version of one) in this year’s contest. I’m not generally a huge fan of them but I fully respect that many people do. This earns its place above Moldova in my rankings as Nevena’s vocal performance isn’t in doubt (though I don’t think it necessarily connects with the viewer).

Serbia do have a good qualification record and in their semi this year, they have both Slovenia and Montenegro to provide a guaranteed chunk of votes and this could pick up a fair few jury votes. So I expect this has a 50/50 chance of getting through to the final (maybe in 9th or 10th place) and if it does, it will do OK as Serbia always pick up quite a lot of televote points from the other ex-Yugoslav countries (especially if not many of their neighbours make the final).

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National final performance:

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My preview video:

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Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest