We return to the Balkans for my #22 in the top 39 countdown, and also a returning 2020 artist. Hurricane won the Serbian national final, Beovizija, last year with fan favourite “Hasta La Vista“. They were invited back for 2021. Initially it seemed they were going to have a show for the song selection but in the end went for an internally selected song. Hurricane are an R&B pop supergroup, and include former Eurovision entrant Sanja Vučić (Serbia 2016, “Goodbye“) and the daughter of Knez who represented Montenegro in 2015.

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“Loco Loco” is an unashamedly somewhat trashy, fun Balkan bop. It does though have some pedigree in its production team – Sanja Vučić is the songwriter and Darko Dimitrov is the co-composer. Dimitrov has been involved in many Eurovision entries from various Balkan countries as well as being credited with revitalising the Yugoslavian mainstream pop music scene. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Hasta La Vista” I have to say, though I know many fans loved it, but I like “Loco Loco” far more – even if it does feel a bit of a guilty pleasure. It’s a plain and simple fun Balkan bop, and once again, Hurricane are singing in their native Serbian.

In terms of how this will do, it’s placed in the “weaker” semi-final which also happens to have fewer up-tempo songs, so that could well work in the song’s favour. If it were to qualify (and I think it stands a good chance to), then it will get at least a decent result (outside of bottom 5). The reason being is that when Serbia gets to the final, it will always pick up a fare chunk of televote points from its neighbours (who all vote in final rather than in semi-finals where they may not be in the same semi to vote). Ultimately this means Serbia are guaranteed a core televote that pushes them out of the lowest part of the leaderboard, even without votes from juries or non-neighbour countries.

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Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest