Nevena Božovič isn’t yet 25, but will this year notch up her third performance on a Eurovision stage. Her first came in the Junior contest in 2007, and her second as one third of Moje 3. In the national final, she was neither the angel nor the devil of their split conscience performance, but the indecisive one weighing up her options.
She clearly decided to ditch the dead wood and she’s back solo for 2019. She’s also ditched any attempts at a comedy performance, and instead turned her not inconsiderable voice to bellowing out this Balkan ballad for all she’s worth. Now I love a Balkan ballad, my favourite winning song is Molitva, but I’m left a bit unmoved by this. As Balkan ballads go, it’s got all the right parts in all the right places, but I just can’t seem to get into it.
In the first semi-final, she has her chances, sandwiched between the flimsy Belarus and the could-get-lost Belgium, and with fewer ‘dead certs’ to qualify, but most of the natural voting allies are in the other half.
The Serbs needn’t reserve a venue for 2020, but they also can’t cancel their hotel booking after the Tuesday night just yet.
Monty’s score: 5 points