"To everyone's surprise, she decided to sing a very demanding song - Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You'."

The Spin

Marija Šerifovic was born on November 14, 1984, in Kragujevac. Her family has been devoted to music for generations. Marija's mother Verica Serifovic is a famous ethno-singer and her grandparents have performed the songs of the old city all their lives.

Marija dreamed of entering the world of music as a child. She knew that music would be her only occupation. She finished high school and music schools and studied management. She made her first public performance at the age of 12 and attracted great attention due to her equisite voice and a song unusual for a girl of that age. To everyone's surprise, she decided to sing a very demanding song - Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".

In 2003, her first solo album "Naj, najbolja" ("Simply the Best") was released and that was the beginning of her music career. In 2003, she participated in the Budva Festival with the song "Gorka cokolada" ("Bitter Chocolate") and in 2004 with the song "Bol do ludila" ("Unbearable pain") which brought her the first prize. She is considered to be one of the most talented singers in this part of the world.

In 2005, she won the first prize at the Radio Festival with the song "U nedelju" ("On Sunday"). She has received a hatful of awards from juries, journalists and colleagues, the best interpretation awards and numerous special prizes in the neighbouring countries.

After these great accomplishments, Marija released the second album "Bez ljubavi" ("Without Love"). Her first solo concert held at the Sava Centre in Belgrade showed that she had become a real music star. Marija Serifovic won the Serbian national final - Beovizija 2007. She received the highest score both in the semi-final and the final. Her voice is filled with strong emotions and has an amazing range of expression. Music is her life. Whenever she is on the stage, she feels immense love and happiness. Undoubtedly, that is the key to her success.

The Singer
Bernard Bresslaw lookalike Marija has certainly cut a swathe through the massed ranks of Eurosong male gays. She has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous campery already, with all sorts of abuse aimed squarely at her extremely broad shoulders. "Makes k.d.lang look like Audrey Hepburn", "why do dog owners look like their pets?" etc etc. All very cruel. She's 22 years old, but by lord you wouldn't think it. Marija with lipstick on looks like The Joker. Now that's cruel.

The Past
  
Serbia have shone in their embryonic Eurosong growth. Zelkjo ambled onto stage in 2004, and had to do very little to impress, surrounded as he was by the whole range of Balkan instrumentation. They were pipped at the post by Mistress Whip, and look to be one of the nations to look out for in future. Serbia's success that year just shows you the amount of success a one-man band would have at the contest. Serbia look stick on certainties to go down the ethnic effort route for years to come now. Now that they've broken away from their Montenegrin cousins (or rather the other way around) they don't have to share the honours with No Name.

The Song
 
A big favourite this one amongst the fans, and I can almost see why. As regular readers know by now, ballards never quite grasp the big prize, but it is with renewed vigour that the slow smoocher lovers are championing the cause of "Prayer". Marija can be seen on her knees, slavering at the bit (...to win the contest..obviously). She doesn't score well for maneouvrability, and falls into the Chiara category of relying on arm movement. A Sherman tank of a performer....loud and basic, but you know it's there and if it swivels around at you , you're likely to shift.

Overall

Purely because of the tempo, I don't think "Prayer" has one. But I can't rule out a 2nd-5th finish for be-denimed one, as she has a (bi-) curiousity value that many will find appealing. Gentle ethno clap-trap has a strong Eurosong history, and this is a formulaic gem of the oeuvre.

In a Nutshell
"Fakir - off"

the philosopher says

Relativism The belief that human judgments are always conditioned by the specific social environment of a particular person, time, or place. Cognitive relativists hold that there can be no universal knowledge of the world, but only diverse interpretations of it. Moral relativists hold that there are no universal standards of moral value, but only the cultural norms of particular societies. Either way, strap-on Marija faces an uphill battle in Serbia. Recommended Reading: Robert Kirk, Relativism and Reality: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 1999)

Molitva

Ni oka da sklopim,
postelja prazna tera san,
a život se topi
i nestaje brzo, k'o dlanom o dlan.

K'o razum da gubim,
jer stvarnost i ne primecujem,
još uvek te ljubim,
još uvek ti slepo verujem.

K'o luda, ne znam kuda,
ljubavi se nove bojim,
a dane, žive rane,
više ne brojim.

Molitva, kao žar na mojim usnama je,
molitva, mesto reci samo ime tvoje.
(I) Nebo zna, kao ja,
koliko puta sam ponovila,
to nebo zna, baš kao ja,
da je ime tvoje moja jedina
molitva.

Al Bogu ne mogu
lagati sve dok se molim,
a lažem ako kažem
da te ne volim.

Prayer

I'm wide awake
An empty bed drives my dreams away
Life melts like ice
Disappears in the twinkling of an eye

I'm losing my mind,
Pushing reality out of sight
Our lips are touching softly
You're the one I believe blindly

I walk around like crazy
Falling in love frightens me
Days are like wounds
Countless and hard to get through

Prayer... It burns my sore lips like a fire
Prayer... Thy name is something I admire
Heaven knows just as well as I do
So many times I have cried over you
Heaven knows just as well as I do
I pray and live only for you

I can't lie to God
as I kneel down and pray
You're the love of my life
That's the only thing I can say
Is he Bernard Bresslaw who is a big softie
or is he Marija who likes nothing more than some soft biggies (christ...)
Prediction Semi Final 1st
Final 2nd