Serbia 2025: Princ with Mila
Serbia are going back to the Balkan ballad well this year with Princ edging to victory there on Friday.
One of my more hipster opinions of the last few years is that PZE in Serbia has been one of the more underapreciated national finals with generally good variety and staging. This was a weaker edition however with some staleness setting in and it wasn't a surprise to see Princ come through as a consensus winner with no one else stepping up live.
I think that is the biggest strength here in that he is a good performer and this is an easy entry to stage. It’s quite a clichéd and overwrought staging but one that works for the demographic.
‘Mila’ is obviously in the same avenue as some of Zeljko Joksimovic's work (mainly Nije Ljubav Stvar) but lacking the magic and there’s something with the chorus that whilst is the main hook just falls flat.
The popularity of this and it’s appeal to the diaspora who will be key to any qualification hopes are hard to judge however. 3rd place in its national final televote isn’t great but it was narrow to second and there are some suspicions over the tele winner's landslide there. Inconclusive. The online fandom seem to hate this guy for a variety of reasons and it’s difficult to assess whether any of that will carry over to the broader diaspora or how high patriotism will be in May. There is a lot of negative noise over this, most if not all look like false red flags than areas for genuine concern.
Still, that only puts Serbia around their usual base points and I just don’t see this reaching out past that meaning qualification is the main goal.
Serbia last year qualified in 10th with a better song but death slot draw. That scored 47 points, 38 of which came from countries Serbia can not rely on this time around. Key ally Montenegro is here but overall the situation is not an improvement on 2024, it’s perhaps roughly equal and once again scoring lower than 40 or higher than 55 points would be a surprise.
This is a dicey one for Serbia and I expect producers to dump this in 11th or similar, limiting any benefits from the second half draw. Then again, Princ still has a pretty good niche in the ballad/mature/heartthrob guy lane.
If this does get in the final he'll be thrown under another running order bus and get Serbia's typical score and nothing more.
Personal Rating: 14/20
Staging Potential: 12/20
Televote Potential: 7/20
Jury Potential: 7/20
Track Record: 14/20
Total Rating: 55/100
Early Prediction: Semi Two 9th-12th, 18th-22nd if in the final.