Karolina Gočeva (, ; born 28 April 1980), sometimes credited as Karolina Gocheva or known mononymously as Karolina, is a Macedonian singer. She launched her music career in 1991 with a performance at a local children's show and continued participating in the following years, receiving recognition for her talent. In 1992, she released her first children album titled Mamo, pušti me (). She signed a contract with the record label Avalon Production in 2000.
Gočeva's discography consists of nine studio albums in total, spanning pop, R&B, rock, traditional folk and ethno, jazz and world musical styles. Shortly after signing her contract with Avalon Production, Gočeva released her debut studio album Jas Imam Pesna, which included the song "Nemir" featuring Toše Proeski. Her second, third, and fourth studio albums – Zošto Sonot Ima Kraj, Znaeš Kolku Vredam, and Vo Zaborav – were released in 2002, 2003, and 2005, respectively. Although Gočeva's initial five albums were more pop, R&B and rock-oriented, her later records Makedonsko Devojče () (2008), Makedonsko Devojče 2 (2014) and Izvor () (2018) incorporated elements of Macedonian traditional music and jazz. This switch in sound led to increased popularity, wide acclaim from the public, and sold-out concerts in North Macedonia, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Her ninth studio album featuring Duke Bojadziev and Ismail Lumanovski, titled Pesni za Ljubov i Kopnež, was released on 24 December 2022. A studio album with preceded by singles "Od nebo do dno" and "Daj na sunce" was released at the end of 2024.
Gočeva represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contests 2002 and 2007, ranking 19th and 14th, respectively. She has received numerous awards and accolades both in North Macedonia as well as other Balkan award ceremonies. Gočeva is widely known as the most famous Macedonian female pop singer and has received the label "Macedonian pop princess/queen" and a "pop diva". Although most of her songs are sung in Macedonian, she has also released records in Serbian and English leading to an increase in popularity in Bulgaria and ex-Yugoslav countries – the latter including Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Croatia. Gočeva is also renowned for her casual fashion style, for which she frequently collaborates with Caci Pakoska. With her music work, Gočeva has also taken part in campaigns against drug use, uterine cancer and gender-related violence.
Life and career 1980–1998: Early life and career beginnings Karolina Gočeva was born on 28 April 1980 in Bitola, in then Socialist Republic of Macedonia, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to an anesthesiologist father and a technologist mother. She also has a younger sister, Aleksandra, who is an ophthalmologist. Gočeva finished her primary school in Bitola, where she also performed in a child choir. After that, she went to the high school Josip Broz-Tito in Bitola. As she had an interest in learning foreign languages, she finished her studies in the English language at the Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, part of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje.
Gočeva made her music debut at the age of nine when she performed "Like a Prayer" by Madonna in Šaram Baram at the Pionerski dom in Bitola. At the age of ten in 1990, Gočeva got her first breakthrough when she performed at the first broadcast of the children's festival "Si-Do" in Bitola. A few months later, Gočeva participated with another ballad where she won the prize for Best Interpretation. She also participated in the annual festival "Makfest 91" in Štip with the song "Mamo, pušti me" (), written by Tode Novačevski, where she won the award for Most Successful Debut. As her music career was still in its bud, she used national festivals to promote her voice and talent. In 1992, she released her first children studio album under MRT, which contained 11 other songs in addition to "Mamo, pušti me", including "Stefane" (), "Sekade si ti" (), "Prviot baknež" (), "Dojdi vo školo" (), "Volšebni sonuvanja" (), "Čujte sega" (), "Dzvezdo moja" (), "Nasmevni se narode" () and "Strašni planovi" ().
In 1993, Gočeva performed the song "Zamrznato srce" () at Makfest which was broadcast on MTV. The music was written by Kocev, the lyrics by Nejasmić while the arrangement was finalized by Skenderovski. For the performance, Gočeva appeared dressed in a green shirt. Gočeva became a regular participant at Skopje Fest, a contest for the selection of the Macedonian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, debuting in 1994 with a performance of "Koj da ti kaže" (). In 1995, she performed "Kako da te otkačam" (). In the following years, she continued participating successfully including in 1996, with the song "Ma, ajde kaži mi" () – music by Cvetanovski, lyrics by Micevski and arrangement by Konstantinov – which finished ninth place. In 1997, she performed the song "Tonovi tajni" (), written by Kire Kostov, at Skopje '97 which was broadcast on MTV. In 1998, she participated with "Ukradeni noќi" () which was successful, reaching fourth place with 10,454 televotes. Regarding her early career during a 2023 interview, she revealed that gaining traction was something that took place in a stepwise fashion through festival performances that the Macedonian discography had to offer at the time.
2000–2002: Jas Imam Pesna, Zošto Sonot Ima Kraj and Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2002
In 2000, she signed a deal with the record label Avalon Production. Shortly afterwards, her debut studio album Jas Imam Pesna () was released through the label. Three singles were released off the first album, including "Sakaj me" (), "Bez ogled na se" () and "Nemir" (), the latter of which she sang in a duet with Macedonian pop singer Toše Proeski. Following the release of her first studio album, she took part in the Macedonian Eurovision Song Contest. Gočeva's entry "Za nas" () written and composed by Darko Dimitrov, landed at second place, with 916 points.
After promotion through concerts and festivals, she released her second studio album Zošto Sonot Ima Kraj () in 2002. The album contained eleven new songs in Macedonian and three songs in English. In 2001, she gained wider regional popularity in the countries of former-Yugoslavia, by placing third at the Sunčane Skale festival held on 12, 13 and 14 July in Herceg Novi with the song "Kaži mi" (), written by Peri and Franc from the band Nokaut. She released "Ti možeš" () and "Ke bide se vo red" () as singles from the album in Macedonia. On her album, she included three English versions of her songs: "I'm Looking for Jamaica", "You Could", and "Tell Me". In 2002, Gočeva was crowned the winner of Skopje Fest 2002 with her entry "Od nas zavisi" (), which allowed her to represent the Republic of Macedonia to a European audience. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, she placed 19th. During the performance, she appeared donning a red dress and a golden corsette designed by Aleksandar Nošpal which gained popularity through the years. She was also nominated for Miss Eurovision 2002. She appeared on the 2002 Sunčane Skale event, performing her song "Kad voliš", which was also included on the album of the event.
2003–2007: Znaeš Kolku Vredam, Vo Zaborav and ESC 2007
In March 2003, Gočeva released her third studio album Znaeš Kolku Vredam (). She released music videos for her songs "Hipokrit" (), "Ljubov pod oblacite" (), and "Sreščemo se opet" (). After 2003, her career expanded to former Yugoslav countries Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, where her albums started being released. Wanting to appeal to the wider audience from those countries, Gočeva recorded songs from her third album in Serbian. Her first Serbian-language album and fifth overall was titled Kad zvezde nam se sklope... kao nekada (); the title song became a success in both Serbia and North Macedonia. In 2004, she appeared on the Pink TV show Novogodišnja Citymania, where she performed the song "Noć".
In 2005, Gočeva participated once again in Herceg Novi at the Sunčane Skale festival. Her song, "Ruža Ružica" () became an instant hit, placing her fourth in the festival. Gočeva also released her new song "Se lažam sebe" (), written by Kaliopi. At the end of 2005, she released her fifth studio album titled Vo Zaborav in Macedonian () and U Zaboravu in Serbian; the album included a total of nine new songs. The Serbian-language version produced numerous singles which gained popularity in many former Yugoslav countries; these included "Teško srcu pada" () and "Gorka pilula" () as well as "Kad mi nebo bude dom" () and "Kao malo vode" () written by Zlatan Stipišić Džiboni and Vlatko Stefanovski. In 2006, Gočeva recorded a cover of the song "Radost za cel svet" () for the Christmas album Tanja i Prijatelite Vi Pejat Božikni Pesni ().
On 24 February 2007, Gočeva participated in, and won, the Skopje Fest competition, held at the Universal Hall in Skopje, with the song "Mojot svet" written by Grigor Koprov and composed by Ognen Nedelkovski. "Mojot svet" is a power ballad that emphasises the power of music to "transcend religion and borders". Gočeva obtained a total of 144 points with a maximum of twelve points from every voting district, procuring her a landslide victory. With this feat, she became the first artist to represent Macedonia twice at the Eurovision Song Contest. She competed in the semi-final in Helsinki, Finland on 10 May 2007, performing at number 18. She qualified for the final and performed in the sixth slot on 12 May 2007, where she placed fourteenth in a field of 24 contestants with a score of 73 points.
2007–2014: Makedonsko Devojče 1, Kapka Pod Neboto and Makedonsko Devojče 2 On 15 December 2007, Gočeva participated on Radijski festival with the song "Kad te nema" and finished in second place, winning the award for best composition given by the jury. That same year, she also participated at the Croatian Radio Festival with the song "Jedan Dan". On 26 June 2008, Gočeva released her fifth studio album Makedonsko Devojče in cooperation with composer Zlatko Origjanski, musician and member of the band Anastasia. As an experimental album arranged and produced by Nikola Micevski, the project marked a change in the musical style of the singer as all songs were influenced by local traditional music. "Ptico malečka" was released as the album's first single in North Macedonia and became widely popular. The album was a big critical and commercial success, having won in the category for Best Ethno Album at the 2008 Sunčane Skale Festival and emerged as the best-selling one of that year in Macedonia. In December 2008, the album was released in Serbia and other ex-Yugoslav countries by City Records. In 2008, Gočeva performed the song "Dafino vino crveno" together with the Tavitjan Brothers during their concert at Universal Hall accompanied by Damjan Pejčinovski on guitar.
In May 2009, she announced her single "Kraj" with Serbian R&B/hip-hop artist Wikluh Sky. The single was atop many charts in Republic of Macedonia and other former Yugoslav republics. She also performed the single at the opening ceremony of Big Brother Serbia. The second single, titled "Za Godina, Dve" (Serbian version: "Uspomene na tebe") is a power ballad about ending a relationship and was released in December 2009. The song became an instant radio hit in the Republic of Macedonia and was further promoted on the Serbian TV show Sve Za Ljubav and on the semi-final of Veliki Brat. Gočeva's sixth studio album Kapka Pod Neboto was released on 29 November 2010 along with a Serbian language edition titled Kap Ispod Neba. On 30 March 2013 Karolina appeared on the talk show Eden na Eden and gave an interview to host Žarko Dimitrievski.