Serbia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Kruna", written and performed by Nevena Božović, who had previously represented Serbia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 and in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013 as part of the group . The Serbian national broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), organised the national final Beovizija 2019 in order to select the Serbian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 27 and 28 February 2019 and a final on 3 March 2019. Twelve entries competed in each semi-final where the top six qualified to the final from each semi-final following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. The twelve qualifiers competed in the final which resulted in "" performed by Nevena Božović as the winner following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote.

Serbia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2019. Performing during the show in position 9, "Kruna" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May. It was later revealed that Serbia placed seventh out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 156 points. In the final, Serbia performed in position 23 and placed eighteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 89 points.

Background

Prior to the 2019 contest, Serbia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its first entry in 2007, winning the contest with their debut entry "" performed by Marija Šerifović. Since 2007, eight out of eleven of Serbia's entries have featured in the final with the nation failing to qualify in 2009, 2013 and 2017. Serbia's 2018 entry "Nova deca" performed by Sanja Ilić and Balkanika qualified to the final and placed nineteenth.

The Serbian national broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), broadcasts the event within Serbia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTS confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 6 August 2018. Between 2007 and 2009, Serbia used the national final in order to select their entry. However, after their 2009 entry, "" performed by Marko Kon and Milaan, failed to qualify Serbia to the final, the broadcaster shifted their selection strategy to selecting specific composers to create songs for artists. In 2010, RTS selected Goran Bregović to compose songs for a national final featuring three artists, while in 2011 Kornelije Kovač, Aleksandra Kovač and Kristina Kovač were tasked with composing one song each. In 2012, the internal selection of Željko Joksimović and the song "" secured the country's second highest placing in the contest to this point, placing third. In 2013, RTS returned to an open national final format and organized the Beosong competition. The winning entry, "" performed by Moje 3, failed to qualify Serbia to the final at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. In 2015, RTS selected Vladimir Graić, the composer of Serbia's 2007 Eurovision Song Contest winning entry "", to compose songs for a national final featuring three artists. RTS internally selected the Serbian entries in 2016 and 2017 with the decision made by RTS music editors. In 2018, RTS returned to using the national final in order to select their entry.

Before Eurovision Beovizija 2019 2019 was the ninth edition of the national final organised by RTS in order to select the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The selection consisted of two semi-finals featuring twelve songs each to be held on 27 and 28 February 2019, respectively, and a final featuring twelve songs to be held on 3 March 2019. The three shows were broadcast on RTS1, RTS HD, and as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website rts.rs.

Competing entries Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries between 8 August 2018 and 15 November 2018. Artists were required to be Serb citizens and submit entries in one of the official languages of the Republic of Serbia, while songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit songs. At the closing of the deadline, 76 submissions were received. A selection committee consisting of RTS music editors reviewed the submissions and selected twenty-four entries to proceed to the national final. The selected competing entries were announced on 10 January 2019 and among the competing artists were Extra Nena, who represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992, and Nevena Božović who represented Serbia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 and 2013, the latter as part of the group Moje 3.

Artist Song Songwriter(s) Aleksandra Sekulić "" () Ana Sekulić, Filip Kuranji Ana Popović "" () Sofija Milutinović Dunja Vujadinović "7" Boris Krstajić, Ljiljana Jorgovanović Dženan Lončarević "" () Željko Vasić, Dragan Čolaković Eleonora "" () Eleonora Lav Jovanović, Husein Alijević Extra Nena "" () Ivan Akulov, Milena Ludajić, Snežana Berić Funked Up "" () Vojin Vilotijević Gipsykord "" () Jovan Savić, Zvonko Marković, Mišo Krpo, Sanja Krstić, Milena Ludajić Goga Stanić "" () Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Dimitri Stassos, Vladimir Marković Luni, Marko Kon, Ognjen Amidžić Ivan Kurtić "" Goran Ratković Rale, Radenko Mitrović Ivana Vladović and Wonder Strings "" () Aleksandra Milutinović Jana "" () Vladimir Graić, Željko Hubač Lana i Aldo "" () Lana Toković Lord "" () Vladimir Preradović Lord Majdan "" () Nemanja Erić, Marija Vagner Mr Doo " 100" () Sanja Ilić, Mr Doo, Leontina Vukomanović Nataša and Una "" () Predrag Vukčević, Marko Stojanović Luis, Nataša Guberinić, Una Senić, Petar Zorkić, Nemanja Kostić Nevena Božović "" () Nevena Božović Osvajači "" () Nebojša Jakovljević, Zvonko Pantović Sanya D Rio "" () Miki Dumonjić Sashka Janx "" () Saška Janković, Marko Nikolić Sofija Perić "" () Vladimir Graić, Snežana Vukomanović Tamara Milanović "" () Marcel Sprunkel, Gavrilo Milovanović Tina and Lola Amvon "" () Tina Amvon, Olgica Lola Amvon

Semi-finals Two semi-finals took place at the Studio 8 of RTS in Košutnjak, Belgrade on 27 and 28 February 2019. Semi-final 1 was hosted by Dragana Kosjerina and Ivan Mihailović and semi-final 2 was hosted by Nebojša Milovanović and Ana Babić. In each semi-final twelve songs competed and six qualifiers for the final were decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Zoran Lesendrić (musician), Dragomir Stanojević (musician), Nenad Pribak (president of OGAE Serbia), Aleksandar Aleksov (composer and producer) and Ivana Peters (singer-songwriter), and the Serbian public via SMS voting.

In addition to the competing entries, other performers and former Eurovision contestants featured during the shows. Knez, who represented Montenegro in 2015, Bojana Stamenov, who represented Serbia in 2015, Sanja Vučić, who represented Serbia in 2016, and Jacques Houdek, who represented Croatia in 2017, featured as guest performers in semi-final 1; and Emilija Kokić, who won the contest for Yugoslavia in 1989 as member of the band Riva, Laka and Mirela, who represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2008, Jelena Tomašević, who represented Serbia in 2008, Kaliopi, who represented Macedonia in 2012 and 2016, Lea Sirk, who represented Slovenia in 2018, and Sanja Ilić and Balkanika, which represented Serbia in 2018, featured as guest performers in semi-final 2.

+ First semi-final of Beovizija 201927 February 2019 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Funked Up "" 15 1 1,635 7 8 7 2 Aleksandra Sekulić "" 48 10 874 3 13 5 3 Osvajači "" 15 2 820 2 4 9 4 Dunja Vujadinović "7" 20 4 534 0 4 10 5 Mr. Doo " 100" 5 0 733 1 1 11 6 Sashka Janx "" 44 8 1,557 6 14 3 7 Ivan Kurtić "" 28 7 971 5 12 6 8 Sofija Perić "" 21 5 1,912 8 13 4 9 Extra Nena "" 16 3 948 4 7 8 10 Eleonora "" 0 0 346 0 0 12 11 Wonder Strings and Ivana Vladović "" 54 12 1,954 10 22 1 12 Nataša and Una "" 24 6 3,189 12 18 2

+ Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "" 3 6 2 4 15 2 "" 12 8 8 12 8 48 3 "" 2 4 1 7 1 15 4 "7" 4 1 6 3 6 20 5 " 100" 5 5 6 "" 7 10 12 5 10 44 7 "" 8 5 4 6 5 28 8 "" 5 2 7 4 3 21 9 "" 1 3 2 8 2 16 10 "" 0 11 "" 10 12 10 10 12 54 12 "" 6 7 3 1 7 24

+ Second semi-final of Beovizija 201928 February 2019 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Sanya D Rio "" 10 2 635 1 3 10 2 Majdan "" 32 7 1,413 8 15 4 3 Goga Stanić "" 15 4 687 2 6 8 4 Ana Popović "" 25 5 1,103 7 13 5 5 Lord "" 53 10 1,082 6 16 3 6 Nevena Božović "" 54 12 1,542 10 22 1 7 Gipsykord "" 1 0 878 4 4 9 8 Jana "" 39 8 698 3 11 6 9 Lana i Aldo "" 13 3 510 0 3 11 10 Dženan Lončarević "" 29 6 3,516 12 18 2 11 Tina and Lola Amvon "" 9 0 526 0 0 12 12 Tamara Milanović "" 10 1 1,014 5 6 7

+ Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "" 3 2 5 10 2 "" 8 7 3 7 7 32 3 "" 1 4 6 1 3 15 4 "" 5 6 5 4 5 25 5 "" 12 12 7 12 10 53 6 "" 10 10 12 10 12 54 7 "" 1 1 8 "" 7 8 10 6 8 39 9 "" 3 2 1 3 4 13 10 "" 6 1 8 8 6 29 11 "" 2 5 2 9 12 "" 4 4 2 10

Final

The final, hosted by Dragana Kosjerina, Ivan Mihailović, Nebojša Milovanović and Ana Babić, took place at the Studio 8 of RTS in Košutnjak, Belgrade on 3 March 2019 and featured the twelve qualifiers from the preceding two semi-finals. The winner, "" performed by Nevena Božović, was decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Miša Aleksić (musician), Bojana Stamenov (represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015), Dejan Ivanović (lyricist), Goca Tržan (singer) and Aleksandar Milić Mili (composer and producer), and the Serbian public via SMS voting. Former Eurovision contestant Željko Joksimović, who represented Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 and Serbia in 2012 and was one of the hosts of Eurovision 2008, was featured as a guest performer during the show.

+ Final of Beovizija 20193 March 2019 Artist SongJury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Sashka Janx "" 42 10 4,964 6 16 3 2 Majdan "" 19 5 2,514 3 8 7 3 Sofija Perić "" 11 1 2,862 4 5 9 4 Dženan Lončarević "" 36 7 5,858 10 17 2 5 Wonder Strings and Ivana Vladović "" 40 8 4,088 5 13 5 6 Jana "" 15 3 1,487 0 3 10 7 Lord "" 29 6 2,435 2 8 8 8 Nevena Božović "" 56 12 5,708 8 20 1 9 Ana Popović "" 5 0 1,757 0 0 12 10 Ivan Kurtić "" 19 4 5,010 7 11 6 11 Nataša and Una "" 13 2 10,427 12 14 4 12 Aleksandra Sekulić "" 5 0 1,872 1 1 11

+ Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "" 8 12 8 10 4 42 2 "" 6 2 7 2 2 19 3 "" 1 10 11 4 "" 10 6 5 7 8 36 5 "" 5 8 12 8 7 40 6 "" 5 6 3 1 15 7 "" 7 7 4 5 6 29 8 "" 12 10 10 12 12 56 9 "" 2 3 5 10 "" 4 1 3 6 5 19 11 "" 3 4 2 4 13 12 "" 1 1 3 5

At Eurovision According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Serbia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.