'23 (, PzE '23) was the second edition of , Serbia's national final organised by Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) to select the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The selection consisted of two semi-finals held on 1 and 2 March 2023, respectively, and a final on 4 March 2023. All shows were hosted by Milan Marić and Dragana Kosjerina with backstage interviews conducted by and Stefan Popović. The three shows were broadcast on RTS1, and as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website rts.rs and the broadcaster's Eurovision dedicated Youtube channel.

Format and production

In 2023, RTS decided to once again organize Pesma za Evroviziju to decide its representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. On the same day as the submission window had opened, the rulebook was published. The selection consisted of two semi-finals, held on 1 and 2 March, and a final on 4 March 2023.

Voting

In all 3 shows, the jury and the televoting award one set of 12, 10 & 8–1 points each to their 10 favourite entries. Eight entries that scored the most points in each semi-final progressed to the final. The act with the most points in the final is declared the winner.

Production '23 was produced by RTS and SkyMusic. PzE '23 had a budget of around , whilst around were spent.

Hosts All shows were hosted by Milan Marić and Dragana Kosjerina with greenroom interviews conducted by and Stefan Popović.

Competing entries The submission window for competing entries opened on the 1st of September 2022, and was due to close on the 15th of November the same year, but was later pushed back to the 1st of December. Artists were required to be Serbian 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, around 185 submissions were received.

A selection committee consisting of RTS music editors reviewed the submissions and selected 32 entries to proceed to the national final. The selected competing entries were announced on 9 January 2023 and among the competing artists are Tijana Dapčević, who represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, and Hurricane (albeit with a different line-up), which represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and 2021.

Artist Song Songwriter(s) Adem Mehmedović "" Adem Mehmedović Andjela "" Ivan Milanov, , Asal Sinanović, Filip Nestorović, Ana Sekulić "" Ivan Franović, Anđela Vujović Boris Subotić "" Milenko Škarić, Nemanja Antonić, Filip Nestorović & Braća Bluz Band "" Željko Čeganjac, Dušan Čeganjac, Stefan Čeganjac, Boris Kapetanović "" Ognjan Milošević "Viva la Vida" Nino Ademović, Goran Ratković Rale, Branislav Glušac "" Ahmed Hajdarović, Jovan Živadinović "" Igor Mišković Egret "" Petar Pupić "" Nenad Radaković "" Teya Dora, Miloš Janošević Filip Baloš "" Filip Baloš Filip Žmaher "" Boban Janković, Filip Tančić, Aleksandar Mastelica "" Nataša Mihajlović, Nevena Buča "" Jovan Matić Hercenšlus "" Boban Dževerdanović Hurricane "" Nemanja Antonić, Ivan Vukajlović, Lena Kuzmanović Igor Stanojević "" Vladimir Graić Igor Vins & "" Igor Vins, Bane Lalić "" Ivona Pantelić Jelena Vlahović "" Aleksandar Filipović, Branislav Klanšček Luke Black "" Luka Ivanović & Angela Kassiani "" Michele Bonivento, Mattia Zanatta, Predrag Cvetković Milan Bujaković "" , , , Dragiša Baša "" Kristina Kovač, Tim Gosden Nadia "" Konstantin Arsić, Nađa Terzić, Aleksa Vučković, Dimitrije Borčanin Princ "" "Presidente" Mahdi, Ivana Rašić Trmčić, Savo Perović "" Slavko Milovanović, Ana Sekulić Tijana Dapčević "" Ana Radonjić Zejna "Rumba" , Miloš Roganović

Contest overview Semi-finals The two semi-finals took place at the Studios 8 and 9 of RTS in Košutnjak, Belgrade on 1 and 2 March 2023. In each semi-final 16 songs competed and the eight qualifiers for the final were decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of (singer-songwriter), Ana Stanić (singer-songwriter), Vojislav Aralica (producer), Filip Bulatović (conductor) and (musician), and the Serbian public via SMS voting. Semi-final 1 In addition to the competing entries, former Eurovision contestant Konstrakta, who represented Serbia in 2022, was featured as the guest performer in the first semi-final. + Semi-final 1 – 1 March 2023 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Mattia Zanatta & Angela Kassiani "" 34 7 742 0 7 9 2 Adem Mehmedović "" 10 1 445 0 1 15 3 Nađa "" 48 10 3,178 7 17 1 4 Tijana Dapčević "" 24 6 471 0 6 10 5 Princ "" 7 0 5,911 12 12 3 6 Filip Baloš "" 21 5 2,712 6 11 4 7 Filip Žmaher "" 4 0 830 0 0 16 8 Luke Black "" 11 2 4,388 8 10 6 9 Angellina "" 11 3 1,004 0 3 12 10 Empathy Soul Project "" 38 8 794 0 8 7 11 Stefan Shy "" 58 12 1,893 4 16 2 12 Hercenšlus "" 0 0 1,402 2 2 13 13 Savo Perović "Presidente" 0 0 1,145 1 1 14 14 Igor Stanojević "" 8 0 2,598 5 5 11 15 Boris Subotić "" 16 4 1,527 3 7 8 16 Chegi & Braća Bluz Band "" 0 0 4,389 10 10 5 + Detailed jury votes Songscope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total Points 1""78766347 2""2242101 3""8101010104810 4""34674246 5""1157 6""5547215 7""1214 8""623112 9""38113 10""127838388 11""10121212125812 12""0 13"Presidente"0 14""4138 15""655164 16""0

Semi-final 2 In addition to the competing entries, former Eurovision contestant Sanja Vučić, who represented Serbia in 2016 and as part of Hurricane in 2020 and 2021, singers Alen Ademović, Ivana Peters, Stevan Anđelković and Zorja, the bands Zbogom Brus Li and , as well as the assemble Iskaz and the vocal chorus Luča were featured as guest performers in the second semi-final. + Semi-final 2 – 2 March 2023 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Hurricane "" 27 6 1,607 3 9 6 2 Nadia "" 26 5 3,020 12 17 2 3 Filarri "" 28 7 1,779 5 12 4 4 Zejna "Rumba" 43 10 1,754 4 14 3 5 Frajle "" 22 3 2,125 7 10 5 6 Igor Vins & Bane Lalić "" 6 1 504 0 1 13 7 Egret "" 37 8 1,011 0 8 9 8 Dzipsii "" 58 12 2,887 10 22 1 9 Eegor "" 23 4 1,091 0 4 10 10 Jelena Vlahović "" 0 0 1,138 1 1 12 11 Ivona "" 2 0 781 0 0 15 12 Gift "" 18 2 1,849 6 8 8 13 Milan Bujaković "" 0 0 1,600 2 2 11 14 Duo Grand "Viva la Vida" 0 0 2,164 8 8 7 15 Andjela "" 0 0 956 0 0 14 16 Doris Milošević "" 0 0 703 0 0 16 + Detailed jury votes Songscope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total Points 1""24678276 2""55844265 3""82387287 4"Rumba"610512104310 5""43735223 6""112261 7""781066378 8""12121210125812 9""10625234 10""0 11""112 12""37413182 13""0 14"Viva la Vida"0 15""0 16""0

Final The final took place at the Studios 8 and 9 of RTS in Košutnjak, Belgrade on 4 March 2023 and featured the 16 qualifiers from the preceding two semi-finals. The winner, "" performed by Luke Black, was decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Lena Kovačević (singer-songwriter), Dragan Đorđević (cellist), Nevena Božović (represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 as part of Moje 3 and in 2019), Slobodan "Coby" Veljković (rapper, songwriter and producer) and (pianist), and the Serbian public via SMS voting. All funds collected from the viewer votes were donated to charity for the purchase of equipment for the Health Center in the municipality of Bojnik. The show was opened by a rendition of the British Eurovision Song Contest 1981 winning entry "Making Your Mind Up" by the four hosts, while the interval act featured a medley of songs by the Beatles to honour the hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, performed by singers Dejan Cukić, Gordan Kičić, Iva Lorens, , Oliver Nektarijević and Srđan Gojković as well as the tribute band The Bestbeat. The arrangements of the songs were specifically done by The Bestbeat to compliment individual artists performing alongside them. + Final – 4 March 2023 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Stefan Shy "" 32 7 6,131 4 11 6 2 Boris Subotić "" 7 0 2,204 0 0 16 3 Nadia "" 8 2 4,424 2 4 8 4 Duo Grand "Viva la Vida" 4 0 3,005 0 0 14 5 Nađa "" 52 12 8,111 6 18 3 6 Frajle "" 3 0 3,715 0 0 13 7 Hurricane "" 0 0 3,874 1 1 12 8 Chegi & Braća Bluz Band "" 2 0 5,144 3 3 10 9 Dzipsii "" 25 5 11,582 8 13 5 10 Luke Black "" 49 10 20,070 10 20 1 11 Filip Baloš "" 41 8 8,529 7 15 4 12 Princ "" 31 6 20,398 12 18 2 13 Filarri "" 0 0 2,414 0 0 15 14 Gift "" 17 4 3,155 0 4 9 15 Empathy Soul Project "" 12 3 2,170 0 3 11 16 Zejna "Rumba" 7 1 7,195 5 6 7 + Detailed jury votes Songscope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1""7810732 2""1337 3""12418 4"Viva la Vida"44 5""10108121252 6""123 7""0 8""22 9""5356625 10""1212781049 11""86127841 12""47610431 13""0 14""651517 15""342312 16"Rumba"257

Other awards OGAE Serbia Award

OGAE Serbia Award for the best song on Pesma za Evroviziju '23 is voted on by the association members. The award was won by the winning song "" with 275 points. In second place, with 262 points, was "" by Filip Baloš, while the third place went to Zejna and her song "" with 174 points.

Baloš was also the designated as the Serbian entrant to the OGAE Second Chance Contest. Artist Song Points PlaceLuke Black ""2751Filip Baloš "Novi plan drugi san"2622Zejna "Rumba"1743Nađa "Moj prvi ožiljak na duši"1484 Princ "Cvet sa Istoka"144 5 Dzipsii "Greh"144

Broadcasts and ratings The three shows were broadcast on RTS1, RTS Svet and RTS Planeta as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website rts.rs, and the broadcaster's Eurovision dedicated Youtube channel.

+ Viewing figures by show on RTS1 Show Air date Average viewership Share(%) Semi-final 1 378,817 1,200,000 14.79% Semi-final 2 335,747 1,100,000 13.07% Final 488,087 1,500,000 18.87%

Notes

References