Another disqualification in Serbia: The band Dram, which was supposed to participate in the Serbian national final, “Pesma Za Evroviziju 2025”, was disqualified by the national broadcaster due to releasing their song before the allowed date. The singer Lency will replace the band with her song “Hvala ti”.

The Serbian national broadcaster, RTS, recently announced that the band Dram, initially selected to participate in the Serbian national final, “Pesma Za Evroviziju 2025”, has been disqualified from the competition. As a result, they will not be able to compete for Serbia’s ticket to Eurovision 2025 with their song “Vanja”. This marks the second consecutive time in recent history that the Serbian national broadcaster has disqualified an artist from participating in their Eurovision selection, following the disqualification of the band Butch Cassidy, which was replaced by the band Marshali.

Reasons for Disqualification

The dramatic disqualification of Dram stems from the same reason that led to Butch Cassidy’s disqualification – the band performed their Eurovision selection entry “Vanja” publicly before the set date in Eurovision rules, September 1, 2024. This violation renders the song ineligible for the competition.

Replacement and Precautionary Measures

Replacing Dram in the lineup is singer Lency with the song “Hvala ti”. It appears that since the drama that unfolded in Montenegro last November-December, the Serbian national broadcaster (Montenegro’s close neighbor) is taking strict and cautious steps to ensure that such a situation does not occur in their selection process.

Full Participants List

• Maršali – Po policema sajjanja
• Igor Simić – Ne mogu
• Tropico band – AI
• Tam – Durum durum
• Džet Vega – Rolerkoster
• Mila – Gaia
• Dušan Kurtić – Boginja
• Harem Girls – Aladin
• Mimi Mercedez – Turbo žurka
• Lency – “Hvala ti”
• Ivana Štrbac – La La La
• Milan Nikolić i banda – Storia del amor
• Bojana x David – Šesto čulo
• Iskaz – Trendseter
• Tanja Banjanin – Ja sam bolja
• Princ – Mila
• Biber – Da mi se vratiš
• Nataša Kojić – Up and Down
• Kruz Roudi – Sve i odmah
• SEDLAR – Oči boje zemlje
• Jelena Pajić – Kameleon
• Nikola Antonijević Anton – U grad
• AltCtrl – Mamurna jutra
• Filarri – Meet and Greet
• GIFTS & ROSES – Do kraja vremena
• Maja Nikolić – Žali srce moje
• Ohajo – MaMa
• Ana & The Changes – Brinem
• Vukayla – MASK
• Vampiri – Tebi treba neko kao ja

Familiar Faces Return to the National Selection

Among the contestants are several familiar names:

• Filarri – Competed in last year’s Serbian national selection, finishing ninth in the semi-final with his song “Ko je ta žena“.
• Bojana x David – Competed in last year’s Serbian national selection and finished seventh in the final with their song “No No No“.
• Dušan Kurtić – Competed in last year’s Serbian national selection and finished sixth in the final with his song “Zbog tebe živim“.
• Princ – Competed in the 2023 Serbian national selection with his song “Cvet sa Istoka” and finished second in the final.
• Jelena Pajić – Competed in the 2022 Serbian national selection with her song “Pogledi” and finished 11th in the semi-final.
• Biber – Competed in the 2022 Serbian national selection with their song “Dve godine i šes’ dana” and finished 15th in the final, and in 2018 with their song “Stanovi“, reaching fourth place.
• Igor Simić – Competed in the 2022 Serbian national selection with his song “To Nisam Ja” and finished 12th in the semi-final, and in 2020 with his song “Ples Za Rastanak“, finishing third.
• Maja Nikolic – Competed in the 2018 Serbian national selection with her song “Zemlja čuda” and reached tenth place.

Competition Structure and Dates

“Pesma za Evroviziju ’25” will consist of two semi-finals and a final:

• First Semi-Final: February 25th, 2025
• Second Semi-Final: February 27th, 2025
• Grand Final: March 1st, 2025

The competition will be held at RTS Studio 8 Košutnjak in Belgrade. Results will be determined by a combination of professional jury and public voting. 15 songs will compete in each semi-final, and the top 8 will qualify for the grand finale which will include 16 songs in total.

Serbia in Eurovision 2024

Source: RTS.

Eurovision 2025: This will be Serbia’s 17th participation in Eurovision. Serbia joined the contest in 2007 and achieved its best result in the same year when singer Marija Šerifović won first place with the song “Molitva”.