Željko Joksimović speaks out to the Serbian press about his disappointment over the result in Baku. After coming third in Azerbaijan, the Balkan singer denies any future participation as a performer.
Back in 2004, it was clear for most how Serbia & Montenegro could easily have won the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul with the song Lane Moje, which became the biggest European hit of Željko Joksimović‘s career. Joksimović went on to compose the Bosnia & Herzegovina entry Leyla in 2006, the Serbian entry Oro in 2008 and was also the host of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 from Belgrade. The balkan singer has recently stated that he never again intends to participate at Eurovision as an artist. The more than respectable third place achieved in the land of fire reduced his hopes to ashes, leaving a rather bad taste in his mouth.
After returning to Belgrade, The balkan singer addressed the serbian media, stating that he was so disappointed with the result, that a "mere" third place has made him decide never to perform at Eurovision again. Read between his startling comments if you will; could his statements signify the end of his artistic career, or are these merely words said in the heat of the moment? Joksimović also commented however that he won’t rule out the possibility of returning as a composer to the contest. The fact that he indeed doesn’t rule out any future participation as a composer will no doubt bring a collective sigh of relief to his fans all over the globe.
When sharing his thoughts on the voting process of this year’s contest, Joksimović told of the sheer shock he experienced when the serbian entry failed to score points with countries where it seemed to be a popular and well regarded entry. Serbia was in fact the country that received 10 points the most times (eight in total). If we take a brief glance at the statistics, we can quickly see that Željko Joksimović did indeed end up with his worst result in Eurovision as a performer, taking into account his second place in 2004 with 263 points and this year’s result where he ranked third with 214 points. Despite "only" achieving a third place in Baku, it is by no means the lowest placing for the serbian, if we factor his sixth place as a composer in the 2008 contest from Belgrade into the equasion.
The serbian superstar also enlightened the press with his thoughts on the other contestants. On Loreen, the winner of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest he said "It is true that Sweden had a very good promotion, although her song is a very good one, very contemporary". He went on to mention other acts, namely the russian entry: "Buranovskiye Babushki performed an entry which was a novelty act, something that some people like and what others find a funny song". The third and final country which he mentioned was neighbouring Croatia, saying that he was shocked to see Nina Badrić fail to qualify for the final, revealing that the serbian and the croatian delegations were accommodated at the same hotel whilst in Baku.
