Severina (singer)


Severina Kojić, known professionally as Severina, is a Croatian singer-songwriter and actress. In 2006, the Croatian weekly Nacional listed her among the 100 most influential Croats, calling her "the only bona fide Croatian celebrity".
She represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, held in Athens, Greece, with the song Moja Štikla, finishing 12th.
She won the award "Zlatna ptica" for the best selling artist of the decade in Croatia. In 2015, she was the most googled person in Croatia and Slovenia.

Career

Music

Severina's style can be described as pop with various folk and cabaret influences. As a child, she took smaller parts in theatre and opera productions in her native Split. During the 1980s, having won numerous awards at local festivals, she launched her professional career at an early age, which ultimately resulted in her moving to Zagreb in 1989 to expand her career further.
Severina
In the same year, she recorded her first studio album titled Severina. The album served as her breakthrough to the national platform. It included 10 songs such as: "Vodi me na ples", "Sve do zore", "Svirajte mi rokeri", "Budim se s imenom tvojim", "Zamisli" and "Tvoja prva djevojka" which became a huge hit among younger fans.
Dalmatinka
The leading song from her third studio album, "Dalmatinka", became a Croatian evergreen and captured the emotions of many at the time of release. In the song, Severina sang about her love for the native Dalmatia, white color and the Virgin Mary. The album had total of 10 songs among which were: "Ne bi ti oprostila", "Ne spavaj mala moja", "Paloma Nera" and others. Both "Paloma Nera" and "Dalmatinka" became number 1 on national top list.
Trava zelena
Trava zelena achieved spectacular success. The title song, "Trava zelena", was the most popular song of the year and Severina's primate on the Croatian media platform became stronger than ever before. The composer of the album was Zrinko Tutic. The album had total of 10 songs including: "Trava zelena", "Vatra i Led", "Mr. Taliman", etc.
Moja stvar
Moja stvar was her fifth studio album. The album was inspired by rock sounds. The song "Moja stvar" was written and composed by Severina herself.
Djevojka sa sela
The album Djevojka sa sela was composed and written partially by Zrinko Tutic and partially by Severina herself. The title song "Djevojka sa sela" is one of her biggest hits. It was proclaimed an anthem of Croatian National Football Team while their involvement in European Football Championship during which they ranked at number 3. Djevojka sa sela was her last album composed by Tutic and his production company Tutico. They departed after the release because of the dispute over her contract.
Ja samo pjevam
Severina's 7th studio album, Ja sam pjevam, was a continuation of the pop sounds heard on her previous albums. It had total of 10 songs: "Ja samo pjevam", "Ante", "Esmeralda", "Tuzna pjesma, etc. The composer of this album was Djordje Novkovic with whom Severina started working on her next album.
Pogled ispod obrva
Following the success of her 2001 album Pogled ispod obrva, Severina's 2002 concert tour Virujen u te further confirmed her status of one of the most popular Croatian music artists. This was her first major tour on which she performed in most of the big cities on the Balkans including Sarajevo, Boznia and Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Severgeeen
After a two-year break, she released her 8th studio album Severgreen in 2004. This was her first bigger project and public appearance after the sex-tape scandal which occurred in 2003. The album was influenced by jazz music. In 2006, she won the Dora 2006 festival with the song "Moja štikla" and represented Croatia at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, Greece, on 20 May 2006, finishing 13th with 56 points. The song caused some controversy in Croatia when a few journalists and musicologists claimed the song resembled the music of Serbia. However, prominent Croatian ethno-musicians such as Dunja Knebl and Lidija Bajuk disagreed, and both the song's composer Boris Novković and Severina herself have claimed that the song includes Croatian folk music influences from the Dalmatian Zagora such as ganga and rere singing and lijerica instrumentation. After the contest she started working on her 10th studio album together with Goran Bregović, one of the most successful music composers in the Balkans.
Zdravo Marijo
Severina's long-anticipated tenth studio album Zdravo Marijo, mostly composed by Goran Bregović, was released in May 2008. Ater having made several public appearances wearing clothes depicting religious imagery, some protested the abuse of religious elements, calling them offensive. However, the album has been popular and Severina released four more official music videos for singles "Tridesete" composed by Sezen Aksu, "Gade", "Haljinica Boje Lila" and "Zdravo, Marijo" composed by Bregović. Following the release of the album, Severina went on to her second big regional tour. On 15 December 2009, Severina released her next single called "Lola", which is the part of the Miligram compilation.
Dobrodošao u klub
Her album and tour Dobrodošao u klub held her at the top of Croatian pop music for all of 2012 and 2013, and established her position as the most popular pop singer in Ex-Yu countries. The album had total of 12 songs, 7 of them singles. The first two songs that were released were "Brad Pitt" and "Grad bez ljudi". "Brad Pitt" became one of the biggest hits of 2011. "Italiana", released in the summer of 2012, was viewed more than half a million times in the first 24 hours and has around 60 million views to this day. Later on, she released "Uzbuna", "Dobrodošao u klub" and "Tarapana". Dobrodošao u klub tour was the most spectacular tour ever seen in the Balkans. She performed, yet again, in every large city in the region. The tour started in Rijeka in March 2013 and continued in Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Ljubljana and her native Split. The whole tour sold more than 350,000 tickets.
Post-DUK era
In 2013, Severina released the song "Hurem", named after Hürrem. Composer and writer of "Hurem" is Andrej Babić, and arrangers are Ivan Popeskić and Branko Berković. In March 2014, she released the song "Alcatraz", called after Alcatraz. The composer and writer of "Alcatraz" is Miloš Roganović and arrangers are Miloš Roganović, Filip Miletić and Dušan Alagić. Soon after, she released the song "Brazil" to support the national football team of Croatia during the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. In July 2014, she released "Uno momento", a duet with Serbian band Ministarke. The song was noted for its provocative video clip. The song was composed by Filip Miletić and written by Miloš Roganović. It turned out to be highly popular across the Balkans, becoming a summer hit in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Boznia and Herzegovina. In October 2014, she released a song with Serbian singer Saša Matić called "More tuge". Composer is also Matić, writer is Miloš Smiljanić-Žuća and arranger is Dejan Abadić. At the end of 2014 she released the song "Generale" with Croatian band Uciteljice.
Halo
At the beginning of 2017 she released the song named Kao. On 27 March she released the second official video from the upcoming album, Otrove featuring Bosnian rapper and producer Jala Brat. The song raised around 15 million views in less than a month, and 29 million views after two months. The third song with its video, Mrtav bez mene, was released on 5 June. In June 2018 she released a music videos for collaborations with Croatian singer Petar Grašo named "Unaprijed Gotovo" and with Serbian singer Ljuba Stanković named "Tutorial". In August 2018 she released a music video for a song named "M.A.G.I.J.A." featuring Jala Brat.

Theatre and film

In 2003 Severina landed her first theatre role at the Croatian National Theatre in Rijeka and played the title role in the rock opera Karolina Riječka. Two years later she produced and acted in the monodrama Čekajući svog čovika at the Kerempuh theatre in Zagreb. In 2007 she was cast for one of the main roles in HNK Rijeka's musical Gospoda Glembajevi. Although the decision to cast Severina was met with criticism by some commentators who questioned her acting credentials, the musical premiered in March 2007 with considerable success. Severina also starred in a 2006 Bosnian film Duhovi Sarajeva set in Sarajevo. In 2007 she made a 5-minute cameo appearance playing herself in the Slovenian film Petelinji zajtrk.

Personal life

Sex tape scandal

In 2004, Vučković was involved in an internationally reported sex scandal after a sex tape featuring her and Bosnian Croat businessman Milan Lučić leaked onto the Internet, which was reported by the Croatian online tabloid Index.hr. The graphic nature of the video and the fact that Lučić was married when the tape was filmed shocked the public. Vučković sued the website that released the tape for damages, claiming that the video was stolen from her and that it was her intellectual property, but her lawsuit was later dismissed by a Zagreb district court in July 2004.

Relationships

In December 2010 Severina met wealthy Serbian businessman Milan Popović at his birthday celebration, where she was hired to perform. They soon began dating, and in August 2011 she announced that she was pregnant with her first child. The relationship caused intense media interest in Croatia and the other former Yugoslav republics. Vedrana Rudan, a Croatian writer, wrote a column where she jokingly called Severina "Tito of a new Yugoslavia", promoting Brotherhood and unity. On 21 February 2012, she gave birth to a boy named Aleksandar in Split. During the period she lived between Belgrade, Vršac and Zagreb. In October 2012, Severina announced that she and Popović have separated and that she has moved back to Zagreb. At the same time it was announced she had her son baptized in a Catholic church in Rijeka. Several months later the couple reunited until separating for good in August 2013. Since then the couple have been embroiled in custody disputes, with Popović claiming he was not allowed access to see their son, a claim Severina denied. On 22 October 2015 Severina married Serbian footballer Igor Kojić.

Discography

Studio albums

;EPs
;Live albums

Tours