Severina

**Severina Kojić** (ex Vučković, born on April 21, 1972), best known mononymously as **Severina**, is a Croatian pop singer and one of the most popular singers in Croatia and the Balkans (ex-YU countries). In 2006, *Nacional* weekly 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 and finished at 12th place in the Grand Final with 56 points. 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. In the same year, she recorded her first studio album titled *Severina*. During the 1990s, she established herself as a national pop icon with chart-topping hits such as "Dalmatinka" (1993), "Paloma nera" (1993), "Trava zelena" (1995), "Od rođendana do rođendana" (1996), "Djevojka sa sela" (1998), "Prijateljice" (1998), "Ja samo pjevam" (1999), "Ante" (1999) and others.

Following the huge 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. After a two-year break, she released her 8th studio album *Severgreen* in 2004. 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 May 20, 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 (Inner Dalmatia) such as ganga and rere singing and lijerica instrumentation.

Severina's long-anticipated tenth studio album *Zdravo Marijo* (*Hail Mary*), mostly composed by Goran Bregović, was released in May 2008. After the first single from the album *Gas, Gas* was released, accusations followed once again that particularly due to the brass elements and mischievous, prankish lyrics, the song closely resembled *pop*, another type of music played in Croatia. Additionally, after having made several public appearances wearing clothes depicting religious imagery (most notably a tight shirt with an image of the Virgin Mary with Severina showing ample cleavage), 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" (title track) composed by Bregović. On December 15, 2009, Severina released her next single called "Lola", which is the part of the *Miligram* compilation.

Her album and tour "Dobrodošao u klub" (Welcome to the club) held her at the top of Croatian pop music for a whole 2012 and 2013 year.

## Personal life

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.

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 wasn't allowed access to see their son, a claim Severina denied.

On 22 October 2015 Severina married Serbian footballer Igor Kojić.