Severina Kojić

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* Dallas
 Associated acts | * Jala Brat
* Leon
* Miligram
* Petar Grašo
* Saša Matić

**Severina Kojić** (Cyrillic: Северина Којић; née Vučković; Cyrillic: Вучковић; born 21 April 1972), known professionally as **Severina**, is a Croatian singer-songwriter and actress.

## 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 city 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 (album, 1989 and 1993)

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 Imenpm Tvojim*, *Zamisli* and *Tvoja Prva Djevojka* which became an iconic song and a huge hit among younger fans.

### Dalmatinka (album 1995)

Severina's third studio album, *Dalmatinka*, has helped to establish her as a national pop icon. The leading song, *Dalmatinka*, became a Croatian evergreen and captured emotions of many at the time of release. In the song, Severina sang about her love for the native Dalmatia, white colour and the Virgin Mary ("First to me is Mary, second to me is white colour, and third is your love"). The album had total of 10 songs among which were: *Ne Bi To Oprostila*, *Ne Spavaj Mala Moja* (cover), *Paloma Nera* and others. Both *Paloma Nera* and *Dalmatinka* became number 1 on the national top list.

### Trava Zelena (album, 1995)

*Trava Zelena* achieved spectacular success and was described as one of the best albums of the 1990s in Croatia. 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 whole album was Zrinko Tutic. Album had a total of 10 songs including *Trava Zelena*, *Vatra i Led*, *Mr. Talima*, etc.

### Moja Stvar (album 1996)

*Moja Stvar* was her 5th studio album. The whole album was inspired by rock sounds and was both critically and publicly acclaimed. The song *Moja Stvar* was written and composed by Severina herself and was praised by critics. After the release of the album, she had gone on the big Croatian tour, performing in every bigger city including Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Osjek, etc.

### Djevojka Sa Sela (album, 1997)

Often referred to as her most iconic album, *Djevojka Sa Sela* is truly a masterpiece of Croatian music production. The album was composed and written partially by Zrinko Tutic and partially by Severina herself. The title song *Djevojka Sa Sela* is even today considered as one of her biggest hits. It was proclaimed an anthem of the Croatian National Football Team during their involvement in the 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 a dispute over her contract.

### Ja Sam Pjevam (album, 1999)

Severina's 7th studio album, *Ja Samo Pjevam*, was a continuation of the pop sounds heard on her previous albums. The album was critically and publicly acclaimed and achieved big success. It had a total of 10 songs: *Ja Samo Pjevam*, *Ante*, *Esmeralda*, *Tužna Pjesma*, etc. The composer of this album was famous and respected author Djordje Novkovic with whom Severina started working on her next album.

### Pogled Ispod Obrva (album, 2001)

Following the huge success of her 2001 album *Pogled Ispod Obrva*, Severina's 2002 concert tour 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 in the Balkans including Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ljubljana, Slovenia. The song *Virujen U Te* became one of the biggest evergreens in Croatian music history. It is referred to as one of her most beautiful songs to this day.

### Severgeeen (album, 2004)

After a two-year break, she released her 8th studio album *Severgreen* in 2004. This was her first bigger project and public appearance after a sex-tape scandal which occurred in 2003. The album was influenced by jazz music. Severina sang about her hard decisions and struggle to overcome public shame, in the song *Na Sceni Sama* she captured the emotion of the public by singing: "Even when lies and noisiness try to destroy me, I still stand alone in the spotlight". Although the album did not achieve as great success as her previous projects, Severina continued to work hard and fought her way back. In 2006, she won the Dora 2006 festival with the song *Moja Štikla* and represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece, on the 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 composers 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. 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 (album, 2008)

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 was 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. Following the release of the album, Severina went on to her second big regional tour. She performed in every big city in the Balkans. By the end of 2009, she had a concert in Kombank Arena (Belgrade, Serbia) singing in front of 20,000 people. The concert was followed by strong media promotion and was proclaimed "the most spectacular event of the year". On December 15, 2009, Severina released her next single called *Lola*, which is the part of the Miligram compilation. The single got around 14 million views.

### Dobrodošao U Klub (album, 2012)

Her album and tour *Dobrodošao U Klub* (Welcome to the club or DUK') 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 the Ex-Yugoslav countries. The album had a 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 and *Grad Bez Ljudi*, an emotional love song, was viewed more than 200,000 times on YouTube setting a record across the Balkans. *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* (23 million views), *Dobrodošao U Klub* (22 million views) and *Tarapana* (27 million views). *Dobrodošao U Klub* tour was said to be one of the most spectacular tours 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 (in front of 25,000 people), Zagreb (in front of 22,000 people), Sarajevo (in front of 15,000 people), Ljubljana (in front of 15,000 people) and her hometown Split (in front of 15,000 people). The whole tour sold more than 350,000 tickets.

### Post-DUK era

After the *Dobrodošao U Klub* album and tour, Severina continued with her career progresses recording many ultra-popular songs. In 2013, she released the song *Hurem*, named after Hürrem. Composer and writer of *Hurem* Andrej Babić and arrangers are Ivan Popeskić and Branko Berković. The song has around 19 million views on YouTube. In March 2014, she released the song *Alcatraz*. the composer and writer of *Alcatraz* is Miloš Roganović and the arrangers are Miloš Roganović, Filip Miletić and Dušan Alagić. *Alcatraz* is often referred to as her most beautiful and emotional song of the postDUK era. Soon after, she released the song *Brazil* in order to support the national football team of Croatia during the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. In July 2014, she released *Uno Momento* (One moment), a duet with Serbian band Ministarke. The song was noted for its highly 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 Bosnia and Herzegovina. Up to this day, the song has been viewed more than 90 million times becoming the second-most viewed song in the Balkans. In October 2014, she released a song with Bosnian-Serbian singer Saša Matić called "More Tuge" ("Sea of Sorrow"). The composer is also Matić, the writer is Miloš Smiljanić-Žuća and the arranger is Dejan Abadić. At the end of 2014, she released the song *Generale* with Croatian-Slovenian band Učiteljice. The song has more than 45 million views on YouTube.

### Halo (album, 2019)

At the beginning of 2017, she released the song named *Kao*. It has been viewed more than 700,000 times in one day and served as an introduction into her new studio album which is about to be released in the following months. The song has collected more than 6 million views in just 15 days and more than 14 million views in 3 months. On 27 March she released the second official video from the upcoming album, *Otrove* featuring Bosnian rapper and producer Jala Brat. The song was viewed around 1.3M times in the first day on YouTube – a number with which she broke the regional record for the most viewed song in the first day of its release on YouTube in the Balkans. 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 the first five days, it gained around 3 million views on YouTube. The album is scheduled for release by the end of 2018. In June 2018 she released a music video for collaborations with Croatian singer Petar Grašo named "Unaprijed Gotovo" ("Already Done") and with Serbian child singer Ljuba Stanković named "Tutorial". In August 2018 she released a music video for a song named "M.A.G.I.J.A." ("M.A.G.I.C.") featuring Jala Brat.

### Theatre and film

In 2003 Severina landed her first theatre role at the Croatian National Theatre in Rijeka (HNK Rijeka) and played the title role in the rock opera Karolina Riječka (English: Caroline of Rijeka). Two years later she produced and acted in the monodrama Čekajući svog čovika (Waiting for my Man) at the Kerempuh theatre in Zagreb. In 2007 she was cast for one of the main roles in HNK Rijeka's musical Gospoda Glembajevi (The Glembays; based upon Miroslav Krleža's 1929 play). 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* (Rooster's Breakfast), one of the most successful Slovenian films in recent decades.

### Mediterraneanvision Song Contest

Severina represented Serbia at the Mediterraneanvision Song Contest 3 held in Barcelona, Spain with the song "Otrove" featuring Bosnian singer Jala Brat. They placed 23rd with 42 points. She then represented the country again at the Mediterraneanvision Song Contest 4 held in Ta' Qali, Malta with the song "Hazarder" featuring Swiss-Serbian singer Leon where they qualified for the final placing 2nd with 251 points and then went on to place 2nd with 316 points in the final.

Severina later represented Croatia at the Mediterraneanvision Song Contest 6 held in Pristina, Kosovo with the song "Magija" featuring again Jala Brat. In the semi-final, they placed 1st with 254 points and therefore qualified for the grand final. In the final, they came 2nd with 376 points.

## Personal Life

Severina was born on the 21 April 1972 in Split, Croatia. Her mother is originally from Drniš, Croatia, while her father was originally a Serb from Trebinje, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Severina does not comment about her father's origins and identifies herself only as Croatian.

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 the 22 October 2015 Severina married Serbian footballer Igor Kojić.