Severina (singer)

Severina Vučković (born 21 April 1972), better known mononymously 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 searched person on Google in Croatia and Slovenia. She is considered one of the most popular people in Croatia and Croatia's pop-culture, and one of the most popular musicians on Balkan region, having collaborated with numerous artists like: Jala Brat, Ministarke, Azis, Marina Tucaković, Saša Matić, Miligram, Petar Grašo, Kemal Monteno, Željko Bebek, Crvena Jabuka, Goran Bregović, Boris Novković, Lana Jurčević, Danijela Martinović and many others. She wrote many of her songs including: Ostavljena, Da si Moj, Ja samo pjevam, Ajde ajde zlato moje, Mili Moj, Pogled ispod Obrva, Djevojka sa Sela, Ante, Ko me tjero, Adam i Seva, Parfem and many others. She is the only person in Croatia to accumulate more than 1 billion views on her YouTube channel.

Music
Severina's career was launched in the late 1980s when she began performing in local festivals and competitions. One of her first major performances came in 1989 in her hometown of Split. In 1990, she moved to Zagreb where she won a radio competition that landed her an album.

That same year she won the first prize at the Zagreb Festival with the song "Sklopi oči muzika dok svira" (Close Your Eyes While the Music Is Playing). She soon became the host of the show Top Cup on Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), which she hosted for a year, and at the end of the year she went on her first tour in Australia.

Severina (1990–1992)
In 1990, she released her first studio album titled Severina. The album served as her breakthrough to the national platform, with the hit single "Vodi me na ples" (Take Me to Dance).

The songs "Tvoja prva djevojka" (Your First Girlfriend) and "Kad si sam" (When You're Alone) from her next eponymous record, released in 1992, with composer Zrinko Tutić, became huge hits among younger fans.

Dalmatinka (1993)
The leading song from her third studio album, Dalmatinka (Dalmatian Woman), became a sensation and captured the emotions of many at the time of release. In the song, Severina sang about her love for her native Dalmatia, the color of white and Virgin Mary. The album had total of 10 songs among which were "Ne bi' ti oprostila" (I Wouldn't Forgive You), "Ne spavaj mala moja" (Don't Sleep, My Baby Girl; Bijelo Dugme cover), "Paloma nera" (Black Dove) and others. Both "Paloma nera" and the title track became number one on national top list.

Trava zelena (1995)
Her fourth album, Trava zelena (Green Grass), achieved major success. The title track was the most popular song of the year and Severina's primacy on the Croatian media platform rose as a result. It was another collaboration with Tutić.

Moja stvar (1996)
Moja stvar (My Thing) was her fifth studio album. The album was influenced by rock sounds. The title track was written and composed by Severina herself.

Djevojka sa sela (1998)
The album Djevojka sa sela (Country Girl) was composed and written partly by Tutić and partly by Severina. The title track is one of her biggest hits. It was used by the Croatia national football team as their unofficial anthem during their campaign at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Djevojka sa sela was her last album composed by Tutić and his production company Tutico. They parted ways following its release due to a contract dispute.

Ja samo pjevam (1999)
Severina's seventh studio album, Ja samo pjevam (I Just Sing), was a continuation of the pop sounds heard on her previous albums. It had total of 10 songs. The composer of this album was Đorđe Novković with whom Severina started working on her next album.

Pogled ispod obrva (2001)
Following the success of her 2001 album Pogled ispod obrva (The Gaze Underneath the Eyebrows), Severina's 2002 concert tour and live album Virujen u te (I Believe in You) won her an award for best selling live album along with a nomination for hit song of the year. Virujen u Te was her first major tour in which she performed in most of the big cities on the Balkans including Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ljubljana, Slovenia and confirmed her status of one of the most popular Croatian music artists.

Severgreen (2004)
After a two-year break, she released her ninth studio album Severgreen in 2004. This was her first major 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 festival with the song "Moja štikla" and represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece, finishing in 13th place.

The song caused some controversy in Croatia when several 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 Hinterland such as ganga and rere singing and lijerica instrumentation.

After the contest, she started working on her tenth studio album together with Goran Bregović, one of the most successful music composers in the Balkans.

Zdravo Marijo (2008)
Severina's long-anticipated tenth studio album Zdravo Marijo (Hail Mary), mostly composed by Bregović, was released in May 2008. After having made several public appearances wearing clothes depicting religious imagery (most notably a tight shirt with an image of Virgin Mary with Severina showing ample cleavage), some protested the abuse of religious elements, calling them offensive. However, the album achieved popularity and Severina released four more official music videos for the singles "Tridesete" (Thirties; cover of Sezen Aksu's "Kaçın Kurası"), "Gade" (You Bastard), "Haljinica boje lila" (Little Lilac Dress; Nikola Pejaković cover) and the title track. Following the release of the album, Severina went on her second major regional tour. On 15 December 2009, Severina was featured on Miligram's song "Lola", which was included on their self-titled debut album.

Dobrodošao u klub (2012)
Her album Dobrodošao u klub (Welcome to the Club) 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 former Yugoslav countries. The album had total of 12 songs, seven of them singles. The first two singles that were released were "Brad Pitt", named after the actor, and "Grad bez ljudi" (City without people). "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, till this day accumulation of that song has 95 million views on YouTube. Later on, she released "Uzbuna" (Alert), the title track and "Tarapana" (Agitation). In support of the album she embreak on her second headlining Dobrodošao u Klub Tour. 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 20,000 people), Zagreb (in front of 19,000 people), Sarajevo (in front of 15,000 people), Ljubljana (in front of 11,000 people) and her native Split (in front of 12,000 people). The whole tour sold more than 250,000 tickets.

2013–2014
In 2013, Severina released the song "Hurem", named after Hürrem Sultan. It was composed and written by Andrej Babić, and the arrangers were Ivan Popeskić and Branko Berković. In March 2014, she released the song "Alcatraz", named after the Alcatraz Prison. Soon after, she released the song "Brazil" to support the Croatia national football team's campaign at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the country.

In July 2014, she released "Uno momento" (One Moment), a duet with Serbian band Ministarke. The song was noted for its provocative music video. It turned out to be highly popular across the Balkans, becoming a summer hit in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, accumulating more than 130 million views on YouTube.

In October 2014, she released a song with Serbian singer Saša Matić called "More tuge" (Sea of Sorrow). At the end of 2014, she released the song "Generale" (Hey, General) with the Croatian band Učiteljice, with more than 71 million views on YouTube.

Halo (2019)
At the beginning of 2017, she released "Kao" (Like), the lead single from her twelfth studio album Halo (Hello). On 27 March 2017, she released the second single, "Otrove" (You Poison) featuring Bosnian rapper and producer Jala Brat. Its music video was viewed around 15 million times in less than a month, and 29 million times after two months, and overall 105 million views on her YouTube channel. The third single. along its music video, "Mrtav bez mene" (Dead Without Me) was released on 5 June. In June 2018, she released two music videos for collaborations with Croatian singer Petar Grašo named "Unaprijed gotovo" (Over in Advance), and with Serbian child singer Ljuba Stanković named "Tutorial". In July 2018, she released the music video for a single named "Magija" (Magic), featuring Jala Brat once again.

Sorry & Superstar Hrvatska (2023)
On 4th of July 2023, she released an EP titled "Sorry" with 5 new songs: Sorry, Metak (Bullet) collaboration with Serbian Rapper Nucci, Nebo (Sky) with Sandi Cenov & KIMMV, Pravda za ljubav (Justice for Love), 100 Stepeni (100 Degrees) with L'Amiral.

On 31st of March 2022, she published her music video with Bulgarian superstar Azis titled "Fališ mi" (Missing you) on her YouTube Channel. Till this day the music video accumulated more than 78 million views.

In addition to that, she was signed as a judge for the Croatian version of Pop Idol called Superstar Hrvatska, with three other judges: Nika Turković, Tonči Huljić and Filip Miletić. The filming of the show lasted from 23rd of September 2023 till 9th of December 2023. She was signed for Season 2.

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 (Caroline of Rijeka). Two years later she produced and acted in the monodrama Čekajući svog čovika (Waiting for My Man) at the Satirical Theatre Kerempuh 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 along Davor Janjić and Enis Bešlagić in a 2007 Bosnian film Duhovi Sarajeva (Ghosts of Sarajevo), set in Sarajevo. In 2007, she made a five-minute cameo appearance playing herself in the Slovenian film Petelinji zajtrk (Rooster's Breakfast).

Sex tape scandal
In 2004, Vučković was involved in an internationally reported sex scandal after a sex tape featuring her and Herzegovinian 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. In 2004, part of the lawsuit about intellectual property was dismissed by the court, but violation of privacy was approved with a compensation of 100,000 kunas.

Relationships
At the beginning of her career, Severina was reported to have been in a relationship with the singer Zrinko Tutić, who was married at the time. Afterwards, she entered into a relationship with singer Alen Marin of the band Kojoti. She later entered into a relationship with music producer Ante Pecotić. In 1999, Severina entered into a brief relationship with the Croatian model Adnan Taletović, whom she met while filming her "Da si moj" (If You Were Mine) music video. In 2000, while still in a relationship with Herzegovinian Croat general Stanko Sopta, she began an affair with Milan Lučić, a married businessman with whom she recorded a sex tape, which was leaked to the public in 2004. At the time of the tape's release, Severina was reported to be in a relationship with Srećko Vargek, but the two soon broke up. Severina soon entered into a relationship with the economist Mate Čuljak. The relationship lasted a year and a half, but the couple broke up one week before Severina's 35th birthday. Severina soon began dating sports entrepreneur Slavko Šainović. After two and a half years of dating, the couple broke up.

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. 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 (son of Serbian Musician Dragan Kojić Keba) in Bale, Istria. The couple formally divorced in Zagreb on 19 August 2021.

In 2013, she publicly supported the LGBT community in Croatia ahead of the 2013 Croatian constitutional referendum.

Studio albums

 * Severina (1990)
 * Severina (1992)
 * Dalmatinka (1993)
 * Trava zelena (1995)
 * Moja stvar (1996)
 * Djevojka sa sela (1998)
 * Ja samo pjevam (1999)
 * Pogled ispod obrva (2001)
 * Severgreen (2004)
 * Zdravo Marijo (2008)
 * Dobrodošao u klub (2012)
 * Halo (2019)

EPs

 * Bojate Bane Buski (2004)
 * Moja štikla (2006)
 * Moja štikla / Moj sokole (2006)
 * Sorry (2023)

Live albums

 * Paloma nera – uživo (1993)
 * Virujen u te (najbolje uživo!) (2002)
 * Tridesete – uživo (2010)
 * Dobrodošao u klub live (2014)

Tours

 * Zdravo Marijo Tour (2008–12)
 * Dobrodošao u Klub Tour (2013)
 * The Magic Tour (2019)