Proud (Tamara Todevska song)

Last updated
"Proud"
Tamara Todevska - Proud.png
Single by Tamara Todevska
Released8 March 2019
Length3:00
Label Dimitrov
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)
  • Kosta Petrov
  • Sanja Popovska
Tamara Todevska singles chronology
"Doviduvanje tago"
(2018)		"Proud"
(2019)		"Monsters"
(2019)
Eurovision Song Contest 2019 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Tamara Todevska
Language
English
Composer(s)
  • Darko Dimitrov, Robert Bilbilov, Lazar Cvetkoski
Lyricist(s)
  • Kosta Petrov, Sanja Popovska
Finals performance
Semi-final result
2nd
Semi-final points
239
Final result
7th
Final points
305
Entry chronology
◄ "Lost and Found" (2018)
"You" (2020) ►

"Proud" is a song recorded by Macedonian singer Tamara Todevska. It was composed by Darko Dimitrov, Robert Bilbilov and Lazar Cvetkovski, with the lyrics being written by Kosta Petrov and Sanja Popovska. It was the Macedonian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, which took place in Tel Aviv. Although the song was initially planned to be released on 4 March 2019, the release date was postponed the day before to 8 March 2019 to coincide with International Women's Day. Todevska performed "Proud" during the second Eurovision semi-final on 16 May 2019, and qualified for the final, where it placed seventh with 305 points, despite winning the jury vote.

Contents

Background

In January 2019, the Macedonian Radio Television revealed that singer Tamara Todevska would represent North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Todevska previously represented the country alongside Vrčak and Adrian at the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia with "Let Me Love You", but failed to qualify for the final. Tamara was also a backing vocalist for the Toše Proeski's performance of "Life" in 2004 and Tijana Dapčević’s rendition of "To The Sky" in 2014. [1]

"Proud" alongside its music video premiered on 8 March 2019 during MKRTV evening news. [2] Although it was initially planned to be released on 4 March 2019, the release date was postponed the day before to 8 March 2019 to coincide with International Women's Day, in a statement released on the Macedonian delegation's Twitter account. [3] The song was composed by Darko Dimitrov, Robert Bilbilov and Lazar Cvetkovski, with the lyrics being written by Kosta Petrov and Sanja Popovska. Todevska dedicated "Proud" to her daughter, Hana, and "everyone out there fighting for their dreams and believing in their greatness." [2]

Composition

Although initially presented as a feminist anthem, Todevska explained that "Proud" is a song for "everyone that has been told to put their head down, to follow society’s rules" that according to her, "make no sense in the 21st century". Kosta Petrov, who co-wrote the song's lyrics with his wife, Sanja Popovska, revealed that "Proud" was written for their daughter, as well as Todevska's daughter, but generally, it's a song about equality, "It is about accepting yourself, loving yourself and celebrating your true self. It is about being proud of yourself. It celebrates womanhood and feminism but applies to immigrants, LGBT, it applies to everyone fighting for equality. Anyone who has been put down for who they are, this is a song for them." [4]

Eurovision Song Contest

Background

On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. North Macedonia was placed into the second semi-final and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Ultimately, Todevska was scheduled to perform at number 17, pre-last in the respective semi-final. [5] Prior her performance at the Eurovision Song Contest, in his article "Eurovision 2019: 12 Songs to Watch", Fred Bronson of Billboard magazine placed the song at number 11 and wrote that the reason why "Proud" might win is the "celebration of women in the time of #MeToo should connect with a lot of voting viewers as well as the professional juries." [6]

Stage direction and visual design

The stage direction was conceived by Mari Forsman Ryberger and Tine Matulessy. [7] The concept was simple and minimalistic, with Todevska singing along with a microphone stand on the stage. The dress worn by Todevska was created by Aleksandar Noshpal, [8] who is also credited for making the dress for Karolina in 2002 and the suit for Toše Proeski in 2004. It is a full-length, false strapless, emerald green dress, made with a metallic shimmer material, with black tulle covering the upper top part of Todevska's body. The dress was also featured as a visual enhancer, mirroring the structure of the backside on the screens.

Todevska performing "Proud" during the dress rehearsal for the second semi-final. The dress reflections can be seen on the LED screens behind her. Eurovision 2019 North Macedonia.jpg
Todevska performing "Proud" during the dress rehearsal for the second semi-final. The dress reflections can be seen on the LED screens behind her.

The performance starts with Todevska subtly lighted, as the dress' reflections start to show. As the light hits Todevska's face, she started to choreograph hand gestures, which indicates confidence and power. When the first chorus hits, purple starts to come out from the bottom spotlights. In the bridge, the stage darkens again, with images of women and girls being shown on monochrome in the back screens. The second verse was highlighted with purple rays coming out from the gaps of the screens. In the second chorus, rays of white lighting flourished on the stage, with the progression of giving an uplifting atmosphere towards the ending. In the second semi-final, the lighting bloom was enhanced with subtle blue lighting from the screen gaps, but it was omitted in the grand final. The ending note was executed with Todevska shone under a wide spotlight, with the picture of her holding her daughter, Hana, shown on the screen. [9]

Result

North Macedonia was the first country to be announced for the Grand Final. It finished 2nd in the second semi-final with 239 points from both the juries and the televoting. [10] In the final, "Proud" was performed in the first half of the show, at number eight. After the voting, it originally ended up finishing at number eight with 295 points and was second according to the jury vote and number twelve from the televoting. However, on 22 May 2019, a statement was issued by the EBU, stating that an incorrect Belarusian Jury result was given during the broadcast of the Grand Final four days earlier. The error mentioned by the EBU statement, consisted of presenting the bottom ten of the Belarusian aggregated result, rather than the top ten. The incorrect point totals had some consequences for the ranking. North Macedonia was the winner of jury vote, and the country ended up finishing at number seven with a total of 305 points (one place up). [11] This was North Macedonia's first Top 10 finish since joining the competition in 1998 and best result overall.

Track listing

Digital download and stream [12]
No.TitleLength
1."Proud"3:00
Digital download and stream [13]
No.TitleLength
1."Proud (Cyrillic Remix)"3:56

Charts

Chart (2019)Peak
position
North Macedonia (Radiomonitor) [14] 3

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest</span>

North Macedonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 21 times since its official debut in 1998. The country had attempted to participate in 1996, but failed to qualify from the audio-only qualifying round. The current Head of Delegation is Meri Popova.

Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Let Me Love You" written by Rade Vrčakovski. The song was performed by Tamara, Vrčak and Adrian. The Macedonian broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) organised Skopje Fest 2008 in order to select the Macedonian entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. Fifteen entries competed in the competition on 23 February 2008 where "Vo ime na ljubovta" performed by Tamara, Vrčak and Adrian was selected following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. The song was later translated from Macedonian to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Let Me Love You".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamara Todevska</span> Macedonian pop singer (born 1985)

Tamara Todevska, also known mononymously as Tamara, is a Macedonian pop singer.

Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "To the Sky" written by Darko Dimitrov, Lazar Cvetkoski and Elena Risteska. The song was performed by Tijana, who was internally selected by the Macedonian broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) to compete for Macedonia at the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Songwriter Elena Risteska represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Ninanajna" where she placed twelfth in the grand final of the competition. Tijana's appointment as the Macedonian representative was announced on 22 February 2014, while her song, "To the Sky", was presented to the public in a special edition of the MRT show Hit na mesecot.

Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Autumn Leaves" written by Joacim Persson and Robert Bilbilov. The song was performed by Daniel Kajmakoski. The Macedonian broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) organised Skopje Fest 2014 in order to select the Macedonian entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. Twenty entries competed in the competition on 12 November 2014 where "Lisja esenski" performed by Daniel Kajmakoski was selected following the combination of votes from seven international jury groups and a public televote. The song was later translated from Macedonian to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Autumn Leaves".

Georgia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Keep the Faith" written by Anri Jokhadze and Tamara Gachechiladze. The song was performed by Tamara Gachechiladze, who was due to represent Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 as part of Stephane and 3G with the song "We Don't Wanna Put In" before the nation's withdrawal in protest of the Russo-Georgian War. Songwriter Anri Jokhadze represented Georgia in the 2012 contest where he failed to qualify to the final with the song "I'm a Joker". The Georgian broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) held a national final in order to select the Georgian entry for the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. An open call for submissions was held which resulted in the submission of twenty-five entries that were presented to the public during a televised production on 20 January 2017. The results of a public televote combined with the votes of an international jury resulted in the selection of "Keep the Faith" performed by Tamara Gachechiladze as the Georgian entry.

Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Lost and Found" written by Bojan Trajkovski and Darko Dimitrov. The song was performed by the group Eye Cue, which were internally selected by the Macedonian broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) to compete for Macedonia at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Eye Cue's appointment as the Macedonian representative was announced on 13 February 2018, while their song, "Lost and Found", was presented to the public on 11 March 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurovision Song Contest 2019</span> International song competition

The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 contest with the song "Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan), the contest was held at Expo Tel Aviv, and consisted of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May, and a final on 18 May 2019. The three live shows were presented by Israeli television presenters Erez Tal, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub, and Israeli model Bar Refaeli.

Serbia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Kruna" written and performed by Nevena Božović who had previously represented Serbia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 and in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013 as part of the group Moje 3. The Serbian national broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) organised the national final Beovizija2019 in order to select the Serbian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 27 and 28 February 2019 and a final on 3 March 2019. Twelve entries competed in each semi-final where the top six qualified to the final from each semi-final following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. The twelve qualifiers competed in the final which resulted in "Kruna" performed by Nevena Božović as the winner following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote.

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Wake Up" written by Eliot Vassamillet and Pierre Dumoulin. The song was performed by Eliot, which is the artistic name of singer Eliot Vassamillet who was internally selected by the Walloon broadcaster Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF) in January 2019 to represent the nation at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. The song, "Wake Up", was presented to the public on 28 February 2019.

Azerbaijan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Truth" written by Borislav Milanov, Trey Campbell, Joacim Persson, Pablo Dinero and Hostess. The song was performed by Chingiz, who was internally selected by the Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV) in March 2019 to represent the nation at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Songwriter Trey Campbell represented Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 as part of the group Equinox with the song "Bones" where they placed fourteenth in the grand final of the competition. The song "Truth" was presented to the public on 8 March 2019.

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Better Love" written by Katerine Duska, Leon of Athens, David Sneddon and Phil Cook. The song was performed by Duska, who was internally selected by the Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) to represent Greece at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. She was announced as the Greek representative on 14 February 2019, while her song "Better Love" was presented on 6 March 2019.

Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel, with the song "Ktheju tokës" performed by Jonida Maliqi. Its selected entry was chosen through the national selection competition Festivali i Këngës organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) in December 2018. To this point, the nation had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its first entry in 2004. Prior to the contest, the song was promoted by a music video and live performances in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.

North Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Proud" written by Darko Dimitrov, Robert Bilbilov, Lazar Cvetkoski, Kosta Petrov and Sanja Popovska. The song was performed by Tamara Todevska, who was internally selected by the Macedonian broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) to compete for Macedonia at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Todevska previously represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Let Me Love You" together with Vrčak and Adrijan but failed to qualify to the final. Tamara Todevska's appointment as the Macedonian representative was announced on 25 January 2019, while her song, "Proud", was presented to the public on 8 March 2019.

Montenegro participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Heaven" written by Dejan Božović and Adis Eminić. The song was performed by the group D mol. The Montenegrin broadcaster Radio i televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) organised the national final Montevizija 2019 in order to select the Montenegrin entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Five entries competed in the national final on 9 February 2019 where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top two entries advanced to the superfinal following the combination of the votes of an international jury, a Montenegrin jury, a radio jury and public televoting. In the superfinal, "Heaven" performed by D-moll was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote, gaining 62% of the votes. The group was later renamed as D mol for the Eurovision Song Contest.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monsters (Tamara Todevska song)</span> 2019 single by Tamara Todevska

"Monsters" is a song recorded by Macedonian singer and songwriter Tamara Todevska for her upcoming third studio album. It was written by Kosta Petrov and produced by Darko Dimitrov, Lazar Cvetkovski and Robert Bilbilov. The song was released as a single through Dimitrov on 24 November 2019.

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Montenegro participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy with the song "Breathe" written by Vladana Vučinić and Darko Dimitrov. The song was performed by Vučinić, who was internally selected by the Montenegrin broadcaster Radio i televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) to represent the nation at the 2022 contest. Vučinić was announced as the Montenegrin representative on 4 January 2022, while her song was presented to the public on 4 March 2022.

North Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with the song "Circles" performed by Andrea. North Macedonia's public broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) organised the national final Za Evrosong 2022 in order to select the country's entry for the 2022 contest. Six entries competed in the national final and "Circles" performed by Andrea was announced as the winner on 4 February 2022 following the combination of votes from a five-member international jury panel and a public vote.

References

  1. ↑ Macgillivray, Lynn (26 January 2019). "Tamara Todevska to represent FYR Macedonia at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest". CelebMix. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  2. 1 2 "North Macedonia's Tamara Todevska presents 'Proud' for Tel Aviv". Eurovision.tv. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  3. ↑ Granger, Anthony (8 February 2019). "FYR Macedonia: Tamara Todevska to Sing 'Proud' at Eurovision". Eurovoix.
  4. ↑ Angelovska, Nina (21 May 2019). "Tamara Todevska Made North Macedonia Proud--'The Right Person With The Right Message Of Equality'". Forbes . Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  5. ↑ Granger, Anthony (2 January 2019). "Eurovision'19: Semi-Final Allocation Draw to Take Place at Tel Aviv Museum of Art". Eurovoix.
  6. ↑ Bronson, Fred (14 May 2019). "12 Songs That Could Win Eurovision 2019". Billboard . Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  7. ↑ "Tamara Todevska reveals the stage directors for "Proud" and puts concerns to rest!". ESCXTRA.com. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  8. ↑ Herbert, Emily (18 March 2019). "North Macedonia: Eurovision 2019 Backing Vocalists Revealed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  9. ↑ North Macedonia - LIVE - Tamara Todevska - Proud - Grand Final - Eurovision 2019. YouTube . Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  10. ↑ "Second Semi-Final: Last 10 acts qualify for Eurovision 2019 Grand Final". Eurovision.tv. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  11. ↑ "EBU Issues Statement on the 2019 Grand Final Result". Eurovision.tv. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  12. ↑ "Proud – Single by Tamara". Apple Music . Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  13. ↑ "Proud – Single by Tamara". Apple Music. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  14. ↑ "Macedonian Airplay Chart". Radio Monitor. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019.
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