Barbara Popović facts for kids

Barbara Popović (born September 16, 2000), often called just Barbara, is a singer from North Macedonia. She is famous for representing her country in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

About Barbara

Barbara Popović was born in Skopje, North Macedonia. She was born on August 16, 2000.

Early Music Journey

When Barbara performed in the Junior Eurovision 2013 final, she was 13 years old. Even at that young age, she was already a well-known artist in her country.

She became famous for taking part in a children's music festival called Super Zvezda, which means "Super Star." Barbara first performed at this festival when she was six years old. She continued to perform there every year until she was ten.

Barbara worked with many famous artists from North Macedonia. These artists helped her by writing songs for her. Some of them included Kaliopi, Jovan Jovanov, Darko Dimitrov, and Elena Risteska. Kaliopi wrote one of Barbara's most popular songs, called "Bongiorno."

Since she was six, Barbara also studied piano at a music school. Her piano teacher was known as a very famous piano professor in North Macedonia.

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013

Popović and her team rehearsing for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

In 2013, Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) decided to return to the Junior Eurovision contest. They had not taken part for two years. Barbara Popović was chosen by MRT through a private audition. There was no public vote to pick her.

"Ohrid and Music"

The song Barbara sang at the Junior Eurovision contest was named "Ohrid i Muzika." This means "Ohrid and Music." Barbara wrote the song herself. Kire Kostov helped with the music and how it was put together. Ognem Nedelkovski helped with the words.

The song was inspired by a trip Barbara took to the old Macedonian town of Ohrid. Barbara shared that the song's words were about a boy from the Netherlands. The song told a story about "first love" in her teenage heart.

The song's words included lines like: "I speak not a single word of Dutch, but your eyes are so warm... In my homeland everybody sings and dances. Don't be silly, join us. Give me your hand, you will love this music more than love!... With this song I'm crossing borders in an instant."

Performance and Results

On stage, Barbara was joined by dancers from the Eureka dance studio. One of the dancers was Sara Kastratović, who was 13 years old. Sara loved hip hop dancing.

At first, people had good hopes for Barbara's performance. Rede Spasovski, who led the Macedonian team, said that the rehearsals looked promising.

However, in the final contest, North Macedonia finished last. They were 12th out of 12 countries. They received 19 points. All participants get 12 points to start, so they earned 7 points from voting. Moldova, who came in second to last, received 41 points.

The result was seen as very disappointing. It was even reported that MRT was thinking about not joining the contest in the future. Ljupcho Mirkovski, the artistic director of the Macedonian team, defended the choice to send Barbara without a public vote. He said Barbara was very talented. He thought her performance was affected by stage fright. He explained that not all children are used to performing in front of a big audience.

Later Career

Return to Music in 2018

Barbara returned to performing in 2018. She sang a new song called "Ne si ti kriv" at the Makfest festival. This means "It’s Not Your Fault."

"Mirisash" in 2020

In 2020, she released a new song called "Mirisash." A music video was also released with the song.

IDJ Show in 2023

In September 2023, Barbara sang the Italian national anthem before a football match. The match was between North Macedonia and Italy. Some Italian people were not happy with her performance. The anthem was sung without music, and Macedonian fans booed during it. Many people shared their feelings on social media. This, along with the match ending in a tie (1:1), made Italians call it a "game best forgotten."

Later in 2023, Barbara was a contestant on a TV music show called IDJ Show. She reached the final and finished in second place. Macedonian news reported that she was expected to perform at the San Remo Festival in Italy.

Images for kids

• 

  Popović and her team rehearsing for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

See also

In Spanish: Barbara Popović para niños