Veteran composer Aleksandar “Sanja” Ilić will represent Serbia at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest together with his musical project Balkanika and the song “Nova deca”.

Seen in advance as the most likely winner from the 17-song field, “Nova deca” proved to be the favourite of the juries and the public alike at tonight’s national final, Beovizija.

There is certainly plenty of ESC pedigree behind the entry: Balkanika singer Danica Krstić finished as the runner-up behind Bojana Stamenov in the 2015 Serbian final, while Ilić himself composed the 1982 Yugoslav entry “Halo halo” by Aska as well as the cast-iron Jugovizija classic “Princeza“, aka “Negde izvan planeta”, from 1984.

See what you think of this year’s Serbian entry below: