Marko Bošnjak is a young singer from a place called Prozor-Rama in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He rose to fame after he won the 2nd season of the Serbian music show “Pinkove Zvezdice” which gathered youngsters from all over the Balkan. Marko has been living in Zagreb for several years, where he attends the singing school of Ivana Husar Mlinac (who was a backing vocal of Tony Cetinski at the Eurovision 1994) and Martina Tomčić. In addition to that he also goes to the School of Graphics, Design and Media Production.

Hello Marko, congrats on being chosen to compete at Dora 2022. How does it feel being one step closer to fulfill one of your childhood dreams which is performing at Eurovision Song Contest?
– Thank you so much. Honestly, I feel very honored that I’ve been chosen to perform at the national selection. I’m hoping to satisfy the audience and achieve the best possible result.

You rose to fame among the Balkan audience at the age of 12 after you won the second season of the show “Pinkove Zvezdice”, six years ago, which thing you learned there will help you at Dora 2022 and how does it feel now when you look back to it?
– I think I learned a lot about stage and media presence as well as how to deal with the stress of performing on a large competition. Well, I’m definitely proud of what I’ve accomplished so far and I think that my performance at Dora is going to be better because of it.

In the final of “Pinkove Zvezdice” among others you competed against Darija Vračević (Serbia JESC 2019) and the decision of the winner was made between Martija Stanojković (North Macedonia JESC 2016) and you. The show also brought a few other contestants at JESC (Lena Stamenković, Dunja Jeličić, Bojana Radovanović, Mina Blažev) in addition to that Croatian representative at ESC 2019, Roko Blažević was the winner of the third season. How does it feel to be part of this new generation of singers and are you still in contact with any of them?
– I still keep in touch with some of my colleagues and their families and I’m really glad that I can call them my childhood friends. In addition to that, Roko was actually a special guest on my first solo concert back in my home town and I’m grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to work together. I think that it’s pretty obvious that the people who have gone through Pinkove Zvezdice have a lot of potential seeing how a lot of them, many of which you’ve mentioned here, have competed at larger competitions and even Eurovision events.

How does it feel to be the youngest competitor at Dora 2022?
– I think of it as something positive and I’m always happy when I get the chance to perform next to some bigger artists that have been on the scene for a longer period of time.

You cooperated with a few Eurovision participants (Ana Rucner, Kaliopi, Jelena Tomašević,
Tony Cetinski and others). Which cooperation did you enjoy most and what is the best advice any of them gave you?
– Considering how all of them are huge names in the region as well as known to Eurovision fans, it is quite hard to pick favourites. But there’s a special place in my heart for Jelena Tomašević considering she was one of the judges when I was on Pinkove Zvezdice and Kaliopi because she was one of my favourite artists in my younger years. I can’t really remember some specific advice that I’ve been given but I think I took the advice and implemented it in my work and all of those people have had an impact on the musician I am today.

Can you tell us a bit about the song “Moli za nas” which you’ll perform and what does it mean for you?
– Moli za nas is a power-ballad that means so much to me because the message of the song really resonates with me. And I think that my audience will share the same emotions that I experience while performing it.

Your performances both during the show “Pinkove Zvezdice” and later were always so emotional and soulful, should the audience be ready for something similar at the stage of Dora 2022?
– I think that Moli za nas has my distinct emotion but twisted upside-down in a way that is more modern and corresponds better with my style today.

Recently you’ve been working on a project covering songs and releasing them on your YouTube channel. Which song you enjoyed performing the most (not just from the ones you covered but in general) and which would you like to cover in future?
– I really loved taking some of the pop songs I covered into my own hands and playing a bit with their melodies and styles. I enjoy performing different songs at different periods of time depending on how I am feeling and what the atmosphere is like. In the future I’d like to focus more on my own music but covers are always something that I find fun to do as a side project.

You are a student and earlier you also combined education with being a musician, it seems to me that you are doing an amazing job with it so do you have any advice for all the youngsters who go through the same thing?
– I think that it’s really important to find a school that you’re interested in so that the schoolwork you have to do is at least somewhat enjoyable to do. Also, it’s important to manage your time and energy and still have time left to enjoy yourself.

Which musicians are your role models/inspire you the most and if you could choose with whom would you like to perform a duet?
– During my adolescent years I’ve grown fond of Lorde’s entire discography as well as Lana Del  Ray’s. I’ve a special connection to Lorde’s music because she perfectly captured the turmoil of being a young musician and just a young person in general. So I’d definitely love to work with her some day.

I suppose you watch Eurovision regularly, would you like to share a memory which you have of it or a favourite song from the contest?
– Absolutely. I’m a big Eurovision fan. And my favourite memory is watching Eurovision and treating it like a family event where we all talked about my dream of performing on that stage one day.

What are your plans for future (album/song releases)?
– My focus for now is, obviously, Dora. But after that I’ll release a single titled “Nema” which has now had to be put on hold because of the preparations for Dora. I’m also planning on releasing an album when the time is right.

Thank you so much for your time Marko. We wish you the best of luck at Dora 2022. Do you want to share something else or you maybe have a message for readers of escbubble?
– Thank you for this interview! I just want to say hi to all of the readers and I hope that they will like my performance. Thank you once again, and I hope we’ll have the opportunity to talk again.

You can listen to “Moli za Nas” below

If Marko Bošnjak is your favorite to win Dora 2022 which will take place this Saturday, make sure you cast your vote for him in our poll right here:
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