Karolina Gočeva

Early beginnings

Gočeva got her first break at the age of 10 when she performed at the children's festival "Si-Do" in Bitola and the annual festival "Makfest 91" in Štip with the song "Mamo, pušti me" ("Mum, let me go"). Her career was just starting, so she used the national festivals to promote her voice and talent.

She became a regular participant in SkopjeFest, debuting in 1994 with a performance of the song "Koj da ti kaže" ("Who to tell you"). In the following years she participated successfully, especially at SkopjeFest where the Macedonian Eurovision song is chosen. In 1996, Gočeva participated with "Ma, ajde kaži mi" ("Come on, tell me") and reached 9th place. In 1998, she participated with "Ukradeni noќi" ("Stolen nights") and was more successful, reaching 4th place with 10,454 televotes.

Avalon Production - 2000

In 2000, she joined the record label Avalon Production, on which her debut album "Jas imam pesna" (I've got a song) was released. Gočeva released several singles off her first album, including "Sakaj me" ("Love me"), "Bez ogled na se"("No matter what") and "Nemir" ("Restless"), the latter of which she sang in a duet with Toše Proeski. With her first album released, she took part in the Macedonian Eurovision song selection. Gočeva nearly won, but missed out coming in 2nd place with the song "Za nas" ("For us") from Darko Dimitrov, which managed to receive 916 points. After promotion through concerts and festivals, she released her second album "Zošto sonot ima kraj" (Why the dream has an end) in 2002. She gained more popularity in the former Yugoslavia, by performing at the Sunčane Skale festival with the song "Kaži mi" ("Tell me"). She released "Ti možeš" ("You could") and "Ke bide se vo red" ("Everything will be okay") as singles in Macedonia. On her album, she included three English versions of her songs titled "I'm looking for Jamaica", "You could", and "Tell me".

Karolina in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002

The year 2002 became even more successful for Gočeva because she was crowned the winner of "SkopjeFest 2002 with "Od nas zavisi" (English: It Depends On Us), which allowed her to represent Macedonia in front of a European audience. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, she ended up in 19th place. She was also nominated for Miss Eurovision 2002

2003-2006

On March 2003 she released her third album "Znaeš kolku vredam" (You know what I'm worth). She released music videos for her songs "Hipokrit" ("Hypocrite"), "Ljubov pod oblacite" ("Love under the clouds"), and "Sreščemo se opet" ("We will meet again"). After 2003, her career expanded to include Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, where her CDs are now also released. She went into the studios and recorded all of her songs from her third album in the Serbian language so she could appeal to a wider market in those areas. Her first Serbian language album was titled "Kad zvezde nam se sklope...kao nekada" (When the stars align...like once before).

In 2005, Gočeva participated once again at Herceg Novi in the Sunčane Skale festival. Her song "Ruža Ružica" ("Red Rose") became an instant hit placing her 4th in the festival. She also released her new song "Se lažam sebe" ("I'm lying to myself"), written by Kaliopi. At the end of 2005, she released the album "Vo zaborav" (In Oblivion).

Karolina in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Karolina Gočeva participated in, and won, the Skopje Fest competition with the song "Mojot svet", a song written by Grigor Koprov and composed by Ognen Nedelkovski. The competition took place on 24 February 2007 at the Universal Hall in Skopje. Gočeva obtained a total of 144 points with a maximum of twelve points from every voting district, procuring her a landslide victory. She became the first artist to represent her country twice at the Eurovision Song Contest. She competed in the semi-final in Helsinki, Finland on 10 May 2007, performing at number 18. She qualified for the final and performed in the 6th slot on 12 May 2007, where she placed 14th in a field of 24 contestants with a score of 73 points.

2007 - 2008

On 15 December 2007, she participated on Radijski festival with the song Kad te nema, and finished on 2nd place. She won the award for the best composition. In June 2008 Gočeva released her fifth album, named "Makedonsko devojče”. This CD is made in cooperation with the composer Zlatko Origanski and it is totally different album. All songs are under the influence of the local traditional music and the first single “Ptico malečka” became a huge hit in Macedonia. “Makedonsko devojče” is the best selling album in Macedonia for 2008. In December 2008 the album was released in Serbia and other ex-Yugoslav countries by City Records.

2009 - Present

Karolina announced her collaboration with the famous Serbian R&B/Hip-Hop star Wikluh Sky. Her single "Kraj" was atop many charts in Macedonia as well as in the other former Yugoslav republics. Karolina performed "Kraj" at the opening ceremony of Big Brother Serbia. The album which was scheduled to be released in the early spring 2010 titled like the first single Kraj. The second single was released in December 2009, just couple of days before New Year's Eve. The song titled as "Za Godina, Dve" (titled in Serbian as "Uspomene na tebe") is a powerful ballad about ending a relationship. The song became an instant radio hit in Macedonia and it was promoted on the Serbian TV show "Sve Za Ljubav" and on the semi-final of VIP Veliki Brat.

Albums

Singles