Nikolija

Early life

Although her parents are from Serbia, she was born in Zagreb, former Socialist Republic Croatia. Her mother is the famous folk singer Vesna Zmijanac, and her father is Vlada Jovanovic, former marketing chief at PGP RTS. Being only 6 years old, she starred in her mother's music video for the song Kad bih znala kako si. In primary school she evinced an inclination for singing, winning the municipal and town singing competitions. She always wanted to be a performer, but her father wanted her to finish college. She moved to Athens Greece, and got a degree in International Business at the American Deree College. Her parents are divorced and she has a half-sister Teodora Jovanović and a half-brother Luka Jovanović on the father's side.

2011 – 2016: Career beginnings, №1

She started her career as a dancer and singer in Greek nightclubs during her studies. In 2011, she released her first song Crazy 2 night with DJ Kas as Nicole, but the song did not achieve success on the Greek market. Around that, in Serbia she was known as a famous daughter and Belgrade's party girl.

I recorded a song in English, but the publisher has given up. Maybe I would be successful, if i had the voice of Marija Šerifovic, her voice and my looks.

After the completion of her studies in 2013, she moved to Serbia and continued her career there. Milan Stanković brought her to Atelje Trag to record new songs. Her idea was to bring something new to Serbian music. Nikolija recorded her second song Ćao zdravo with the local hit maker Teča Gambino. At first, the public didn't accept well Nikolija's music style, provocative lyrics and music video. The song still had a large number of reviews. Same year she released the second self-titled single, which was better received. She had a duet called Milion dolara (Million dollars) with Ana Nikolić, for her fourth album. Music video for this song is known as one of the most expensive in Serbian show business and it won OGAE music video award. These three songs made her to become a favored singer, but the next songs will gain her even more popularity.

In the following year she released Alkohola litar (Liter of alcohol) with Elitni odredi and DJ Mladja, which followed the romance between Nikolija and Relja Popovic in the media. Later in October she launched a turbo-folk styled song Kako posle mene (How after me). She served as a celebrity guest model during Belgrade fashion week and walked the runway while presenting the collection by George Styler. In the late 2014 she released a duet song with the Montenegrin singer Dado Polumenta, Premija (premium).

In May 2015 she started shooting her new music video for the song Opasna igra (A dangerous game) in Greece. Jovanovic released the single on 4 May for IDJ Tunes. The song had a great success, becoming the summer hit and one of the biggest hits in Nikolija's career. During the same month she was a guest at a charity evening in Belgrade where she sang Opasna igra live for the first time. Later that year, she published her first ballad Ljubavni maneken (Love mannequin) on 20 October through Toxic entertainment. The single came with a music video which has an art-fashion moment, as she says. In November she was the trademark face for the Balmain x H&M collaboration in Serbia.

Although being pregnant for the second time, Jovanovic was still working on her debut track and recorded a new trap single Niko kao mi (No one like us), which she released on 18 July. Two weeks after delivery, on 14 October she finally showed three new music videos for the songs Pucaj zbog nas (Shoot for us), 101 propušteni poziv (101 missed call) and Plavo more (Blue sea) that are part of the album, named №1. Her album tour started in December and she was successfully performing across the Balkans and the rest of Europe.

2017-present

On 9 March 2017 Jovanovic released new electropop single titled Promeni mi planove (Change my plans). Subsequently she recorded Loš momak (Bad guy) a song written by Serbian hit maker Slobodan Veljković - Coby. The single and music video came out on 21 July via IDJTunes. She was also given a chance to star in the movie Volja sinovljeva alongside notable actors Žarko Laušević and Sergej Trifunović. Nikolija would portray the character of a warrior woman in the post apocalyptic place. In August Nikolija announced her small Australian tour with Relja Popović, her partner, that will take place in November and December same year.

Artistry

Although categorized as an R&B performer, Nikolija is constantly balancing between the western sound and Balkan folk music, which is favored there. In song like Kako posle mene, Nikolija mixed her pop vocals with folk sound and rap shares. That kind of music made biggest commercial success. Nevertheless, she is still recording pure modern hip-hop (Ćao zdravo) and trap (Niko kao mi) kind of songs. Ljubavni maneken was an exception, because it's a modern ballad. Her biggest musical influence is Rihanna, but also Jelena Karleuša who, as she said, showed her that pop music can be successful in Serbia.

She was mentioned several times in songs by Serbian rappers (Gru, Fox, Rasta, etc.) saying that she can't sing and that is necessary for her to use Auto-Tune while recording. They also criticized her look and music style.

Studio albums

Non-album singles

As lead artist

As featured artist