Ana NikoliÃÂ (; ; born 27 September 1978) is a Serbian singer and television personality. Born in Jagodina and raised in ParaÃÂin, she rose to prominence by competing in the Beovizija 2003 music festival with the song "Januar". NikoliÃÂ has to date released five studio albums.
Ana NikoliÃÂ was born on September 27, 1978, in Jagodina, but grew up in ParaÃÂin. She has a brother, Marko NikoliÃÂ, who worked as her manager. After graduating from grammar school, NikoliÃÂ moved to Belgrade where she attended secondary polytechnic school, studying design.
In 1998, Ana lost her father, whom she dedicated her 2016 song "Da te vratim" to. According to her, the loss of her father also stimulated her to become more independent and to start performing professionally. During the 1999 bombing NikoliÃÂ moved to Greece, where she lived for nine months. There, Ana was further influence to pursue a career in music by singer Sakis Rouvas.
In 1998, Nikoliàmade her first television appearance on the show 3K Dur, where she sang "KolaÃÂiÃÂi" by Marina PeraziÃÂ. In April 2003, she rose to prominence by competing on the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, called Beovizija, with her entry "Januar". Despite placing 7th, Nikoliàreceived the award for the best debut performance. Subsequently, in August, she released her debut studio album through City Records under her then stage name Nika. The album also marked the beginning of her collaboration with songwriters Marina Tucakoviàand Aleksandar MiliàMili. In 2006, Nikoliàreturned to Beovizija with "Romale romali", finishing as the runner-up. The song received significant success and has become Nikolic's signature hit. The same year in December, she also released her sophomore album, Devojka od ÃÂokolade, after which she embarked on her first regional tour. Nikoliàcompeted on Beovizija once again in March 2009, where she reached the final only after the statement that the votes had been miscounted. Nikoliàsubsequently decided to not take part in the final and later sued Radio Television of Serbia. In October 2014, she claimed victory over Serbian public broadcaster, receiving â¬20,000 in damages. In September 2009, she entered Serbian reality television show Farma, but was disqualified after three days for rule breaking. Her third body of work, Mafia Caffe, was released in July 2010.
In July 2013, she released Milion dolara with several stand out hits, such as the title track featuring Nikolija and "ÃÂavo". NikoliÃÂ's fifth album, Labilna, was released in May 2016. Produced by hip hop artists Rasta and Coby, it saw significant departure from her previous work to a more urban sound. Same year, she went on to appear as a judge on the fifth season of Ja imam talenat!, the Serbian spin-off of the Got Talent franchise, alongside Rasta who was her husband at the time. The couple also collaborated on "SluÃÂajnost", which was released in June 2017 and was later included to Rasta's album Indigo. After giving birth to her daughter in August 2017, NikoliÃÂ decided to take a break from music to focus on motherhood and her body image issue regarding a highly publicized weight gain.
In February 2020, NikoliÃÂ returned to public life by releasing "Bilo je lepo" followed by music videos for six other songs, which were all supposed to be a part of the album titled Klinika. The album was, however, eventually scrapped due to COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of 2022, NikoliÃÂ announced her first solo concert in the Belgrade Arena for 7 October 2023 to celebrate twenty years of career. In August 2023, Hype Production, which was responsible for the concert's organization, announced that the tickets had been withdrawn from sale due to lack of "technical conditions". Although they highlighted that the concert had not been cancelled, NikoliÃÂ's live show in the Arena was eventually never realized.
In November 2010, NikoliÃÂ was detained in a police station in Rakovica for driving under influence.
Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, NikoliÃÂ claimed she was foster caring a Japanese baby boy. She subsequently faced scrutiny after Serbian daily newspaper Kurir had reported that the baby was in fact Chinese from a family residing in New Belgrade. NikoliÃÂ firmly denied the allegations, stating that the baby's parents decided to come "as soon as possible" to take him back to Japan after the media scandal had erupted.
In December 2014, she described the then Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar VuÃÂiÃÂ, as "irresistible". In May 2023, she invited followers on Instagram to join the government-organized counter-demonstration organised by VuÃÂiÃÂ's Serbian Progressive Party against the 2023 Serbian protests.
During an episode of Ja imam talenat! in 2017, NikoliÃÂ made a comment about an auditionee whose talent was singing, which was interpreted by several media outlets as homophobic. She told the auditionee, a man who said he "feels like a woman", that he has "such a big desire to be a songstress that it's incredible". In August 2022, NikoliÃÂ stated she agreed with the Serbian Orthodox Church on the matter of EuroPride, held that year in Belgrade, and condemned it. Several days later, NikoliÃÂ wrote on Instagram that she had "never turned her back to the LGBT community".
In June 2022, she was caught up in another media scandal when she released her demo of the song "Provereno", which had already been released by Milica PavloviÃÂ as a part of her album Posesivna. PavloviÃÂ disclosed her intentions to file a lawsuit against NikoliÃÂ several days after. No legal actions were eventually taken regarding the incident.
On 28 July 2016, NikoliÃÂ married music artist Stefan ÃÂuriÃÂ Rasta. Their daughter, Tara, was born on 3 August 2017. The couple filled for a divorce in November the following year.