Sara Jovanovià(; ; born 29 October 1993), professionally known as Sara Jo, is a Serbian singer, songwriter, model and actress. Born in Rome, she came to prominence upon competing on Prvi glas Srbije in 2012, finishing in 3rd place. Subsequently, as a member of Moje 3, Jovanoviàrepresented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden with "Ljubav je svuda". They placed 11th in the semi final, failing to reach the grand final.
Her official debut solo single, "Ko je ovde ko", was released in 2014. It was followed by a series of other standalone singles, including "Nemam vremena za to" (2017), "Mili mili" (2019) and "Muà ¡karÃÂina" (2022). Her debut album, Bez kontrole, was released in June 2023. It spawned two singles: "Divlja" (2021) and "Zar ne" (2022).
Additionally, JovanoviÃÂ competed on the first season of Tvoje lice zvuÃÂi poznato and has also been involved as an actress in theater, television and voice acting. Moreover, she has modeled for fashion campaigns, including continuous collaboration with Adidas in Serbia since the beginnings of her career.
Jovanoviàwas born on 29 October 1993 in Rome and was raised bilingually in Serbian and Italian. She is the only child of kindergarten teacher, Jasna, and Serbian Foreign Ministry official, Saà ¡a JovanoviÃÂ. In 2009, the family permanently relocated to Belgrade, where Sara graduated from the Third Grammar School. She subsequently studied Italian language at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology. Jovanoviàdisplayed interest in music and performance from an early age, practicing ballet and hip-hop dance. She has cited late 90's and early 00's performers like Britney Spears, TLC, Jennifer Lopez and Destiny's Child as her biggest influences in music.
After winning at an armature singing contest organized by the Serbian magazine Story with the covers she had been posting on YouTube, JovanoviÃÂ received the opportunity to record her first song and music video, titled "Zauvek". In October 2011, she performed "Zauvek" at the late-night talk show VeÃÂe sa Ivanom IvanoviÃÂem. The following year, JovanoviÃÂ was also featured on four tracks by rapper MCN from his self-titled debut album.
In 2012, she auditioned for the second season of the singing competition Prvi glas Srbije. Mentored by Aleksandra RadoviÃÂ, Jovanoviàreached the show's grand final where she finished as the second runner-up. She was especially noted for her showmanship in the live show phase, being described as the "new energy on the music scene" by the Serbian Cosmopolitan. The following year, the producers of Prvi glas Srbije formed a girl group, called Moje 3, consisted of Jovanoviàand her fellow-finalists Mirna Raduloviàand Nevena Boà ¾oviÃÂ, in order to compete in the national selection competition for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. On 2 March, Moje 3 were chosen as the Serbian representatives for the 2013 Eurovision hosted by Malmö, Sweden with their song "Ljubav je svuda", by receiving 42.5% of the public votes. On May 14, they performed in the Eurovision's first semi final, placing 11th with 46 points and thus failed to qualify for the grand final. Moreover, Moje 3 also received the Barbara Dex Award for the worst dressed act.
After Eurovision she collaborated with singer Marko MandiÃÂ on the single "Ujutru", released in June 2013. In September, JovanoviÃÂ became a contestant on the first season of the reality competition Tvoje lice zvuÃÂi poznato, where she placed as the runner-up to singer Ana KokiÃÂ. In June the following year, JovanoviÃÂ released her first official single, titled "Ko je ovde ko", under IDJTunes. She also covered "Provokacija" by Boban RajoviÃÂ for the 2014 movie Little Buddho. JovanoviÃÂ subsequently released the singles "Mahovina" and "Probaj" in December 2014 and July 2016, respectively. In 2016, she also reunited with MandiÃÂ to cover "Troje" by Moby Dick for the purposes of the film The Samurai in Autumn. On 25 December 2016, in Sava Centar, JovanoviÃÂ made her theatre debut, portraying Cinderella in a musical play, which subsequently toured around Serbia.
In May 2017, Sara Jo released the single "Nemam vremena za to", produced by Coby, under new label - Bassivity Digital. It became her first music video to collect over ten million views on YouTube. The same year, she also collaborated with Tuborg GreenFest on the single "Samo ti", which samples samples Major Lazer's "Tuborg Beat". "Samo ti" was released through Universal Music Group. Subsequently, the single "Lava" was released in May 2018.
It was followed by "Bez sna" and "Mili, mili" in January and June 2019. During her 2019 summer tour, JovanoviÃÂ performed for the first time at the Exit music festival alongside other artists from Bassivity. Same year she had a recurring role in the television series SinÃÂeliÃÂi. JovanoviÃÂ also served as a mentor on a singing contest organized by Coca-Cola, called Discovered by Coke. Her contestant, Predrag SimiÃÂ, with whom she also released a song, "Kao nikad pre", as a part of the competition, was eventually proclaimed the winner.
On 27 January 2020, Jovanoviàperformed a medley of her hits at the 2020 Music Awards Ceremony, held in the Belgrade Arena. In April, she released "Kaà ¾i mi". The following July, Jovanoviàcollaborated with Edita Aradinoviàon the single "Varalica". She performed alongside Marija à  erifoviàand Jelena Karleuà ¡a at the 2022 New Year's Eve concert in front of the House of the National Assembly in Belgrade. In February 2022, Sara Jo was announced as a contestant on the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, called Pesma za Evroviziju '22, with her entry "Muà ¡karÃÂina". Based on the YouTube views, Jovanoviàwas initially highlighted as the competition's front runner. She placed first in the second semi final on 4 March. In the final on 5 March, however, she finished as the runner-up to Konstrakta and "In corpore sano". "Muà ¡karÃÂina" peaked at number 12 on Billboard's Croatia Songs chart.
On June 21, 2023, JovanoviÃÂ released her debut album, Bez kontrole, under Bassivity Digital, which was preceded by the singles "Divlja" (2022) and "Zar ne?" (2022).
Recognized for continuously supporting LGBT rights in Serbia, JovanoviÃÂ carried the title of the Belgrade Pride's "Godmother" in 2019. In August 2021, she also performed at the closing ceremony of the WorldPride in Copenhagen.
In November 2013, Jovanoviàalongside Tropico Band and Dà ¾enan LonÃÂareviàwas featured on the charity single "Milio sam anÃÂele" to raise funds for the treatment of a twenty-two-year-old woman suffering from bone cancer. In October 2020, she was a speaker on the TEDxMasarikova conference in Zenica, where she reflected on personal struggles in regards to popularity. In 2021, Jovanoviàalso became an ambassador of the Council of Europe against hate speech.
JovanoviÃÂ was in a year-long relationship with volleyball player Aleksandar AtanasijeviÃÂ, which was ended in May 2014. In February 2015, she was reported to be dating Serbian actor . The couple broke up the following year. Between 2016 and 2018, she was then romantically involved with rapper and writer MarÃÂelo.
She is currently in a relationship with Slovene choreographer, à ½iga Sotlar.