Daniel Popović's 'Džuli' Gives Yugoslavia a Top-Five

MAY 15 1983 · 12:05

Daniel Popović · "Džuli" · Yugoslavia · 1983 Placement: 4 · Score: 125 · Language: Serbo-Croatian · Composers: Zdenko Runjić · Venue: Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle · Host: Munich, West Germany · Type: upset · Broadcast: color analog Popović — Montenegrin-Italian pop singer raised in Croatia — delivers 'Džuli' on the Munich stage with a slicked pompadour, white suit, and a smile aimed squarely at the camera. The song is an effortlessly hooky, slightly retro slow-burn pop ballad. 125 points for 4th place is Yugoslavia's best-ever finish to that point. Belgium's Corinne Hermès wins with 'Si la vie est cadeau'. Context Zdenko Runjić, the composer, was Croatia's most prolific pop songwriter. Popović was a rising Yugoslav pop idol — half-Italian, polyglot, commercial instincts. Munich's venue was the small Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, previously the 1972 Olympic basketball arena. Yugoslav television celebrated the result as a national cultural achievement. Legacy 'Džuli' became the biggest-selling Yugoslav single of 1983 and remained a Balkan summer staple for decades. Popović's post-Yugoslavia career continued in Croatia. Six years later, Riva's win for Yugoslavia built directly on the pipeline that 'Džuli' and 1981's 'Lejla' had established. Popović's 1983 result is now often cited as Yugoslavia's real Eurovision high-water mark despite being a 4th rather than a 1st.