Serbia

Cipela Marko Kon & Milaan

"Hvata me panika..."

Considering the nature of Eurovision, what it represents and the profile of your average [avid] follower, it's surprising how conservative a lot of fans of the contest are. Give them an entry that ticks all the boxes - whether it's a traditional ballad like Iceland's Is It True? or outright trash like Montenegro's Just Get Out Of My Life - and they'll nod sagely, approving its place in the line-up for adhering to expectations. But throw in a few props and a kooky hairdo and suddenly it's a novelty entry (which are just as much a part of the modern contest as any genre). It's a label that's all too flippantly applied, often when it shouldn't be, as is the case with this year's Serbian entry Cipela.

And again it comes back to the packaging: the nation's third solo entry in the contest is not nearly as awkward as the Latvian song that precedes it, but dressed as it is has people scratching their heads and asking "so if it's not a novelty entry, what is it?". Cipela, while by no means your run-of-the-mill ballad, is actually a fairly straightforward song about missed opportunities, and could easily have been taken down a more obvious route. But that doesn't make it an oddity: it just means they've been more inventive in their approach. Singer Marko Kon's appearance might not rate in the strait-laced stakes, but Cipela is no more a novelty because of it than it is for its tone, lyrics or arrangement. Or for the accordion or the suitcase. I mean, Hungary's 2007 entry Unsubstantial Blues had more glaring props.

What Cipela is, in fact, is a catchy, upbeat number that's a major detour from Serbia's previous entries, and that might be what's throwing people most. Whether it throws the audience as well remains to be seen, although I suspect not: the majority wouldn't take that much notice. It will, inevitably, be interpreted as something of a novelty act by most viewers, so Serbia will have to hope they don't drift away from it as realisation dawns that it's not the piss-take they may have been hoping for. If the televoters are as conservative as some of the fans they could just fall for its simple charms, since it has a sound that should appeal to a broad slice of audience. The novelty in Cipela would be its not qualifying, probably, and although that's a possibility, it ought to entertain enough viewers - whatever their expectations - to take that extra step.