Luka Ivanović, a talented musician better known as Luke Black, has left quite an impression on the Eurovision audience in the past few weeks since the release of his song Samo mi se spava (I Just Want to Sleep). With the intricate undertones of his entry, experimental and deeply captivating sounds, Luke lit a match under the proverbial Twitter buzz and has managed to accumulate an incredible amount of support and following within the Eurovision community.
Luke was born in Čačak, Serbia, and has been composing music since as far back as 2005. As a testament to his skills and immeasurable talent, he participated in the Grooveland Festival in 2014, got noticed by the Universal Music scouts and the rest was history. This also meant that Luke became the first solo performer from Serbia with an exclusive contract for the Universal Music Group. He is known for his unusual, avant-garde musical styles that he likes to explore upon and that in itself, paired with his talent, is enough to propel this musical prodigy into international success.
Today we sat with Luke to have a little chat about his background, Pesma za Evroviziju and Eurovision in general, as well as his entry and his future plans.
First and foremost, Luke, welcome aboard! We are incredibly excited to welcome you to ESCUnited today. Not sure about you, but we’re wide awake for this chat! How are you doing?
Hello! I am doing my best to stay awake, but the rehearsals for the upcoming show are shaking me up!
We can only assume how busy you are these days with the preparations for PZE. You’ve definitely been collecting quite a few positive points among the Eurovision audience. How does that make you feel?
I am so happy, even though I might not show it – I’ve been working extra hard to pull the whole performance together and after it is all done I can try lay back and absorb all the positive comments my song has garnered.
Since you’re an established artist, how do you think your life has changed since from before and after?
I am actually not a signed artist at the moment, but I have had quite an up and down musical journey. My life has always dragged me to music and its beautiful and different forms. I feel that this moment in my life with the song Samo mi se spava and people’s reactions is one of the crowns of my journey.
Yes, your music definitely shows your affinity to different and unusual. We understand that this has been your dream since childhood. But if life didn’t work out that way, what do you think you would be doing now?
I think I would love to boss people around at a restaurant haha – I have actually worked in a restaurant for a while and went on to manage it – it was really exciting, but nothing like music.
A restaurant! We did not see that coming. Speaking of dreams, many musicians, at least across Europe, harbor that dream of the Eurovision grand stage. Was this something you considered in the past, or is this a new thing on your path to the stars?
I haven’t really had my mind set on Eurovision in the past, but I’m feeling very excited at the moment – I would love to represent my country this year – what I’m most excited about is how big the stage is and how I can be creative with it.
You have a knack for creativity, that’s for sure! Now, let’s dial it back to your PZE song, Samo mi se spava. Just reading all these Twitter and Youtube comments, the support and excitement over it is overwhelming. Among other things, the song was described as dark, haunting, industrial. Can you tell us a bit more about the process of creating this song, and if you normally go down the unconventional route?
It is indeed overwhelming, almost makes me want to somehow try and dial down people’s expectations haha, but I’m so glad people are understanding the message and that it’s big. Me and my friends Majed Kfoury, Ben from COMANAVAGO have worked on this song on and off from 2020 and I have honestly slept on it for a while. I ended up adding finishing touches with Milovan Boskovic from Zemlja Gruva who you saw last year on Eurovision with Konstrakta right before Pesma za Evroviziju application. I release music intuitively so it might happen that I am out of it for a few years and then I come lurking back.
What a phenomenal team you’ve got there! It sounds incredibly exciting. One thing our readers are especially curious about: what is the meaning behind the lobster on the cover?
The meaning is whatever you make of it, truly and I like that people have their own understanding of it. I love lobsters and lobster phones. Lobsters are like friends for life and I would love through music to make friends for life.
Well said! Personally, I’ve never thought of lobsters but that’s quite a visual, it makes people wonder! In line with that, we are all impatiently waiting to see your performance. Is this a lot of pressure or is this a part of the process you tend to enjoy?
I have been flirting with this performance idea for a long time and waited for a good moment to make home for it. Thank you for being excited! The pressure I feel is more so the pressure I give myself trying to make that idea happen, but I’m really enjoying the process. I am so happy with the team I’m working with, we’re functioning as one and it’s one of the most fun times I have had in a while.
All of this said – could you tell us a bit more about your upcoming performance, what can we expect to see from you? If you could reveal a detail or two, our readers would love it!
All I can tell you is that I won’t be sleepy on stage and there is definitely a message I will be showing. The rest I cannot reveal until it happens as it still seems like a dream to me.
We love a good mystery and are looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in store for us. And how about your future plans, what can we expect to see and hear from you after PZE/Eurovision?
I have a lot of music to unleash which I planned to release before I knew I would be participating at PZE. I also cannot wait to start performing in England, Serbia and hopefully around Europe and more.
And we can’t wait to see you take over! The world is your oyster. Finally – anything you’d like to share with our ESCUnited readers?
Thank you so much for spending some time with me and reading this article! I am eternally grateful for all the positive comments about the song and hopefully we’ll be seeing each other more after PZE! <3
Luke will be performing Samo mi se spava at PZE’s semi final 1 on March 1 at 21:00 CET. You can follow his Instagram for updates here.
What do #YOU think about Luke Black and his song Samo mi se spava? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our Discord, or on our forum page!
