Karolina Gočeva

Karolina Gočeva (, ; born 28 April 1980), sometimes credited as Karolina Gocheva or known only as Karolina, is a Macedonian singer. She launched her music career in 1991 with a performance at a local children's show and continued participating in the following years, receiving recognition for her talent. In 1992, she released her first children album titled ''Mamo, pušti me'' (). She signed a contract with the record label Avalon Production in 2000.

Gočeva's discography consists of a total of nine studio albums, spanning pop, R&B, rock, traditional folk and ethno, jazz and world musical styles. Shortly after signing her contract with Avalon Production, Gočeva released her debut studio album '' Jas Imam Pesna'', which included the song "Nemir" featuring Toše Proeski. Her second, third, and fourth studio albums '' Zošto Sonot Ima Kraj'', '' Znaeš Kolku Vredam'' and '' Vo Zaborav'' were released in 2002, 2003, and 2005, respectively. While her initial five albums were more pop, R&B and rock-oriented, her later records '' Makedonsko Devojče'' () (2008), '' Makedonsko Devojče 2'' (2014) and '' Izvor'' () (2018) incorporated elements of Macedonian traditional music and jazz. This switch in sound led to increased popularity, wide acclaim from the public, and sold-out concerts in North Macedonia, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Her ninth studio album, in collaboration with Duke Bojadziev and Ismail Lumanovski, '' Pesni za Ljubov i Kopnež'', was released on 24 December 2022. An upcoming studio album with a more pop sound preceded by singles "Od nebo do dno" and "Daj na sunce" is scheduled for release at the end of 2024.

She represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contests 2002 and 2007, ranking 19th and 14th, respectively. Gočeva has received numerous awards and accolades both in North Macedonia as well as other Balkan award ceremonies. She is widely known as the most famous Macedonian female pop singer and has received the label "Macedonian pop princess/queen" and a "pop diva". Although most of her songs are sung in Macedonian, Gočeva has also released records in Serbo-Croatian and English leading to an increase in popularity in Bulgaria and ex-Yugoslav countries such as Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Croatia. Additionally, Gočeva is renowned for her casual fashion style for which she frequently collaborates with Caci Pakoska. With her music work, Gočeva has also taken part in campaigns against drug use, uterine cancer and gender-related violence.

Life and career

1980–1998: Early life and career beginnings

Karolina Gočeva was born on 28 April 1980 in Bitola, in then Socialist Republic of Macedonia, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to an anesthesiologist father and a technologist mother. She also has a younger sister, Aleksandra, who is an ophthalmologist. Gočeva finished her primary school in Bitola, where she also performed in a child choir. After that, she went to the high school Josip Broz-Tito in Bitola. As she had an interest in learning foreign languages, she finished her studies in the English language at the Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, part of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje.

Gočeva first entered the music field at the age of 9, when she performed Madonna's " Like a Prayer" at the popular Šaram Baram show at the Pionerski dom in Bitola. She got her first breakthrough in the music industry in 1990, at the age of 10 when she performed at the first broadcast of the children's festival " Si-Do" in Bitola. A few months later, she participated with another ballad where she won the prize for Best Interpretation. She also participated in the annual festival "Makfest 91" in Štip with the song "Mamo, pušti me" ("Mum, let me go"), written by Tode Novačevski, where she won the award for Most Successful Debut. As her music career was still in its bud, she used national festivals to promote her voice and talent. In 1992, she released her first children studio album under MRT, which contained 11 other songs in addition to "Mamo, pušti me", including "Stefane" (), "Sekade si ti" (), "Prviot baknež" (), "Dojdi vo školo" (), "Volšebni sonuvanja" (), "Čujte sega" (), "Dzvezdo moja" (), "Nasmevni se narode" () and "Strašni planovi" ().

In 1993, Gočeva performed the song "Zamrznato srce" () at Makfest which was broadcast on MTV. The music was written by D. Kocev, the lyrics by V. Nejasmić while the arrangement was finalized by V. Skenderovski. For the performance, Gočeva appeared dressed in a green shirt. Gočeva became a regular participant at Skopje Fest, a contest for the selection of the Macedonian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, debuting in 1994 with a performance of the song "Koj da ti kaže" (). In 1995, she performed the song "Kako da te otkačam" (). In the following years, she continued participating successfully including in 1996, with the song "Ma, ajde kaži mi" ("Come on, tell me"), music by T. Cvetanovski, lyrics by Ž. Micevski and arrangement by Lj. Konstantinov which reached 9th place. In 1997, she performed the song "Tonovi tajni" (), written by Kire Kostov, at Skopje '97 which was broadcast on MTV. In 1998, she participated with "Ukradeni noќi" ("Stolen nights") which was successful, reaching fourth place with 10,454 televotes. In hindsight of her early career during a 2023 interview, the singer revealed that gaining traction was something that took place in a stepwise fashion through festival performances that the Macedonian discography had to offer at the time.

2000–2002: ''Jas Imam Pesna'', ''Zošto Sonot Ima Kraj'' and Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2002

In 2000, she signed a deal with the record label Avalon Production. Shortly afterwards, her debut studio album '' Jas Imam Pesna'' () was released through the label. Three singles were released off the first album, including "Sakaj me" (), "Bez ogled na se" () and "Nemir" (), the latter of which she sang in a duet with Macedonian pop singer Toše Proeski. Following the release of her first studio album, she took part in the Macedonian Eurovision Song Contest. Gočeva's entry "Za nas" () written and composed by Darko Dimitrov, landed at second place, with 916 points.

After promotion through concerts and festivals, she released her second studio album ''Zošto Sonot Ima Kraj'' () in 2002. The album contained 11 new songs in Macedonian and 3 songs in English. In 2001, she gained wider regional popularity in the countries of former-Yugoslavia, by placing third at the Sunčane Skale festival held on 12, 13 and 14 July in Herceg Novi with the song "Kaži mi" (), written by Peri and Franc from the band Nokaut. She released "Ti možeš" () and "Ke bide se vo red" () as singles from the album in Macedonia. On her album, she included three English versions of her songs titled "I'm looking for Jamaica", "You could", and "Tell me". In 2002, Gočeva was crowned the winner of Skopje Fest 2002 with her entry " Od nas zavisi" (), which allowed her to represent the Republic of Macedonia to a European audience. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, she placed 19th. During the performance, she appeared donning a red dress and a golden corsette designed by Aleksandar Nošpal which gained popularity through the years. She was also nominated for Miss Eurovision 2002.

2003–2007: ''Znaeš Kolku Vredam'', ''Vo Zaborav'' and ESC 2007

In March 2003, Gočeva released her third studio album '' Znaeš Kolku Vredam'' (). She released music videos for her songs "Hipokrit" (), "Ljubov pod oblacite" (), and "Sreščemo se opet" (). After 2003, her career expanded to former Yugoslav countries Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, where her albums started being released. To appeal to the wider audience from those countries, Gočeva recorded songs from her third album in Serbian. Her first Serbian language album and fifth overall was titled ''Kad zvezde nam se sklope... kao nekada'' (); the title song became a success in both Serbia and North Macedonia.

In 2005, Gočeva participated once again in Herceg Novi at the Sunčane Skale festival. Her song "Ruža Ružica" () became an instant hit placing her 4th in the festival. She also released her new song "Se lažam sebe" (), written by Kaliopi. At the end of 2005, she released her fifth studio album titled '' Vo Zaborav'' in Macedonian () and '' U Zaboravu'' in Serbian; the album included a total of nine new songs. The Serbian language version produced numerous singles which gained popularity in many former Yugoslav countries; these included "Teško srcu pada" () and "Gorka pilula" () as well as "Kad mi nebo bude dom" () and "Kao malo vode" () written by Zlatan Stipišić Džiboni and Vlatko Stefanovski.

In 2006, Gočeva recorded a cover of the song "Radost za cel svet" () for the Christmas album ''Tanja i Prijatelite Vi Pejat Božikni Pesni'' ().

On 24 February 2007, Gočeva participated in, and won, the Skopje Fest competition, held at the Universal Hall in Skopje, with the song " Mojot svet" written by Grigor Koprov and composed by Ognen Nedelkovski. Musically, "Mojot svet" is a power ballad that eulogizes the power of music to "transcend religion and borders". Gočeva obtained a total of 144 points with a maximum of twelve points from every voting district, procuring her a landslide victory. With this feat, she became the first artist to represent Macedonia twice at the Eurovision Song Contest. She competed in the semi-final in Helsinki, Finland on 10 May 2007, performing at number 18. She qualified for the final and performed in the sixth slot on 12 May 2007, where she placed fourteenth in a field of 24 contestants with a score of 73 points.

2007–2014: ''Makedonsko Devojče 1'', ''Kapka Pod Neboto'' and ''Makedonsko Devojče 2''

On 15 December 2007, she participated on ''Radijski festival'' with the song "Kad te nema", and finished in 2nd place, winning the award for best composition given by the jury. That same year, she also participated at the Croatian Radio Festival with the song "Jedan Dan". On 26 June 2008, Gočeva released her fifth studio album '' Makedonsko Devojče'', in cooperation with composer Zlatko Origjanski, musician and member of the band Anastasia. As an experimental album arranged and influenced by Nikola Micevski, the project marked a shift in the musical style of the singer as all songs were influenced by local traditional music. "Ptico malečka" was released as the album's first single in North Macedonia and became widely popular. The album was a big critical and commercial success; it won in the category for Best Ethno Album at the 2008 Sunčane skale festival and emerged as the best-selling album of that year in Macedonia. In December 2008, the album was released in Serbia and other ex-Yugoslav countries by City Records. In 2008, Gočeva performed the song "Dafino vino crveno" together with the Tavitjan Brothers during their concert at Universal Hall accompanied by Damjan Pejčinovski on guitar.

In May 2009, Karolina announced her single "Kraj" with Serbian R&B/hip-hop artist Wikluh Sky. The single was atop many charts in Republic of Macedonia and other former Yugoslav republics. She also performed the single at the opening ceremony of '' Big Brother Serbia''. The second single, titled "Za Godina, Dve" (Serbian version: "Uspomene na tebe") is a power ballad about ending a relationship and was released in December 2009. The song became an instant radio hit in the Republic of Macedonia and was further promoted on the Serbian TV show ''Sve Za Ljubav'' and on the semi-final of ''Veliki Brat''. In 2010, Gočeva's sixth studio album ''Kapka Pod Neboto'' was released on 29 November 2010 along with a Serbian language edition titled ''Kap Ispod Neba''.

On 25 February 2014, Gočeva released the album '' Makedonsko Devojče 2'' as a sequel to the 2008 record; both of them were known under the collective name ''Makedonsko Devojče'' due to their distinctive sound. Three singles were released from the album: "Čalgiska" as the lead single on 6 December 2013, "Dve liri (ne ni bilo pišano)" on 13 January 2014 and "Koj da mi zapee" in April 2015. As the first album of the project, ''Makedonsko Devojče 2'' was equally successful and well received by both the public and music critics who appreciated the combination of traditional folk music with pop elements. Songs from the project were composed and arranged by pianist Nikola Micevski and most lyrics were written by Valentin Skoleski and Vesna Malinova.

The promotion of the album started at a concert broadcast by MRT with a performance of the song "Dve liri". As part of the promotional tour of the album in Macedonia, the singer gave five subsequent performances at the from 20 to 24 February 2014, a sold-out concert at the Boris Trajkovski Area; in total around 15.000 tickets were sold to her concerts. Other cities across the country where she performed as part of the album's promotion included Bitola, Ohrid and Prilep. A wider tour in promotion of the album took place in Serbia at the Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment in Belgrade and at the Carnegie Hall in New York together with Macedonian composer Duke Bojadziev. The following years after the release of the album were spent on wide promotion through live appearances and regional performances. ''Makedonsko Devojče 2'' emerged as the best-selling album of 2014 in North Macedonia. Additionally, Gočeva broke the record for most held concerts that year with seven. In October 2016, English singer Joss Stone sang "Koj da mi zapee" together with Gočeva at a park in Skopje as part of a series of videos filmed during her visits to various countries as part of her Total World Tour. A professionally recorded video of the performance was published on the official YouTube accounts of both Stone and Gočeva on 18 October 2016.

In 2017, Gočeva worked on a rework of the song "Fenix" () originally written by Montenegrin musician Momčilo Zeković for the album ''Džep sa tajnama'' (). The song was recorded in the studios Musicland in Podgorica and Momirovski in Skopje under the guidance of Aleksandar Saša Gajić and Dejan Momirovski. The arrangement was finalized by Gajić, while the mastering by James Cruz at Zeitgeist Sound Studios in New York in 2017. She further promoted it through a live performance in Podgorica.

2018–2020: ''Izvor''

On 23 February 2018, Gočeva released '' Izvor'', her ninth studio album in North Macedonia. The album was produced by Micevski while Vesna Malinova served as the main songwriter along with Vesna "Bejbi" Petrushevska. The album was preceded by the Christmas-themed song, "Dzvona" () released along with a music video on 19 December 2017. The music and the arrangement were by Nikola Micevski, the lyrics by Vesma Malinova and Ognen Šapkovski from Melem Produkcija made the music video. "Dzvona" was dedicated to "people who are not among us, but are present in our hearts". Immediately after its release, "Dzvona" was very well received by the singer's fanbase and music critics. Writing for Crno i Belo, a journalist noted, "With a melody that takes you to a magical place... 'Dzvona' will be pleasant to the ears and eyes during this festive season." The uptempo track "Beli cvetovi" () was released as the album's second single on 31 October 2018. A writer for Crno i Belo praised it as "dynamic" while calling Gočeva "cheerful" and "entertaining" in the music video for the "spot-on song".

In April 2019, the album was also released in Croatia through Croatia Records, marking the singer's first release in that country. In line with her previous two musical projects, the album is predominantly a pop record with elements of swing, jazz and ethno music. "Ti ne dojde", one of the songs featured on the album, received the accolade for Ethno/World Music Song of the Year at the 2019 Music Awards Ceremony in Belgrade. Promotion of the album took place with a local tour and festival performances across North Macedonia. After successfully promoting the album, the singer took a brief hiatus from the music industry in 2019.

2020–2022: ''Pesni za Ljubov i Kopnež''

From 2020 to 2021, Gočeva started working on her tenth studio album which would include 11 Macedonian songs, mostly "neglected during the years", from the 1950s, '60s, and '70s from authors such as Dragan Gjakonovski Shpato, Dimitar Masevski, Todor Bojadzhiev and Ljubomir Brangjolica among others. The conception of the album was made following her collaboration with Bojadzhiev in 2016, when they sang "Prazno e bez ovaa ljubov", written by Todor Bojadzhiev, at the Metropolis Arena. In 2019, Gočeva moved to New York City where she spent time singing and playing the piano with Bojadzhiev and Lumanovski. Despite their initial plans to release the album in 2020, the project had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the album was recorded at the Macedonian Philharmonic in January 2021; the trio spent two days rehearsing and two days recording due to time constraints and other pandemic-related restrictions.

The first song of the album, titled "Idila" was released with an accompanying music video on 2 June 2021 in collaboration with Duke Bojadzhiev and Ismail Lumanovski. On 11 June 2021, she appeared on the Bosnian show ''Konačno petak'' where she briefly spoke about the song and the upcoming album as well as her participation in the ESC. On 5 November 2021, Gočeva released "Krv da ni se stori" in collaboration with Bojadzhiev and Branislav Nikolov, a member of the band Foltin who was featured under the pseudonym Pijan Slavej. On 21 September 2021, Gočeva gave a concert at the Pelister National Park, as part of the project titled "30 Years of Cultural Beauty" which was part of a celebration of 30 years of independence of the country, supported by the Government of North Macedonia. On 4 September 2022, Gočeva appeared on Macedonian YouTuber Steffonator's show ''90 Seconds'' where she answered questions about her private life. On 21 October 2022, Gočeva appeared on the Bosnian talk show ''Konačno petak'' where she gave an interview and performed her Serbian-language songs "Više se ne vraćaš" and "Uspomene na tebe" as well as the Macedonian "Koj da mi zapee" accompanied by the band MP BHRT. On 8 November 2022, it was announced through a press release on Avalon Production, that the album titled '' Pesni za Ljubov i Kopnež'', would be promoted through a concert at the Macedonian Philharmony on 23 December 2022. The following day, the album was released through all digital platforms in North Macedonia.

2022–2023: "Od nebo do dno" and MRT performance

On 25 August 2022, Gočeva released "Od nebo do dno" (), a pop dance song produced by Robert Bilbilov and written by Vladimir Danilovikj and Vesna Malinova. The song marked her first return to the genre after 12 years and it was the singer's intention to make it in line with the trends in music across the world. A dance-inspired music video was also simultaneously released with the song. Music critics and the singer's fanbase were pleased with the song which they saw as a refreshment following her year-long hiatus of making new music. The same day, a Serbian-language version of the song, titled "Ti si moj" () was released through Magic Records. On 25 January 2023, Gočeva performed "Ti si moj" at the first evening of the 2023 Music Awards Ceremony held in Belgrade. Her performance and fashion style received very positive comments from a journalist of ''Sloboden pechat'' who deemed them to be "perfect". In addition, Gočeva served as the show's presenter together with Croatian singer Petar Grašo while handing the award for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Song of the Year.

On 31 December 2022, Gočeva appeared on MRT1 where she gave a 90-minute long show for New Year's Eve. In addition to her own songs "I Ke Bide Se Vo Red", "Za Nas", "Od Nebo Do Dno", "Sakaj Me", "Milenium so Tebe" and "Kazi Mi", the singer also gave four collaborative performances: "Krv Da Ni Se Stori" with Pijan Slavej, "Kilometri" with Vlatko Lozanovski, "Nekogas ke Pomine" with Lara Ivanova and "Doživotno" with Elena Risteska. Live performances of all songs were released on the singer's official YouTube channel on 26 July 2023.

2023–present: Upcoming tenth studio album

In March 2023, Gočeva gave an interview for the ''Žilet'' show on the Macedonian Radio Television. On 13 December 2023, Gočeva released the song "Daj na Sunce" () written by Dino Muharemović and arranged by Dino Šukalo alongside a black-and-white music video directed by Miomir Milić. The song had its premiere at the Serbian radio station "Naxi" where the singer briefly revealed that the title serves as a call for the female protagonist to show her beautiful face to the sun. She recorded the song two months prior its release. The clip was filmed in November at a cold temperature of - 5°C on two locations on the Macedonian Bistra Mountain, including Galičnik and Mavrovo.

In promotion of the song, she appeared on the show ''Među Nama'' on the Serbian channel Nova S

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