North Macedonia: Tamara Todevska shares thoughts on her entry “Proud”
Following MRT’s announcement that Tamara Todevska will represent North Macedonia with her entry entitled “Proud” in Tel Aviv, it has now been revealed that the song will be released and premiere on March 4. “Proud” is composed and written by Robert Bilbilov, Darko Dimitrov and Lazar Cvetkovski.
Darko Dimitrov has been behind a row of North Macedonia’s entries at the Eurovision and Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Lazar Cvetkoski was involved in the composition and production of the country’s Eurovision entries back in 2013 and 2014. Robert Bibliov had contributed to Tamara’s song at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 and was behind the 2015 entry “Autumn Leaves”.
On her official Instagram account, Tamara Todevska revealed some details and insights on her song “Proud”, that she will compete with at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv.
When one month ago, I got the invitation to represent my country at the Eurovision Song Content in Tel Aviv, (aside from my enthusiastic and happy YES), the first thing that popped up in my mind was, what will be the purpose of my participation at the contest? What is it that I want to say? What is it that I want to share with the world?
You see, for me, Eurovision has never been about entering the finals, being in the top 10 or even winning. Eurovision, to me, has always been so much more than that!
She continued with her thoughts on the Eurovision Song Contest itself:
Eurovision is about accepting the different, defying the norms and being proud of who you are, just the way you are. Eurovision is that one night in the year when the entire continent comes together to celebrate boldness, bravery and individuality! It is the place where being different means being PROUD.
Based on her own experiences as a mother she added:
I am a mother of two: a three-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy. I know it sounds like a cliché, but they truly changed my life and I feel, both, as a mother and as a parent, that it is my responsibility and OUR responsibility to bring positive change to our children’s lives.
My whole life I have been told that I wasn’t girly enough, good enough, that I walked and acted like a man. Lower your head, put something sexy on, no one cares what you really think, they would say. You see, in their minds, I was just another lost girl.
Tamara concluded by stating that she will dedicate her 2019 entry to her daughter and will sing for everyone facing strict rules in life:
Today, as I look at my daughter, I want her to grow up in a world where people will not judge her, tell her how to act, smile and move. I want her to know that she doesn’t have to follow the rules to be accepted. I want her to be whoever she wants to be and most importantly, be proud of who she is. That’s the least I can do for her.
I am proud to say that on the 16th of May I will dedicate my song to my daughter and sing for everyone out there who has been told to always lower their heads and follow strict rules.
On May 16th, we will break the rules and at least for one night in the year, we will show the world that I AM PROUD is always stronger than their YOU WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH!
You will ALWAYS be good enough!
This year marks Tamara’s fourth involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest as she represented her country in Eurovision 2008 alongside Vrčak and Adrijan with the song “Let Me Love You”, which finished 10th in the second semi-final. She failed to qualify for the Grand Final as only the top 9 in the televote and a 10th country chosen by a backup jury were qualifying under the old voting system. She was also a backing vocalist at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with Tose Proeski and in 2014 for her sister Tijana and her entry “To The Sky”.
