Karolina Gočeva
Karolina Gočeva
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Karolina Gočeva

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Karolina Gočeva

Karolina Gočeva (Macedonian: Каролина Гочева, pronounced [karɔˈlina ˈɡɔtʃɛva] ; 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 (English: Mom, let me go). 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 (English: Macedonian Girl) (2008), Makedonsko Devojče 2 (2014) and Izvor (English: Spring) (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.

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" (English: Stephan), "Sekade si ti" (English: You Are Everywhere), "Prviot baknež" (English: The First Kiss), "Dojdi vo školo" (English: Come to School), "Volšebni sonuvanja" (English: Magical Dreamings), "Čujte sega" (English: Listen Now), "Dzvezdo moja" (English: My Star), "Nasmevni se narode" (English: Smile Folks) and "Strašni planovi" (English: Scary Plans).

In 1993, Gočeva performed the song "Zamrznato srce" (English: Frozen heart) 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" (English: Who to tell you). In 1995, she performed the song "Kako da te otkačam" (English: How Do I Get Rid of You). 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" (English: Secret tones), 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.

In 2000, she signed a deal with the record label Avalon Production. Shortly afterwards, her debut studio album Jas Imam Pesna (English: I've got a song) was released through the label. Three singles were released off the first album, including "Sakaj me" (English: Love me), "Bez ogled na se" (English: No matter what) and "Nemir" (English: Restlessness), 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" (English: For Us) 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 (English: Why Does the Dream Have an End) 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" (English: Tell me), written by Peri and Franc from the band Nokaut. She released "Ti možeš" (English: You can) and "Ke bide se vo red" (English: Everything Will Be Okay) 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" (English: It Depends on Us), 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.

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