Tea Tairović (Serbian Cyrillic: Tea Таировић; born 26 April 1996) is a Serbian singer, songwriter and dancer. Born and raised in Novi Sad, she rose to prominence as a contestant on Zvezde Granda, and has to date released three studio albums: Balkanija (2022), Balerina (2023) and Tea (2024), as well as numerous standalone singles, that gained great commercial success. Recognizable for her performances, that include belly dance and Latin dance, and covers of songs from Romania, Greece, Bulgaria and Albania, Tairović was described in Serbia as "Shakira of the Balkans".[1]
Early life
Tairović was born on 26 April 1996 in Novi Sad, FR Yugoslavia. Her mother, Božica Malević, worked as a TV presenter and her father, Zoran Tairović, is an academic painter.[2][3] Through her father, she is of Romani descent.[4] Her paternal grandmother died from the consequences of the 1999 NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia, which saw her father's house destroyed.[5]
Tairović has been dancing since the age of three, when she started ballet school, and won second place at the World Championship in Show Dance. She trained in standard and Latin American dances, ballet and jazz ballet.[6] She graduated from the Gymnasium Svetozar Marković, and then entered the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Novi Sad. She expressed that she has no intention of studying psychology because her dream since childhood has been to become a singer.[6]
Career
2013–2016: Zvezde Granda and career beginnings
Tairović released her first song called "Da si moj" (If You Were Mine) in 2014; however, the song did not meet greater audience reactions, until 2015, when she appeared on the singing competition show Zvezde Granda, after she had already participated in the competition once in 2013.[7]
She sang songs by Severina, Ana Nikolić, Tijana Dapčević, Aleksandra Radović, Nina Badrić, and others.[7] In the final, she sang the song "Ti ne znaš kako je" (You Don't Know What It's Like) by Nina Badrić and "Plamen od ljubavi" (Flame of Love) by Colonia.[7] She made it to the finals, and as price the Grand Production gave her a recording of the song "Karakterna osobina" (Personality Trait), which was released in summer 2015.[7][8] In November 2016, she released single "Meni odgovara" (Fine for Me), under the IDJTunes music label. Tairović released a song "Igračica" (Dancer) in April of next year.[8]
2017–2020: Breakthrough and further success
In April 2017, Tairović released song "Nevolja" (Trouble), which was written and produced by the Bosnian duo Buba Corelli and Jala Brat.[9] In June of the same year, Tairović achieved great success with the song "Otkad tebe znam" (Since I've Known You), which was a collaboration with Serbian turbo-folk singer Šaban Šaulić. The song was chosen as one of the biggest hits of 2017 in Balkans, while also collected over 80 million views on YouTube to this date.[10] In September of the same year, she released a collaboration "Idu dani" (Days Are Passing) with the Serbian rapper Rimski.[11] In November of the same year, she released the song "Drama" with the macedonian folk singer Menil Velioski, which showcased a change in Tairović's sound.[11] Towards the end of the year, Tairović released her first ballad "I u dobru i u zlu" (In Good Times and in Bad).[11] Ahead of the summer 2018, Tairović released a duet with Ivana Krunić called "Brat na brata" (Brother on Brother).[11] Several months later, she released a collaboration with DJ Shone called "Medikament" (Medicament).[11] She released her first self-written single called "Polako" (Slowly) in January 2019, which also become one of the biggest hits in Balkans in 2019. She premiered the single in the show Zvezde Granda Specijal.[12][11] In March 2019, she released song "Mala" (Baby Girl) in collaboration with Serbian rapper Tozla.[13] During the same year, she released four more songs, two of which were duets. On July 18, of the same year, Tairović released song "Dolce i Gabbana" (Dolce and Gabbana).[14] A few days later, on July 26, Tairović released song "Samo moj" (Just Mine), a collaboration with the Austrian singer Monika.[15] On October 13, of the same year, Tairović released song "Bliznakinja" (Twin Sister).[16]
On April 26, 2020, she released song "Svetica". In May 2021, Tairović achieved great success with the song "Hajde" (Come On) that become a huge hit on Balkans. "Hajde" was co-written by Tairović and Serbian singer-songwriter Sanja Vučić.[17] The song collected over 100 million views on YouTube, and was also chosen as "Biggest folk Hit of 2021".[18] On September of the same year, she released song "Na jednu noć" (For a Night), that also become one of the biggest hit of 2021, and to this date collected over 60 million views on YouTube.[18][19] "Hajde" and "Na jednu noć" also entered Billboard's newly established Croatia Songs chart.[20]
2021–2023: Balkanija and Balerina
On 21 May 2022, she independently released her studio album, Balkanija (Balkania), under her own established music label T Music. Balkanija contains nine song for each she released a music video. The album gained huge success in Serbia and in the region.[21] The tracks "Dva i dva" (Two and Two) and "Dubai" (Dubai), respectively peaked at numbers 7 and 17 on the Billboard Croatia Songs chart. All nine accompanying music videos from the album have collectively amassed close to 280 million views on YouTube, as of February 2023.
Tairović released her second studio album, Balerina (Ballerina), on 16 May the following year.[22] It included stand-out hits like the title track featuring rapper Voyage, "Izrael i Palestina" (Israel and Palestine), Balerina also entered the official album charts in Austria and Switzerland, peaking at numbers 17 and 79, respectively.[23][24] On 17 June of the same year, Tairović held her first major solo concert at the Tašmajdan Stadium in Belgrade which was attended by more than 12,000 people.[25] The show featured guest performances from Sanja Vučić and Bulgarian singer Galena, who collaborated with Tairović on single "Abracadabra".[26]
