Luke Black

Luke Black

Luka Ivanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Лука Ивановић, born 18 May 1992), known professionally as Luke Black, is a Serbian singer and songwriter. Born in Čačak, he became the first Serbian artist to be signed under Universal Music Group, through which he released his debut EP, Thorns, in February 2015. He represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 with the song "Samo mi se spava", placing 24th in the grand final. Described as the "Serbian pop alchemist", his music draws from a range of electropop and experimental pop music influences.

Quotes

• Usually around here people that look different or don’t belong to the stereotyped image of a person from this region are frowned upon and often not feel at home. By trying to get to know the Slavic region, and I still have much to learn about it, I discovered that it had beautiful tradition which is often forgotten by new generations, so I wanted to give it light and ask people to join me in learning about our customs and tradition and incorporate them into modern day and age. I also wanted to show that you can be a person from this region and yet have different interests to those that are expected from you. It is a new way of looking at things and a modern way of keeping our tradition, that’s why I thought #neoslavic would be the best way of describing it.
  • Interview

• Singing is a very crucial tool for delivering the art I create, but it is not the main one. All the words and melodies that come to me have a need to be sung out so that’s how I got into it and I’ve been working hard on upgrading my skills over the past couple of months. I don’t want to be the world’s best singer though, I believe the feels are more important in a piece of music.
• Belgrade will always be my #1 city in the world, so much of who I am stems from there. It’s a beautiful ruin I love exploring. London is much better for my craft though. As soon as I stepped there I got instantly recognised by the underground industry and got down to business quickly. I had an idea of completing the music game in Belgrade, but there was a glitch in the process so unfortunately I had to move on. London’s scene really resonates with me, while in Belgrade as an artist you only have certain venues where you can possibly do something, the UK’s capital is swarmed with opportunities. Both are quite difficult but quite exciting.
• I could do Western vocalisation techniques, but I feel like sparks of Serbian ethno style infused with pop is a good mix.
  • Interview

• The EP represents a story telling journey in the realm of interrupted perception of reality I was diagnosed with throughout the uneasy times of the pandemic battling with heartache and finding any means to escape. (EP 'F23.8')
  • Interview