Magazin: Sve Je Isto...?

Take this with the usual tabloid-derived health warning, but 24 sata is reporting today that Andrea Šušnjara has officially been chosen as the next lead singer of Magazin.

At least, it's reporting that Andrea said she was the next lead singer of Magazin when it met her celebrating her 18th birthday at a Magazin concert in Zagreb. That needn't be the same thing, but she'd surely be foolish to make a premature announcement.

Andrea will follow Ljiljana Nikolovska (1983-90), Danijela Martinović (1990-96), and Jelena Rozga (1996-2005) as the fourth lead singer of the band, one of the longest-lasting groups on the Croatian music scene. Among all of them, Andrea perhaps has the hardest act to follow: Jelena's nine years in the band saw her the public face of Tonči Huljić's most creative period with Magazin, influenced by his classical crossover projects for the worldwide market.

Jelena herself begins her post-Magazin career on Friday night when she performs in the second Dora semi-final, competing against Severina and her calculatedly controversial Moja štikla.

Nobody, except maybe Ana Pavić, will be especially surprised by Andrea's career move, which some have seen as on the cards ever since Andrea's debut performance in Dora 2004. Credit to the radio DJ Zlatko Turkalj, one of the Dora presenters that year, who asked Huljić on live television when Andrea was going to be the next lead singer of Magazin.

The Gazette could say 'Sve je isto, samo Jele nema' here, but it won't.