Slađana Milošević was above all a brave woman. She was not afraid of anything, neither to say nor to show. And she was not afraid because she was educated, above all in music. She believed in some values and ideals, like the entire rock and roll generation, and because of that, somewhere before the dawn of the "new wave", she appeared as a harbinger of new times in which women will be truly equal. Namely, she is our first lady who is a serious pop-rock phenomenon of her era - she was also the author of at least part of her music, and not just an attractive appearance on the stage. That fact alone encouraged all the local girls who were thinking about whether or not to do music, and opened up space for them to do something of their own.
Her role in our market is really on a symbolic level comparable to the historical role that Deborah Harry from Blondie and Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders had in the world at the same time. In the lyrics sung by Slađana, the woman is always active and chooses, while the man becomes the object of attention, exposed to her gaze. In them, only she decides about herself. The world of her songs always revolved around a new definition of self-aware femininity, and that's what she left us with. As much as some of those early videos and performances may seem a bit naive today - they were not at all, because it was the way in which this society truly freed itself from the restraints of the past. Patriarchal, political, primitive...
Authentic pop star
It was always an authentic pop star, who opened the doors of the modern age to all the "rejects" that came after her, up to Bojana Vunturišević or Konstructa. After Slađana, it finally became acceptable that women can live outside the rules - that is, exactly as they want.
Today it is clear that Slađana Milošević was a pioneer in unexplored territory, and her misjudgments - and there were some - do not count from now on. Only what is done is acknowledged, and no one can say that the singles and videos with her name did not make a strong impression in their time, and all were minor or major hits, often with an inevitable autobiographical note (from "Sexy ladies" through "Amsterdam" and "Mickey, Mickey" to "Princess"). Unfortunately, the album discography she signed remained uneven: we can only state that she was not very lucky with collaborators and publishers. She broke through with the disco-funk oriented "I'm burning with the desire to kill the night" (1979), and continued with the innovative pop-rock album "Neutral design" (1983), proved her singing abilities with the jazz record "Alexandra Slađana Milošević & Darko Kraljić" (1988). and rounded it all off with the engaging guitar-driven "Animal Tested" (2000).
Since her self-financed debut single "Au, au" (1978, which was the first success for her constant collaborator Marina Tucaković) - Slađana Milošević most often fought her battles alone, almost always greeted with a knife, even with ridicule. Her defiant statements and radically glamorous appearance always disturbed the haunted spirits. She never gave up on that, until the last day. This is exactly the definition of rock and roll in our way and in every other way - Slađana lived to the end according to her standards and did not owe anyone anything.
