Maya Berović is a Bosnian singer. Debuted in 2007, she has acquired enormous popularity since of 2014, becoming one of the leading regional performers, mainly due to her collaboration with Bosnian rappers Jala Brat and Buba Corelli.
Life and career
Early life
Maja was born 8 July 1987 in the village of Malešići, part of the Ilijaš municipality near Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina to Bosnian Serb parents. She lost her father when she was three years old. The Berović family lived in Malešići until the end of the Bosnian War in 1995, alongside her mother and older brother; Maja relocated to Bratunac where her mother is originally from. In a 2016 interview, Berović described her childhood during the Bosnian War: In Bratunac, she attended school and first began practising music. From age 12 she used to sing in local discotheques every weekend until she turned 18. Berović grew up listening to artists such as Dragana Mirković, Lepa Brena and Ceca and lists them as her musical influences.
Career
Still a teenager, Maya was signed to the Belgrade-based record labelGrand Production and released her debut studio albumŽivot uživo in August 2007, achieving initial success with the song "Džin i limunada". She soon parted ways with Grand Production and over a year later, in December 2008, she released her second studio album Crno zlato under the short-lived label IN Music. Two months after the release of Black Gold, Maya debuted a self-released non-album single "Koliko te ludo volim ja" in February 2009. Her big breakthrough came in February 2011 upon the release of her third and eponymous album, Maya, and the success of the feminist ballad "Djevojačko prezime", which was the recipient of the "Hit of the Year" award in Sarajevo. She signed a recording contract with the record label City Records and released the single "Leti ptico slobodno" in June 2012. Her fourth studio album, titled Djevojka sa juga, was first released 17 October in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and 20 October in neighboring countries. She has said that she was "extremely satisfied" with her new labels support of her music. Following the release, Maya held her first concert in Belgrade in 2013. In April 2014 Berović participated in Pink Music Festival With a club-oriented song called "Alkohol", which was the most-listened to of the 26 entries. The music video was done by the video production company IDJVideos and premiered on 9 May 2014. Opasne vode, her fifth album and second consecutive project with City Records, was released 27 October 2014, and "Alkohol" served as the lead single. In addition to an updated and slightly different sound, a new fashion style also accompanied the new record. In March 2016 Berović released "Pauza", a non-album single. The single sparked controversy because of Maya singing in Serbian instead of Bosnian that she sang in before. Maya claimed she had done that because her Serbian songwriters wrote in their language and the lyrics didn't always sound good when she translated them to Bosnian. However, she proceeded to sing in Serbian even when working with Bosnian songwriters. On 8 July 2016, Berović's 29th birthday, she released "To me radi" featuring Bosnian rappers Jala Brat and Buba Corelli. It was the first collaborative song in her career and would eventually become one of her greatest hits. Maya continued collaboration with Jala and Buba with her sixth studio album Viktorijina tajna. It was released on 2 July 2017 through City Records, produced by the Sarajevo-based Imperia Productions. This album has more urban sound than her previous pop-folk releases. Viktorijina tajna has reached enormous success, reaching more than 100 million views on YouTube and dominating charts on streaming service Deezer. All songs from the album became instant hits and thanks to its success Maya had all venues she had performed in sold out, she even went on a US tour with Jala and Buba which also went very successfully. This album is arguably by far the most successful in Maya's 10 year old career. On July 9 2018 she released her seventh album 7, again with Jala Brat and Buba Corelli. On 1 November 2019, she released two new songs, "Zmaj" and "Uloga".
