Relja Popović

Relja Popović was born on August 2, 1989 in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia and raised in the Paviljoni neighborhood of New Belgrade. After their father, Srđan Popović, died when he was only two years old, Relja and his brother were raised by their mother, Zoja Bergoli, who was the primaballerina at the National Theatre in Belgrade.[1] Popovović stated that his mother was financially struggling while raising them. According to Relja, he found his passion for music during middle school through his brother who would expose him to hip-hop artists such as Eminem, Jay-Z and Juice. In seventh grade, Popović started writing his own songs together with his classmate Vladimir Matović. Before graduating high school he was injured in a gunfire and had his kidney and spleen removed.

Popović graduated from the Faculty of Media and Communications at the Singidunum University. He also attended the Academy of Arts, but claims to have couple of exams left to graduate.

He started dating singer Nikolija Jovanović in 2014 after Elitni Odredi collaborated with her on the single "Alkohola litar".[2] The couple welcomed a daughter, named Rea, on 26 September 2016.[3]

In 2005, him and his childhood friend, Vladimir Matović, formed the turbo folk group Elitni Odredi.

In 2009, Relja received the Heart of Sarajevo award for his performance in the movie Ordinary People. The subsequent year, Elitni Odredi released their debut album Oko svet (Around The World), after which they acquired mainstream success with their following singles.

In 2015, Elitni Odredi took a permanent hiatus to focus on their solo projects. In April, Relja released his first solo single "Beograd još živi" (Belgrade Still Lives). Same year he released three more singles "Samo hoću da se napijem" (I Just Want To Get Drunk), "Opet te nema" (You're Missing Out Again) featuring Boban Rajović and "Pakao od žene" (Hell of a Woman). The following year he collaborated with Cvija and Coby on "Crni sine" (Black Son) in May, but also released "Trošim pare" ([I'm] Spending Money) in October. In 2017, Popović released "Lom" (Ruckus) in February, "Samo jako" (Keep It Strong) with Coby and turbo-folk singer Stoja in April and latino influenced "Adrenalina" ([From] Adrenalin) in December. He released "Latino Evropa" (Latino Europe), "Dolce Vita" and "Mi Amor" in May, June and December 2018, respectively.

His debut EP, titled Made in Blkn, is announced for 2019.

In March of 2020, he established the record label imprint Made in Blkn Records.

In 2003, Popović made his on screen debut in a short film, titled Dremano oko (Sleepy Eye), directed by Vladimir Perišić, which was selected for Cinefoundation at the Cannes Festival.[4]

In 2009, he collaborated again with Perišić on his acclaimed existentialist feature film Ordinary People, for which he received the Heart of Sarajevo award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.[5]

Popović also starred in the 2011 box office success The Parade by Srđan Dragojević.[6]