Cheda Jovanovic, Serbian Stars Mourn Dolly Parton

Cheda Jovanovic, along with several Serbian singers and actresses, said goodbye to Dolly Parton on August 26 in an Instagram story post. News of the death of the legendary country singer, who passed away a day earlier, on August 25, at 80, after a short battle with cancer, flooded our social networks too, just as it did the profiles of world stars writing about her influence on their lives and careers.

Jovanovic shared a clip on his Instagram story of Dolly Parton speaking about the rights of LGBTQ people, set against her song “Light of a Clear Blue Morning.” In the clip he chose, the singer says everyone has the right to be who they are, a stance she repeated in interviews for decades.

“Jolene,” one of her most recognizable hits, took over the stories of other Serbian singers that same day. Clips of Dolly Parton singing the iconic chorus appeared across profiles throughout our music scene, alongside photos and quotes from her interviews.

Singer Ivana Stamenkovic Sindi posted her own farewell. She recalled the moment Dolly Parton answered critics who, as she had been told in recent years, said she was too old to sing.

“I’m almost 80, so what? I don’t have time to be old,” Dolly Parton said, in a quote Ivana Stamenkovic Sindi shared on her Instagram story.

Model Sofija Milosevic chose a different line, one in which Dolly Parton speaks about acceptance and not judging other people.

“I’m not a good enough person or Christian to judge other people, but I want to be loved and accepted, and the least I can do is love and accept other people,” Dolly Parton wrote, in a quote Sofija Milosevic shared on Instagram.

Actress Milena Radulovic also posted a farewell on her profile, joining a string of Serbian public figures writing about Dolly Parton that day. According to the accompanying photo gallery from the same outlet, other Serbian public figures shared farewell posts on Instagram that morning too, not just these four, so the final list of names that said goodbye to the singer was longer than the four listed here.

All four posts went up the same morning, in the hours after news of Dolly Parton’s death arrived from the United States. Reactions outside Serbia were already numerous in the first hours after the news broke. World stars wrote about how much Dolly Parton had shaped their careers and their view of music, and Serbian performers joined those tributes that same morning, on the same platform and in the same short story format.

Alongside the clips and quotes, stories about her decades of charity work resurfaced on social media as well. Dolly Parton spent decades helping children and the poor, and details of that work came back into public view immediately after news of her death broke. Those details, like her songs, did not stay confined to the profiles of world stars that morning. They made their way onto our stories too.

Dolly Parton leaves behind 11 Grammy Awards and songs that defined decades: “Jolene,” “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You.” Through Instagram stories, Serbia’s music and entertainment scene joined the world in saying goodbye to one of the biggest stars in country music.