The Walking, Talking Parade of Glitter and Drama
Should Croatia go to the polls to choose a national mascot for “celebrity for no reason,” Maja Šuput would win by landslide, with optional but probably mandatory confetti cannons included. Born on September 22, 1979 (you know, as a reminder to us all that the universe desired a Libra with sequins), Maja is not just an entertainer. She is a self-proclaimed influencer, reality TV personality, entrepreneur, and, quite frankly, a living Pinterest board of poor ideas. You may not give to her creating the art of being famous for no reason at all, but that’s clearly an art form that she’s perfected. Try to name one other person who can turn weddings, questionable Eurovision performances, and eye-stabbingly sparkly jumpsuits into a career. You can’t do that. She’s all one-of-a-one.
Soundtrack to Croatia’s Regrettable Hangovers
Maja began her music career as early as 1998 as part of a collective whose name spells out Enjoy. Oh, irony. By 2002, such collective had been rid of her quicker than your uncle at relatives’ dinner gatherings clean up, as she abandoned being part of a collective all the way to stardom as a solo act. The end product? A discography consisting of obnoxiously cheerful party anthems that sound as if designed at a laboratory to rouse 3 a.m.-sleeping roommates.
Then there’s EuroVision. Oh great EuroVision, where subtlety never gets to supper without being asked to vacate premises. Maja made FOUR attempts at representing Croatia, but as a collective, there went, “We like sparkle, but no thank you.” Her crowning glory was “Lako zaljubljiva” (translation: Easily Infatuated), with which she achieved a heart-breaking 5th place at 2008. Translation? “We like sparkle, but no budget for pyro for mediocrity.”
Queen of Weddings- Background Noise to Awkward Dances
At some point during 2010s, Maja transitioned from “pop star” to “the human version of a loose cannon wedding DJ.” Albums such as “Svatovska” (Wedding Song) and “Djevojačko veče” (Bachelorette Party) are sound-tracks to eye-rolling father-daughter dances. Myths tell us that if you utter her name three times with a wedding cake facing you, then down will come Maja while dressed in a sequined cat suit and carrying a mike to warblelong after cringe-worthy verse after verse of party anthems. And 2015’s “Lopove” (Thief) accumulated well-over 31 million views at YouTube as evidence that all of the web crams around to watch a trainwreck in singing to see.
TV Madness – One Camera Angle Is Never Enough
Just picture there were screen currency, then Maja’s face would be all over every Croat note bills. Since 2017, she has been judging Supertalents, Croatia’s America’s Got Talent but with somewhat less golden buzzers and somewhat more tambourine. Not content with merely judging, she went one step further to spend 2015 as an impersonator on Tvoje lice zvuci poznato (Your Face Sounds Familiar to non-Croats), as being oneself just wasn’t flashy enough.
And, of course, wore her sparkled detective hat to present Ples sa zvijezdama (Strictly Come Dancing), why wouldn’t she moonlight as Croatia’s dancing überlord? Oh, and just to make all that not quite enough, just to make all of this look justperfect, she once participated as a contestant in that very same show back in 2006. Does Maja Šuput ever sleep, or is she fuelled only by attention and thumbs-up–Instagram?
Sparkle Merchant – Welcome to the Empire of The Absurd
When storming stages and TV cameras isn’t on her agenda, she can be found selling products for her lifestyle company, Majushka. Originally created with bedazzled microphones (yes, rhinestone-topped microphones, of course), later products included kid versions of products like face makeup and dolls. Because if there is one product that parents desire most above all others, that product is glitter-topped living room chaos.
When she divorced (very ex) husband Nenad Tatarinov in 2025, she rebranded under the name of Fun Animation d.o.o., presumably to not quite sound so like an influencer hallucination fever dream on Instagram. Her other enterprises Šuput d.o.o. (publishing) and Dobra djevojka d.o.o. (“Good Girl Inc.”) go one step further to convince us that naming understatement is not her forte. Honestly, at this stage, is there anything this woman will not slap her name upon? A line of sequined frying pans wouldn’t be a surprise at this point either.
Personal Life, Or A Sequined Soap Opera
No Maja chronicle exists that isn’t complete without dipping into her soap-operatic private life depths. In 2019, she wed businessman Nenad Tatarinov at a wedding that so understatedly existed that it did make headlines everywhere due to, of all things, every sparkle-bearer spitfire’s thrill with a contradiction. Then this year, 2021, just this past year, no less, she birthed a boy who reminded everyone he existed with the name Bloom, because if Gwyneth Paltrow can name her child Apple, why not one-up that with a less-palatable word?
Flash forward to 2025, and this marriage fizzes out too, spawning still more drama to this particular version of the Maja saga. Fear not, however. She still has appearances, photo shoots, and purported gay iconhood to keep her busy. After all, one who is juggling stardom with no substance to go with that must diversify one’s portfolio, n’est-ce pas?
Concluding Remarks – Croatia’s Glitter Coated Enigma
Maja Šuput is as divisive as glitter. Awesome to one person, utterly incongruent with someone else, but either way, she stays with you longer than you’d have liked that she did stay. A singer, wedding icon, accordion juror, and entrepreneur who sells rhinestone microphones (not making this up), she’s proof that with all of us living ever flip lives, stardom’s less to do with talent and all to do with attention-grabbing tenacity.
Love her or eye-roll until your sockets ache; Maja is that bizarre queen we never asked for but can’t live without. She’s like a firework ceremony that never ends, always holding out for just one more, always yearning for your gaze, even as you desire to look aside.