Road to Liverpool: Croatia

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Croatia.

Let 3

With a landslide, Croatian band Let 3 won the ticket to represent their country in the Eurovision Song Contest. Their song, “Mama ŠČ” was written and composed by Damir Martinović and co-composed by Zoran Prodanović. The song is an anti war song, containing lines like ‘mama buys a tractor’. This refers to Vladimir Putin getting a tractor for his 70th birthday from the Belarusian president Lukashenko.

Damir and Zoran both are members of Let 3, along with Ivan Bojčić, Dražen Baljak and Matej Zec. The band was formed in former Yugoslavia in 1987. The band is quite controversial and known for their obscene live performances. According to their Wikipedia page, they often have provocative and vulgar lyrics. The band released a total of 10 studio albums, the most recent one called “Angela Merkel sere“, which means ‘Angela Merkel shits’.

DORA

Croatia selects their entry through a contest called DORA. That is already the name of the contest since 1993. The way the winner is chosen is different every year. This year, there was a final with a total of 18 songs. It was a 50/50 jury and televoting show. The jury was build up in an oldfashioned way. Regional juries in 10 cities decided the jury vote. Someone who took part in DORA in the past very often was Jacques Houdek. However, he never won. He went to Eurovision in 2017 when he was internally selected.

Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Croatia was very succesful in the Eurovision Song Contest as a state in former Yugoslavia. Especially when the duo Rajko Dujmic and Stevo Cvikić started writing the entries. They were 4th in 1987 with Novi Fosili and got the only victory for Yugoslavia in 1989 with Riva and the song Rock me. In 1993 Croatia started participating as an independent country. The best scores were 4th places for Maja Blagdan in 1996 and for Doris Dragović in 1999.

Bookmakers

Croatia is currently 18th in the betting odds, which means they will reach the final. That would be the first time this happens since 2017, when Jacques Houdek reached the final.

The song

And of course, this is the song:

Martijn

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