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Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

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Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country Croatia
National selection
Selection processDora 2019
Selection date(s)16 February 2019
Selected artist(s)Roko
Selected song"The Dream"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (14th)
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 2019 2020►

Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "The Dream" written by Jacques Houdek, Andrea Čubrić and Charlie Mason. The song was performed by Roko. Songwriter Jacques Houdek represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "My Friend" where he placed thirteenth in the grand final of the competition. The Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) organised the national final Dora 2019 to select the Croatian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Sixteen entries competed in the national final on 16 February 2019 and "The Dream" performed by Roko was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from ten regional juries and a public televote.

Croatia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 16 May 2019. Performing during the show in position 10, "The Dream" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed fourteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 64 points.

Background

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Prior to the 2019 contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four times since its first entry in 1993.[1] The nation's best result in the contest was fourth, which it achieved on two occasions: in 1996 with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by Maja Blagdan and in 1999 with the song "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris Dragović. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Croatia had thus far featured in seven finals. Since 2018, the Croatian entries failed to qualify from the semi-finals; the last time Croatia competed in the final was in 2017 with the song "My Friend" performed by Jacques Houdek. In 2018, Croatia failed to qualify to the final with Franka and the song "Crazy".

The Croatian national broadcaster, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), broadcasts the event within Croatia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. HRT confirmed Croatia's participation in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 26 September 2018.[2] Between 1993 and 2011, HRT organised the national final Dora in order to select the Croatian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2012 and 2013, the broadcaster opted to internally select the entry. The Croatian broadcaster continued the internal selection procedure since 2016 after missing the contest in 2014 and 2015, however, HRT announced on 2 October 2018 that Dora would return to select Croatia's entry at the 2019 contest.[3]

Before Eurovision

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Dora 2019

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Dora 2019 was the twentieth edition of the Croatian national selection Dora which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition consisted of sixteen entries competing in one final on 16 February 2019 at the Marino Cvetković Sports Hall in Opatija, hosted by Mirko Fodor, Jelena Glišić and Iva Šulentić.[4][5] The show was broadcast on HRT 1 as well as online via the broadcaster's streaming service HRTi.[6] The national final was watched by 543,912 viewers in Croatia with a market share of 32%.[7]

Competing entries

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On 20 November 2018, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 10 January 2019. Songs submitted were required to be in English, French, Italian or Croatian.[8][9] 162 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period.[10] A seven-member expert committee consisting of Ivana Vrdoljak Vanna (singer), Zlatko Turkalj Turki (radio host), Igor Geržina (producer of HRT's Jazz Orchestra), Ante Pecotić (composer and producer), Antonija Šola (singer, actress and composer), Zlatko Gal (music critic) and Željen Klašterka (Head of the Croatian Eurovision Delegation) reviewed the received submissions and selected sixteen artists and songs for the competition. HRT announced the competing entries on 23 December 2018 and among the artists were Neda Parmac of Gelato Sisters who represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 and Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 as a member of Feminnem, and Marko Škugor of 4 Tenora who represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 as a member of Klapa s Mora.[11][12] On 29 January 2019, 4 Tenora withdrew their song "Brod bez imena", written by Eduard Botrić and Matko Šimac, due to a previously scheduled concert and replaced with "Nisam to što žele" performed by Kim Verson.[13][14] The running order of the final was determined by HRT and announced on 4 February 2019.[15]

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Beta Sudar "Don't Give Up" Predrag Martinjak, Malin Johansson
Bernarda "I Believe in True Love" Duško Rapotec Ute, Bernarda Brunović, Tatjana Bon
Bojan Jambrošić and Danijela Pintarić "Vrijeme predaje" Ante Toni Eterović, Leonardo Čeči Baksa
Domenica "Indigo" Tonči Huljić, Vjekoslava Huljić
Elis Lovrić "All I Really Want" Elis Lovrić, Olja Dešić
Ema Gagro "Redemption" Andreas Björkman, Adriana Pupavac, Kalle Persson, Ema Gagro
Gelato Sisters "Back to That Swing" Tvrtko Hrelec
Jelena Bosančić "Tell Me" Jelena Bosančić
Jure Brkljača "Ne postojim kad nisi tu" Miroslav Drljača Rus
Kim Verson "Nisam to što žele" Kim Verson
Lea Mijatović "Tebi pripadam" Igor Ivanović, Marko Vojvodić
Lidija Bačić "Tek je počelo" Denis Dumančić, Fayo
Lorena Bućan "Tower of Babylon" Tonči Huljić, Ivan Huljić, Vjekoslava Huljić
Luka Nižetić "Brutalero" Branimir Mihaljević, Mario Mihaljević
Manntra "In the Shadows" Marko Matijević Sekul, Maja Kolarić, Boris Kolarić
Roko Blažević "The Dream" Jacques Houdek, Andrea Čubrić, Charlie Mason

Final

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The final took place on 16 February 2019. The winner, "The Dream" performed by Roko Blažević, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from ten regional juries and a public televote.[16] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show was opened by Sudar Percussion and 2018 Croatian Eurovision entrant Franka Batelić, while Mia Negovetić, 2001 Croatian Eurovision entrant Vanna and Croatian Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003 winner Dino Jelusić performed as the interval acts.[17]

Final – 16 February 2019
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Phone SMS Total Points
1 Bojan Jambrošić and Danijela Pintarić "Vrijeme predaje" 0 1,410 775 2,185 6 6 9
2 Jelena Bosančić "Tell Me" 0 790 157 947 0 0 14
3 Kim Verson "Nisam to što žele" 0 210 133 343 0 0 16
4 Jure Brkljača "Ne postojim kad nisi tu" 2 1,328 841 2,169 5 7 8
5 Beta Sudar "Don't Give Up" 4 1,250 565 1,815 2 6 10
6 Lea Mijatović "Tebi pripadam" 0 615 221 836 0 0 15
7 Gelato Sisters "Back to That Swing" 1 827 338 1,165 0 1 12
8 Luka Nižetić "Brutalero" 3 3,663 3,175 6,838 10 13 3
9 Elis Lovrić "All I Really Want" 8 831 381 1,194 0 8 7
10 Domenica "Indigo" 0 817 577 1,394 0 0 13
11 Roko Blažević "The Dream" 12 7,088 4,436 11,524 12 24 1
12 Ema Gagro "Redemption" 7 1,063 907 1,970 4 11 5
13 Lidija Bačić "Tek je počelo" 0 945 564 1,509 1 1 11
14 Lorena Bućan "Tower of Babylon" 10 3,538 2,047 5,585 8 18 2
15 Bernarda Brunović "I Believe in True Love" 6 1,145 710 1,855 3 9 6
16 Manntra "In the Shadows" 5 2,183 1,738 3,921 7 12 4
Detailed Regional Jury Votes
Draw Song Zagreb Vukovar Varaždin
and Čakovec
Rijeka Pula Osijek Zadar Knin and
Šibenik
Split Dubrovnik Total Points
1 "Vrijeme predaje" 3 1 4 0
2 "Tell Me" 1 1 2 0
3 "Nisam to što žele" 10 10 0
4 "Ne postojim kad nisi tu" 2 4 3 3 4 4 4 5 29 2
5 "Don't Give Up" 6 3 12 2 6 3 5 4 41 4
6 "Tebi pripadam" 7 3 2 12 0
7 "Back to the Swing" 2 2 4 5 4 2 2 2 23 1
8 "Brutalero" 12 10 8 8 38 3
9 "All I Really Want" 4 4 1 5 12 10 7 12 3 10 68 8
10 "Indigo" 1 8 2 1 1 6 19 0
11 "The Dream" 8 5 6 12 7 8 6 1 12 12 77 12
12 "Redemption" 3 6 10 8 4 12 5 7 5 2 62 7
13 "Tek je počelo" 5 1 1 3 10 0
14 "Tower of Babylon" 10 7 6 6 7 8 10 10 8 72 10
15 "I Believe in True Love" 12 5 7 8 10 3 6 7 58 6
16 "In the Shadows" 7 8 10 5 12 6 7 55 5

Promotion

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Roko made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "The Dream" as the Croatian Eurovision entry. On 21 April, Roko performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party Madrid event, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain and hosted by Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela.[18] On 24 April, Roko performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Vegas City Hall in Moscow, Russia and hosted by Alexey Lebedev and Andres Safari.[19]

At Eurovision

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According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Croatia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[20]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Croatia was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Austria and before the entry from Malta.[21]

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Croatia on HRT 1 and via radio on HR 2 with commentary by Duško Ćurlić. The Croatian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Croatian jury during the final, was Monika Lelas Halambek.

Semi-final

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Roko during a rehearsal before the second semi-final

Roko took part in technical rehearsals on 7 and 11 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 15 and 16 May. This included the jury show on 15 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[22]

The Croatian performance featured Roko dressed in white jeans, jacket and t-shirt and joined on stage by two dancers with golden wings. The performance began with Roko laying on the stage LED floor that displayed angel wings. At the end of the first chorus, the dancers appeared on stage and gave Roko wings over his outfit. The stage LED screens transitioned from fire, meteors and flowing lava to a cloudy daylight sky and displayed the dancers falling to the stage and flying away through clouds towards the sky.[23][24] The choreographer of the Croatian performance was Leo Mujić.[25] The two dancers that joined Roko were Diego Siqueira and Endi Schrötter.[26] Co-composer of "The Dream" Jacques Houdek also appeared as an off-stage backing vocalist; Houdek previously represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 where he placed thirteenth in the contest with the song "My Friend".[27]

At the end of the show, Croatia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed fourteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 64 points: 38 points from the televoting and 26 points from the juries.[28]

Voting

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Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.[29]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Croatia and awarded by Croatia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Croatia

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Points awarded to Croatia (Semi-final 2)[30]
Score Televote Jury
12 points
10 points  North Macedonia
8 points  Austria  United Kingdom
7 points
6 points
5 points   Switzerland
4 points
3 points
2 points  Armenia  Albania
1 point  Ireland

Points awarded by Croatia

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Detailed voting results

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The following members comprised the Croatian jury:[29]

Detailed voting results from Croatia (Semi-final 2)[30]
Draw Country Jury Televote
D. Karamatić B. Jambrošić S. Glojnarić Z. Turkalj F. Batelić Rank Points Rank Points
01  Armenia 6 13 14 8 8 10 1 16
02  Ireland 8 14 15 17 17 15 14
03  Moldova 4 9 12 10 10 9 2 15
04   Switzerland 5 2 4 4 3 2 10 3 8
05  Latvia 11 12 17 11 16 14 13
06  Romania 12 10 16 12 15 13 12
07  Denmark 17 17 13 14 13 17 10 1
08  Sweden 7 5 10 5 5 7 4 7 4
09  Austria 16 15 9 15 11 12 17
10  Croatia
11  Malta 2 3 7 6 7 5 6 9 2
12  Lithuania 13 11 8 13 12 11 11
13  Russia 15 6 3 7 6 8 3 8 3
14  Albania 3 4 6 9 9 6 5 5 6
15  Norway 14 16 11 16 14 16 2 10
16  Netherlands 10 8 5 1 1 3 8 4 7
17  North Macedonia 1 1 1 2 2 1 12 1 12
18  Azerbaijan 9 7 2 3 4 4 7 6 5
Detailed voting results from Croatia (Final)[31]
Draw Country Jury Televote
D. Karamatić B. Jambrošić S. Glojnarić Z. Turkalj F. Batelić Rank Points Rank Points
01  Malta 16 10 20 6 10 12 19
02  Albania 8 12 17 11 13 15 10 1
03  Czech Republic 5 7 2 3 5 4 7 20
04  Germany 20 18 14 20 20 21 22
05  Russia 12 8 6 8 11 9 2 12
06  Denmark 24 25 22 19 17 24 17
07  San Marino 25 26 18 26 26 25 9 2
08  North Macedonia 1 2 3 4 4 2 10 4 7
09  Sweden 11 5 8 10 8 6 5 11
10  Slovenia 13 16 25 14 9 17 2 10
11  Cyprus 14 13 13 23 15 18 21
12  Netherlands 7 9 16 2 2 5 6 7 4
13  Greece 23 21 19 13 23 22 26
14  Israel 22 15 11 21 24 20 23
15  Norway 21 24 15 22 22 23 6 5
16  United Kingdom 17 17 4 16 16 14 25
17  Iceland 26 22 26 25 25 26 8 3
18  Estonia 3 19 12 18 18 10 1 15
19  Belarus 18 23 10 17 21 19 24
20  Azerbaijan 15 14 23 7 7 13 13
21  France 6 6 21 15 6 8 3 18
22  Italy 2 3 7 1 1 1 12 1 12
23  Serbia 4 4 24 24 12 7 4 3 8
24   Switzerland 9 1 1 5 3 3 8 5 6
25  Australia 10 11 9 9 14 11 14
26  Spain 19 20 5 12 19 16 16

References

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  1. ^ "Croatia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  2. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (26 September 2018). "Croatia: HRT confirms participation in Eurovision 2019". Esctoday. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Croatia: Broadcaster HRT confirms the return of national final Dora". wiwibloggs. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Croatia: Sixteen Acts to Compete in Dora 2019". Eurovoix. 7 November 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Dora 2019: Evo tko će sve voditi trodnevni spektakl!" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  6. ^ Oliver, Eliza-Jane (16 February 2019). "Watch now: Croatia decides with Dora 2019". Esctoday. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  7. ^ Grace, Emily (20 February 2019). "Croatia: Full Dora 2019 Televoting Results Revealed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Pravila za izbor hrvatskog predstavnika i pjesme za Pjesmu Eurovizije – Dora 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 20 November 2018. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  9. ^ Granger, Anthony (12 November 2018). "Croatia: English, French, Italian & Croatian Language Songs Accepted for Dora 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Završen natječaj za Doru 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 11 January 2019. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  11. ^ "Glazbeni dani HRT-a 2019" (in Croatian). Opatija.hr. 16 January 2019. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  12. ^ "DORA 2019. – REZULTATI NATJEČAJA". HRT (in Croatian). 17 January 2019. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Odustala 4 tenora – Dora 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 29 January 2019. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  14. ^ Janić, Luna (29 January 2019). "Odustanak na "Dori 2019.", tko je upao u konkurenciju?" (in Croatian). eurosong.hr. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  15. ^ "Redoslijed izvođenja pjesama na Dori 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 4 February 2019. Archived from the original on 4 February 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  16. ^ "Pravila HRT-a o glasovanju za izbor hrvatskog predstavnika i pjesme za pjesmu Eurovizije – Dora 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  17. ^ "2019. - Opatija". eurosong.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  18. ^ Escudero, Victor M. (25 April 2019). "This was PrePartyES 2019 in Madrid". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  19. ^ "Moscow Eurovision Pre Party 2019: Record number of participants confirmed for April 24 concert". Wiwibloggs. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  20. ^ Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  21. ^ "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  22. ^ "Eurovision 2019: Rehearsal Schedule in Tel Aviv". eurovisionworld.com. 29 April 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  23. ^ "Roko takes 'The Dream' for Croatia to stage for first rehearsal". eurovision.tv. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  24. ^ Rössing, Dominik (7 May 2019). "LIVE DAY 4 REVIEW: 🇭🇷 Roko gives us wings, fire, and perfect vocals 🇭🇷". escXtra. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  25. ^ Mikuličin, Ivana (17 March 2019). "I BALETNI EKSPERTI NA EUROVIZIJI Prvi posao na estradi koreografa 'Glembajevih': 'Smišljam pokret za Rokov nastup na Eurosongu'". jutarnji.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  26. ^ "Roko s pjesmom 'The Dream' nije uspio ući u finale: Imao sam problema s dimom na pozornici, dosta me gušio". tportal.hr. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  27. ^ "Croatia". Six on Stage. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  28. ^ "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Tel Aviv 2019". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  29. ^ a b Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "Exclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  30. ^ a b c "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Tel Aviv 2019". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  31. ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Tel Aviv 2019". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
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