It’s Croatia calling! After months of preparation and rumour mills turning, Croatia’s first national selection in 8 years is finally taking centre stage. Tonight from 20:05 CET, Croatia will select its Eurovision 2019 singer and song — for the twentieth time via a national selection. Sixteen acts will compete but only one will go home with the winning trophy.
We will only hear the songs in full tonight, but luckily HRT gave us snippets as a glimpse of what we can expect from tonight’s show. That’s why we at wiwibloggs asked you earlier this week to vote for your favourite(s) in our poll.
You’ve cast a total of 2,660 votes and one of the newcomers on the Croatian music scene — Roko Blazevic — has emerged as the winner with his ballad “The Dream”. He has gathered 888 of your votes, which forms 33.38% of the total votes cast. Is 8 a new lucky number?
Jer ste vi to tražili – poslušajte isje?ke pjesama s Dore 2019.! ?Zabranjeno je svako kopiranje video i/ili audio snimaka i postavljanje na radijske, televizijske i digitalne kanale!
Posted by Eurosong HRT on Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Top Three
1. Roko Blazevic – “The Dream”
He won Serbia’s Pinkove Zvezdice in 2017 — the kids show which produced several Junior Eurovision singers from Serbia and North Macedonia — but it was only last year in which he rose to prominence in his home country after having finished as the runner-up in the Croatian version of the same show. He was mentored by Croatia’s 2017 representative Jacques Houdek, who also happens to be the co-author of his entry.
2. Luka Nizetic – “Brutalero”
In second place we have one of the most-talked about songs of this year’s Dora with 582 votes, or 21.88% of the total votes. That honour is bestowed upon Luka Nizetic and the song “Brutalero”.
Luka, who already tried his luck at Dora before, is a seasoned performer with the looks, voice and charm for Eurovision. His Eurovision entry gets us dancing in less than 20 seconds of the snippet. “Brutalero” is a shameless play on words — cleverly put together by Branimir Mihaljevic — the “Crazy” composer. Luka promises a spectacular show never seen before on TV and we can’t wait for it.
3. Lorena Bucan – “The Tower of Babylon”
Closing our Top 3 is Lorena with another hot favourite to win with 495 of your votes, or 18.61%.
Lorena was discovered on the same show as Roko and was mentored by the notable composer and singer Tonci Huljic. Just as in Roko’s case, her show mentor is also the co-writer of her Dora entry. Interestingly, Tonci competed in Israel before, as the composer of “Marija Magdalena” in 1999.
Bottom Two
Two acts were left behind, having failed to accumulate more than 30 votes or barely 1% of votes in total. These are the balladeers Jure Brkljaca and Elis Lovric with 28 and 29 votes respectively.
Full results
[polldaddy poll=10240222]Do you agree with the rest of our readers? Do you think Roko can take Croatia to the finals? Sound off in the comments below!
for once the poll got it right and tbh, after watching the show live, this was their best option.
Tower of Babylon should have won
The Dream is horrible and I am so mad it won
love it
Oh My f. Gosh this is really good croatia!!!! I count 8
Good songs!! Dora is Perfect
Honestly, both Brutalero and The Dream were so cheesy! I’m definitely not voting either!
Best options: Jure, Elis, Lorena, maybe Ema or Domenica
I was watching EMA, anybody know where I can find Dora’s performances to watch?
Join the discussion…https://magazin.hrt.hr/488864/dora-2019-izbor-hrvatske-pjesme-za-pjesmu-eurovizije-2
lmao no he’s way too cheesy
Stream:
https://magazin.hrt.hr/488864/dora-2019-izbor-hrvatske-pjesme-za-pjesmu-eurovizije-2
NO! Just No! You have Luka just send him! No argument nessecary 😀
Why is so many people keen on that song? From the snippet, it sounds nonsensical, just throwing bunch of words with Croatian / Spanish amalgams. Also, the topic seems to be that he is explosive when he’s in love. I am open that the full song might be entertaining, but besides being catchy, the snippet isn’t promising. Luka is a good performer, though, so I might change my mind tonight.
I haaaaate the snippet from Roko so I really hope he doesn’t get selected. Brutalero and Redemption are still my faves but there are other good options.
the snippet was bad, but the whole thing snaps
Some songs were released in New Zealand
Manntra: https://open.spotify.com/album/3LJpIPw5gW99O95cKJceiF
Lidija: https://open.spotify.com/album/5WtSfYJwFzFtuyRbQXJzKp
Lea: https://open.spotify.com/album/7nSJoLuSUXgGJ43v9iCZ0t
Nothing against Roko and his voice, but the music and lyrics seem to be quite uninspired or even dull. I don’t wan’t to judge the song, cause I only heard 1/9 of it, but I expect “Dream” to progress in a very linear way, and even the best performer won’t be able to make a song like that stand out (see Slovenia 2017).
So is it a three horse race, or will we have a surprise winner? Also, is it jury, televote or both that will determine the winner? I read conflicting reports on different sites. Please someone clarify!
50% juries – 10 regional juries will read the votes 1-8, 10,12 and then the total result will be transformed into only one set of points 1-8,10 and 12 based on the ranking
50% public – the person with the most votes gets 12 points, 2 place 10, 3rd 8points and so on…
max. possible score is 24 points
It’s a 50/50 jury/televote split. If there is a tie, televote winner it is. IMHO, it’s only snippets, only 2 days before. None of the songs had time to develop a fanbase. It’s up to anyone to win. Could literally be any of the 16 if the performance is captivating.
That was literally my least favorite of the bunch xD
Im intrigued by bernarda bruno’s song. She has that beautiful jamala kind of voice. I hope the complete song is good. Also HRT gave her one of the prime positions so that seems promising.
Lidija, Manntra and Lea are on spotify NZ – Manntra is soo good and the best out of the 3 songs
Lidija will be a summer hit and Lea is going to be a radio hit! 😀
WTF! all what I heard from the song is an instrumental and some words and he got to be a favorite to win! SMH
You raise valid points… Still, Roko has some truly exceptional vocal skills, so I presume people trust he might have a quality entry as well. Let’s wait and see – my top favourites until further notice are Brutalero and Manntra. Lorena also sings well, but I cannot escape the feeling her song (the Tower of Babylon) is sung in a wrong language… She should have opted for Croatian language instead.
Dario no, Jacques sent his vote spammers to vote on the poll. No one likes Roko except Jacques’ fans
Poor Croatia, what a tragic selection..
Same thing your mother said when she gave birth to you
Agree, there’s not even one good song.
i like luka the most
I’m voting for Luka tonight and I advise you all to do the same (if you’re in Cro) beacuse this cringefest will get us another Barbara Dex for sure
As much as I’m hoping for a Luka win, I think Australia has Barbara Dex in the bag this year.
I like Jure the most, but yeah.
As long as this cringy song doesn’t win
I really like Jure from the snippet too. We’ll see when the song is performed, but it’s certainly on my radar.
LIVE STREAM HERE—–> https://www.firstonetv.live/Live/Croatia/HRT-1-3
How tf did he win OVER Luka? With these cliche lyrics that sound so serious + don’t even make sense? At least Luka’s is literally made up so the lyrics don’t matter but look at this:
“I have a dream” – okay he has a dream,
“A dream as beautiful as it is extreme” – okay the dream is equal parts pretty and crazy,
“I know it’s not as crazy as it may seem” – now I’m lost??? what do you mean you just said its hella crayy
Those are terrible rhymes, honestly.
Hmm… Roko won the poll by far, yet most comments are quite critical towards his song. That is a bit suspicious. I have a feeling the song might turn out really good if it has a powerful chorus. The angel costume, though… NO! I will keep an open mind towards all songs and vote for the one (or several) I would love to see representing us on ESC. PS. I really hope that after the show I hear names Sandra Nurmsalu or Stefan for Estonia and Edgars Kreilis or Double Faced Eels for Latvia. I am still optimistic that my… Read more »
The divisive results in Supernova’s semi-final could mean that your favorites may win in Latvia. Edgars would be more likely, tho. It’s an open competition. Don’t know about Estonia, but I think Stefan is a top 3 there, Sandra most probably is out of the running.
ew
btw, songs in Croatian >>>>>>>songs in English, in this selection.
Sorry – bt I think it would be a bad choice! They have much better, more fresh song to chose from. Such a pompous, dull, ordinary, dated and unoriginal song. Boring. Probably a bad end for a good NF iif it wins, and I doubt it would do well for them.
Did you hear the songs?
Dino Jelusic had insta stories of all performances. The songs and the whole show seem pretty amazing
Here is Ema’s clip
https://scontent-frx5-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/3f2a52a601f456e1523acc1c8cb70d46/5C69C2FB/t50.12441-16/52841977_307898409909838_4665204107952584426_n.mp4?_nc_ht=scontent-frx5-1.cdninstagram.com
Basically Montenegro Part II.
hvala NE
Roko and Jacques sent their henchmen to vote on the poll, Luka all the way
Would be better!