Rain clouds may have gathered over the skies of Madrid ahead of the #PrePartyES, but Roko is nothing but a ray of sunshine. After treating our UK correspondent Deban to a box of chocolates, the Adriatic star gave us the in on Croatia’s 2019 Eurovision entry.

Croatia’s Roko interview at Madrid’s #PrePartyES

The message

Roko speaks of the purpose of his song, explaining “we are trying to send a message to the world, to the audience, that this world as we see it is not as beautiful and as perfect as we think.” Roko adds “we want to make the world a better place and we think that love is the key, of course love is always the key”.

Arguing against those who may call the lyrics basic or cheesy, Roko makes an important point: “As cheesy as it may sound I think love isn’t cheesy.”

The performance in Tel Aviv

When asked about what to expect in Tel Aviv, Roko is not prepared to reveal all — but he does give us some hints.

With regards to the war imagery in the music video, the 19-year old explains, “We wanted to make people see what we see”. Further, he says that this element of war and suffering “will be even clearer after the Eurovision performance” — so bring your tissues to Tel Aviv Expo y’all!

And now for the question we’ve all been dying to know: Will those wings be in Tel Aviv? Well, Roko has left us with the ambiguous statement: “I’m not going to tell you if the wings are going to show up or not”. However, he has gone as far as to say it’s going to be similar to his Dora performance, and that he’ll be dressed in white.

The 2019 Croatian team

He also speaks of his team, explaining how he does have a say in the act — unlike what we have seen with some previous Croatian entries, they all make their decisions together. He also praises his mentor, the one and only Jacques Houdek, and tells how he has “adored Jacques his whole life”, and believes him to be one of the best vocalists ever – not only in Croatia. He also received a good luck message from Croatia’s 2018 representative, Franka.

As an additional bonus, Roko treats us to covers from the likes of Estonia, Australia, Sweden, Serbia and Czech Republic. And for those who will be flying out to Russia for the Moscow preview party, add another name to your list, as Roko has informed us that he will be lighting up the stage there as well.

What do you think? Does Roko’s message come accross as cheesy? What are your hopes for Croatia’s staging? Let us know in the comments below!

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romanian again
romanian again
4 years ago

Sorry Una, but people want to believe the world is wonderful, and they are in denial all the time. It’s easter time and nobody wants to think how many lambs are killed, they want to see only the cute side of the holiday. People never think it can happen to them any bad thing, until… it happens.

Matija
Matija
4 years ago

Everyone honors Roko, but I think that Deban this time was not up to the task and was not quite correct to Roko, but a little intolerant, as if he could barely wait for the interview to finish. It was all a bit unnatural. If they do not like him and criticize him, Deban is the one who should have remained unbiased. So dissapointed about this interview.

romanian again
romanian again
4 years ago
Reply to  Matija

Why Moldova was bad? She had translator, and you were not against translators. Now you don’t like translators either? Anna Odobescu was asked about Transnistria, and she was very classy, one can see this woman is genuinely very decent. It was like asking Spain about Catalonia. “It’s a different country, right?”

romanian
romanian
4 years ago

Many people ignore problems and think that if they have fun, everything is nice, and the others are paranoid and conspiracy theory freaks. I’ve been dismissed many times, being labeled like that.

keith mawson
keith mawson
4 years ago
Reply to  romanian

completely agree i see thing things differently to many. Love and respect is always the answer but we also have to open our eyes to lies and hidden stuff of which there is plenty. Roko seems a very nice fun guy, great voice. All these interviews in Spain and very entertaining LOve Deben.

romanian
romanian
4 years ago
Reply to  keith mawson

I agree with you Keith. Tibor is right that many people know this world is not perfect, but I guess Roko sings about those that are in denial, and just don’t want to know where things come from : animal cruelty, forced labour…

ESCFan2009
ESCFan2009
4 years ago

Roko is so sexy with a great voice – I only wish the song would be much better. He as a person didn’t deserve this outdated entry 🙁

Tom Ripley
Tom Ripley
4 years ago

Roko is great kid. Such a talented young man! Bravooo!