In 2003 he won the first-ever edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest with “Ti si moja prva ljubav” (You’re My First Love”). And now, with the 20th anniversary of his win approaching, Croatian rocker Dino Jelusic has revealed that he’s been thinking about entering the adult Eurovision.
Speaking to Croatia’s 24Sata, he said that Italy’s recent success has made him re-evaluate his earlier reservations about competing.
“I received and refused calls,” he said. “I was not interested in that. Now that I’ve seen Måneskin, I think to myself: ‘Well, you know what, if [Croatia’s Eurovision Head of Delegation] Ursula Tolj asks me nicely, and if my hands are free to do what I want, maybe I’ll take that into account.'”
Dino Jelusic “thinking about Eurovision” after Måneskin win
Dino’s potential Eurovision run isn’t built on the naive assumption that everyone will embrace him and his music. The 29-year-old made it clear that he understands the pitfalls of a fickle public and media.
“It’s a lot of pressure. If I win, I will be the most loved person in the world, and if I lose I will be the biggest loser. Look what they did to poor Albina. What happened? ‘Tick Tock’ didn’t make it to the finals and suddenly they started stabbing her in the back. That is the problem with us. They only love you when you win.”
But he sees the contest as an opportunity to re-assert his identity and to show the world how much he has progressed since winning JESC.
“It’s amazing that people can find out everything about me in five minutes, but they don’t want to,” he told 24Sata. “I have so many hidden gems behind me, albums I’ve recorded with foreign artists, that many only are only discovering after seven years.”
“But it’s easier to tell them ‘haha, Dino was looking at Sanja’s breasts,’” he says, referencing this image which went viral after Junior Eurovision.
Dino Jelusic joins Whitesnake
Of course, plenty of people in important places have been paying attention to Dino’s music career. Besides fronting the band Animal Drive, which is signed to Frontiers Records, he’s been a touring member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and has worked with the likes of Gus G, Mike Mangini and George Lynch.
In July he was announced as the newest member of the hard rock and glam metal band Whitesnake.
Writing on the band’s official web site, lead singer David Coverdale said:
“I am absolutely delighted to welcome the extremely gifted DINO JELUSICK to Whitesnake. We’ve had our eyes & ears on him since we played Zagreb together 2 years ago. You’re going to love him!”
Dino said:
“I am beyond honoured to be part of one of my favourite bands of all time. To get the phone call from David Coverdale is something every singer and musician of my generation can only dream of, it still feels completely surreal. I cannot wait to start hitting the road with Whitesnake and as the great DC said to me himself, to give a piece of my identity to the sound of this iconic band.”
Would you like to see Dino hit the adult Eurovision stage? Should he bring his new bandmates with him? Let us know in the comments box below!
Now that’s what I was fearing the most. That Måneskin victory will lead a plenty of rockers to submit songs to the contest the next year. But these people absolutely don’t understand how the contest works, how unstable its trends are, and how important is to “catch the wave” of the year if one wants to do well. You shouldn’t base your decision of entering/not entering the contest on whatever type of song did well or won recently! Or maybe you should, but counter-intuitively, other way around! I doubt the Eurovision’s bias towards non-mainstream music is now completely overcome once… Read more »
I don’t think it’s for next year. He has a tour at the time of Eurovision
This can be a better idea in a few years. I mean, if he competes in 2022, the comparisons with Maneskin will be inevitable and that might hurt him.
” I receive and refuse calls” loool whos knocking on your door with offers cmon xD it isnt 2003
Whitesnake…
if you believe it then that is all that matters I guess. LOL
What happened in Croatia with Albina??!! She did well. She didn’t make the final, but almost (#11) , and people like her performance. That’s far better than usually for Croatia.
Lol
actually the media sent a lot of love to Albina after the semifinal and everyone screamed how unfair the result was. So no, people sent love to Albina. of course there will always be a minority that will always complain but the majority was very supportive. By the way, why does he act like he’s a big name that is waiting for the Eurovision HoD to beg him to do Eurovision??? First of all, Croatia is doing DORA and second of all, he’s not well known anymore. This attitude goes nowhere. Just because Maneskin had massive success, it does not… Read more »
Well he is a very taleted guy, and its not realy true that he is not a popular artist in Croatia, but to be fair, he is not the mout popular, and he said that he will mybe try in 2023 or 2024
Btw I do agree that he is a bit to overconfident
I feel really awkward because I don’t know him and I think I should have…
He won the first Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003.
That’s what Dino said: They first loved her, she was Croatia’s sweetheart, the future hope. But once she didn’t make it past semi final it was all like”oh, we should have sent that Nina girl, she had talent. Albina is a one-hit wonder, who cares about her”. Stuff like that
Though I would say that’s true for most countries. You only are popular if you do well…
It wasn’t really that dramatic, I think Albina is still positively portrayed in the media and people support her.
I would like more famous Croatian artists to change their minds about Eurovision and by the way I’m waiting for them to reveal the new president of public television HRT,
Petition link: http://chng.it/bZyc2jB9
Hey, Eurovision fans! I know it’s quite impossible but I am trying to return Bosnia and Herzegovina to the contest. So if you have time, could you please sign the petition that I made. Thank you so much!