Croatia’s Head of Delegation for Eurovision has been removed from her position by the state broadcaster — and Albina is not happy about it.
“You are making a big mistake,” the Eurovision 2021 star wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. In the thread, she went on to describe outgoing HoD Ursula Tolj as a kind person who has been dismissed for the wrong reasons.
“I speak from a personal perspective and know what kind of character and soul she has,” she said. “I think they are making a mistake, but most of all there are absurd reasons and people behind it.”
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So what are those reasons? Well according to Jutarnji, it had nothing to do with Croatia’s non-qualification. Instead, the decision stemmed from the fact that Ursula allegedly bypassed HRT’s costume designer Natasa Svekler when choosing Albina’s costume for Rotterdam. She instead went with Juraj Zigman, who isn’t affiliated with the broadcaster.
The paper also cites “unforeseen expenses” on her HRT credit card during Eurovision, which the paper says included paying for lunch for the team at a hotel and the purchase of overalls for Albina’s dancers for the red carpet event “with the intention that our delegation be fashionably harmonised.”
But the tipping point reportedly took place on Croatian soil. The paper says that Ursula announced Dora — the country’s Eurovision 2022 selection — without the blessing of her bosses. It’s said they would have preferred to wait until later in the year when the jury selection was complete.
You are making a big mistake pic.twitter.com/2IiPUBUIHw
— Albina (@albina_music) November 3, 2021
Naturally this has led to speculation by some insiders that Ursula is being binned over minor missteps and that some within the broadcaster were waiting for any old reason to pounce.
The paper says that Ursula can’t currently provide comment, as she would risk being fired from the broadcaster owing to previous internal conflicts. Besides her stint as HoD, Ursula wears many hats at the broadcaster, as evidenced by her Instagram bio. It’s light on syntax, but heavy on roles: “TV host TV journalist TV editor Songwriter Traveler.”
The broadcaster did confirm to the paper that Ursula is out, and that she will be replaced by Tomislav Stengl — who oversees Dora. It said:
“Your information is correct – by the decision of the HRT Directorate there was a change in the Dora 2022 team, as well as at the head of the Croatian delegation at the Eurosong 2022 – and Ursula Tolj will be replaced by Tomislav Stengl.”
Regardless of the drama in the halls of HRT, Albina is standing by her friend. She shared a snap from the turquoise carpet of her delegation along with these bittersweet words: “You never realise the value of something until you lose it.”
I hope I’m wrong but this situation/chaos doesn’t seem to bode well for Croatia at Eurovision 2022. Also it’s pretty shocking and rare for a country to already be experiencing turmoil this early in the season because normally at this time the only news that comes out is positive news regarding countries’ selection processes, new changes, etc.
Yes, it does seem like Croatia might be in trouble, and as much as I wanted to see it make a come back for 2022, that might be over before it even began. Unless they miraculously have a great song that actually makes to the final in spite of these problems. I wonder that if Croatia fails again in 2022, that could be the last straw and Croatia might end up withdrawing for a while? It wouldn’t be the first time, Because they didn’t go to eurovision 2014 and 2015
To everyone wondering – HRT doesn’t care about Eurovision. Most of the people there are corrupt nepotism babies and criminals. It’s all politics. However annoying and rude Ursula was to the croatian fans, she had somewhat of a vision and wanted to present the country well. It’s honestly just sad.
Well if you spend the company money of course you will get sacked. What did she expect?
That said maybe Ursula had a better vision for ESC than whoever replaced her ..
I agree with Albina, Ursula might’ve had her flaws, but she was very committed to the contest and to representing Croatia worthily. This is a mistake by the broadcaster.
Urszula had her flaws, but as the head of the delegation she had an idea for a competition, unfortunately now she will be replaced by the former chairman, who treated Eurovision as a summer vacation and I have concerns whether this situation will affect Croatia during Eurovision because during his tenure there was a huge defeat known in Croatia Franki
Franki? What do you mean? What happened in Croatia during his tenure?
Franka was Croatia’s worst result ever and he was the hod that year…
I say that during the term of office of the former head of delegation in 2018, Croatia had the worst result, and the head of the delegation himself treated Eurovision as a trip or vacation, I did not see any form of promotion by the chairman of the delegation, he did not take the competition seriously, and now the public television chose him again
Maybe Damir Kedzo and Nina Kraljic will decide to return after being wronged, some say. This has become a scandal in Croatia.
Although Nina has said she “has outgrown that by all means”, deep down I hope she changes her mind. But ONLY when she herself feels it’s the right time and moment as she has a great sense of that.
Btw she has recently worked with BBC Earth and Netflix for the soundtrack of their documentaries: “Universe” where she voices a red dwarf star, and “The river runner”. And has co-composed and sung a song for the short animation “Sabina: Prey for the hunter”.
Weren’t there some scandals at Dora 2021 that she preferred Albina over Nina or Bernarda, Nina could only hear TickTock on her earphones in rehearsals, telephone lines were manipulated in Albinas favour and Bernarda is on a black list, so she couldn’t win and the female rapper in Dora 2021 was refused to have her dancers on stage, because of Corona protocol, even though she and her father protested? Quite a lot of scandals for a single HoD, isn’t it, you see?
get over it
What I heard about Brigita Vuco (the female rapper) is that her team wasn’t informed on time that her dancers needed a neg covid test to get into the hall during rehearsals. They didn’t bring it, so she performed alone.
But all this, at the second year of DORA make it seem suspicious, though.
There were problem for everyone, even Albina. For instance, I called 10 times for Albina and at least five votes weren’t counted. As for the rest: – Nina had a screamfest and a mess on stage, not to mention she still hasn’t pad her dancers even even fought one of them before Dora. Also, the earphone story has been changed literally every post. First she said half an hour (lie because the rehearsal lasted 20 minutes), then she said another duration. – Bernarda had a song that was rejected by at least three countries. The only reason why she wasn’t… Read more »
Ok I don’t get everything about “this drama” but why part with someone new in the role of HOD and take over someone who once had that role and was not very effective. Change and a new approach is always better than staying in the old patterns and this new HOD had succeeded in this new approach to modernity. Dora 2021 (except the drama) and Albina’s staging are the proof of that imo. So if you want and need to change the HOD again, go again with somebody new not with the old, his approach was really not the best… Read more »
Can we discuss why Albina didn’t made it (just one spot away on 11th) so almost made it. I think it had to do with vocals, just before ‘ticktock’ she screams instead of a clear voice I think that’s bit painful. But the rest of the song was amazing!
Yes I was all in favour for Nina to win too!
The truth is that Albina’s live vocals were one of the weakest that night along with Sweden, Cyprus and Ireland.
The reasons for her sack are BSs. It’s all about politics.
I can understand Albina’s disappointment, but they didn’t fire her because she’s “unkind soul”. They fired her because you don’t spend money of the company you work in the way you want to.
We’ll see if this decision to sack her will hurt Croatia in 2022.
We’d like to think that too, but sometimes changes can go for the worst depending on how things go. You said there was an An awesome guy that helped Ukraine, but he doesn’t work there anymore. When did he leave? Was it before or after GO_A’s chance at Eurovision.
Whoever is His successor is going to have some big shoes to fill, and while I know I shouldn’t be worried or excited about anything till songs are out yet, this sounds a little worrying for Ukraine. What if 2022 to end up being the year Ukraine fails to qualify Because of an incompetent successor?
Speaking about Kvinta, there were some speculations among Ukrainian public that Go_A have made that infamous rewamp for Solovey following his advices, as he is known for wanting “polished” and radio-friendly songs, but I don’t know how close to the truth are those, also Go_A were given way more artistic freedom for 2021…
Fact: I hated the Albina and dancers costumes at Eurovision.
I loved the Albina and dancers costumes at Dora.
If it’s your opinion that doesn’t make it a fact ^^’
The same
Just to add that the song selection announcement HAD to be approved by the higher-ups, which it was.
hrt’s loss honestly. miss ursula knows how to do her job.