Croatia back in the spotlight

Croatia’s back again after a couple of years of absence and before that a string of horrendously bad results. Being one of the countries that used to be rather good at Eurovision, the need for withdrawing to have a serious look at the approach, to find out what went wrong and how to mend it makes sense, we guess.

Seemingly the return has not gone down without a bit of controversy as a united contingent of Croatian composers and lyricists were outraged when they got ditched by the broadcaster HRT in favor of a couple of Austrians. We would have been too, after all Austria has never fostered a decent composer and the only thing they’re good at is ski jumping and making wienerschnitzels. On the other hand, we can think of a number of countries where not a single fuck would be given by any songwriter of importance, so this is in fact a good sign if you ask us, if it means there will be a line outside HRT’s HQ begging to write Croatia’s entry in 2017.

Nina Kraljić has been given the task to perform the entry Lighthouse, which surprisingly is not about the boyband competing for Denmark this year, but rather if the promo video is anything to go by, about a, eh, actual lighthouse. Nina herself is nowhere to be seen so we sincerely hope she will show up in Stockholm. We’re intrigued by her bio on Eurovision.tv since she has apparently shot to fame in less than a year, hogging awards and winning The Voice leaving the audience speechless, mind you. We’re not sure how that can be a good thing in Eurovision tough, we much prefer screaming our heads off when something good comes on. And as for being relatively new to showbiz, it always leaves us with the question if she can stomach the thought of suddenly having some 190 MILLION people watching.

The song itself is nothing special. It sounds like something The Cranberries could have done relatively well with around 1995. Why it currently lingers in top 5 with the bookies is beyond us. However, a ticket to the Grand Final should be within reach at least. This will hopefully pave the way for a hotshot Croatian songwriter to come up with a real contender next year.

nina_kraljic_0008
– Why am I singing about that boyband competing for Denmark again? Those Austrian songwriters tricked me into doing it!

3 comments

  1. OH You Two,

    This is my favorite song this year, and “Lighthouse” is in my top ten favorite Eurovision songs all time. I feel a strong emotional connection to it. What I hear is something special: a song that comes from an awareness of pain and struggle but speaks to hope and love.

    I still read all of your reviews, as I have for many years now.

    From Mio
    With love, and, hopefully, some light to shine upon your shade.

  2. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Mio! And we’re honored to keep you as a reader of our blog. We tend to thrive in the more shady parts of town so don’t worry about us.

    And don’t be surprised if we end up changing our minds about half the entries before May, we’re usually easily duped.

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