Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song “The Dream” performed by Roko Blažević. The Croatian broadcaster Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT) organised the national final Dora 2019 in order to select the Croatian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.[1]

Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country	Croatia
National selection
Selection process	Dora 2019
Selection date(s)	16 February 2019
Selected entrant	Roko Blažević
Selected song	"The Dream"
Selected songwriter(s)	Jacques Houdek Andrea Čubrić Charlie Mason
Finals performance
Final result	Failed to qualify (14th, 64 points)
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

Background

Prior to the 2019 Contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four times since its first entry in 1993.[2] Croatia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been fourth place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 1996 with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by Maja Blagdan and in 1999 "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris Dragović. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Croatia had featured in seven finals. In 2018, Croatia failed to qualify to the final, placing 17th in the first semi-final with the song "Crazy" performed by Franka.

Before Eurovision

Dora 2019

Dora 2019 was the twentieth edition of the Croatian national selection Dora which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition consisted of sixteen entries competing in one final on 16 February 2019 at the Marino Cvetković Sports Hall in Opatija, broadcast on HRT 1 as well as online via the broadcaster's streaming service HRTi and hosted by Mirko Fodor, Jelena Glišić and Iva Šulentić.[3][4]

Competing entries

On 20 November 2018, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 10 January 2019.[5] Songs submitted were required to be in either English, French, Italian or Croatian.[6] 162 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period.[7] A seven-member expert committee consisting of Ivana Vrdoljak Vanna, Zlatko Turkalj Turki, Igor Geržina, Ante Pecotić, Antonija Šola, Zlatko Gal and Željen Klašterka reviewed the received submissions and selected sixteen artists and songs for the competition.[8][9] HRT announced the competing entries on 17 January 2019 and among the competing artists, Neda Parmac of Gelato Sisters represented Bosnia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 and Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 as part of Feminnem, while Marko Škugor of 4 Tenora represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 as part of Klapa s Mora. On 29 January 2019, 4 Tenora withdrew from the competition due to a previously scheduled concert, and was replaced by "Nisam to što žele" performed by Kim Verson.[10][11]

Artist	Song	Composer(s)
4 Tenora	"Brod bez imena"	Eduard Botrić, Matko Šimac
Beta Sudar	"Don't Give Up"	Predrag Martinjak, Malin Johansson
Bernarda Bruno	"I Believe in True Love"	Duško Rapotec Ute, Bernarda Brunović, Tatjana Bon
Bojan Jambrošić & Danijela Pintarić	"Vrijeme predaje"	Ante Toni Eterović, Leonardo Čeči Baksa
Domenica	"Indigo"	Tonči Huljić, Vjekoslava Huljić
Elis Lovrić	"All I Really Want"	Elis Lovrić, Olja Dešić
Ema Gagro	"Redemption"	Andreas Björkman, Adriana Pupavac, Kalle Persson, Ema Gagro
Gelato Sisters	"Back to That Swing"	Tvrtko Hrelec
Jelena Bosančić	"Tell Me"	Jelena Bosančić
Jure Brkljača	"Ne postojim kad nisi tu"	Miroslav Drljača Rus
Kim Verson	"Nisam to što žele"	Kim Verson
Lea Mijatović	"Tebi pripadam"	Igor Ivanović, Marko Vojvodić
Lidija Bačić	"Tek je počelo"	Denis Dumančić, Fayo
Lorena Bućan	"Tower of Babylon"	Tonči Huljić, Ivan Huljić, Vjekoslava Huljić
Luka Nižetić	"Brutalero"	Branimir Mihaljević, Mario Mihaljević
Manntra	"In the Shadows"	Marko Matijević Sekul, Maja Kolarić, Boris Kolarić
Roko Blažević	"The Dream"	Jacques Houdek, Andrea Čubrić, Charlie Mason

Final

The final took place on 16 February 2019. The running order was announced on 4 February 2019.[12] The winner, "The Dream" performed by Roko Blažević, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from ten regional juries and a public televote. Ties were decided in favour of the entry ranked higher by the public televote.[13]

Final – 16 February 2019
Draw	Artist	Song	Jury		Televote				Total	Place
			Votes	Points	Phone Calls	SMS	Total	Points
1	Bojan Jambrošić & Danijela Pintarić	"Vrijeme predaje"	4	0	1,410	775	2,185	6	6	9
2	Jelena Bosančić	"Tell Me"	2	0	790	157	947	0	0	14
3	Kim Verson	"Nisam to što žele"	10	0	210	133	343	0	0	16
4	Jure Brkljača	"Ne postojim kad nisi tu"	29	2	1,328	841	2,169	5	7	8
5	Beta Sudar	"Don't Give Up"	41	4	1,250	565	1,815	2	6	10
6	Lea Mijatović	"Tebi pripadam"	12	0	615	221	836	0	0	15
7	Gelato Sisters	"Back to That Swing"	23	1	827	338	1,165	0	1	12
8	Luka Nižetić	"Brutalero"	38	3	3,663	3,175	6,838	10	13	3
9	Elis Lovrić	"All I Really Want"	68	8	831	381	1,194	0	8	7
10	Domenica	"Indigo"	19	0	817	577	1,394	0	0	13
11	Roko Blažević	"The Dream"	77	12	7,088	4,436	11,524	12	24	1
12	Ema Gagro	"Redemption"	62	7	1,063	907	1,970	4	11	5
13	Lidija Bačić	"Tek je počelo"	10	0	945	564	1,509	1	1	11
14	Lorena Bućan	"Tower of Babylon"	72	10	3,538	2,047	5,585	8	18	2
15	Bernarda Bruno	"I Believe in True Love"	58	6	1,145	710	1,855	3	9	6
16	Manntra	"In the Shadows"	55	5	2,183	1,738	3,921	7	12	4

Detailed Regional Jury Votes
Draw	Song	Zagreb	Vukovar	Varaždin & Čakovec	Rijeka	Pula	Osijek	Zadar	Knin & Šibenik	Split	Dubrovnik	Total
1	"Vrijeme predaje"						3				1	4
2	"Tell Me"		1							1		2
3	"Nisam to što žele"		10									10
4	"Ne postojim kad nisi tu"		2	4	3	3		4	4	4	5	29
5	"Don't Give Up"	6	3	12		2	6	3	5		4	41
6	"Tebi pripadam"		7	3			2					12
7	"Back to the Swing"	2		2	4	5	4	2	2	2		23
8	"Brutalero"	12				10			8	8		38
9	"All I Really Want"	4	4	1	5	12	10	7	12	3	10	68
10	"Indigo"	1		8	2		1	1			6	19
11	"The Dream"	8	5	6	12	7	8	6	1	12	12	77
12	"Redemption"	3	6	10	8	4	12	5	7	5	2	62
13	"Tek je počelo"	5			1	1					3	10
14	"Tower of Babylon"	10		7	6	6	7	8	10	10	8	72
15	"I Believe in True Love"		12	5	7	8		10	3	6	7	58
16	"In The Shadows"	7	8		10		5	12	6	7		55

Promotion

Roko made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "The Dream" as the Croatian Eurovision entry. He performed at Moscow Eurovision Party on 26 April.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Croatia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[14]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Croatia was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Austria and preceding the entry from Malta.[15]

Semi-final

Croatia performed tenth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Austria and preceding the entry from Malta. At the end of the show, Croatia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed fourteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 64 points: 38 points from the televoting and 26 points from the juries. With the old voting system, Croatia would have ranked 14th with 25 points.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.[16]

Points awarded to Croatia

Points awarded to Croatia (Semi-final 2)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
	North Macedonia	Austria
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Switzerland		Albania  Germany  Russia	Armenia	Azerbaijan  Latvia  Malta  Sweden
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
		United Kingdom
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Austria  Denmark  Netherlands			Albania	Ireland

Points awarded by Croatia

Semi-final 2 Score Televote Jury 12 points  North Macedonia  North Macedonia 10 points  Norway   Switzerland 8 points   Switzerland  Netherlands 7 points  Netherlands  Azerbaijan 6 points  Albania  Malta 5 points  Azerbaijan  Albania 4 points  Sweden  Sweden 3 points  Russia  Russia 2 points  Malta  Moldova 1 point  Denmark  Armenia

Final Score Televote Jury 12 points  Italy  Italy 10 points  Slovenia  North Macedonia 8 points  Serbia   Switzerland 7 points  North Macedonia  Czech Republic 6 points   Switzerland  Netherlands 5 points  Norway  Sweden 4 points  Netherlands  Serbia 3 points  Iceland  France 2 points  San Marino  Russia 1 point  Albania  Estonia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Croatian jury:[16]

• Zlatko Turkalj – Chairperson – Managing Editor of the Croatian Radio Entertainment Program Department
• Doris Karamatić – harp professor, harpist
• Bojan Jambrošić – singer
• Silvestar Glojnarić – composer and conductor
• Franka Batelić – singer, represented Croatia in the 2018 contest

Split voting results from Croatia (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		D. Karamatić	B. Jambrošić	S. Glojnarić	Z. Turkalj	F. Batelić	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Armenia	6	13	14	8	8	10	1	16
02	Ireland	8	14	15	17	17	15		14
03	Moldova	4	9	12	10	10	9	2	15
04	Switzerland	5	2	4	4	3	2	10	3	8
05	Latvia	11	12	17	11	16	14		13
06	Romania	12	10	16	12	15	13		12
07	Denmark	17	17	13	14	13	17		10	1
08	Sweden	7	5	10	5	5	7	4	7	4
09	Austria	16	15	9	15	11	12		17
10	Croatia
11	Malta	2	3	7	6	7	5	6	9	2
12	Lithuania	13	11	8	13	12	11		11
13	Russia	15	6	3	7	6	8	3	8	3
14	Albania	3	4	6	9	9	6	5	5	6
15	Norway	14	16	11	16	14	16		2	10
16	Netherlands	10	8	5	1	1	3	8	4	7
17	North Macedonia	1	1	1	2	2	1	12	1	12
18	Azerbaijan	9	7	2	3	4	4	7	6	5

Split voting results from Croatia (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		D. Karamatić	B. Jambrošić	S. Glojnarić	Z. Turkalj	F. Batelić	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	16	10	20	6	10	12		19
02	Albania	8	12	17	11	13	15		10	1
03	Czech Republic	5	7	2	3	5	4	7	20
04	Germany	20	18	14	20	20	21		22
05	Russia	12	8	6	8	11	9	2	12
06	Denmark	24	25	22	19	17	24		17
07	San Marino	25	26	18	26	26	25		9	2
08	North Macedonia	1	2	3	4	4	2	10	4	7
09	Sweden	11	5	8	10	8	6	5	11
10	Slovenia	13	16	25	14	9	17		2	10
11	Cyprus	14	13	13	23	15	18		21
12	Netherlands	7	9	16	2	2	5	6	7	4
13	Greece	23	21	19	13	23	22		26
14	Israel	22	15	11	21	24	20		23
15	Norway	21	24	15	22	22	23		6	5
16	United Kingdom	17	17	4	16	16	14		25
17	Iceland	26	22	26	25	25	26		8	3
18	Estonia	3	19	12	18	18	10	1	15
19	Belarus	18	23	10	17	21	19		24
20	Azerbaijan	15	14	23	7	7	13		13
21	France	6	6	21	15	6	8	3	18
22	Italy	2	3	7	1	1	1	12	1	12
23	Serbia	4	4	24	24	12	7	4	3	8
24	Switzerland	9	1	1	5	3	3	8	5	6
25	Australia	10	11	9	9	14	11		14
26	Spain	19	20	5	12	19	16		16

References

1. "Croatia: Broadcaster HRT confirms the return of national final Dora". wiwibloggs. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
2. "Croatia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
3. "Croatia: Sixteen Acts to Compete in Dora 2019". Eurovoix. 7 November 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
4. "Dora 2019: Evo tko će sve voditi trodnevni spektakl!" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
5. "Pravila za izbor hrvatskog predstavnika i pjesme za Pjesmu Eurovizije - Dora 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
6. Granger, Anthony (12 November 2018). "Croatia: English, French, Italian & Croatian Language Songs Accepted for Dora 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
7. "Završen natječaj za Doru 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
8. "Glazbeni dani HRT-a 2019" (in Croatian). Opatija.hr. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
9. "DORA 2019. – REZULTATI NATJEČAJA". HRT (in Croatian). 17 January 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
10. "Odustala 4 tenora - Dora 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
11. Janić, Luna (29 January 2019). "Odustanak na "Dori 2019.", tko je upao u konkurenciju?" (in Croatian). eurosong.hr. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
12. "Redoslijed izvođenja pjesama na Dori 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
13. "Pravila HRT-a o glasovanju za izbor hrvatskog predstavnika i pjesme za pjesmu Eurovizije - Dora 2019" (in Croatian). HRT. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
14. Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
15. "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
16. Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "Exclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.

External links

• Dora official site