| Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2024 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) | |||
| Country |  Croatia | |||
| Selection process | Dora2024 | |||
| Selection date | 25 February 2024 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" | |||
| Artist | Baby Lasagna | |||
| Songwriters | Marko Purišić | |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (1st, 177 points) | |||
| Final result | 2nd, 547 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Croatia was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" written and performed byMarko Purišić under his stage name Baby Lasagna. The Croatian participating broadcaster,Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), organised the national finalDora2024 to select its entry for the contest.
Croatia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 7 May 2024 and was later selected to perform in position 7. At the end of the show, "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and hence qualified to compete in the final, marking a second consecutive qualification to the final for the country. It was later revealed that Croatia placed first out of the fifteen participating countries in the semi-final with 177 points. In the final, Croatia performed in position 23 and placed second out of the 25 performing countries, scoring a total of 547 points, winning the public televote.[1] This marked Croatia's highest placing in the history of the contest.
Prior to the 2024 contest,Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing Croatia twenty-eight times since its first entry in1993. Its best result in the contest to this point was fourth, which it achieved on two occasions: in1996 with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed byMaja Blagdan and in1999 with the song "Marija Magdalena" performed byDoris Dragović. Following theintroduction of semi-finals in2004, it had this far featured in eight finals out of seventeen participations. In2023, it qualified to the final (for the first time since 2017) with the song "Mama ŠČ!" byLet 3, finishing in 13th place.[2]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, HRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since first participating in 1993, it has consistently organised the national finalDora in order to select its entry for the contest, except between 2012 and 2018, when the broadcaster either opted out of participation or internally selected its entries. On 14 September 2023, HRT confirmed its participation in the 2024 contest and its intention to continue to useDora to select its entry.[3]
Dora2024 was the twenty-fifth edition ofDora, the national final format which selects the Croatian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition took place at the HRT studios inZagreb,[4] the first time since 2011 that the contest was not held inOpatija, and was hosted byDuško Čurlić, Maja Ciglenečki and Anja Cerar.[5] It aired onHRT 1, on the streaming service HRTi,[6] as well as on the Croatian radio stationHR 2.[7]
The head of the Croatian delegation to the contest, Tomislav Štengl, initially discussed the possibility of including two semi-finals in addition to the usual final, which was provisionally scheduled for 24 February 2024;[8][9][10] it was ultimately decided that the competition would consist of two semi-finals on 22 and 23 February, and a final on 25 February.[4] Twelve entries performed in each semi-final, with eight qualifying for the final based on the results of a public televote.[11][12] The winner of the final was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from the public and a jury composed of four national panels – Osijek,Rijeka,Split and Zagreb – and four international panels – Germany,Iceland,Italy andUkraine;[12] each of these panels consisted of three music industry professionals. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 464 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points following the same pattern used in the Eurovision Song Contest, i.e. 1–8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through telephone and SMS voting; for example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 464 points rounded to the nearest integer: 46 points.[13] The stage and set designer for the stage ofDora2024 was Igor Juras.[14]
On 15 September 2023, HRT opened a submission period where artists – required to hold Croatian citizenship – and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster until 30 November 2023.[3][15][16] At the closing of the window, a record number of 203 entries had been received.[17][18]
An expert committee reviewed the received submissions and selected twenty-four entries (plus four backups), which were announced on 15 December 2023. The participants includedDamir Kedžo andLet 3, who won the competition in2020 and2023, respectively.[15][6][9][17][18][19] Additionally,Severina, who won the competition in2006 and represented Croatia in Eurovision the same year, was a backup dancer for Let 3's performance.[20] On 3 January, it was announced thatZsa Zsa had withdrawn for undisclosed reasons; she was replaced byBaby Lasagna.[21] The songs premiered on 4 January 2024 on the programSvijet diskografije onHR 2,[22] and were released onYouTube on 9 January 2024.
Entry withdrawn Replacement entry
| Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alen Đuras | "A Tamburitza Lullaby" | English | |
| Baby Lasagna | "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" | English | Marko Purišić |
| Barbara Munjas | "Nepobjediva" | Croatian |
|
| Boris Štok | "Can We Talk" | English |
|
| Damir Kedžo | "Voljena ženo" | Croatian | Ante Pecotić |
| Erna | "How Do You Love Me" | English |
|
| ET | "Pametnom dosta" | Croatian |
|
| Eugen [hr] | "Tišine" | Croatian |
|
| James Night | "Nebo plače" | Croatian | Leonardo Šajin |
| Lana Mandarić | "More" | Croatian | Lana Mandarić |
| Lara Demarin | "Ne vjerujem ti" | Croatian |
|
| Let 3 | "Babaroga" | Croatian |
|
| Lu Dedić | "Plavi leptir" | Croatian | Miro Lesić |
| Marcela | "Gasoline" | English |
|
| Mario Battifiaca [hr]feat. Robert Ferlin | "Vodu piti trizan biti" | Croatian | Bruno Krajcar |
| Misha | "One Day" | English | Nemanja Filipović |
| Natalie Balmix [sr] | "Dijamanti" | Croatian |
|
| Noelle | "Baby, Baby" | Croatian |
|
| Pavel | "Do mjeseca" | Croatian |
|
| Saša Lozar | "Ne plačem zbog nje" | Croatian | Ante Pecotić |
| Stefany | "Sretnih dana dat' će Bog" | Croatian |
|
| The Splitters | "Od kad te sanjam" | Croatian |
|
| Vatra | "Slatke suze, gorka ljubav" | Croatian | Ivan Dečak |
| Vinko | "Lying Eyes" | English |
|
| Zsa Zsa | "Probudi usne moje" | Unknown | |
| # | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||
| 2 | Cota G4 [hr] | "Stavi se na mjesto" | Unknown | |
| 3 | Ether | "Duboko roni" | ||
| 4 | Mihael Kvorka | "Vrati se" | Croatian |
|
The two semi-finals took place on 22 February and 23 February 2024 respectively.Slimane,2024 French entrant, performed as an interval act in the first semi-final, whileRaiven,2024 Slovenian entrant, performed as an interval act in the second semi-final.[23][24] Natalie Balmix had audio problems in the second semi-final due to technical issues.[25]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noelle | "Baby, Baby" | Eliminated |
| 2 | Mario Battifiacafeat. Robert Ferlin | "Vodu piti trizan biti" | Advanced |
| 3 | Stefany | "Sretnih dana dat' će Bog" | Advanced |
| 4 | Misha | "One Day" | Eliminated |
| 5 | Erna | "How Do You Love Me" | Eliminated |
| 6 | Eugen | "Tišine" | Advanced |
| 7 | Vinko | "Lying Eyes" | Advanced |
| 8 | Barbara Munjas | "Nepobjediva" | Eliminated |
| 9 | Let 3 | "Babaroga" | Advanced |
| 10 | Lana Mandarić | "More" | Advanced |
| 11 | Pavel | "Do mjeseca" | Advanced |
| 12 | Saša Lozar | "Ne plačem zbog nje" | Advanced |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lu Dedić | "Plavi leptir" | Eliminated |
| 2 | James Night | "Nebo plače" | Eliminated |
| 3 | Lara Demarin | "Ne vjerujem ti" | Advanced |
| 4 | Alen Đuras | "A Tamburitza Lullaby" | Advanced |
| 5 | The Splitters | "Od kad te sanjam" | Eliminated |
| 6 | Boris Štok | "Can We Talk" | Advanced |
| 7 | Baby Lasagna | "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" | Advanced |
| 8 | ET | "Pametnom dosta" | Eliminated |
| 9 | Vatra | "Slatke suze, gorka ljubav" | Advanced |
| 10 | Damir Kedžo | "Voljena ženo" | Advanced |
| 11 | Natalie Balmix | "Dijamanti" | Advanced |
| 12 | Marcela | "Gasoline" | Advanced |
The final was held on 25 February 2024 at 20:15CET and featured the 16 qualifiers from the preceding two semi-finals. The winner, "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" performed byBaby Lasagna, was decided by a combination of votes from a professional jury and the Croatian public via televoting. The interval act of the final sawLet 3 and Jovanka Broz Titutka perform Let 3'sEurovision 2023 entry "Mama ŠČ!", as well as their hit "Ero s onoga svijeta".[25] Over 180,000 votes were cast in the televoting.[28] There were some technical difficulties during the final; Natalie Balmix had issues with her audio, and Boris Štok's performance was delayed due to undisclosed technical issues.[25]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natalie Balmix | "Dijamanti" | 24 | 11 | 35 | 10 |
| 2 | Mario Battifiacafeat. Robert Ferlin | "Vodu piti trizan biti" | 0 | 9 | 9 | 15 |
| 3 | Lana Mandarić | "More" | 9 | 4 | 13 | 13 |
| 4 | Boris Štok | "Can We Talk" | 10 | 13 | 23 | 12 |
| 5 | Stefany | "Sretnih dana dat' će Bog" | 3 | 9 | 12 | 14 |
| 6 | Pavel | "Do mjeseca" | 38 | 15 | 53 | 7 |
| 7 | Saša Lozar | "Ne plačem zbog nje" | 1 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| 8 | Lara Demarin | "Ne vjerujem ti" | 19 | 6 | 25 | 11 |
| 9 | Let 3 | "Babaroga" | 55 | 24 | 79 | 3 |
| 10 | Alen Đuras | "A Tamburitza Lullaby" | 35 | 27 | 62 | 5 |
| 11 | Eugen | "Tišine" | 26 | 15 | 41 | 8 |
| 12 | Vatra | "Slatke suze, gorka ljubav" | 21 | 15 | 36 | 9 |
| 13 | Damir Kedžo | "Voljena ženo" | 51 | 22 | 73 | 4 |
| 14 | Baby Lasagna | "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" | 74 | 247 | 321 | 1 |
| 15 | Marcela | "Gasoline" | 39 | 20 | 59 | 6 |
| 16 | Vinko | "Lying Eyes" | 59 | 23 | 82 | 2 |
| Draw | Song | Osijek | Ukraine | Rijeka | Iceland | Split | Italy | Germany | Zagreb | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Dijamanti" | 3 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 24 | |||
| 2 | "Vodu piti trizan biti" | 0 | ||||||||
| 3 | "More" | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 | |||||
| 4 | "Can We Talk" | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |||
| 5 | "Sretnih dana dat' će Bog" | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| 6 | "Do mjeseca" | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 38 | |
| 7 | "Ne plačem zbog nje" | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 8 | "Ne vjerujem ti" | 8 | 10 | 1 | 19 | |||||
| 9 | "Babaroga" | 10 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 55 |
| 10 | "A Tamburitza Lullaby" | 2 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 35 | |
| 11 | "Tišine" | 6 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 26 | ||||
| 12 | "Slatke suze, gorka ljubav" | 4 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 21 | |||
| 13 | "Voljena ženo" | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 51 |
| 14 | "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 74 | |
| 15 | "Gasoline" | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 39 |
| 16 | "Lying Eyes" | 6 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 59 |
| Show | Air date | Viewing figures | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal | Share | ||
| Final | 25 February 2024 | 720,000 | 24.04% |
In the lead-up to and followingDora, HRT was criticized by Eurovision fans and the general public for originally excluding the eventual winner Baby Lasagna from the line-up,placing him as a backup entry; when the entries were first released, he became the favourite to win.[32][25] Writing forIndex.hr, Marina Radoš called for the resignation of the HRT Eurovision team following the contest.[33] HRT received further criticism for poor quality of the selected entries[34] and the audio and technical difficulties.[35] Following Baby Lasagna's performance in the first Eurovision semi-final, Index.hr further criticized HRT for placing him as a backup entry, calling out the jury, consisting of Željko Mesar, Igor Geržina, Dražen Miočić, Robert Urlić, Tomislav Krizmanić and Ema Gross, and disputing their competence.[36]
As part of the promotion of his participation in the contest, Baby Lasagna attended the PrePartyES inMadrid on 30 March 2024, theLondon Eurovision Party on 7 April 2024 and the Eurovision in Concert event inAmsterdam on 13 April 2024[37][38] – the latter preceded by an appearance on the Dutch TV showBeau [nl], broadcast onRTL 4. On 22 March 2024, he performed at theVečernjak's Rose award ceremony inZagreb.[39] On 13 April 2024, HRT organised a national mass dance to "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" across the cities of Zagreb,Split,Osijek,Zadar and Baby Lasagna's hometown ofUmag; the footage was then shown on HRT showsDobro jutro, Hrvatska,Dnevnik,Kod nas doma, and on the HRT social networks and website.[40] On 21 April 2024, Baby Lasagna performed the song on the Slovenian TV showNedeljsko popoldne, broadcast onTV SLO 1.[41][42][43] He then met theSwedish ambassador to Croatia Anna Boda in Zagreb.[44] The singer signed a cooperation agreement with the Municipality of Umag for financial and promotional purposes.[45] On 1 May, Baby Lasagna took part inSerbian representativeTeya Dora's birthday party, organised by the Serbian and Croatian delegations and open to press and fans.[46][47]
TheEurovision Song Contest 2024 took place at theMalmö Arena inMalmö, Sweden, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 7 and 9 May and the final on 11 May 2024. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final. On 30 January 2024, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country would perform in; theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[48] Croatia was scheduled for the first half of the first semi-final.[49] The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; Croatia was set to perform in position 7.[50]
In Croatia, all three shows were broadcast onHRT 1 as well as on the broadcaster's streaming platform HRTi, with commentary byDuško Ćurlić,[51] and on the HRT radio stationHR 2, with commentary byZlatko Turkalj [hr].[52][53][54][55] On HRT 1, the final was viewed by an average of 1.225 million, equating a viewing share of 74% of the Croatian TV audience for the four-hour broadcast of the final.[56]
Baby Lasagna took part in technical rehearsals on 27 April and 1 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 6 and 7 May.[57] For his performance of "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" at the contest, he is joined by supporting dancers. The costumes, taking inspiration fromCroatian traditional clothing, were designed by Valentina Pliško.[58]
Croatia performed in position 7, following the entry fromPoland and before the entry fromIceland.[50] At the end of the show, the country was announced as a qualifier for the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed first out of the fifteen participating countries in the first semi-final with 177 points.
Following the semi-final, Croatia drew "producer's choice" for the final, meaning that the country will perform in the half decided by the contest's producers.[59] The country was later chosen by producers to perform in position 23, following the entry fromSlovenia and before the entry fromGeorgia.[60] Baby Lasagna once again took part in dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show on 11 May. He performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 11 May. Croatia placed second in the final, scoring 547 points; 337 points from the public televoting and 210 points from the juries. This marked Croatia's best result in the contest to date.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Croatia in the first semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public.[61] The Croatian jury consisted of Gina Victoria Damjanović,Dino Jelusić, who won the2003 Junior contest, Srđan Sekulović – Skansi, Mihovil Šoštarić, andVanna, who representedCroatia in the 2001 contest.[62] In the first semi-final, Croatia placed 1st with 177 points, marking the first time the country had won a Eurovision semi-final. The country received twelve points fromAustralia,Finland,Iceland,Serbia,Slovenia andUkraine. This marked a second consecutive qualification to the final. In the final, Croatia placed 2nd with 547 points, receiving twelve points in the jury vote fromCyprus andSerbia and twelve points in the public televote fromAlbania,Austria,Azerbaijan,Denmark,Iceland,Ireland,Norway,Serbia andSlovenia. This marked the highest position ever achieved by Croatia at the contest. Over the course of the contest, Croatia awarded its 12 points toSerbia in the first semi-final, and toPortugal (jury) andSerbia (televote) in the final.[63][64]
HRT appointed again Ivan Dorian Molnar as its spokesperson to announce the Croatian jury's votes in the final as in2021 and2022.[65]
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Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. Each jury, and individual jury member, is required to meet a strict set of criteria regarding professional background, as well as diversity in gender and age. 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.[66] The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.
The following members comprised the Croatian jury:[62]
| Draw | Country | Televote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Cyprus | 7 | 4 |
| 02 |  Serbia | 1 | 12 |
| 03 |  Lithuania | 8 | 3 |
| 04 |  Ireland | 5 | 6 |
| 05 |  Ukraine | 3 | 8 |
| 06 |  Poland | 12 | |
| 07 | Croatia | ||
| 08 |  Iceland | 14 | |
| 09 |  Slovenia | 2 | 10 |
| 10 |  Finland | 6 | 5 |
| 11 |  Moldova | 10 | 1 |
| 12 |  Azerbaijan | 13 | |
| 13 |  Australia | 11 | |
| 14 |  Portugal | 9 | 2 |
| 15 |  Luxembourg | 4 | 7 |
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juror A | Juror B | Juror C | Juror D | Juror E | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Sweden | 10 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| 02 | Ukraine | 4 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
| 03 |  Germany | 13 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 14 | 19 | 19 | ||
| 04 | Luxembourg | 6 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 18 | |
 Netherlands | N/A | |||||||||
| 06 |  Israel | 15 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 15 | ||
| 07 | Lithuania | 23 | 8 | 22 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 12 | ||
| 08 |  Spain | 24 | 7 | 23 | 8 | 18 | 13 | 17 | ||
| 09 |  Estonia | 20 | 22 | 24 | 18 | 25 | 24 | 7 | 4 | |
| 10 | Ireland | 1 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| 11 |  Latvia | 14 | 13 | 15 | 24 | 21 | 20 | 21 | ||
| 12 |  Greece | 12 | 18 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 16 | 11 | ||
| 13 |  United Kingdom | 25 | 25 | 25 | 17 | 20 | 25 | 24 | ||
| 14 |  Norway | 17 | 23 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 20 | ||
| 15 |  Italy | 7 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| 16 | Serbia | 5 | 11 | 18 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 17 | Finland | 21 | 24 | 17 | 19 | 23 | 23 | 13 | ||
| 18 | Portugal | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 23 | |
| 19 |  Armenia | 16 | 20 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 8 | 3 | |
| 20 | Cyprus | 9 | 15 | 4 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 16 | |
| 21 |  Switzerland | 8 | 6 | 12 | 21 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 1 | |
| 22 | Slovenia | 2 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 10 |
| 23 | Croatia | |||||||||
| 24 |  Georgia | 19 | 21 | 13 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 22 | ||
| 25 |  France | 11 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 26 |  Austria | 18 | 14 | 14 | 23 | 11 | 18 | 14 | ||
Following Baby Lasagna's second place finish at the 2024 contest, theZagreb Assembly announced it would organise a series of events to welcome the singer back to the country. On 12 May 2024,Ban Jelačić Square featured performances to celebrate the result, featuring appearances fromLet 3, who representedCroatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023,Tajči andEmilija Kokić, as well as DJMario Kovač. Baby Lasagna also attended the event with a performance of "Rim Tim Tagi Dim". Attendees includedTomislav Tomašević (Mayor of Zagreb) andAndrej Plenković (Prime Minister of Croatia).[69] The event was also broadcast live onHRT 1.[70]
Moram samo zahvaliti, preko 180,000 vaših telefonskih poziva i poruka je bilo u ovoj večeri[I have to be thankful, over 180.000 phone calls and messages arrived tonight]
