CROATIA 2024

      

Dora, Croatia's national final, was held on Sunday for some reason. Your champion, in an absolute runaway (more televotes than the other 15 acts combined), is Baby Lasagna with "Rim Tim Tagi Dim":


About the Artist

Baby Lasagna, government name Marko Purišić, is pretty new to professional singing. He'd been a guitarist for a long time, even placing 4th at Dora 2019 as part of the band Manntra, but he didn't release his first single until last October and hadn't sung on stage until earlier this month. He's taken major influences from Rammstein and helped write a number 1 album in Germany for metal band Mono, Inc. Marko is 28 years old and comes from Umag in Croatia's northwestern region of Istria.




Best Things We Lost Along the Way

Well, there's a reason nothing else got many televotes.

Song Analysis

There's a lot more going on here than just big glowing farm animals. "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" taps into a common experience in Eastern Europe - leaving the small town for the big city, or even another country entirely. Sure, there's silliness, but there's real emotional depth in these lyrics that should resonate with a lot of voters in May. The outfit, while a bit Käärijä, is based on traditional Istrian costume.

Croatia's History


Another rough one. Only three qualifications since 2009, and no top tens in over twenty years. The 90s were great, though, and perhaps Let 3 and Baby Lasagna are a return to that form. It's also worth noting how painfully close Croatia was in the last few years before Let 3 - Albina was in the top 10 for jury and televote in the semifinal but somehow, the math didn't work out in her favor.


Oh dear. 45th of 48 for my rankings, 2nd-to-last among currently participating countries. It's really just those five songs that I've liked, and maybe "Lighthouse".

Prognosis

Some people are saying this is a winner, and they're insane. But I do think this is a safe bet to qualify and potentially give Croatia its first top ten in a very long time. I'm also guessing it'll be the opening act of the whole show in Semi 1.

Current Rankings

Done some re-adjusting, don't be alarmed. There's some clear tiers here:

1   2-5   6-10   11-16   17-20   21   22
























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