🇭🇷 Xtra Insider 2020: We Review Croatia!

Welcome to Xtra Insider, our new series which will give you an insight into how well each country was statistically likely to do this year, as well as what the team at ESCXTRA think of your favourite entries into (what would have been) this year’s contest! Today we are finishing our feature with one last review and analysis featuring Croatia!

Yes, this year’s contest has been cancelled…but that doesn’t mean we can’t love the songs! In this series, we’ll review each and every entry that would have taken part in this year’s Eurovision. On top of this, we’re introducing a new analysis section in which we take a look into each country’s history and how likely they would have been to do well this year. Our honest and brutal reviews and analysis will keep you entertained throughout what would’ve been the Eurovision season! We will also each give points using the usual Eurovision points system (12, 10, then 8 down to 1), and create an ESCXTRA leaderboard of the entries!

Finally, we’ll be giving analysis and reviews of the Croatian entry, Divlji Vjetre by Damir Kedžo, from Isaac, Nathan P, Riccardo, Sean, Tim and Tom R. Let’s get started!

Crotia’s history at Eurovision

Croatia first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 when it sent the pop group Put with the song “Don’t Ever Cry”. It finished in a respectable 15th place and in the years that followed, despite no Eurovision victory, the Balkan nation had some strong results. In recent years, however, the country hasn’t had the greatest luck with votes. Not since 2001 has Croatia had a top ten finish and also a fair few non-qualifying years. That said, there are two big Croatian entries that are fan favourites: “Moja štikla” by Severina and “Marija Magdalena” by Doris Dragović.

This year’s entry

“Divlji Vjetre” is a Balkan ballad but with a more understated tonality. The song is sung fully in Croatian. Damir Kedžo is used to the stage and television and this showed when he won the national final Dora 2020. It wasn’t a surprise that Damir won the ticket to Rotterdam as he is a popular artist in his home country, with his last three songs having gone to number one.

How well does this kind of song tend to do in the contest?

The Balkan ballad is a staple of Eurovision and has been for many many years. The genre can split people’s opinions depending on the music that you’re used to hearing and what part of the world you hail from. The results for the Balkan ballad in the Eurovision Song Contest have been mixed. Most notable is the 2007 winning song from Serbia, Molitva sung by Marija Šerifović. Ultimately, if the song plays to its dramatic elements and is staged well, a Balkan ballad can do very well at Eurovision.

The Reviews

Isaac

It feels as if this would be yet another year where Croatia would fade into the background, by sending a mostly unremarkable song that doesn’t quite have the power to transition into a classic Big Balkan Ballad. It does have the ability to grow on you so maybe in a year, it’ll sound better, but it lacks the ability to wow, and I don’t think that would have translated well outside of the Balkans.

Nathan P

A traditional Balkan Ballad TM here. it’s fine for what it is, but I keep forgetting it’s in the contest. There are a slew of ballads that are better and more modern than this. I’d like Croatia to send a risk now and again because I keep forgetting they even compete at the contest sometimes as their entries don’t grab me at all. Maybe next year.

Riccardo

Beautiful piece, especially the ending (wow!) feels like the perfect soundtrack for the ending of a movie. But as I listen to it I am left pondering – is Eurovision the best place to promote this song? Not sure, although what would Eurovision be without a Balkan balland?

Sean

This is okay. Not much to note except that I think that Damir is one of the best male vocalists this year and also the end of the chorus does that thing where they diminish the third by a half step and I’m such a sucker for that.

Tim

Please note that my score is based on my first listen. As I’ve previously stated, I did not get the appeal to the song in the beginning. As I had a few more listen to it, I was able to appreciate the music further, and appreciated the track for what it was. I hope that Damir returns next year and gets his time to shine, he so deserves it.

Tom R

I really want to love this song. But sadly, it’s just a bit bland. There isn’t anything ‘wild’ about the “Wild Wind”. The revamp gives it a bit more oomph and the last 30 seconds is a very capturing part of the song. I just wish there was this energy throughout the song and not just at the end because then I am sure, I would prefer the song much more. Hoping for more next year!

Scores

Costa	7	Nick	6	Tim	4
Dominik	8	Riccardo	7	Tom O	3
Isaac	2	Rigmo	2	Tom R	3
Lisa	2	Rodrigo	2	Vincent	3
Luke	3	Sami	6	Wiv	5
Matt	3	Sean	5
Nathan P	1	Simon	3

Therefore, Croatia scores 75 points in total!

Leaderboard

Croatia ends up 38th place with a score of 75 points, which isn’t all that noteworthy. What IS noteworthy is the fact that our leaderboard is now fully complete as we have ranked and scored all of the 41 entries!!!

Sweden – 164
Bulgaria – 163
Iceland – 162
Azerbaijan – 160
Russia – 156
Malta – 154
Switzerland – 151
Israel – 148
Lithuania – 142
Germany – 142
Serbia – 139
Denmark – 136
Ireland – 136
Ukraine – 135
Norway – 134
Greece – 132
Italy – 129
Romania – 121
Latvia – 120
Armenia – 120
United Kingdom – 120
Australia – 117
Netherlands – 113
Austria – 111
Belgium – 109
North Macedonia – 107
Czech Republic – 104
Spain – 100
Cyprus – 97
San Marino – 97
Albania – 97
Finland – 95
Estonia – 93
Portugal – 82
Moldova – 82
Belarus – 81
Poland – 76
Croatia – 75
Georgia – 72
France – 70
Slovenia – 53

Next, it will be the turn of..nobody to be reviewed? Looks like we have run out of entries, so all that’s left to do is invite you all back next year as we all take another listen to the Croatian entry below!