Croatia’s HRT confirmed both their participation and the return of Dora back in September. Following an open call for entries, 196 songs were submitted. The names of the 18 finalists and four reserve entries have now been announced.
A total of 196 songs have been submitted to compete in Dora as part of their open submission. This is the largest number of songs submitted to Dora in the history of the competition.
With the help of an expert jury, the 196 were whittled down to just 18 finalists, who will go on to compete for the Croatian ticket to Liverpool on February 11.
The acts and their song titles are as follows:
- Angels And Demons – Damir Kedžo
- Bye Bye Blonde – Meri Andraković
- Distance – Martha May
- Dom – Tajana Belina
- Free Falin’ – Đana
- Grijeh – Boris Štok – Grijeh
- I Still Live – Maja Grgić
- I Will Wait – Patricia Gasparini
- Kme Kme – Krešo I Kisele Kiše
- Kreni Dalje – Eni Jurišić
- Lost And Found – The Splitters
- Love At First Sight – Yogi
- Mama Šč! – Let 3
- Master Blaster – Detour
- Nesreća – Hana Mašić
- Nevera (Lei,lei) – Harmonija Disonance
- Putem Snova – Barbara Munjas
- Putovanje – Top Of The Pops Ft. Mario 5reković
In the event of one of the finalists withdrawing, the four back-ups are as follows:
- Sama – Lana Mandarić Lanchi
- Odlazi – Mirna Škrgati
- On The Same Train – Voice For You
- Talking To Me – Rosanna Kumerle
Dora 2023
In the upcoming edition of Dora we will see some changes compared the last few years. The most important one being the introduction of Semi-Finals. The selection will be divided in two semi-finals and one final. This setup sounds all too familiar for us Eurovision fans!
The participating songs will be released in January, much earlier than usual. This gives the public the opportunity to listen to the songs far ahead of the live contest. HRT will be promoting the songs for five weeks, up until the final, which will take place in Opatija on 11 February 2023.
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Croatia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent country since 1993, and was only absent in 2014 and 2015. They received their best result in 1996 and 1999 where they placed 4th overall in both years. Croatia has not qualified for the Grand Final since 2017, where Jacques Houdek participated with song ‘My Friend’, which was in both English and Italian. It received 128 points in total and placed 13th overall. In 2022, Mia Dimšić won Dora and represented Croatia with the song ‘Guilty Pleasure’. She participated in the first semi-final and placed 11th with 75 points, narrowly missing out on a place in the Grand Final.
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