As HRT prepares for the upcoming release of the Dora 2025 entries, two acts have been replaced in the national final. Lara feat. LSQ and Natalie Balmix will no longer participate, with SWINGERS and Fenksta taking their spots.
Lara feat. LSQ withdraws as Natalie Balmix receives DQ
Recently, Lara feat. LSQ confirmed their wish to withdraw, ‘Mama’ from Dora 2025. As part of the rules of the competition, they were replaced by first reserve act, SWINGERS. Meanwhile, Natalie Balmix received a full disqualification from HRT. Many changes to her entry, ‘ŽIVOT IDE DALJE’ resulted in the disqualification. An independent review by two music producers revealed that more than 50% of the lyrics, arrangement and production had been altered. Thus, the entry was too far removed from the original submission. Therefore, it had broken the Dora 2025 rules as outlined by HRT. Second reserve act, Fenksta will now take her place.
Format and competing artists of Dora 2025
Since 2019, Croatia have used the revamped Dora format to select its Eurovision entry. Following the success of last years’ winner, Baby Lasagna, HRT announced a record 221 submissions for Dora 2025. The artists and remaining two reserve acts are as follows:
- Ananda – ‘Lies Lay Cold’
- EoT – ‘Bye, Bye, Bye’
- Fenksta – ‘Ekstra’
- Filomena – ‘Strong”
- Irma – ‘Enigma’
- IVXN – ‘Monopol’
- Jelena Radan – ‘SALUT!’
- laurakojapjeva – ‘NPC’
- LELEK – ‘The Soul of my Soul’
- Luka Nižetić – ‘Južina’
- Magazin – ‘AaAaA’
- Marin Jurić Čivro – ‘Gorjelo je’
- Marko Bošnjak – ‘Poison Cake’
- Marko Škugor – ‘Šta da Boga molim ja’
- Marko Tolja – ‘Through the Dark’
- Martha May – ‘Running to the Light’
- Matt Shaft – ‘Welcome to the Circus’
- Natally – ‘Dom si srcu mom’
- NIPPLEPEOPLE – ‘ZNAK’
- Ogenj – ‘Daj, daj’
- Petar Brkljačić – ‘KRAJ’
- Supersonic Trio – ‘Animal’
- SWINGERS – ‘FUL KUL’
- Teenah – ‘Aurora’
All of the songs are available to listen to on the official YouTube channel.
Reserve acts:
- Patricia Gasparini – ‘KARMA’
- llyricum – ‘TANANAI’
In the second half of February 2025, Dora 2025 will take place with two live Semi-Finals on February 27 and 28 and a Grand Final on March 2. The winner will represent Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland in May. Maja Tokić the editor of Dora, has revealed that jury and public televoting in a 50/50 split will remain, as well as the international jury. However, Maja is also looking at the possibility of introducing online voting to modernise the competition format.
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Croatia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent country since 1993, and their only absences were in 2014 and 2015. Croatia are currently enjoying a newfound success in the contest following a run of poor results in the 2010s. Earlier this year it was the turn of Baby Lasagna to represent the Balkan nation with the entry, ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’. During the Malmö contest, Baby Lasagna achieved Croatia’s best result in the contest with second place, scoring 547 points.
Who do you want to win Dora 2025? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra.bsky.social on Bluesky, @escxtra on Instagram, @escxtra on TikTok and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts. As well as YouTube to see interviews and reactions to the latest Eurovision news.
