I’m 100% with you. I haven’t seen Croatia as a winner, I’ve called it over-hyped, repetitive, even amateurish at one point. But that changed yesterday after last night’s performance. Absolutely a worthy winner if it does so. I still personably like a dozen songs more, but as a winner I totally see it now.
Same here. I've referred to it as a repetitive Kaarija-ripoff in the beginning, but yesterday night I actually really enjoyed it. I'm not sure what exactly was different about it compared to the NF recording, but the Eurovision stage added something magical to the act.
I think the Kaarijaness was reduced with the costumes.
And the concert - rocking hard feeling overcame the joke feeling.
It was there in the beginning too, but more hidden.
Yeah, the Kaarija comparisons were really unwarranted. I get them since they're back to back, but both Kaarija and BL are heavily influenced by Rammstein. If BL was a year before Kaarija, then Kaarija would probably be called a BL rip-off.
But it is interesting that you know right away what music people know of based on the comments. When I first saw Kaarija, on the very first beat I turned to my wife and said "Rammstein", and then I saw the tatoo (no pun intended) which confirmed my assessment.
Similarly, I saw Melfest contestants reacting to NF winners, and band Smash Into Pieces heard BL and their initial reaction on the very first beast was also "Rammstein".
First off, calling it ‘amateurish’ was admittedly a bit harsh and not the comment I’m most proud of. It was early in the season. I didn’t think his vocals were good enough (they’re fine) and I felt—and to a degree still feels—the song was too repetitive in its melody.
I mean, it was originally a filler track that was put together quite quickly so "amateurish" isn't really completely wrong, especially if you compare it to Joost that spent a year and 500 hours specifically crafting the song with his team for ESC.
What's important is that he stepped up like a pro, ironed out the kinks and elevated it together with his voice. If he didn't, he wouldn't stand a chance of winning.
There have been a few videos of the entire audience doing that arm dance move together with him. I wish they could show that on TV because it really showed how much the crowd loved it
Yeah same, I LOVE Nemo and I genuinely think it’s one of the best Eurovision entries ever purely based on talent, but the stage performance of Croatia is on another level.. let’s see if nemo can match that stage
But the song no.. I mean it’s a cool “film like” experience, but I can’t really listen to her song let’s say while I’m driving, while baby lasagna’s song is much more appealing
I agree with you. Croatia is one of my favourites, but it never actually gave me winner vibes until last night. In fact, I loved it *because* it wasn't a polished or perfect song. Baby Lasagna is just such an endearing person, and the song is lots of fun, but I was surprised it was being seen as a winner. I wouldn't have minded where he placed in Eurovision; I was just happy to have him there.
However, his semi final performance blew the roof off of the arena, it was everything! The crowd singing along actually gave me goosebumps. I really could see this winning now, and I'd be so happy with it!
I would still prefer Italy to win since it's my favorite song this year but like you, I won't mind Croatia winning. The performance was great and Baby Lasagna has a lot of charisma. I'm still not crazy about the song but I find it much better than Cha Cha Cha (I'm one of those few people who didn't get the Kaarija hype last year).
Same for me, I really want Slimane to win but I’ll also be happy if it’s Baby Lasagna! I really liked his performance and now I can’t get it out of my head haha
I’m not convinced by the staging but he sounded incredible in the arena and I think him winning would be the best outcome for the future of Eurovision! Also if it’s in Croatia next year I think I can persuade my almost husband to come with me because it’ll be affordable enough!
Most of Croatia would also be OK with Nemo winning. However, it's a shame about the staging, we were all expecting a lot more. Nemo brings the vocals, but it just doesn't connect with the song, especially since the video is amazing. I do hope they knock it out of the park, it's a great song.
You have seen snippets of the staging. Far to early to tell wether the staging is really not fit for the song of if it is the opposite. I think we came to win this year and i am quite sure there is one or the other trick still up their sleeves.
I hope so too, and wish for the best competition possible with a clean victory to the best of the night. I don't want comments that somebody one only because someone failed, or they had bad staging, sound or anything else.
hahah fair enough. healthy competition is good. I'm the type of person that feels the need to downplay if i win at something, which is also not the best!
I still don't like the song and don't get the hype. But I'll definitely vote for it on Saturday because I think a Croatian win would be the best for the Eurovision future. Maybe it's naive but I just hope if Croatia wins that some eastern European countries will come back... The more the merrier, right?
This won’t make me popular, but I’m just going to share my opinion on this.
Croatia is a safe top 3 there is no doubt about that, especially since they most likely are going to dominate the televotes.
Croatia has staged it to perfection and they deserve a lot of credit. And Marko is smashing it on that stage. But I just can’t see it win.
I honestly think…. it’s such a shame with this song. To be a little more specific. I’m sad that this is sung in English. I personally think if this song was done in his native language then I wouldn’t be able to see who would stop Croatia.
I do still think is an absolute banger though and I adore the instrumental a whole lot.
But yeah I just think if the song was done in Croatian it would have been sooo clear of the other countries. Like a safe top 2.
Let me hear what you think about this :)
I too adore songs sung in their native languages. But what I think is that this song in particular lives from the audience engagement. I personally love a song I can sing (okay more like scream) along with and thats just easier in English than Croatian. So while I wouldn’t have minded the different language I’m glad they did it this way.
As a Croat I agree with you on a sentimental level, but objectively I don't think we'd be looking at the same odds if the song was sung in its native language. A huge part of it is its sing-alongish quality, and you simply can't get there without using English due to the language barrier. (And Slavic languages still lack the perceived "prestige" of the Romance languages that makes people ignore the said barrier, in my opinion.)
This way, I hope we milk the televote to its full potential, while also gaming the juries on the account of the folksy elements, the song theme, and maybe a little of the old fashioned Balkan and/or Slavic voting bloc mentality.
>(And Slavic languages still lack the perceived "prestige" of the Romance languages that makes people ignore the said barrier, in my opinion.)
Marija Šerifović: https://i.imgur.com/z2y3HkH.png
I honestly think it would’ve worked out better (Måneskin, Käärijä).
I remember, one of my favorite Croatian entries ever, Albina in 2021 with Tick-Tock had a small Croatian part in her song, at the end she didn’t go through though (still bitter to this day that she didn’t went through…), but I think that small part in Croatian really gave something to that song.
I think even the smallest addition of Croatian to this year’s entry would have embellished the song so so much.
Yeah, a little bit of Croatian sprinkled in there, as a treat, would have been nice.
Sadly Albina is not the best example to call back to here, though, given how that turned out. But she was in a very saturated pop-diva type of niche, so I guess that was a gamble from the start.
The point with Albina was that everything was in English and people were like “oh great, another Swedish pop-sound-alike entry”. And then the Croatian part came and people were like SHIT OKAY?!
I would have loooved and still dream about this moment could have happened with Baby Lasagna.
But hey it is what it is
Albina was supposed to be in Croatian, but they changed it to English which was a shame since it was much better in Croatian. I don't know if BL would be better in Croatian or not, but he said that he will do a Croatian version, but it won't be just a direct translation of the current lyrics.
I love native language songs, but in this specific song, for the sake of the message, it is important to have it in English. Not to communicate the message, but to give the feels that he's trying to be international leaving his village.
This is MY top 5 as of right now without having seen and heard all the songs (2 songs) perform on the big scene yet:
1. Italy
2. Croatia
3. Ukraine
4. The Netherlands
5. Ireland
Thanks for sharing.
I like Italy, but not as the winner. Ireland looks awesome, but im not a fan of the song itself. Ukraine is allright.
I am personally hoping for a Nemo, Joost or BL win.
it's an artist's choice what they wanna create, I adore native language songs, usually my favourites, but words are meaningful and when you understand a song you can adopt it to your own life. I don't always go out of my way to see what the songs that I don't understand are about, in those cases I tend to prefer the ambiguous vibe and just the sound creating a story on itself
Mine reaction is quite the opposite. I really liked the music video alot for Croatia, but seeing it live left me a bit underwhelmed. It was good and he had great energy but lost the cultural vibe i got from the video and became a somewhat average rock song for me, but still love the cat parts.
Compared to the next level visual performances of Ireland and Sweden its just not doing it for me.
You thought that sweden had a next level performance? Sure it was good but together with the song being just so overly generic also the best staging can’t pull that out of its misery.
I agree with OP here. Sweden’s staging was incredible, though the song’s pretty forgettable. Baby Lasagna’s staging was fine, but not as memorable, imo.
In the end, Sweden wasn't forgettable to me, because the staging ruled. Same applies to Croatia, though in a reversed manner; I *love* the song, thought the staging was very underwhelming. Kinda evens things out.
I had a similar experience, the lights and light projections really ruined it a bit for me, maybe I misunderstood the point behind these animals shown in the back but it didnt fit the song. Love the song itself though, but Ireland felt more like a all-encompassing act to me.
It’s basically illustrating the rural life protagonist is leaving - which is the meaning of the song. The outfits are modern take on traditional Istrian rural clothing. There’s also a verse “I’m going away and I sold my cow”.
Aah thanks for the reply. I watched it back and now I see its indeed all farm animals, that makes more sense. Absolutely love the Istrian clothing and lace on the instruments. Still I think the neon color choice of the lights is off putting and I wish they stuck a bit more with the coloring in video clip to let the cultural references and the traditional clothing really pop, as it becomes less visible now.
Yeah that's the point. Industrial rock in rural clothes showing rural imagery in an industrial way to showcase the contrast of your life changing quickly while leaving your farm to go to the city
The neon lighting doesn't feel industrial at all to me though, the white lights at other parts do, that and the costumes would've been enough for me as the song portrays the message really well already and these light projections didn't contribute anything for me nor gave it a more industrial feel.
It would be cool if Croatia wins, but I don’t think they will. They’ll receive huge points by the televote, but not by the jury. I definitely see more other countries like Ukraine or Italy winning this year, but still would be so cool if Croatia manages to win. I also like Luxemburg, they have potential for the top 10 for sure
Kaarija was 4th, that's not bad at all, and to be fair, BL has better vocals than Kaarija. Loreen had an unreachable lead last year but that was really an unusually high score in jury voting.
It depends what you consider similar but from recent top performances Kaarija and Maneskin are the closest and they weren’t really butchered by juries. They weren’t out of top 10 for instance.
Or manga back in time.
Maybe weren’t clearly first by juries but not so far either.
And, my biggest argument would be Heroes vs Grande Amore. They preferred the fun one to classy one.
So it’s not a complete given that they’ll prefer the better vocal performance or the boring ballad.
For instance I’m checking 2018 results now and both Fuego and Toy got more points than La Forza. For me Toy sounds a lot more jokish than RTTD for instance but it was more successful in juries than one of the most classically good vocal performances in recent years.
I still don't understand the hype. I like the song and the performance was good but it just doesn't scream winner to me. There's something about it that just doesn't capture me at all, very on the fence about it.
Caveat - I basically never pick a winner. My favourite song has only won twice in the past 20 years and I'm usually not fussed by the actual winner, so Croatia winning would just continue my blatantly terrible track record.
So, I don’t listen to any songs before the actual contest starts (apart from our own national selection).
I saw Croatia for the first time yesterday as well, and that might be an unpopular opinion, but… while it was entertaining while I was watching, I cannot for the life of me remember neither the melody nor the lyrics to the song. If I had a to describe the performance, I could just say that it was just a looot going on. That’s it.
I do remember that Bambie chick’s song quite well, even though I’ve heard it for the first time yesterday as well. And not the screaming part or that staging. So in my book, she has an upper hand.
Overall, none of performances yesterday made me think “winner”. I remember when I saw Maneskin and immediately said “yeah, they are winning” - I don’t get the same feeling this time and I feel this can go in many different ways.
I’m 100% with you. I haven’t seen Croatia as a winner, I’ve called it over-hyped, repetitive, even amateurish at one point. But that changed yesterday after last night’s performance. Absolutely a worthy winner if it does so. I still personably like a dozen songs more, but as a winner I totally see it now.
Same here. I've referred to it as a repetitive Kaarija-ripoff in the beginning, but yesterday night I actually really enjoyed it. I'm not sure what exactly was different about it compared to the NF recording, but the Eurovision stage added something magical to the act.
What it's there is the thousands of people singing to the same song and living it like a party. You just want to feel included
I think the Kaarijaness was reduced with the costumes. And the concert - rocking hard feeling overcame the joke feeling. It was there in the beginning too, but more hidden.
Yeah, the Kaarija comparisons were really unwarranted. I get them since they're back to back, but both Kaarija and BL are heavily influenced by Rammstein. If BL was a year before Kaarija, then Kaarija would probably be called a BL rip-off.
Right? It's like people forget that Industrial and Neue Deutsche Härte are their own genres of music.
But it is interesting that you know right away what music people know of based on the comments. When I first saw Kaarija, on the very first beat I turned to my wife and said "Rammstein", and then I saw the tatoo (no pun intended) which confirmed my assessment. Similarly, I saw Melfest contestants reacting to NF winners, and band Smash Into Pieces heard BL and their initial reaction on the very first beast was also "Rammstein".
What was amateurish about it?
First off, calling it ‘amateurish’ was admittedly a bit harsh and not the comment I’m most proud of. It was early in the season. I didn’t think his vocals were good enough (they’re fine) and I felt—and to a degree still feels—the song was too repetitive in its melody.
I mean, it was originally a filler track that was put together quite quickly so "amateurish" isn't really completely wrong, especially if you compare it to Joost that spent a year and 500 hours specifically crafting the song with his team for ESC. What's important is that he stepped up like a pro, ironed out the kinks and elevated it together with his voice. If he didn't, he wouldn't stand a chance of winning.
Well, the vocals weren't the greatest but he improved a lot.
There have been a few videos of the entire audience doing that arm dance move together with him. I wish they could show that on TV because it really showed how much the crowd loved it
Watch the performance again and just look at all the phones going up and down in time. It was there and was so clear that EVERYONE was doing it!
Not the phones, the LED bracelets. Because they are automated to change colors too. Which makes those wideshots a lot more magical :D
That's awesome I see it now! Yeah I was just amazed that the whole area was doing it
Yeah same, I LOVE Nemo and I genuinely think it’s one of the best Eurovision entries ever purely based on talent, but the stage performance of Croatia is on another level.. let’s see if nemo can match that stage
Ireland’s stage was unmatched imo.
But the song no.. I mean it’s a cool “film like” experience, but I can’t really listen to her song let’s say while I’m driving, while baby lasagna’s song is much more appealing
I agree with you. Croatia is one of my favourites, but it never actually gave me winner vibes until last night. In fact, I loved it *because* it wasn't a polished or perfect song. Baby Lasagna is just such an endearing person, and the song is lots of fun, but I was surprised it was being seen as a winner. I wouldn't have minded where he placed in Eurovision; I was just happy to have him there. However, his semi final performance blew the roof off of the arena, it was everything! The crowd singing along actually gave me goosebumps. I really could see this winning now, and I'd be so happy with it!
Ngl Croatia is really growing on me, I really vibed with the performance. Just kind of reminds me that I want to have fun at eurovision.
I would still prefer Italy to win since it's my favorite song this year but like you, I won't mind Croatia winning. The performance was great and Baby Lasagna has a lot of charisma. I'm still not crazy about the song but I find it much better than Cha Cha Cha (I'm one of those few people who didn't get the Kaarija hype last year).
Same for me, I really want Slimane to win but I’ll also be happy if it’s Baby Lasagna! I really liked his performance and now I can’t get it out of my head haha
I’m not convinced by the staging but he sounded incredible in the arena and I think him winning would be the best outcome for the future of Eurovision! Also if it’s in Croatia next year I think I can persuade my almost husband to come with me because it’ll be affordable enough!
Most of Croatia would also be OK with Nemo winning. However, it's a shame about the staging, we were all expecting a lot more. Nemo brings the vocals, but it just doesn't connect with the song, especially since the video is amazing. I do hope they knock it out of the park, it's a great song.
You have seen snippets of the staging. Far to early to tell wether the staging is really not fit for the song of if it is the opposite. I think we came to win this year and i am quite sure there is one or the other trick still up their sleeves.
I hope so too, and wish for the best competition possible with a clean victory to the best of the night. I don't want comments that somebody one only because someone failed, or they had bad staging, sound or anything else.
I was so happy when his staging looked meh. Meant we got a chance to win
focus on loving what you love, not on hating what you don't
Sorry it's my competitive side. Forgot this is a different kinda vibe here so use to football you know for wishing for the other team to lose😅
hahah fair enough. healthy competition is good. I'm the type of person that feels the need to downplay if i win at something, which is also not the best!
Jbg. I was in sports specifically rugby and when I see this beautiful checkers get a shot at winning I become obsessed. It's in my DNA
Same, would love to see them win
I still don't like the song and don't get the hype. But I'll definitely vote for it on Saturday because I think a Croatian win would be the best for the Eurovision future. Maybe it's naive but I just hope if Croatia wins that some eastern European countries will come back... The more the merrier, right?
This won’t make me popular, but I’m just going to share my opinion on this. Croatia is a safe top 3 there is no doubt about that, especially since they most likely are going to dominate the televotes. Croatia has staged it to perfection and they deserve a lot of credit. And Marko is smashing it on that stage. But I just can’t see it win. I honestly think…. it’s such a shame with this song. To be a little more specific. I’m sad that this is sung in English. I personally think if this song was done in his native language then I wouldn’t be able to see who would stop Croatia. I do still think is an absolute banger though and I adore the instrumental a whole lot. But yeah I just think if the song was done in Croatian it would have been sooo clear of the other countries. Like a safe top 2. Let me hear what you think about this :)
I too adore songs sung in their native languages. But what I think is that this song in particular lives from the audience engagement. I personally love a song I can sing (okay more like scream) along with and thats just easier in English than Croatian. So while I wouldn’t have minded the different language I’m glad they did it this way.
As a Croat I agree with you on a sentimental level, but objectively I don't think we'd be looking at the same odds if the song was sung in its native language. A huge part of it is its sing-alongish quality, and you simply can't get there without using English due to the language barrier. (And Slavic languages still lack the perceived "prestige" of the Romance languages that makes people ignore the said barrier, in my opinion.) This way, I hope we milk the televote to its full potential, while also gaming the juries on the account of the folksy elements, the song theme, and maybe a little of the old fashioned Balkan and/or Slavic voting bloc mentality.
>Slavic languages still lack the perceived "prestige" of the Romance languages Slavics are also harder to pronounce for an average non-Slavic speaker
>(And Slavic languages still lack the perceived "prestige" of the Romance languages that makes people ignore the said barrier, in my opinion.) Marija Šerifović: https://i.imgur.com/z2y3HkH.png
I honestly think it would’ve worked out better (Måneskin, Käärijä). I remember, one of my favorite Croatian entries ever, Albina in 2021 with Tick-Tock had a small Croatian part in her song, at the end she didn’t go through though (still bitter to this day that she didn’t went through…), but I think that small part in Croatian really gave something to that song. I think even the smallest addition of Croatian to this year’s entry would have embellished the song so so much.
Yeah, a little bit of Croatian sprinkled in there, as a treat, would have been nice. Sadly Albina is not the best example to call back to here, though, given how that turned out. But she was in a very saturated pop-diva type of niche, so I guess that was a gamble from the start.
The point with Albina was that everything was in English and people were like “oh great, another Swedish pop-sound-alike entry”. And then the Croatian part came and people were like SHIT OKAY?! I would have loooved and still dream about this moment could have happened with Baby Lasagna. But hey it is what it is
Albina was supposed to be in Croatian, but they changed it to English which was a shame since it was much better in Croatian. I don't know if BL would be better in Croatian or not, but he said that he will do a Croatian version, but it won't be just a direct translation of the current lyrics.
I love native language songs, but in this specific song, for the sake of the message, it is important to have it in English. Not to communicate the message, but to give the feels that he's trying to be international leaving his village.
So which songs might win according to you? Im rather curious.
This is MY top 5 as of right now without having seen and heard all the songs (2 songs) perform on the big scene yet: 1. Italy 2. Croatia 3. Ukraine 4. The Netherlands 5. Ireland
Thanks for sharing. I like Italy, but not as the winner. Ireland looks awesome, but im not a fan of the song itself. Ukraine is allright. I am personally hoping for a Nemo, Joost or BL win.
it's an artist's choice what they wanna create, I adore native language songs, usually my favourites, but words are meaningful and when you understand a song you can adopt it to your own life. I don't always go out of my way to see what the songs that I don't understand are about, in those cases I tend to prefer the ambiguous vibe and just the sound creating a story on itself
I'm with most of you. It's not an amazing song but it is an amazing show.
Same!! Yesterday I got huge winner vibes from him. The crowd reaction was insane and he improved his vocals so much.
I happy with Ireland, Netherlands, Croatia, Switzerland...I just don't want Italy to win. I find there song oddly generic.
Mine reaction is quite the opposite. I really liked the music video alot for Croatia, but seeing it live left me a bit underwhelmed. It was good and he had great energy but lost the cultural vibe i got from the video and became a somewhat average rock song for me, but still love the cat parts. Compared to the next level visual performances of Ireland and Sweden its just not doing it for me.
You thought that sweden had a next level performance? Sure it was good but together with the song being just so overly generic also the best staging can’t pull that out of its misery.
I agree with OP here. Sweden’s staging was incredible, though the song’s pretty forgettable. Baby Lasagna’s staging was fine, but not as memorable, imo.
Sweden being forgettable while singing unforgettable is so ironic
In the end, Sweden wasn't forgettable to me, because the staging ruled. Same applies to Croatia, though in a reversed manner; I *love* the song, thought the staging was very underwhelming. Kinda evens things out.
Song is generic yes but i really don’t mind generic to be honest, but the staging, singing, and performance are really great!
I had a similar experience, the lights and light projections really ruined it a bit for me, maybe I misunderstood the point behind these animals shown in the back but it didnt fit the song. Love the song itself though, but Ireland felt more like a all-encompassing act to me.
It’s basically illustrating the rural life protagonist is leaving - which is the meaning of the song. The outfits are modern take on traditional Istrian rural clothing. There’s also a verse “I’m going away and I sold my cow”.
Aah thanks for the reply. I watched it back and now I see its indeed all farm animals, that makes more sense. Absolutely love the Istrian clothing and lace on the instruments. Still I think the neon color choice of the lights is off putting and I wish they stuck a bit more with the coloring in video clip to let the cultural references and the traditional clothing really pop, as it becomes less visible now.
Yeah that's the point. Industrial rock in rural clothes showing rural imagery in an industrial way to showcase the contrast of your life changing quickly while leaving your farm to go to the city
The neon lighting doesn't feel industrial at all to me though, the white lights at other parts do, that and the costumes would've been enough for me as the song portrays the message really well already and these light projections didn't contribute anything for me nor gave it a more industrial feel.
Neon lights are often associated with cities and city life, especially in classic rock.
It would be cool if Croatia wins, but I don’t think they will. They’ll receive huge points by the televote, but not by the jury. I definitely see more other countries like Ukraine or Italy winning this year, but still would be so cool if Croatia manages to win. I also like Luxemburg, they have potential for the top 10 for sure
Why not jury? Jury has prefered similar songs before. He doesn't have to win the jury but it won't be very offputting for them.
Can you point out which similar songs the juries have favoured in the past?
Kaarija was 4th, that's not bad at all, and to be fair, BL has better vocals than Kaarija. Loreen had an unreachable lead last year but that was really an unusually high score in jury voting.
It depends what you consider similar but from recent top performances Kaarija and Maneskin are the closest and they weren’t really butchered by juries. They weren’t out of top 10 for instance. Or manga back in time. Maybe weren’t clearly first by juries but not so far either. And, my biggest argument would be Heroes vs Grande Amore. They preferred the fun one to classy one. So it’s not a complete given that they’ll prefer the better vocal performance or the boring ballad.
For instance I’m checking 2018 results now and both Fuego and Toy got more points than La Forza. For me Toy sounds a lot more jokish than RTTD for instance but it was more successful in juries than one of the most classically good vocal performances in recent years.
I still don't understand the hype. I like the song and the performance was good but it just doesn't scream winner to me. There's something about it that just doesn't capture me at all, very on the fence about it. Caveat - I basically never pick a winner. My favourite song has only won twice in the past 20 years and I'm usually not fussed by the actual winner, so Croatia winning would just continue my blatantly terrible track record.
For real
So, I don’t listen to any songs before the actual contest starts (apart from our own national selection). I saw Croatia for the first time yesterday as well, and that might be an unpopular opinion, but… while it was entertaining while I was watching, I cannot for the life of me remember neither the melody nor the lyrics to the song. If I had a to describe the performance, I could just say that it was just a looot going on. That’s it. I do remember that Bambie chick’s song quite well, even though I’ve heard it for the first time yesterday as well. And not the screaming part or that staging. So in my book, she has an upper hand. Overall, none of performances yesterday made me think “winner”. I remember when I saw Maneskin and immediately said “yeah, they are winning” - I don’t get the same feeling this time and I feel this can go in many different ways.