Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 explained

Year:2020
Country:Croatia
Preselection:Croatian: Dora 2020
Preselection Date:29 February 2020
Entrant:Damir Kedžo
Song:Croatian: [[Divlji vjetre]]|italics=no
Final Result:Contest cancelled

Croatia originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Croatian: [[Divlji vjetre]]|italics=no" written by Ante Pecotić. The song was performed by Damir Kedžo. The Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) organised the national final Croatian: Dora 2020 to select the Croatian entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Fourteen entries competed in the national final on 29 February 2020 and "Croatian: Divlji vjetre|italics=no" performed by Damir Kedžo was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from five regional juries and a public televote.

Croatia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2020. However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

See main article: Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Prior to the 2020 contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-five times since its first entry in .[1] The nation's best result in the contest was fourth, which it achieved on two occasions: in 1996 with the song "Croatian: Sveta ljubav|italics=no" performed by Maja Blagdan and in 1999 with the song "Croatian: Marija Magdalena|italics=no" performed by Doris Dragović. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Croatia had thus far featured in seven finals. Since 2018, the Croatian entries failed to qualify from the semi-finals; the last time Croatia competed in the final was in 2017 with the song "My Friend" performed by Jacques Houdek. In 2019, Croatia failed to qualify to the final with Roko and the song "The Dream".[2]

The Croatian national broadcaster, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), broadcasts the event within Croatia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. HRT confirmed Croatia's participation in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest on 10 September 2019.[3] Between 1993 and 2011, HRT organised the national final Croatian: Dora in order to select the Croatian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2012 and 2013, the broadcaster opted to internally select the entry. After missing the contest in 2014 and 2015, the Croatian broadcaster continued the internal selection procedure between 2016 and 2018. In 2019, HRT has used Croatian: Dora to select Croatia's entry, a method that was continued for their 2020 participation.[4]

Before Eurovision

Dora 2020

Croatian: Dora 2020 was the twenty-first edition of the Croatian national selection Croatian: Dora which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The competition consisted of sixteen entries competing in one final on 29 February 2020 at the Marino Cvetković Sports Hall in Opatija, hosted by Duško Ćurlić, Mirko Fodor, Zlata Mück Sušec and Doris Pinčić Rogoznica. The show was broadcast on HRT 1 as well as online via the broadcaster's streaming service HRTi.[5] [6]

Competing entries

On 5 November 2019, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 15 December 2019. Songs submitted were required to be in English, French, Italian or Croatian.[7] 181 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period.[8] A seven-member expert committee consisting of Zlatko Turkalj Turki (HRT), Dinko Komadina (HRT), Željko Barba (HDS), Tomislav Mrduljaš (HDS), Ivana Vrdoljak Vanna (HGU), Branimir Jovanovac (HGU) and Tomislav Štengl (HRT) reviewed the received submissions and selected sixteen artists and songs for the competition. HRT announced the competing entries on 23 December 2019 and among the artists was Goran Karan who represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000.[9] On 24 December 2019, Goran Karan withdrew his song "My Legacy Is Love", written by Nikša Bratoš, after it was revealed to have already been publicly performed and replaced with "Croatian: Jušto|italics=no" performed by Elis Lovrić.[10] The running order of the final was determined by HRT and announced on 17 February 2020.[11]

ArtistSongSongwriter(s)
Aklea Neon"Croatian: Zovi ju mama|italics=no"Dorotea Zovko, Pavle Kladarin
Alen Vitasović and Božidarka Matija Čerina"Croatian: Da se ne zatare|italics=no"Robert Pilepić
"Croatian: Više od riječi|italics=no"Antonija Šola
Colonia"Croatian: Zidina|italics=no"Boris Đurđević, Valerija Đurđević
Damir Kedžo"Croatian: [[Divlji vjetre]]|italics=no"Ante Pecotić
Đana"One"Rando Stipišić
Edi Abazi"Coming Home"Srđan Sekulović Skansi
Elis Lovrić"Croatian: Jušto|italics=no"Elis Lovrić
Indira Levak"You Will Never Break My Heart"Branimir Mihaljević, Ambrogio Crotti, Doron Medalie
Jure Brkljača"Croatian: Hajde nazovi me!|italics=no"Miroslav Rus
Lorena Bućan"Drowning"Ivan Huljić
Lorenzo, Dino Purić and Croatian: Reper iz sobe|italics=no"Croatian: Vrati se iz Irske|italics=no"Ivan Grgić, Marko Kantolić
Marin Jurić Čivro"Croatian: Naivno|italics=no"Boris Kolarić, Maja Kolarić, Marko Matijević Sekul
Mia Negovetić"When It Comes to You"Linnea Deb, Anderz Wrethov, Denniz Jamm, Mia Negovetić
Nikola Marjanović"Let's Forgive"Adi Karaselimović
Zdenka Kovačiček"Love, Love, Love"Branimir Mihaljević, Mario Mihaljević

Final

The final took place on 29 February 2020.[12] The winner, "Croatian: [[Divlji vjetre]]|italics=no" performed by Damir Kedžo, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from five regional juries and a public televote. Mia Negovetić and Damir Kedžo were tied at 31 points each but since Damir Kedžo received the most votes from the public he was declared the winner.[13] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show was opened with 2019 Croatian Eurovision entrant Roko performing his song "Krila", while Albina Grčić, Bernarda Bobovečki, Filip Rudan and Roko performed as the interval acts.[14]

Final – 29 February 2020
DrawArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
PhoneSMSTotalPoints
1Elis Lovrić"Croatian: Jušto|italics=no"1134230464611212
2Bojan Jambrošić"Croatian: Više od riječi|italics=no"59272791,20671210
3Edi Abazi"Coming Home"38295241,35381113
4Zdenka Kovačiček"Love, Love, Love"61,5585992,15712186
5Alen Vitasović and Božidarka Matija Čerina"Croatian: Da se ne zatare|italics=no"21,5148152,32913159
6Đana"One" 81,0844031,4879177
7Aklea Neon"Croatian: Zovi ju mama|italics=no"139977681,76510234
8Nikola Marjanović"Let's Forgive"1045336782021211
9Lorenzo, Dino Purić and Reper iz sobe"Croatian: Vrati se iz Irske|italics=no"16083399473416
10Marin Jurić Čivro"Croatian: Naivno|italics=no"46774091,08661015
11Lorena Bućan"Drowning"91,1716821,85311205
12Indira Levak"You Will Never Break My Heart"143,4142,1275,54114283
13Jure Brkljača"Croatian: Hajde nazovi me!|italics=no"76983131,01141114
14Colonia"Croatian: Zidina|italics=no"127323091,0415178
15Mia Negovetić"When It Comes to You"167,9543,64111,59515312
16Damir Kedžo"Croatian: [[Divlji vjetre]]|italics=no"157,9853,87011,85516311
DrawSongVaraždin
and Čakovec
ZagrebRijekaSplitOsijekTotalPoints
1"Croatian: Jušto|italics=no"5 7 7 11 144411
2"Croatian: Više od riječi|italics=no"13 3 1 6 4275
3"Coming Home"12 4 4 5 1263
4"Love, Love, Love"10 6 11 3 9396
5"Croatian: Da se ne zatare|italics=no"4 2 9 4 2212
6"One"1188123428
7"Croatian: Zovi ju mama|italics=no"14 14 10 2 125213
8"Let's Forgive"8 9 14 7 64410
9"Croatian: Vrati se iz Irske|italics=no"3 5 3 1 8201
10"Croatian: Naivno|italics=no"1 1 6 9 10274
11"Drowning"7 10 5 8 13439
12"You Will Never Break My Heart"9 15 13 16 116414
13"Croatian: Hajde nazovi me!|italics=no"6 11 2 14 7407
14"Croatian: Zidina|italics=no"2 12 15 10 54412
15"When It Comes to You"15 16 16 15 167816
16"Croatian: Divlji vjetre|italics=no"16 13 12 13 156915
[15] ! Jury! Members
Varaždin and Čakovec
Zagreb
  • Robert Urlić – HRT
  • Denis Dumančić – HDS
  • Lara Antić – HGU
Rijeka
  • Albert Petrović – HRT
  • Ivan Pešut – HDS
  • – HGU
Split
Osijek

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final.[16] [17] The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2020, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Croatia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[18] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled.[19]

Prior to the Eurovision Song Celebration YouTube broadcast in place of the semi-finals, it was revealed that Croatia was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from Malta and before the entry from Azerbaijan.[20]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Croatia Country Profile . 27 October 2020 . EBU.
  2. Web site: Ćosić . Morana . 16 May 2019 . Roko odletio s natjecanja: Nije se plasirao u finale Eurosonga . 31 October 2019 . 24sata . hr.
  3. Web site: Jiandani . Sanjay (Sergio) . 2019-09-10 . Croatia: HRT confirms participation in Eurovision 2020 . 2022-12-01 . Esctoday.
  4. Web site: Herbert . Emily . 31 October 2019 . Croatia: Dora 2020 to Select Next Eurovision Entry . 31 October 2019 . Eurovoix.
  5. Web site: Janić, Luna . 4 February 2020 . Evo tko su voditelji "Dore 2020" . 4 February 2020 . eurosong.hr . hr.
  6. Web site: Janić . Luna . 31 October 2019 . Idući tjedan natječaj za Doru 2020. . 31 October 2019 . eurosong.hr . hr.
  7. Web site: Herbert . Emily . 31 October 2019 . Croatia: Dora 2020 to Select Next Eurovision Entry . 31 October 2019 . Eurovoix.
  8. Web site: Sigona . Joey . Croatia: More information released about Dora 2020 . 2022-12-01 . ESCplus . en-GB.
  9. Web site: 23 December 2019 . Rezultati HRT-ova natječaja za izbor hrvatske pjesme za pjesmu Eurovizije 2020. . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20191227160915/https://hrtprikazuje.hrt.hr/568675/rezultati-hrt-ova-natjecaja-za-izbor-hrvatske-pjesme-za-pjesmu-eurovizije-2020 . 27 December 2019 . 23 December 2019 . hrtprikazuje.hrt.hr . hr.
  10. Web site: Rumora . Karla . 24 December 2019 . Goran Karan odustao od Dore, zamije-nit će ga rezerva Elis . 1 January 2020 . 2sata . hr.
  11. Web site: 17 February 2020 . HRT: Redoslijed izvođenja pjesama . 17 February 2020 . HRT . hr . 17 February 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200217195656/https://www.hrt.hr/583346/dora/redoslijed-izvoenja-pjesama-na-dori-2020 . dead .
  12. Web site: Janić, Luna . 22 January 2020 . Poznata voditeljica "Dore 2020." . 24 January 2020 . eurosong.hr . hr.
  13. Web site: Granger, Anthony . 31 January 2020 . Croatia: HRT Reveals Voting Rules for Dora 2020 . 4 February 2020 . Eurovoix.
  14. Web site: 2020. - Opatija . 2022-12-01 . eurosong.hr . hr.
  15. Web site: 4 March 2020. HRT OBJAVIO PODATKE O TIJEKU GLASO-VANJA I BROJU POZIVA GLEDATELJA NA DORI Pogledajte za koliko je glasova Kedžo pobijedio Miju Negove-tić. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200629062008/https://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/glazba/hrt-objavio-podatke-o-tijeku-glasovanja-i-broju-poziva-gledatelja-na-dori-pogledajte-za-koliko-je-glasova-kedzo-pobijedio-miju-negovetic-10049341 . 2020-06-29 . 9 February 2021. jutarnji.hr. Croatian.
  16. Web site: Eurovision Song Contest–Rotterdam 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200408073039/https://eurovision.tv/event/rotterdam-2020 . 8 April 2020 . 20 January 2021 . European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
  17. Web site: Rules–Eurovision Song Contest . https://web.archive.org/web/20200408073043/https://eurovision.tv/about/rules/ . 8 April 2020 . 20 January 2021 . European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
  18. Web site: Groot . Evert . 28 January 2020 . Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final? . https://web.archive.org/web/20200421145930/https://eurovision.tv/story/host-city-insignia-exchange-semi-final-allocation-draw-2020 . 21 April 2020 . 20 January 2021 . European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
  19. Web site: 18 March 2020 . Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled . https://web.archive.org/web/20200421203057/https://eurovision.tv/story/eurovision-2020-in-rotterdam-is-cancelled . 21 April 2020 . 20 January 2021 . European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
  20. Web site: Eurovision Song Contest . 14 May 2020 . Part two of Eurovision Song Celebration . 3 June 2020.