Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Croatian national broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) used a national final in order to find the Croatian representative in Lisbon, after two consecutive years of internal selection.[1] This decision was later reversed, and thus "Crazy" sung by Franka Batelić was internally selected.[2][3]

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country Croatia
National selection
Selection processInternal Selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 13 February 2018
Song: 6 March 2018
Selected entrantFranka Batelić
Selected song"Crazy"
Selected songwriter(s)Branimir Mihaljević
Franka Batelić
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (17th, 63 points)
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Background
Main article: Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2017 contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-three times since their debut in Millstreet 1993.[4] The nation's highest placing in the contest was fourth, which they achieved two times: in 1996 with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by Maja Blagdan and in 1999 with "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris Dragović. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Croatia had featured in six finals. Croatia's least successful result in the final has been twenty-third place, which they achieved in 2016 with the song "Lighthouse" performed by Nina Kraljić, their first final performance after 7 years. And Croatia's least successful result in semi final has been sixteenth place, which they achieved in 2007 with the song "Vjerujem u ljubav", performed by Dragonfly and Dado Topić. In 2017, Croatia qualified to the final, placing 13th with the song "My Friend", performed by Jacques Houdek.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 13 February 2018, the Croatian national broadcaster HRT announced that it had internally selected Franka Batelić to represent Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.[3] The song that Batelić performed at the Eurovision Song Contest, "Crazy", was presented on 6 March 2018 during the news programme Dnevnik HRT broadcast on HRT 1. The song was written by Batelić and Branimir Mihaljević, and produced by Paul Norris in the United Kingdom.[5] Mihaljević was also the co-writer of "Lako je sve", the Croatian Eurovision Song Contest entry in 2010. In regards to her song, Batelić stated: "We came up with this song in an unexpected way. We recorded three songs in the studio as Eurovision suggestions, and this one suddenly came about. Branimir started playing it on the piano, I started singing the lyrics and the song came about. It simply worked as it was unusual and unexpected. The song is powerful, emotional, and modern. I hope the public will love it".[6]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (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. 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 29 January 2018, 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 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[7]

Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Croatia was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Macedonia and preceding the entry from Austria.[8]

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to Croatia
Points awarded to Croatia (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Croatia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Croatian jury: [9]

  • Mustafa Softić – Chairperson – music producer, arranger
  • Lara Antić Prskalo – singer
  • Zdenka Kovačiček – singer
  • Gina Damjanović – singer, songwriter
  • Miroslav Lesić – musician, producer
Split voting results from Croatia (Semi-final 1)
Draw Country Jury Televote
L. A. Prskalo Z. Kovačiček G. Damjanović M. Softić M. Lesić Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Azerbaijan1318169101765
02 Iceland167917121418
03 Albania10167467474
04 Belgium151787910116
05 Czech Republic31163210210
06 Lithuania452213814
07 Israel1331211211
08 Belarus1891512181815
09 Estonia5151214131256
10 Bulgaria6461875612
11 Macedonia14617161616101
12 Croatia
13 Austria1214513141147
14 Greece213101588383
15 Finland9111310111313
16 Armenia1181411151517
17  Switzerland81011546592
18 Ireland7248174738
19 Cyprus1712183592112
Split voting results from Croatia (final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Z. Kovačiček G. Damjanović M. Softić M. Lesić K. Hećimović Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Ukraine17162620182420
02 Spain111787241519
03 Slovenia821719191647
04 Lithuania4812311224
05 Austria761218261411
06 Estonia1613212571813
07 Norway22426116514
08 Portugal15152211101926
09 United Kingdom2118141319218
10 Serbia141423161721112
11 Germany20121924162283
12 Albania2476101310174
13 France1329545612
14 Czech Republic31010487465
15 Denmark23262514142392
16 Australia2241522201217
17 Finland10231115252025
18 Bulgaria112091547101
19 Moldova9114153822
20 Sweden1251312121323
21 Hungary26222423212616
22 Israel63332221056
23 Netherlands25201626232521
24 Ireland59172128315
25 Cyprus18255891138
26 Italy19191817617210

References
  1. "Nakon višegodišnje pauze Dora se opet vraća u 'Opatiju bajnu'". 24 sata (in Croatian). 25 November 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  2. "HRT definitivno odustao od organizacije Dore". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). 5 January 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  3. "Croatia is going to get "Crazy" in Lisbon". Eurovision.tv. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  4. "Croatia | Country profile | Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  5. "Eurovision 2018 - Franka Batelić (Croatia)". ESCKAZ. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  6. "VIDEO: Teaser of Croatia's Eurovision Song Released". croatiaweek. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  7. Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  8. "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  9. Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
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