Once again, Croatia decided on an internal selection to choose their Eurovision act for this year, and they landed on talented young artist Franka Batelić. After preparing a handful of potential Eurovision entries and none of them being the right song, Franka and her team went back to the drawing board and from there developed what would be her competing entry titled Crazy. We had to wait a little while to hear the entry, but was it worth the wait?
Although only 25, Franka has already achieved some incredible things during her music career, starting back in 2007 where she auditioned for the first series of Showtime, where last year’s Eurovision entrant Jacques Houdek was one of the judges, and she went on to win the competition. In 2009, she had attempted to represent Croatia at Eurovision, however wasn’t successful. After a break from the music scene, Franka returned last year with a new single, and then earlier this year was announced as the Croatian representative.
There’s no denying that Franka is a talented artist, but when it comes to their entry, there is something incredibly underwhelming about this song. When the teaser was released, I set the bar high for the three minute version, but this song has never quite captured me as much as I wanted it to.
The opening few seconds of the song set the scene for a very mysterious sounding song, but what seems to clash is her voice in relation to what style of song this is, and this is what ultimately hinders my connection to this song. The song is fine, and her voice is good, but I don’t think they actually go together very well. With such a simple backing track, there’s nowhere to hide, and in certain points of the song I can see the appeal, but in others I just don’t get this. There’s also something about Croatia and their affinity for spoken word in a song. It felt strange last year in Jacques entry, and it doesn’t feel any less strange in this entry.
The biggest positive for this song for me is the potential staging opportunities. The music video captures the essence of the song, and if this can be translated into a stage performance, this will look really good through a television screen. I think dancers will be necessary to get the most out of this performance, and lighting will prove to be important too.
All Aboard… the crazy train!
I’m not going crazy for this song, but I can see why it’s getting predominately positive feedback. There’s just something very underwhelming and under cooked about this entry, and I never feel that urge to listen to it like I do with many of the other entries this year.
Being in semi-final 1, this is probably going to be a borderline qualifier IF it qualifies. There are some massive songs in that semi, but also in the same half as Croatia, so I have a feeling that this might not get enough support on the night.
Our rating: 5/10
If you support Croatia at Eurovision, make sure to vote for Franka in our Eurovision 2018 poll! Watch her official video below, and check out our Eurovision 2018 playlist on Spotify.
