Through our Best of the Bunch series, we gave a recap on the Eurovision entries from 2006 to 2015 and gave you the opportunity to choose your Best of the Bunch. As you may remember, the current Best of the Bunch winners were put into our ‘Ultimate Eurovision’ but it’s time to see which of the latest three entries have remained as your favourites! In our Best of the Bunch: The Trials series, we are going to recap the entries from a certain nation starting with 2016 and continuing through to the latest Eurovision season of 2018. Your job is to simply enjoy the music, and vote for your Best of the Bunch winner!
Today we will be taking a closer look at the latest three entries from Croatia, a nation which first made their debut in 1993. In the early days of their participation, the nation was fairly successful with various Top 10 results, however in recent years luck hasn’t always been on their side. Once we have recapped their latest three entries, it will be up to you to decide on the Best of the Bunch!
Croatia 2016
After two years of non-participation, and previous to that, four years of non-qualification, Croatia really needed to revise their strategy for Eurovision to finally return to the final. Through an internal selection, it was revealed that Nina Kraljić would represent the nation with the song Lighthouse. It was a song unlike anything Croatia had sent before, and was by far the most contemporary song the nation had sent, but still have some ethnic flair. At Eurovision, Nina’s performance was extravagant, especially in regards to her outfit, but unfortunately the performance of the song didn’t quite reach expectations. Despite that, the song did managed to just make it to the final, but in the final finished in 23rd place. Still, it was the first qualification for Croatia since 2009!
Croatia 2017
Fast forward a year, and it was decided that Jacques Houdek would represent Croatia at Eurovision. After a lengthy career in the Croatian music industry, he was capable and ready for the opportunity to represent the nation, and it was later announced that he would perform the entry My Friend at the contest. It was an… interesting entry which featured spoken word and various ‘identities’ of Jacques. Despite that, it still achieved enough votes to send it into the final, and even enough votes to send it into 13th place in the final!
Croatia 2018
That brings us to the most recent Croatian entry, and once again the broadcaster decided on an internal selection which was unsurprising due to the previous two years of success. The broadcaster selected Franka, an artist who had previously tried to represent Croatia with no luck. After a few years break from the music scene, she returned in late 2017, which led to her selection for Eurovision. Her song was called Crazy, another confident entry. We expected it to reach the final after the numerous flawless rehearsals, however in the end she was overshadowed by a strong semi-final. Franka finished in 17th place in the semi-final with 63 points.
So now you’ve seen all three performances, it’s time to vote for your Best of the Bunch!
If you want more Best of the Bunch from Croatia check out our original series:
If you want to check out who made our Ultimate Eurovision, check it out here: