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]
Prior to the 2017 contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-three times since their debut in Millstreet1993.[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 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. 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.
Croatia
Macedonia
Belarus
Switzerland
Austria
Estonia
Armenia
Portugal
Azerbaijan
Iceland
Albania
Belgium
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Israel
Bulgaria
Greece
Finland
Ireland
Cyprus
Ukraine
Spain
Slovenia
Norway
United Kingdom
Serbia
Germany
France
Denmark
Australia
Moldova
Sweden
Hungary
Netherlands
Italy