I completely agree and it's actually near the bottom of my ranking for that reason. Can't see it as anything other than a missed opportunity. I find the song itself a bit overrated, but you can't deny that there was HUGE staging potential and I think they just completely blew it.
Croatia, what a glow up from last year! This and Estonia this year are my favourite NFs because they have both diversity and quality. There's nothing i dislike in this selection. About the winner, i think i have warmed up with it after a week, i still don't like it musically, but everything else about it is great and i can't wait to see how will it do in May. My top 18: 18: Grijeh 17: I Will Wait 16: Bye Bye Blonde 15: Kme Kme 14: Distance 13: Putem Snova 12: I Still Live 11: Kreni Dalje 10: Angels and Demon 9: Master Blaster 8: Mama SC 7: Nevera 6: Dom 5: Love At First Sight 4: Free Fallin 3: Nesreca 2: Putovanje 1: Lost and Found
Definitely agree that this is a much better approach to take to their national finals. There's so much more bravery behind the entries and it's the sort of attitude that will, one year, result in you unearthing a potential Eurovision winner. More Putovanje appreciation! I can feel Edward squirming just at the thought of it. Really glad you got Yogi in the top five, too. Quality deserves recognised. Honestly, your top five is all really good.
Really sad for Đana to be honest, she was easily my winner of the whole selection :( Her vocal was really good live, I really like the song and I think it would have had quite a lot of potential for Eurovision. I guess I'm not that surprised that she ended up placing that low at Dora because she seems to be a newcomer and to be young, but, at the same time, she just didn't objectively deserve such a bad placing so that makes me sad :( I don't like the winner at all and I personally think it will flop on the Eurovision stage but at the same time, I'd wish the opposite for Croatia because of their NQ last few years (and especially last two years) that were very sad to be honest. I just can't bear with how jarring the song is and how most parts of it are just completely awful in terms of musicality as well, but the message behind the song is great. That's about all I can say about it on my part.
Đana can be very proud of her performance. I'd say if you consider the difficulty of what she had to do, in terms of song and stage act, she was up against it more than anyone and did nothing but impress. Hopefully, a stepping stone to a return in future! She was definitely well-liked by Eurovision fans, if nothing else. I think you were very fair about the winner and although I think it's going to be quite successful in May, I experience a lot of the same thoughts as you do about it as a song. Wish only the best for Croatia though and, hopefully, a good result will encourage an even greater interest in the contest going forward.
I laughed seeing the winner in your last place, but I wasn't surprised. I really cringed myself at first listen (you know if you've read my top 15 so far with comments), but I guess I was too aggressive. Croatia could be the dark horse of Eurovision 2023. Also am I the only one who likes 'Grijeh'?
It's strange that I can put a song last in my ranking and still think Croatia made a good choice. Kind of the same deal with Moldova last year. You can have a bad song that's still competitive. Rating-wise, I have Grijeh at a 4.5, which when translated into the rating system that Groot uses is a "I Like It But...". This is a fair description too and I do like it but am aware of its problems/limitations.
@@kaleproject3495 Actually 'Grijeh' is a kind of music which is popular in my country, so I have a soft spot for these stuff. Another example is 'Nje gotë' from Festivali i Kënges 61.
I was really interested in your Dora list. I saw your original ratings, and wondered who went up and down on your list. After so many selections we agreed on, we were going to disagree on a selection eventually, and this is the one. Starting with the fact that I don't like majority of the entries, especially not how they were staged or performed. Also, while I'm glad that these songs have found their fans somewhere, most of your favorites are really low on my list. But, as always, it was a pleasure watching the video, and seeing the other perspective. 🙂
That's perfectly fine! You're always going to feel differently when it's your actual country whose selection you're looking at. Got a dog in the race as it were! From what I've read from you elsewhere, it seems as if you're quite happy (or at least happy enough) with the winner and, in a lot of ways, I am too (so not a huge disagreement in that way). I would still like to know which of the songs I enjoyed were simply not doing it for or whether there were some ranked lowly by myself that you thought were worth something! Of course, it's also possible you just think they're all terrible. I'm open to hear anything you have to say about this selection. Ps. I hope you at least, somewhat, enjoy Nesreća. I think it's really close to being very good and with Boris Subotić writing it, I know there's the possibility you could like it. Let me know!
@@kaleproject3495 I honestly tried to enjoy some of them more during the course of this month, but sadly, most of them went down after the staging. What I DO LIKE about this selection is how ecclectic it is. More genres than usual, which is always a plus. I also liked the stage (not most of the individual stagings, but how the whole stage was designed). The winners have a marmite effect. I am carefully optimistic about their chances at ESC, and my rating reflects that. They are one of our most famous bands, and this staging is actually tame for their standards. This is a song I perfectly understand giving a 10 or a 0 to. It's THAT UNUSUAL, but it makes me hyped that we won't be forgotten. If we don't qualify, it's because we are deliberately passed on, not because we aren't striking enough. Nesreća is, of course, one of the rare entries with an actually decent score here, even if I didn't like the staging (her dress, lighting, colors, it all needs to go). I wish they went more vintage and bigger with it, but that's an honestly good songwriting at its core.
Ugh. UA-cam did not save my nice long comment I wrote in response. >.> Time for a second attempt! Probably shorter though. I really enjoyed how diverse the entries were and how brave some of the ideas are. I hate it when the smaller countries try to put on mini-Melfests without the means of production to actually make those cookie-cutter songs polished. You've got to stick to your strengths and I think this year's Dora is another positive step in terms of it actually having an IDENTITY as a national final and not just a collection to choose the least bad thing from. That odd feeling when your country becomes Moldova for a year. So few people are going to like your song, especially amongst the ESC fans, but once Eurovision kicks off, regular people are going to vote for this because you don't forget it. It does resonate and yeah, some people will hate it. But, some are going to actually vote for it. In short, it's about as far away from "Guilty Pleasure" as you're going to get. Should be fun to see. Nesreća does have good songwriting and I did comment on a very specific area of staging that I found lacking. You went a bit further but I don't disagree with the idea of a complete staging overhaul because, as you said, the songwriting is good, and I don't actually have any issues with Hana's performance itself. It's very much a song that should be high on my list.
@@kaleproject3495 if i may say something.. i don't think let 3 will do well. It's not bc it's a song you'll not forget, you'll go through. Not every 'weird' song is as good as moldova. Moldova had way more going for it m in many ways. There are more 'unforgetable' songs who stayed in rhe sf, georgia to name one but also past years
This'll be fun to see play out. I'm feeling pretty confident that it's going to qualify. Generally, "bad" Eurovision songs have failed when there are multiple bad songs in the selection. If Croatia are the only act sending *anything* like this, I think it's a guaranteed qualifier.
I actually would be more surprised if it didn't do well. I mean, Croatia haven't qual'd for the final since 2017 and, with 100% televote, it's almost guaranteed that that's happening this time. Which means, Let 3 is going to be their best result in over five years. XD
@@АлексейЗаботкин-т1х The most successful entries are those that some people hate but some people love, because they actually are motivated to vote. Croatia have sent good songs to the contest recently. Both 2022 and 2021 were good but not different enough to make people hate them or people love them. This year, people are going to hate or love their song. They're going to get votes. They're going to qualify. Btw: I'm a big fan of Croatia 2017. Talent is talent and Jacques is a heck of a performer!
Dora is a national final that for some reason I always look forward to. Like Vidbir, there is always ONE song that's in my top 5 from the entire season. Free Fallin (2023), Oprosti (2022) Rijeka (2021), Drowning (2020), all in my top 5 of each year. If they actually voted properly they would be one of my favorite ESC countries ;-; (which is contradictory since Mama SC is still my number one of the selected songs so far haha)
I don't know how successful Dora has been for me so far. 2021 was a great year with "She's Like A Dream" being in my top five NF songs of the season but, that's the only one that's been at *that* level, even though I did like both Rijeka and Tick Tock from the same year. I'm normally not throwing out many high ratings there! Let 3 are still your winners here, eh? XD
My top 18: 1. Nevera (Lei, Lei) 10/10 2. Free Fallin' 9.5/10 3. Bye Bye Blonde 9/10 4. I Will Wait 8.5/10 5. Distance 7.5/10 6. Nesreća 7/10 7. I Still Live 7/10 8. Master Blaster 6.5/10 9. Putem Snova 6/10 10. Angels And Demons 6/10 11. Love At First Sight 5.5/10 12. Grijeh 5.5/10 13. Lost And Found 5.5/10 14. Putovanje 5.5/10 15. Kreni Dalje 5.5/10 16. Dom 5.5/10 17. Mama ŠČ 5/10 18. Kme Kme 1.5/10 Average: 6,4
My top 18: 1. The Splitters: Lost and Found - 7/10 2. Meri Andraković: Bye Bye Blonde - 6.5/10 3. Hana Mašić: Nesreća - 6.5/10 4. Let 3: Mama ŠČ! - 6.5/10 5. Krešo i Kisele Kiše: Kme Kme - 6/10 6. Harmonija Disonance: Nevera (Lei, lei) - 6/10 7. Martha May: Distance - 5.5/10 8. Boris Štok: Grijeh - 5/10 9. Eni Jurišić: Kreni dalje - 5/10 10. Damir Kedžo: Angels and Demons - 4.5/10 11. Barbara Munjas: Putem snova - 4.5/10 12. Yogi: Love at First Sight - 4/10 13. Tajana Belina: Dom - 4/10 14. Đana: Free Fallin' - 4/10 15. Patricia Gasparini: I Will Wait - 4/10 16. Detour: Master Blaster - 3/10 17. Top of the Pop ft. Mario 5reković: Putovanje - 3/10 18. Maja Grgić: I Still Live - 2/10 NF Average: 4.83 Comments: 18. The pretentious staging made it a far more enjoyable experience than the song as static as this one otherwise would. I enjoy the instrumental breaks. It feels like one of those off-base entries from Pabandom iš naujo that are left in the QF. 17. Uff... sorry... no. The music tries to feel uplifting, but it all feels forced. The song is just not interesting. Mario makes Jenny B. look like Flo Rida. His spoken parts are awful, deliberately grammatically incorrect to achieve...humor? It doesn't fit and it's jarring. 16. I understand the comparison with Meelik, but there's one BIG difference here for me - Meelik are likable on stage. This felt pretentious, forced, and annoying. 15. No arguments here. I kinda enjoyed the studio version in a ''Melfest filler'' kind of way. Patricia's vocal is sadly so thin, and the nonexistent choreography or stage presence made it so boring. I feel sorry, because I've actually met the woman, and she's a sweetheart. Hoping for a better outing if she returns to Dora. 14. I find this one overrated by the whole fandom. What am I missing here? Feels like a Melfest reject much more than most of the actual Melfest rejects. I know that she wrote it, but there's nothing that stands out here. It's not even *that* catchy. The staging was also a mess, even if Đana can at least sing. 13. Tajana is possibly the best vocalist in this selection. Sadly, she has a flat song. The verses and the chorus have basically the same beat, and I forget about it very soon. Tajana, with a better song, could win Dora one day, easily. 12. I understand why he's your winner, I really do. You tend to like Jazzy songs, and this is pleasant. However, I personally find it too monotone and linear. I'd be fine with it playing in a caffe shop while I'm chilling, but I wouldn't pay much attention to it. Who knows, maybe it's a big grower I'll look at differently one day, but for now, I don't find it engaging. Sorry. 11. There are *elements* in this song that are really good - instrumental and her vocals. The colors on stage work too. However, I don't see much structure to it, and what's worse, comes off as unnecessarily aggressive while trying to be empowering. 10. There's nothing more to add. A very good vocalist with a song with compelling verses and a terrible chorus. I want to see Damir at ESC, but this was not the year. 9. Eni is also among the best vocalists here. The song is pleasant, but doesn't escalate a lot. The staging is striking, but has nothing to do with the song, so it's even a bit distracting. I didn't feel much for it. 8. His awkward dance moves which are completely incompatible with the song actually made this grow on me. There's a certain atmosphere to this track that I enjoy, even if, yet again, it misses a build-up or a climax. 7. I want to slap myself for putting it this high, but I can't help myself. This is cute, and it's the entry that grew on me the most after seeing it on stage. Martha sung well, and the song feels personal and sincere. Of course, the rhyming here is laughable: distance - resistance - persistance - assistance - existence - ect. :) 6. Come on, Queens, give us nothing! It's actually a quite neat studio track. Somewhat overrated by the fandom who'll like any ethnopop / mainstream mix out there. But this one actually had potential. The beat in the drop is simply not good, though. The live performance is compared to the kindergarten kids recital at local newspapers, and they are not wrong. In the same semi with Czechia, this would have flopped hard. 5. The beat is all over the place, but the hook is very memorable! The lyrics are hilarious and they are so true about people in general, but also specific groups of people. For example ESC fandom - we are always complaining - No matter the year, no matter the selection, according to most people, everything always sucks. I love how they make fun of that mentality here. 4. A huge marmite effect here... and I honestly understand both opinions. This is jarring (deliberately so), making a statement (a strong and a bold one), and will make a big impact. Whether this impact will be good... we'll see. I'm ready to be open! 3. Really elegant Balkan ballad, with a solid vocal performance. I wish if they went bigger with it at the final chorus right before the cool whisper ended the song. The staging is visually pretty poor too. 2. It's a standard dance diva entry inspired by the 80s, but it works. Meri is convincing, her vocal is good, the beat in memorable, the hook is instant. I'm not sure whether she could stand out in a ESC line-up, but I voted for her. She's good. 1. Certainly my favorite song + performance here. I'd re-arrange some of the backdrop images, but that's that. It's cute and soothing. Indeed reminds of the old Britpop songs. Would be a nice addition to Liverpool. I gave them my vote, and I'm glad that the juries from my city gave them their highest points.
WOW do we have some big disagreements lol. Free Fallin' being that low hurts me a bit. Happy that you appreciate Lost and Found, though; really glad that they got such a good result after seeing them near the bottom of so many pre-show rankings.
@@JH3Eurovision Liking Lost and Found is what you, me, and Kale Project have in common. I'm happy about that one. I know that a lot of these rankings of mine aren't popular, and I was ready that many would disagree. It's fine. Free Fallin' is the one I never got. It was somewhat higher on my list based on its studio track (about 10th), but it really fell flat with further listening. I'm open to hear what you and many other people like about it. Some of my rankings change in time anyway.
@@AlirioAguero2 I actually felt pretty much the opposite about Free Fallin'. I elaborated further in my own comment, but the tl;dr version is that I thought the song itself was very overhyped (also my 10th place before the show, actually), but I thought the live performance was absolutely incredible. Ðana really sold it and I could tell that she put everything she had into it. I really felt it, and it's not often that a Eurovision performance can make me Feel things
Really appreciated getting your comments on these and happy to go through them! :3 Obviously, I'm very happy to see both Lost And Found and Nesreća in your top three and 6.5 or above for both of them makes me glad, too. Agreed that Nesreća could've went larger but, if it did, it's the sort of song that I'd be potentially throwing out 9/10 type grades for. As is, I'm on a 7.5 so I'm not a million miles off where you were. Bye Bye Blonde, have to agree that Meri is the strong point, even if I didn't like the performance quite as much as you did. I have noticed in different national finals that you tend to be a bit more forgiving of these "soft" 80's-influenced songs that I am...but still, seeing it second might be more indicative of how you feel about the overall selection rather than the strengths of the song itself. Bit sad that you didn't get much from Master Blaster (I turned around huge on that one from the studio version) BUT, the other one I really changed my mind on was Kme Kme, and you have it high up, too. Very glad! Both the bottom two in your ranking are quite similar to other songs/styles that I like from outside Eurovision, both of which are VERY Asian so might not be that familiar. The instrumental side of "I Still Live" is very similar to the Japanese composer, Ichiko Hashimoto's work...and, is incredibly understated. The vocal is good so even with the structural problems of the song, I like it. Putovanje definitely is reminiscent of Japanese new wave, funk/soul and it is a sound I have heard in Serbian national finals before (Off the top of my head, Lana And Aldo have had some songs in a similar vein) and again, it's something I'm fond of. I'll be interested if you grow to like my winner a bit more. I'm very happy that you appreciate it as a good listening experience and can place a situation where you'd enjoy it. I'm not holding out as much hope for Free Fallin' but a lot of my thoughts on it are similar to JH3's where it was probably one of the better options before the final but the live performance really solidified it as a potential choice due to how well it came out. Last thought, I actually enjoyed the overly-bad rhyming in Distance. It really did fit in a weird way and made it more charming than it was originally for me.
@@kaleproject3495 Honestly, I'm mostly really underwhelmed how most of them translated to stage. There's a decent chance that within few weeks I edit this by giving several entries about a 0.5 to 1 point more. I might be too harsh, but I'm really disappointed how noncompetitive most of them felt. Nevera used to be a 6.5/10 song for me, and the live performance was a total fiasco. I Will Wait used to be a 5/10 at one point. Only Martha actually raised her points after live for more than a point (4 to 5.5). The entries least likely to increase their rating are from Tajana and Eni. I feel like I already padded it as much as I could for just how good these two are as singers. The songs aren't on their level. I can see the nice Japanese-inspired instrumental with I Still Live, now that you mentioned it. That's actually my favorite part of the song. The lyrics are on the nose, the staging felt pretentious, and the song doesn't evolve much. If this got a revamp with the same beginning and instrumental, but developed more, I could see myself liking it.
I was watching Dora and when i saw the votig develop, i was growing more anxious second by second. Seriously how did it win? Guess not bc of the song. Even tho Harmonija's performance was not ideal, i think it was more than enough to win with potential to improve in mind
You know me...I'm always an advocate of pick the best song and work out the performance later. Still, you have to at least show something. Nevera went from being something I didn't personally care for but could see on a Eurovision stage (think Sister's Crown) into something where I was genuinely worried it might finish last. Seriously, the performance was that flat and empty. Does that mean I'd have picked Let 3? Probably not...but still. XD
Huh, our rankings aren't THAT much different aside from a few songs (namely Kme Kme, Nevera, and Nesreča). I thought I had one of the most disagreeable rankings for this. Overall, I thought this was a great selection and I really don't understand why people are saying it's weak. The winner for me was Ðana. I was never that into Free Fallin' as a song but she absolutely sold it onstage. Her not even coming in the top half of the results and only getting SEVEN jury points is just pure disrespect. I mean, come on. I Will Wait (the song itself) grew on me a bit, but you can literally hear how flat the vocal is in the STUDIO version...and I say this as someone that doesn't exactly have a trained ear. So, the live performance didn't surprise me, although I don't have it as low as you. Still, I feel vindicated from all the people basically telling me that I was mishearing things :V I actually really liked I Still Live. You're right about the song itself (and I'm not surprised about the result it got since it's the kind of song people will immediately write off as "boring"), but it was such an interestingly staged performance. Almost calming in a way. I thought they did a great job of creating their own world onstage and I'm glad they were able to just run with their ideas. Very happy that all of my pre-show favorites (namely Putovanje, Love at First Sight, Lost and Found, and especially Putem Snova) all had good live performances and that you liked them. Lost in Found in particular got a much better result than I expected. Dom was one of those early favorites too, but the song grew off me; however, I was really surprised by how good the live vocals were. I was VERY close to making Putovanje my winner, but I just couldn't justify that in the end. You're completely right about Love at First Sight by the way, that song is incredible and I hate that it's at the bottom of like every ranking I've seen; just not a genre for ESC fans I guess. Oh yeah, the winner... I've said this elsewhere but I really have no issue with it being the choice. I actually liked the live performance, it was such a mess but it got its message across well. The song's still kinda bad, but I think some parts of it (namely the last third or so) are actually really good. ŠČ!
I saw Ðana as quite a safe choice for the voters between the really strange acts and then, the big names with disappointing songs. I thought she'd gain a foothold because of that but not as much as I expected. "I Still Live" does so many things instrumentally and melodically I like from other work and can identify here. It doesn't *quite* come together as a complete package but neither did a few other songs in this selection that had great ideas. Still, I'll always tend to go for them more than something like "I Will Wait" or "Bye Bye Blonde". So happy that you're enjoying my winner as much as I am. The live vocals and, even the performance, were incredible. I don't expect songs like this to do well amongst ESC fans in rankings but, it's one of the reasons I make my lists. I also love finding songs in obscure national finals that so clearly take influence from the musical greats and do it well (like the Splitters did here). As Eurovision fans become younger and younger every year, fewer of them pick up on some of this stuff and just miss how great it is! I also have no issue with the song that Croatia chose. It isn't for me and I will probably never listen to it but I think it's as competitive as anything they could've chosen and it has the potential to work, depending on how much the EBU allow them to put out there. I'm curious!
![Dora 2024: After Show - My Top 24 (with comments) [Croatian ESC Selection]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zPniPlsnh-Y/mqdefault.jpg)
![Dora 2024: After Show - My Top 24 (with comments) [Croatian ESC Selection]](/img/tr.png)
Haha that live performance of Nevera actually killed anything good about the song !
It was actually so bad that it made me like the song a little more.
I liked them playing it that way. XD
I completely agree and it's actually near the bottom of my ranking for that reason. Can't see it as anything other than a missed opportunity. I find the song itself a bit overrated, but you can't deny that there was HUGE staging potential and I think they just completely blew it.
It was a bit weak bt cmon, keep it real, it was not THAT bad. Still more than enough to win and defenitely better than wat actually won
I wouldn't have it last or near the bottom but it would've definitely been a bad choice for the win based on what was put in front of us.
Croatia, what a glow up from last year! This and Estonia this year are my favourite NFs because they have both diversity and quality. There's nothing i dislike in this selection.
About the winner, i think i have warmed up with it after a week, i still don't like it musically, but everything else about it is great and i can't wait to see how will it do in May.
My top 18:
18: Grijeh
17: I Will Wait
16: Bye Bye Blonde
15: Kme Kme
14: Distance
13: Putem Snova
12: I Still Live
11: Kreni Dalje
10: Angels and Demon
9: Master Blaster
8: Mama SC
7: Nevera
6: Dom
5: Love At First Sight
4: Free Fallin
3: Nesreca
2: Putovanje
1: Lost and Found
Definitely agree that this is a much better approach to take to their national finals. There's so much more bravery behind the entries and it's the sort of attitude that will, one year, result in you unearthing a potential Eurovision winner.
More Putovanje appreciation! I can feel Edward squirming just at the thought of it. Really glad you got Yogi in the top five, too. Quality deserves recognised.
Honestly, your top five is all really good.
Really sad for Đana to be honest, she was easily my winner of the whole selection :( Her vocal was really good live, I really like the song and I think it would have had quite a lot of potential for Eurovision. I guess I'm not that surprised that she ended up placing that low at Dora because she seems to be a newcomer and to be young, but, at the same time, she just didn't objectively deserve such a bad placing so that makes me sad :(
I don't like the winner at all and I personally think it will flop on the Eurovision stage but at the same time, I'd wish the opposite for Croatia because of their NQ last few years (and especially last two years) that were very sad to be honest. I just can't bear with how jarring the song is and how most parts of it are just completely awful in terms of musicality as well, but the message behind the song is great. That's about all I can say about it on my part.
Đana can be very proud of her performance. I'd say if you consider the difficulty of what she had to do, in terms of song and stage act, she was up against it more than anyone and did nothing but impress. Hopefully, a stepping stone to a return in future! She was definitely well-liked by Eurovision fans, if nothing else.
I think you were very fair about the winner and although I think it's going to be quite successful in May, I experience a lot of the same thoughts as you do about it as a song. Wish only the best for Croatia though and, hopefully, a good result will encourage an even greater interest in the contest going forward.
I laughed seeing the winner in your last place, but I wasn't surprised. I really cringed myself at first listen (you know if you've read my top 15 so far with comments), but I guess I was too aggressive. Croatia could be the dark horse of Eurovision 2023.
Also am I the only one who likes 'Grijeh'?
It's strange that I can put a song last in my ranking and still think Croatia made a good choice. Kind of the same deal with Moldova last year. You can have a bad song that's still competitive.
Rating-wise, I have Grijeh at a 4.5, which when translated into the rating system that Groot uses is a "I Like It But...". This is a fair description too and I do like it but am aware of its problems/limitations.
@@kaleproject3495 Actually 'Grijeh' is a kind of music which is popular in my country, so I have a soft spot for these stuff. Another example is 'Nje gotë' from Festivali i Kënges 61.
I think I ranked Një Gotë even lower. XD
Sorry. ;;
@@kaleproject3495 As Cornelia Jakobs would say: _no need to apologise._
@@dimidrugg9592 i listened to it multiple times and it gets even worse. So, not me. Bad song stays bad song.
Damir Kedzo, The Splitters.
Nice to see some love out there for Damir's effort. It's not for me, but big fan of him.
I was really interested in your Dora list. I saw your original ratings, and wondered who went up and down on your list. After so many selections we agreed on, we were going to disagree on a selection eventually, and this is the one. Starting with the fact that I don't like majority of the entries, especially not how they were staged or performed. Also, while I'm glad that these songs have found their fans somewhere, most of your favorites are really low on my list. But, as always, it was a pleasure watching the video, and seeing the other perspective. 🙂
That's perfectly fine! You're always going to feel differently when it's your actual country whose selection you're looking at. Got a dog in the race as it were!
From what I've read from you elsewhere, it seems as if you're quite happy (or at least happy enough) with the winner and, in a lot of ways, I am too (so not a huge disagreement in that way).
I would still like to know which of the songs I enjoyed were simply not doing it for or whether there were some ranked lowly by myself that you thought were worth something!
Of course, it's also possible you just think they're all terrible. I'm open to hear anything you have to say about this selection.
Ps. I hope you at least, somewhat, enjoy Nesreća. I think it's really close to being very good and with Boris Subotić writing it, I know there's the possibility you could like it. Let me know!
@@kaleproject3495 I honestly tried to enjoy some of them more during the course of this month, but sadly, most of them went down after the staging. What I DO LIKE about this selection is how ecclectic it is. More genres than usual, which is always a plus. I also liked the stage (not most of the individual stagings, but how the whole stage was designed).
The winners have a marmite effect. I am carefully optimistic about their chances at ESC, and my rating reflects that. They are one of our most famous bands, and this staging is actually tame for their standards. This is a song I perfectly understand giving a 10 or a 0 to. It's THAT UNUSUAL, but it makes me hyped that we won't be forgotten. If we don't qualify, it's because we are deliberately passed on, not because we aren't striking enough.
Nesreća is, of course, one of the rare entries with an actually decent score here, even if I didn't like the staging (her dress, lighting, colors, it all needs to go). I wish they went more vintage and bigger with it, but that's an honestly good songwriting at its core.
Ugh. UA-cam did not save my nice long comment I wrote in response. >.>
Time for a second attempt! Probably shorter though.
I really enjoyed how diverse the entries were and how brave some of the ideas are. I hate it when the smaller countries try to put on mini-Melfests without the means of production to actually make those cookie-cutter songs polished. You've got to stick to your strengths and I think this year's Dora is another positive step in terms of it actually having an IDENTITY as a national final and not just a collection to choose the least bad thing from.
That odd feeling when your country becomes Moldova for a year. So few people are going to like your song, especially amongst the ESC fans, but once Eurovision kicks off, regular people are going to vote for this because you don't forget it. It does resonate and yeah, some people will hate it. But, some are going to actually vote for it.
In short, it's about as far away from "Guilty Pleasure" as you're going to get. Should be fun to see.
Nesreća does have good songwriting and I did comment on a very specific area of staging that I found lacking. You went a bit further but I don't disagree with the idea of a complete staging overhaul because, as you said, the songwriting is good, and I don't actually have any issues with Hana's performance itself. It's very much a song that should be high on my list.
@@kaleproject3495 if i may say something.. i don't think let 3 will do well. It's not bc it's a song you'll not forget, you'll go through. Not every 'weird' song is as good as moldova. Moldova had way more going for it m in many ways. There are more 'unforgetable' songs who stayed in rhe sf, georgia to name one but also past years
This'll be fun to see play out. I'm feeling pretty confident that it's going to qualify. Generally, "bad" Eurovision songs have failed when there are multiple bad songs in the selection. If Croatia are the only act sending *anything* like this, I think it's a guaranteed qualifier.
Worst part about Let 3 is that based off Moldova last year this is going to qualify and do upsettingly well
I actually would be more surprised if it didn't do well.
I mean, Croatia haven't qual'd for the final since 2017 and, with 100% televote, it's almost guaranteed that that's happening this time.
Which means, Let 3 is going to be their best result in over five years. XD
Its best part, because it deserves
@@kaleproject3495i remember how people hated croatia 2017, i suppose, eurofans always hate croatia when it does really well
@@АлексейЗаботкин-т1х The most successful entries are those that some people hate but some people love, because they actually are motivated to vote.
Croatia have sent good songs to the contest recently. Both 2022 and 2021 were good but not different enough to make people hate them or people love them.
This year, people are going to hate or love their song. They're going to get votes. They're going to qualify.
Btw: I'm a big fan of Croatia 2017. Talent is talent and Jacques is a heck of a performer!
Dora is a national final that for some reason I always look forward to. Like Vidbir, there is always ONE song that's in my top 5 from the entire season. Free Fallin (2023), Oprosti (2022) Rijeka (2021), Drowning (2020), all in my top 5 of each year. If they actually voted properly they would be one of my favorite ESC countries ;-; (which is contradictory since Mama SC is still my number one of the selected songs so far haha)
I don't know how successful Dora has been for me so far. 2021 was a great year with "She's Like A Dream" being in my top five NF songs of the season but, that's the only one that's been at *that* level, even though I did like both Rijeka and Tick Tock from the same year.
I'm normally not throwing out many high ratings there!
Let 3 are still your winners here, eh? XD
Reads Description of Video: Oh I'm surprised. He didn't hate the winner.
Sees it last place: LMAO
Would I ever listen to this song outside of being held at gunpoint? No.
Do I want to see how this does at ESC? HELL YES.
@@kaleproject3495 We will see how it goes. I predict not having last place and even then its a risky prediction :P
@@imaginijm I think it's going to get some televote support! Especially if they're able to visually suggest what they're getting at in the song. ;)
@@kaleproject3495 true
You stole the words out of my mouth
My top 18:
1. Nevera (Lei, Lei) 10/10
2. Free Fallin' 9.5/10
3. Bye Bye Blonde 9/10
4. I Will Wait 8.5/10
5. Distance 7.5/10
6. Nesreća 7/10
7. I Still Live 7/10
8. Master Blaster 6.5/10
9. Putem Snova 6/10
10. Angels And Demons 6/10
11. Love At First Sight 5.5/10
12. Grijeh 5.5/10
13. Lost And Found 5.5/10
14. Putovanje 5.5/10
15. Kreni Dalje 5.5/10
16. Dom 5.5/10
17. Mama ŠČ 5/10
18. Kme Kme 1.5/10
Average: 6,4
My top 18:
1. The Splitters: Lost and Found - 7/10
2. Meri Andraković: Bye Bye Blonde - 6.5/10
3. Hana Mašić: Nesreća - 6.5/10
4. Let 3: Mama ŠČ! - 6.5/10
5. Krešo i Kisele Kiše: Kme Kme - 6/10
6. Harmonija Disonance: Nevera (Lei, lei) - 6/10
7. Martha May: Distance - 5.5/10
8. Boris Štok: Grijeh - 5/10
9. Eni Jurišić: Kreni dalje - 5/10
10. Damir Kedžo: Angels and Demons - 4.5/10
11. Barbara Munjas: Putem snova - 4.5/10
12. Yogi: Love at First Sight - 4/10
13. Tajana Belina: Dom - 4/10
14. Đana: Free Fallin' - 4/10
15. Patricia Gasparini: I Will Wait - 4/10
16. Detour: Master Blaster - 3/10
17. Top of the Pop ft. Mario 5reković: Putovanje - 3/10
18. Maja Grgić: I Still Live - 2/10
NF Average: 4.83
Comments:
18. The pretentious staging made it a far more enjoyable experience than the song as static as this one otherwise would. I enjoy the instrumental breaks. It feels like one of those off-base entries from Pabandom iš naujo that are left in the QF.
17. Uff... sorry... no. The music tries to feel uplifting, but it all feels forced. The song is just not interesting. Mario makes Jenny B. look like Flo Rida. His spoken parts are awful, deliberately grammatically incorrect to achieve...humor? It doesn't fit and it's jarring.
16. I understand the comparison with Meelik, but there's one BIG difference here for me - Meelik are likable on stage. This felt pretentious, forced, and annoying.
15. No arguments here. I kinda enjoyed the studio version in a ''Melfest filler'' kind of way. Patricia's vocal is sadly so thin, and the nonexistent choreography or stage presence made it so boring. I feel sorry, because I've actually met the woman, and she's a sweetheart. Hoping for a better outing if she returns to Dora.
14. I find this one overrated by the whole fandom. What am I missing here? Feels like a Melfest reject much more than most of the actual Melfest rejects. I know that she wrote it, but there's nothing that stands out here. It's not even *that* catchy. The staging was also a mess, even if Đana can at least sing.
13. Tajana is possibly the best vocalist in this selection. Sadly, she has a flat song. The verses and the chorus have basically the same beat, and I forget about it very soon. Tajana, with a better song, could win Dora one day, easily.
12. I understand why he's your winner, I really do. You tend to like Jazzy songs, and this is pleasant. However, I personally find it too monotone and linear. I'd be fine with it playing in a caffe shop while I'm chilling, but I wouldn't pay much attention to it. Who knows, maybe it's a big grower I'll look at differently one day, but for now, I don't find it engaging. Sorry.
11. There are *elements* in this song that are really good - instrumental and her vocals. The colors on stage work too. However, I don't see much structure to it, and what's worse, comes off as unnecessarily aggressive while trying to be empowering.
10. There's nothing more to add. A very good vocalist with a song with compelling verses and a terrible chorus. I want to see Damir at ESC, but this was not the year.
9. Eni is also among the best vocalists here. The song is pleasant, but doesn't escalate a lot. The staging is striking, but has nothing to do with the song, so it's even a bit distracting. I didn't feel much for it.
8. His awkward dance moves which are completely incompatible with the song actually made this grow on me. There's a certain atmosphere to this track that I enjoy, even if, yet again, it misses a build-up or a climax.
7. I want to slap myself for putting it this high, but I can't help myself. This is cute, and it's the entry that grew on me the most after seeing it on stage. Martha sung well, and the song feels personal and sincere. Of course, the rhyming here is laughable: distance - resistance - persistance - assistance - existence - ect. :)
6. Come on, Queens, give us nothing! It's actually a quite neat studio track. Somewhat overrated by the fandom who'll like any ethnopop / mainstream mix out there. But this one actually had potential. The beat in the drop is simply not good, though. The live performance is compared to the kindergarten kids recital at local newspapers, and they are not wrong. In the same semi with Czechia, this would have flopped hard.
5. The beat is all over the place, but the hook is very memorable! The lyrics are hilarious and they are so true about people in general, but also specific groups of people. For example ESC fandom - we are always complaining - No matter the year, no matter the selection, according to most people, everything always sucks. I love how they make fun of that mentality here.
4. A huge marmite effect here... and I honestly understand both opinions. This is jarring (deliberately so), making a statement (a strong and a bold one), and will make a big impact. Whether this impact will be good... we'll see. I'm ready to be open!
3. Really elegant Balkan ballad, with a solid vocal performance. I wish if they went bigger with it at the final chorus right before the cool whisper ended the song. The staging is visually pretty poor too.
2. It's a standard dance diva entry inspired by the 80s, but it works. Meri is convincing, her vocal is good, the beat in memorable, the hook is instant. I'm not sure whether she could stand out in a ESC line-up, but I voted for her. She's good.
1. Certainly my favorite song + performance here. I'd re-arrange some of the backdrop images, but that's that. It's cute and soothing. Indeed reminds of the old Britpop songs. Would be a nice addition to Liverpool. I gave them my vote, and I'm glad that the juries from my city gave them their highest points.
WOW do we have some big disagreements lol. Free Fallin' being that low hurts me a bit. Happy that you appreciate Lost and Found, though; really glad that they got such a good result after seeing them near the bottom of so many pre-show rankings.
@@JH3Eurovision Liking Lost and Found is what you, me, and Kale Project have in common. I'm happy about that one. I know that a lot of these rankings of mine aren't popular, and I was ready that many would disagree. It's fine. Free Fallin' is the one I never got. It was somewhat higher on my list based on its studio track (about 10th), but it really fell flat with further listening. I'm open to hear what you and many other people like about it. Some of my rankings change in time anyway.
@@AlirioAguero2 I actually felt pretty much the opposite about Free Fallin'. I elaborated further in my own comment, but the tl;dr version is that I thought the song itself was very overhyped (also my 10th place before the show, actually), but I thought the live performance was absolutely incredible. Ðana really sold it and I could tell that she put everything she had into it. I really felt it, and it's not often that a Eurovision performance can make me Feel things
Really appreciated getting your comments on these and happy to go through them! :3
Obviously, I'm very happy to see both Lost And Found and Nesreća in your top three and 6.5 or above for both of them makes me glad, too. Agreed that Nesreća could've went larger but, if it did, it's the sort of song that I'd be potentially throwing out 9/10 type grades for. As is, I'm on a 7.5 so I'm not a million miles off where you were.
Bye Bye Blonde, have to agree that Meri is the strong point, even if I didn't like the performance quite as much as you did. I have noticed in different national finals that you tend to be a bit more forgiving of these "soft" 80's-influenced songs that I am...but still, seeing it second might be more indicative of how you feel about the overall selection rather than the strengths of the song itself.
Bit sad that you didn't get much from Master Blaster (I turned around huge on that one from the studio version) BUT, the other one I really changed my mind on was Kme Kme, and you have it high up, too. Very glad!
Both the bottom two in your ranking are quite similar to other songs/styles that I like from outside Eurovision, both of which are VERY Asian so might not be that familiar. The instrumental side of "I Still Live" is very similar to the Japanese composer, Ichiko Hashimoto's work...and, is incredibly understated. The vocal is good so even with the structural problems of the song, I like it. Putovanje definitely is reminiscent of Japanese new wave, funk/soul and it is a sound I have heard in Serbian national finals before (Off the top of my head, Lana And Aldo have had some songs in a similar vein) and again, it's something I'm fond of.
I'll be interested if you grow to like my winner a bit more. I'm very happy that you appreciate it as a good listening experience and can place a situation where you'd enjoy it. I'm not holding out as much hope for Free Fallin' but a lot of my thoughts on it are similar to JH3's where it was probably one of the better options before the final but the live performance really solidified it as a potential choice due to how well it came out.
Last thought, I actually enjoyed the overly-bad rhyming in Distance. It really did fit in a weird way and made it more charming than it was originally for me.
@@kaleproject3495 Honestly, I'm mostly really underwhelmed how most of them translated to stage. There's a decent chance that within few weeks I edit this by giving several entries about a 0.5 to 1 point more. I might be too harsh, but I'm really disappointed how noncompetitive most of them felt. Nevera used to be a 6.5/10 song for me, and the live performance was a total fiasco. I Will Wait used to be a 5/10 at one point. Only Martha actually raised her points after live for more than a point (4 to 5.5).
The entries least likely to increase their rating are from Tajana and Eni. I feel like I already padded it as much as I could for just how good these two are as singers. The songs aren't on their level.
I can see the nice Japanese-inspired instrumental with I Still Live, now that you mentioned it. That's actually my favorite part of the song. The lyrics are on the nose, the staging felt pretentious, and the song doesn't evolve much. If this got a revamp with the same beginning and instrumental, but developed more, I could see myself liking it.
I was watching Dora and when i saw the votig develop, i was growing more anxious second by second. Seriously how did it win? Guess not bc of the song. Even tho Harmonija's performance was not ideal, i think it was more than enough to win with potential to improve in mind
You know me...I'm always an advocate of pick the best song and work out the performance later. Still, you have to at least show something. Nevera went from being something I didn't personally care for but could see on a Eurovision stage (think Sister's Crown) into something where I was genuinely worried it might finish last. Seriously, the performance was that flat and empty.
Does that mean I'd have picked Let 3? Probably not...but still. XD
@@kaleproject3495 yes, i know 😅😅 still a performance can improve, a bad song cant. But we'll see!
Huh, our rankings aren't THAT much different aside from a few songs (namely Kme Kme, Nevera, and Nesreča). I thought I had one of the most disagreeable rankings for this. Overall, I thought this was a great selection and I really don't understand why people are saying it's weak.
The winner for me was Ðana. I was never that into Free Fallin' as a song but she absolutely sold it onstage. Her not even coming in the top half of the results and only getting SEVEN jury points is just pure disrespect. I mean, come on.
I Will Wait (the song itself) grew on me a bit, but you can literally hear how flat the vocal is in the STUDIO version...and I say this as someone that doesn't exactly have a trained ear. So, the live performance didn't surprise me, although I don't have it as low as you. Still, I feel vindicated from all the people basically telling me that I was mishearing things :V
I actually really liked I Still Live. You're right about the song itself (and I'm not surprised about the result it got since it's the kind of song people will immediately write off as "boring"), but it was such an interestingly staged performance. Almost calming in a way. I thought they did a great job of creating their own world onstage and I'm glad they were able to just run with their ideas.
Very happy that all of my pre-show favorites (namely Putovanje, Love at First Sight, Lost and Found, and especially Putem Snova) all had good live performances and that you liked them. Lost in Found in particular got a much better result than I expected. Dom was one of those early favorites too, but the song grew off me; however, I was really surprised by how good the live vocals were. I was VERY close to making Putovanje my winner, but I just couldn't justify that in the end. You're completely right about Love at First Sight by the way, that song is incredible and I hate that it's at the bottom of like every ranking I've seen; just not a genre for ESC fans I guess.
Oh yeah, the winner... I've said this elsewhere but I really have no issue with it being the choice. I actually liked the live performance, it was such a mess but it got its message across well. The song's still kinda bad, but I think some parts of it (namely the last third or so) are actually really good. ŠČ!
I saw Ðana as quite a safe choice for the voters between the really strange acts and then, the big names with disappointing songs. I thought she'd gain a foothold because of that but not as much as I expected.
"I Still Live" does so many things instrumentally and melodically I like from other work and can identify here. It doesn't *quite* come together as a complete package but neither did a few other songs in this selection that had great ideas. Still, I'll always tend to go for them more than something like "I Will Wait" or "Bye Bye Blonde".
So happy that you're enjoying my winner as much as I am. The live vocals and, even the performance, were incredible. I don't expect songs like this to do well amongst ESC fans in rankings but, it's one of the reasons I make my lists. I also love finding songs in obscure national finals that so clearly take influence from the musical greats and do it well (like the Splitters did here). As Eurovision fans become younger and younger every year, fewer of them pick up on some of this stuff and just miss how great it is!
I also have no issue with the song that Croatia chose. It isn't for me and I will probably never listen to it but I think it's as competitive as anything they could've chosen and it has the potential to work, depending on how much the EBU allow them to put out there. I'm curious!
@@kaleproject3495 actually if ebu complains about ronela they defenitely will not allow this
DAMIR KEDZO.
With the foundations of what could've been a decent song...
harmonija dissonance you will always be famous
They all had somewhere else they'd rather be.
@@kaleproject3495 idc that song is and continues to be perfect
It was ok but I've heard this kind of music done better. I don't think we missed out on something game-changing is all.
Harmonija je i dalje najbolja.
I never liked it THAT much to begin with and that live performance. 😅